Walter E. Williams HONESTLY Examines Race....

Honest Examination of Race

Townhall.com

Walter E. Williams

Wednesday, May 8^th, 2013

http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2013/05/08/honest-examination-of-race-n1588213/page/full

One definition given for insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results; it might also be a definition of stupidity. Let's look at some cities where large percentages of black Americans live under poor conditions.

Experiencing a violent crime rate of 2,137 per 100,000 of the population, Detroit is the nation's most dangerous city. Rounding out Forbes magazine's 2012 list of the 10 most dangerous cities are St Louis; Oakland, Calif.; Memphis, Tenn.; Birmingham, Ala.; Atlanta; Baltimore; Stockton, Calif.; Cleveland; and Buffalo, N.Y. The most common characteristic of these predominantly black cities is that for decades, all of them have been run by Democratic and presumably liberal administrations. Some cities - such as Detroit, Buffalo, Newark, N.J., and Philadelphia - haven't elected a Republican mayor for more than a half-century. What's more is that in most of these cities, blacks have been mayors, chiefs of police, school superintendents and principals and have dominated city councils.

You might ask, "What's the point, Williams?" Let's be clear about it. I'm not stating that there's a causal relationship between crime, poverty and squalor on the one hand and, on the other, Democratic and black political control over a city. Nor am I saying that blacks ought to vote Republican. What I am saying is that if one is strategizing on how to improve the lives of the poorest black people, he wants to leave off his to-do list election of Democrats and black politicians. Also to be left off the to-do list is a civil rights agenda. Racial discrimination has little to do with major problems confronting black people.

Today 72 percent of black babies are born out of wedlock. Being born and finding out that your mother is 17 years old, that your grandmother is 35 and that you don't know who or where your father is is not a good start on life. In fact, it's a near guarantee for school dropout, poverty and crime, but such a start in life has nothing to do with racial discrimination.

Law-abiding poor black people suffer the nation's highest rates of criminal victimization from assaults and homicide. More than 50 percent of homicide victims are black. Would anyone claim that this victimization is caused by racist groups preying on the black community? In addition to victimization, the level of lawlessness in many black communities has the full effect of a law banning economic growth. That's because the thugs are equal-opportunity thugs who will rip off a black-owned business just as they'd rip off a white-owned business.

Black education is a disaster, but who runs the violent, disruptive big-city schools, where education is all but impossible? For the most part, it's not white people. Go to a city such as Detroit and you'll find that blacks have been superintendents, principals and most of the teachers for years. Most black high-school students, in Detroit and other cities, can't read, write and compute as well as sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade white students, but is it because of racism? What the elite teach is not only futile but counterproductive. For example, speaking standard English in an English-speaking country is critical for self-improvement. But that's not the lesson from the nation's multiculturalists, who call for the celebration of native languages and dialects. Sloppy-minded academics and assorted hustlers have taught that poor English, gangsta rap, men wearing pigtails and thug behavior should not be criticized but become a part of the celebration of diversity.

Black people could benefit from an honest examination of the bill of goods they've been sold. Such an examination would not come from black politicians, civil rights leaders or the black and white liberal elite. Those people have benefited politically and financially from keeping black Americans in a constant state of grievance based on alleged racial discrimination. The long-term solution for the problems that many black Americans face begins with an absolute rejection of the self-serving agenda of hustlers and poverty pimps.

Thomas Sowell on "DIVERSITY"....

Thomas Sowell

Words That Replace Thought

Townhall.com

Thomas Sowell

Wednesday, May 8th, 2013

http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2013/05/08/words-that-replace-thought-n1588497/page/full

If there is ever a contest for words that substitute for thought, "diversity" should be recognized as the undisputed world champion.

You don't need a speck of evidence, or a single step of logic, when you rhapsodize about the supposed benefits of diversity. The very idea of testing this wonderful, magical word against something as ugly as reality seems almost sordid.

To ask whether institutions that promote diversity 24/7 end up with better or worse relations between the races than institutions that pay no attention to it is only to get yourself regarded as a bad person. To cite hard evidence that places obsessed with diversity have worse race relations is to risk getting yourself labeled an incorrigible racist. Free thinking is not free.

The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that the government has a "compelling interest" in promoting diversity - apparently more compelling than the 14th Amendment's requirement of "equal protection" of the law for everybody.

How does a racially homogeneous country like Japan manage to have high quality education, without the essential ingredient of diversity, for which there is supposedly a "compelling" need?

