2009 June | The BoBo Files

30 Jun

My Journey to Millions – A Guest Post – Ricci Reversal Rich!

Posted by: The BoBo // Category: Civil Rights, Constitution, Guest Bloggers, Politics, Race, government, libertarian

This is a re-post from My Journey, a Personal Finance Blogger, who sometimes feels the need to voice his poltical views. Whether or not you agree with his views you should check out his site, My Journey to Millions,or subscribe to his Feed.

___________________________________________________________________________

Despite writing a personal finance blog, I enjoy chatting up politics and I think I have been very open about my political views, which are basically libertarian in nature. I generally believe the government is a necessary evil and as such I want to keep it as small as possible. The way I look at it I don’t want the government involved in my business affairs as much as I do not want them inhibiting what I (and the founding fathers) consider inalienable rights (by the way I just wrote that Retirement is not an inalienable right).

I dislike the idea of affirmative action in this Country in the year 2009, and truly believe how it is used today is not what Congress and the Supreme Court envisioned those many years ago.

Imagine sitting in a Constitution Law II class with half the room being women, a good portion of them Black, and a liberal liberal Professor – and you are a white Christian Male and you raise your hand to talk about reverse discrimination of white males. It was a scary time for My Journey…but I didn’t care and neither should you. Well today I got some reprieve!

Ricci v. DeStefano – The New Haven 20

Today the United States Supreme Court gave their Opinion (read: Decision) in the case of Ricci v.DeStefano. (opens a .pdf file) The Case surrounds a group fondly known as the New Haven 20, a group of 20 Firefighters who studied their a** off and did well enough on a test to get promoted, but the City of New Haven decided to throw out the exam because no African Americans did well enough on it. Yeah read that over again, seems almost unreal.

The Wall Street Journal wrote today,

Writing for a 5-4 majority in Ricci v. deStefano, Justice Anthony Kennedy said that the city of New Haven violated civil-rights law when it threw out firefighter promotional exams because more whites than blacks or Hispanics had passed the tests. New Haven claimed it had to junk the tests because certifying the results would lead to an avalanche of lawsuits by black candidates who hadn’t passed. In other words, the city claimed it had to intentionally discriminate against white candidates out of fear that the tests unintentionally had a “disparate impact” against minorities.

But the Court found no evidence that the tests were flawed or that better alternatives for promotion existed. On the contrary, employment tests are an important tool against the very kind of racial discrimination that civil-rights laws were designed to prevent. “Fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer’s reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions,”

Justice Kennedy wrote. The Supremes created this “disparate impact” reverse discrimination incentive with its 1971 Griggs decision, since codified into law, but at least five Justices are still able to object to this kind of blatant racial injustice.

As a brother of a Firefighter (also white Christian Male) I have watched my brother study is butt off for the lieutenants’ test for the FDNY. My Brother has put as much work as I did for the New York State Bar Exam, and if my test was thrown out because some people, albeit minorities, did worse than me, I know I may be a ‘tad upset.’ Meanwhile, all this studying occurs while holding a full time job which includes running into burning buildings (as most law school graduates know – I didn’t do anything while studying for the bar except…study).

How this ruling will play out as we move forward will be interesting. Are we finally seeing an end to affirmative action? Probably not, but thankfully it may end the practice of just promoting minorities because of their ethnicity, color, and/or race (wow, doesn’t this seem like an MLK Speech?).

The Opinions (multiple Justices made statements) total about 93 pages, and were released Monday morning so I have not had the time read them, as such, I am not ready to start ripping on Sotomayor which has been going around the news lately. However, from the news stories I have read thus far, both the majority and dissent have been less than complimentary of the Supreme Court Nominee who was part of the lower court which was reversed.

Notwithstanding this post I don’t think a test would be fair if it only asked questions only whites knew the answer to, but that is notwhat happened in Ricci.

___________________________________________________________________________

I would like to take this opportunity to thank MJTM for posting this over here. Great discussion – thoughts people?

Sphere: Related Content

Comments (6) // Add Comment

30 Jun

Coming Soon! A Guest Post!

Posted by: The BoBo // Category: Guest Bloggers, Politics, blogs

Wow, I think it’s been close to a year since I last had a guest post on here. I haven’t been actively looking – but – I may consider starting that up again. Coming very soon – a guest post from My Journey To Millions. He has submitted semi-political related articles to my Carnival in the past. He is a finance lawyer up in NY and his posts are primarily finance related. However, he has a great politics related article that he’s just burning to get off his chest. This takes a different turn for him, so where is the best place to just air out your frustrations and vent without inhibition? Right here of course! I won’t tell you what it’s about – I’ll just let you come back and see for yourselves. Stay tuned folks.