Conversely, why does India, one of the most diverse nations on Earth, have a record of intergroup intolerance and lethal violence today that is worse than that in the days of our Jim Crow South?

Even to ask such questions is to provoke charges of unworthy tactics, and motives too low to be dignified with an answer. Not that the true believers in diversity could answer anyway.

Among the candidates for runner-up to "diversity" as the top word for making thought obsolete is "fair."

Apparently everyone is entitled to a "fair share" of a society's prosperity, whether they worked 16-hour days to help create that prosperity or did nothing more than live off the taxpayers or depend on begging or crime to bring in a few bucks.

Apparently we owe them something just for gracing us with their presence, even if we feel that we could do without them quite well.

At the other end of the income scale, the rich are supposed to pay their "fair share" of taxes. But at neither end of the income scale is a "fair share" defined as a particular number or proportion, or in any other concrete way. It is just a political synonym for "more," dressed up in moralistic-sounding rhetoric. What "fair" really means is more arbitrary power for government.

Another word that shuts down thought is "access." People who fail to meet the standards for anything from college admission to a mortgage loan are often said to have been denied "access" or opportunity.

But equal access or equal opportunity is not the same as equal probability of success. Republicans are not denied an equal opportunity to vote in California, even though the chances of a Republican candidate actually getting elected in California are far less than the chances of a Democrat getting elected.

By the same token, if everyone is allowed to apply for college admission, or for a mortgage loan, and their applications are all judged by the same standards, then they have equal opportunity, even if the village idiot has a lower probability of getting into the Ivy League, and someone with a bad credit history is less likely to be lent money.

"Affordable" is another popular word that serves as a substitute for thought. To say that everyone is entitled to "affordable housing" is very different from saying that everyone should decide what kind of housing he or she can afford.

Government programs to promote "affordable housing" are programs to allow some people to decide what housing they want and force other people - taxpayers, landlords or whatever - to absorb a share of the cost of a decision that they had no voice in making.

More generally, making various things "affordable" in no way increases the amount of wealth in a society above what it would be when prices are "prohibitively expensive." On the contrary, price controls reduce incentives to produce.

None of this is rocket science. But if you don't stop and think, it doesn't matter whether you are a genius or a moron. Words that stop people from thinking reduce even smart people to the same level as morons.

Bill McMorris Hails Merit Matters & Quin Hillyer Lauds Chief Mannix and Merit Matters in Opposing Thomas Perez' Appointment

Thomas Perez


In the Washington Free Beacon Bill McMorris hailed Merit Matters and Chief Mannix for vigorously opposing the nomination of Thomas Perez (a passionate supporter of disparate impact) for Secretary of labor.

Read the entire piece Bill McMorris;

NYC Firefighters Fight Perez

Quota critics slam Obama labor nominee

BY: Bill McMorris
Monday, May 6^th, 2013

http://freebeacon.com/nyc-firefighters-fight-perez/

ALSO,

Quin Hillyer has lauded Chief Mannix (President of Merit Matters) for vigorously opposing the appointment of Thomas Perez to Labor Secretary. 

PLEASE read the full article here; http://cfif.org/v/freedom_line_blog/17864/firefighters-directly-oppose-tom-perez/

Three Letters Chronicling Our Own Dealings With the Development of Exam #2000....

The following is a series of letters sent by Deputy Chief Paul Mannix (President of Merit Matters) relating to the perception of a biased agenda on the part of those constituting the panel that was set to develop Exam #2000. Lt George Rodriguez (Sgt-at-Arms of Merit Matters) was dropped from that panel, ostensibly for his "links to Merit Matters," while Vulcan Society members were allowed to participate in that development panel. That clearly evinced an ethnically biased agenda on the part of that panel. These letters show that Merit Matters has been well aware of Thomas Perez for a long while.

Merit Matters Letter, January, 2011 Objecting to Lt. George Rodriguez (L-27) Being Dropped From a Panel Working on the Next FDNY Entry Test Because he Serves on the Board of Merit Matters

On January 19^th, 2011 FDNY Lt. George Rodriguez L-27 was notified that he was being dropped from a panel working on the next FDNY entry test because he serves as the Sergeant at Arms for Merit Matters, an advocacy group for NYC residents and firefighters. As well as we have been able to piece together, this action was taken because of concerns raised by the FDNY Vulcan Society (a fraternal group of black firefighters) and/or various advocates for them. Among those supposed concerns were that Merit Matters believes high standards should be maintained for FDNY hiring and that cognitive ability is important and should be tested for on the written entry test. We happily plead guilty to these charges. It was also curiously intimated that Lt. Rodriguez, who is Hispanic, might carry a bias against minorities.