Sphere: Related Content

Comment (1) // Add Comment

30 Jun

White House taking on abortion issue.

Posted by: The BoBo // Category: America, Christian, Conservative, Democrats, Family, Liberals, Obama, Politics, President, Religion, Republicans, government

Funny, maybe not, this seems to have slipped past the regular media – AGAIN

As White House Readies Abortion Plan, Packaging Emerges as Major Issue

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

As the White House readies its plan for finding “common ground” on reproductive health

issues and reducing the need for abortion, a major debate has emerged over how to package the plan’s two major components: preventing unwanted pregnancies and reducing the need for abortion.

Many abortion rights advocates and some Democrats who want to dial down the culture wars want the White House to package the two parts of the plan together, as a single piece of legislation. The plan would seek to reduce unwanted pregnancies by funding comprehensive sex education and contraception and to reduce the need for abortion by bolstering federal support for pregnant women. Supporters of the approach say it would force senators and members of Congress on both sides of the abortion battle to compromise their traditional positions, creating true common ground that mirrors what President Obama has called for.

But more conservative religious groups working with the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships say they would be forced to oppose such a plan—even though they support the abortion reduction part—because they oppose federal dollars for contraception and comprehensive sex education. This camp, which includes such formidable organizations as the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops and the Southern Baptist Convention, is pressuring the White House to decouple the two parts of the plan into separate bills. One bill would focus entirely on preventing unwanted pregnancy, while the other would focus on supporting pregnant women.

The libertarian in me says – this is a social issue and the government needs to stay out of it completely. However, I have to actually say I am in full support of anything that would reduce the number of abortions in this country. Those idiot “conservative religious groups” need to get off their freakin’ high horses on this one. Deny contraception and sex education? Why? So that we can have more abortions or unwed teen pregnancies? You guys are way off on this one! And then, further down in this article – we have this:

Some abortion rights groups have already come out against the Pregnant Women Support Act, the model for advocates of splitting pregnancy prevention and support for pregnant women into separate bills. “For the pro-choice community, that bill has lots of incendiary language and coercive policy,” says Rachel Laser, who directs the culture program at the Democratic-leaning think tank Third Way and is pressing the White House to take a comprehensive approach on its reproductive health plan.

Hey, Rachel – chill out! This proposal does not reverse Roe v. Wade and it does nothing to stop abortions. The idea, bonehead, is to reduce the number of abortions through education and contraception. Why are you so hell bent on making sure there are unwanted pregnancies out there requiring the aborting of a human life?

I can’t believe I’m actually siding with the Obama administration. But, this just goes to show – you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t. Personally, I think this is a great option for reducing unwanted pregnancies and abortions. While I am still a very strong advocate of limited government, the Public Health scholar in me says this is one to get behind.

But supporters of the all-in-one approach say that passing a support-only plan is unrealistic in Democratic-controlled Washington. “There would be a strong reluctance in the pro-choice community to trust that if Congress moved support-only, that a prevention-only package would also pass,” says Laser. “There’s also a fear that support-only would be defined as the new common ground. For the pro-choice side, the most important part of common ground is pregnancy prevention.”

Laser and some prominent abortion rights supporters are pushing the White House to support the Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act, which is expected to be reintroduced by Democratic Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Tim Ryan in coming weeks. The bill attempts to reduce unintended pregnancies by providing low-income women with better access to contraception and to reduce the need for abortion by giving women who ask for it information about alternatives to abortion, among other things.

For the White House, the decision about which tack to take is largely a question of whom it feels more comfortable alienating: religious groups like the Catholic bishops, which it has been trying hard to win over, or abortion rights groups, a key part of the Democratic base that it doesn’t want to lose.

C’mon people! Really? Who the hell cares if you alienate the religious groups and the pro-abortion groups? This is a comprehensive package that addresses both sides of this issue. There is common ground, “For the pro-choice side, the most important part of common ground is pregnancy prevention.” Isn’t this also what the pro-lifers want? Isn’t this what everyone wants? How can you not be on the side of this plan? Me, I’m just waiting to see the implementation plans and the overall costs.

Sphere: Related Content

Comments (4) // Add Comment

29 Jun

Here comes that Middle-class tax hike we told ya about!

Posted by: The BoBo // Category: A Nation at Risk, America, Congress, Liberals, Obama, Politics, President, government, marxism

See – and you guys on the left thought Obama was all for the middle-class and the little people

Axelrod: Obama Won’t Rule Out Middle-Class Tax Hike

I think what I like best about this particular article is that it comes from ABC – you know – All Barack Central – the one’s who so graciously turned over their entire day of programming to Obama. I have a feeling that ABC actually thinks this is a good idea and that is why the covered this story – cuz – it sure isn’t because they oppose ObamaCare.

I’m not quite ready to say “I told you so” just yet. What I’m waiting for is to have a complete compilation of all of his broken campaign promises in addition to all of the Marxist policies that he has implemented. When he has finally finished getting everything through that will absolutely destroy this country and creates his ivory tower up on capital hill – THEN I will say it and THEN I will make sure I continue to say it every freakin day – as long as I possibly can. I’m sure conservative bloggers are somewhere on the radar up there!

UPDATE – From FireAndreaMitchell.com – Robert Gibbs / Obama’s backtracking on taxes now the laughing stock of White House Press Corp – this is a good video of that idiot Gibbs backpeddling.

Sphere: Related Content

Comments (11) // Add Comment

29 Jun

The BoBo Carnival of Politics – June 28, 2009 Edition

Posted by: The BoBo // Category: America, BoBo, Carnival, Congress, Conservative, Education, Elections, Iran, Israel, Liberals, Obama, Politics, Public School System, Russia, School, globalization, government, libertarian, marxism

Quite the week we’ve had so far! Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, and now Billy Mays all dead. Unfreakin’ believable! I wish piece of shit crap and tax bill would have died as well! Anyway – after a two week hiatus – The BoBo Carnival of Politics is back with another great edition. Have at it people!

Conservative

The Smarter Wallet presents Dave Ramsey’s Town Hall For Hope posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, “How does Dave Ramsey explain the financial crisis?”

You’ll see below in response to your credit card discussion that I mentioned I already paid off a few cards and have one left before I’m out of debt. I went through the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University. Dave Ramsey is awesome and what you have on your blog is absolutey right. Once again, great post using a great resource. I highly recommend it to anybody to view his Town Hall video and his Financial Peace University – especially in today’s economy.

Michael Bass presents Joe Tegerdine VS Gene Taylor! The Battle For Mississippi’s 4th Congressional District! posted at Debt Prison, saying, “Every now and then a person runs for office that gives us hope. For many voters in the last election Barack Obama was that person. Obama promised ambiguous ‘Change’ and the people bought it. Unfortunately, for many Obama fans and devout Democrats, his foreign policy actions and his further crack down on civil liberties has come to resemble something like George Bush part II.”

Interesting – hopefully, Tegerdine turns out to be a true conservative then maybe he can defeat that faux Democratic Conservative Taylor.

lsm presents Teddy?s Legacy Will Kill Us All posted at awaken the elephants blog.

LSM – excellent. I have nothing further to add to this.

Scott Spiegel presents U.S. Invents Diabolical Weapon Called “Twitter” to Bring Down Iranian Regime posted at Scott Spiegel, saying, “President Obama said last week that he doesn’t want the U.S. to be seen as “meddling” in the recent Iranian presidential election. In his view, vocally supporting the protesters is comparable to the CIA’s coup against Mossadeq in 1953.”

Amen, brother! We should be standing behind the Iranian citizens with the full faith and trust of our government and our own citizens. Obama is wrong on this one.

Liberal

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Don’t Ask. Don’t Tell. Just Sign! posted at Mad Kane’s Political Madness.

Mad Kane – I’m sure I don’t need to say this – personally – I think this needs to be repealed entirely and have it back to what it was before Clinton instituted the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. The UCMJ states that sodomy is a punishable offense as is any other forms of homosexual relations. We don’t need gays OPENLY serving in the military. This would be a huge bust for the morale of our military. I’m sorry – but – the military is by no means ready for this and it would not be accepted.

Libertarian

Wenchypoo presents Just When You Thought You Ran Out of Hope posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket.

Bwahaha – Liberty Lentils – good one.

Miscellaneous

Bob Brooks presents Wall Street Execs Living Large While the Rest of the Country Hurts posted at Bob Brooks – Prudent Money Blog.

Don’t forget – Timothy “Turbo Tax” Geithner is a Goldman Sachs alumni himself and still has buddies there. Nothing will be done. Just more paybacks from this administration for these company’s providing material support for Obama.

Mikkal Travvis presents Ron Paul And The Federal Reserve posted at The Truth.

I don’t generally tend to side with Ron Paul on many issues. I think he’s a nutjob with a lot of his positions. However, I support him 100% with regards to doing away with the Federal Reserve and having them open their books. The decision in the 30′s to hand over that much power to a private organization was by far one of the most idiotic things this country and our government has ever done. It’s time to take that power away from them.

News

Terri Choate presents Trickle Down Learning posted at Plum Duff…not your ordinary gruel!, saying, “Maybe this is old news…but school districts regularly understate the money spent per pupil as they ask for more, more, more.”

Great article. Public schools happens to be one of my “soap-box” issues. While I don’t know what the per pupil cost is in my district – we have multiple layers of administration that are totally unnecessary. Since when does a High School and Middle School need a freakin Assistant Principle for each grade and each of them having a secretary, etc etc – not to mention each grade having at least 2 “administrators” that handle discipline. It’s gotten so ridiculous that most of our tax money goes to paying salaries instead of purchasing text books. I sent four kids through public school. 2 graduated and 2 dropped out. I’m sending my last 2 to private schools now.

Bradley Hankins presents Who Is Back? posted at Bradley Hankins, saying, “You was wondering when I was going to start up again. Well here I am.”

Welcome Back Bradley – looking forward to your analysis of the various bills.

The Smarter Wallet presents Applying For A Credit Card? Review The Credit Card Bill of Rights posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “Obama just signed into law some regulations that will help curb some of the unpopular practices done by the credit industry. Here’s what’s in the credit card bill of rights, which is under review by our government.”

Great words of advise for those who are thinking about getting a credit card. I already cut up all mine and have paid them off. I have one more to go then I’m out of credit card hell. My advise is – use cash! If you can’t afford to pay for it in cash – well – then in today’s economy – you really can’t afford it at all then. Save for it instead.

Politics

Bradley Hankins presents Common Sense Foreign Policy: North Korea posted at Bradley Hankins, saying, “Common sense dealings with North Korea. Even more to come, just one was just too easy.”

You are absolutely right – we should not be looking to the international community to protect ourselves. That is just plain ridiculous. Great post.

NAOMI presents NEW AD AGAINST BENEFIT THIEVES posted at Diary From England.

Naomi – I’ll have to admit that I haven’t been paying real close attention to exactly what is going on over on your side of the big pond. However, I have been following Daniel Hannen pretty closely so I get the point. Unfortunately, we’re seeing a similar situation here in the U.S. – rather than second homes – our politicians get lifelong benefits and 100% salary after they retire and that even gets passed on to their spouses after they die and then the spouses collect 100% benefit and salary until they die. Pretty freakin ridiculous that these politicians consider themselves so elite they can steal from we the people.

Bradley Hankins presents Transparency posted at Bradley Hankins, saying, “Honestly, putting legislation in plain English would help so much.”

Agreed! However, this administration that promised transparency has given us none at all.

Jake presents Why the World Hates America (Part 1) posted at Global Implications, saying, “Given the negative attitude toward the United States around the world, I am writing a multi-part series on the actions of the US since World War II with the worst consequences. I will post an article every day and should finish the seven-part series on Friday, June 26.”

Jake – I hope you don’t mind but I took the liberty to post the links to the remaining articles. This is a very interesting analysis. However, I would say that we still have many more friends and allies than we do enemies. It seems our only real enemies in the world are radical regimes. Please post up the last remaining parts in next week’s carnival! Personally, regarding Part 5 – I think we need to “unflinchingly” support Israel. They are our only true ally in the middle east. Being a former Hebrew Linguist in the Air Force – I understand Israel and the day-to-day struggles they have to face. They are under constant terrorist attack every day. They need our support and we should stand behind them all the way.

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Ram Raghavan presents The incorrectness of political correctness posted at ramraghav.com, saying, “What is political correctness? What is its cause and its consequence?”

Ram – you are so totally right on with this post. The only thing I would add here is that the history of Political Correctness actually has its roots in marxism and Russia. Here’s another good resource for you on the history.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the bobo carnival of politics using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the bobo carnival of politics, blog carnival.

Sphere: Related Content

Comments (5) // Add Comment

Fair Use Policy

Fair Use: This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in my efforts to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research, educational, or satirical purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site/blog for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid from 13 March 2009. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content. The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question. This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest. To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org