We also agree with those mentioned above who argue that we have an agenda as well as a written track record of our positions. Our agenda can be summarized neatly: we want high standards applied and everyone treated equally (the 7,000 people who have signed a petition on our website apparently share this agenda). A good part of our written track record espousing this agenda can be found at the website:

www.meritmattersusa.blogspot.com

For those who wish to learn more about us, internet searches utilizing our names or “Merit Matters” will reveal more of our written track record, which we are happy to have analyzed. We are also available to be interviewed.

The presentation of these concerns by the Vulcan Society has opened the door for us to present our concerns regarding their involvement in the development of the test in question, and we can present numerous quotes, statements and positions (a written track record, if you will) of the Society and persons connected to it that will leave no doubt as to their agenda- an agenda we believe to be racist, dangerous and insulting to minorities.

We also have concerns regarding the participation in the test development of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and individuals assigned to the Division. Again, we can produce a written track record regarding a possible agenda of this Division, an agenda that is currently the subject of investigation by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives. The investigations concern the Division’s actions in connection with the New Black Panther Party case (a case that was dropped although a default judgment had already been obtained and penalties were being discussed) and other cases where it is alleged that decisions are being made on the basis of race. While everyone has presumed innocence, we believe that to avoid any conflict of interest and insure the integrity of the next test the participation of both the Vulcan Society and the Department of Justice should be carefully scrutinized to determine if that participation is prudent.

We are calling on the recipients of this letter to respond to us regarding our concerns; all necessary contact information will be provided at the end. We will make ourselves available to any and all investigating government agencies and media outlets as we believe the safety of New York City residents, visitors and firefighters is being placed at risk by both the concerns raised here and the ongoing lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice on behalf of the Vulcan Society.

Paul D. Mannix

President

Merit Matters

516-848-9847 cell

meritmatters@gmail.com

Chief Mannix’s Challenge of A Biased Agenda

February 4, 2011

On January 31^st, 2011 we forwarded a letter detailing how a Merit Matters Board member was removed from a panel working to develop the next FDNY entry exam solely because of his connection to our group. This action was taken because of concerns raised by the FDNY Vulcan Society, who complained that we support high standards and believe cognitive ability is important. It was also stated that the Board member in question, who is Hispanic, may have a bias against minorities.

These complaints, while curious, have nevertheless afforded us the opportunity to present our concerns regarding the participation of the Vulcan Society on the test panel. We raised this issue in the earlier letter but will get into specifics here. We will also present our specific concerns regarding the participation of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.

Leaders of the Vulcan Society have a long list of statements that we believe reveal a racist and dangerous attitude. The impression left is that they want hiring decisions made on the basis of race instead of competence, do not respect or understand the dangerous job that they themselves perform (as illogical as that sounds) and have no regard for the safety of either their fellow firefighters or the civilians we are sworn to protect.

FDNY Captain Paul Washington is the immediate past President of the Vulcan Society and currently is still very active; so active that it seems he is still the lead spokesman. Listed below are statements he has made about the issue of FDNY minority hiring (sources are noted on a bibliography forwarded with this letter):

“We are not averse to the most radical of methods (of integrating the FDNY)”.

“We just want more black firefighters on the job”.

“This fire department has been all white, lily white, for almost 150 years now. It has to end”. (This erroneous, inflammatory statement ignores that blacks comprised 7.7% of the FDNY following the 1 in 3 quota hiring implemented in the 1970s as noted in the New York Times 5/22/07)

“Mayor Bloomberg is a new version of George Wallace, who said, ‘Segregation now. Segregation tomorrow. Segregation forever’”. (This ignores the $20 million spent on recruitment and the numerous programs and initiatives established to integrate-not segregate- the FDNY)

(This ignores the $20 million spent on recruitment and the numerous programs and initiatives established to integrate-not segregate- the FDNY)

“The Fire Department has no incentive to (diversify), because fires eventually go out. It doesn’t matter who fights them”.

“There is some danger involved in the job but not nearly as much as people think”.

It is incredible, disheartening and enraging that an FDNY Company Commander, responsible for influencing both Junior and Senior firefighters as well as Lieutenants, would make the last two statements listed- but he did. Perhaps he is minimizing the dangers of the job in order to give cover to those who would minimize the standards for the job. This recklessness, when coupled with the attitude displayed in the other comments- an attitude not of demanding equal treatment or opportunity but one that instead advocates the “most radical” methods of hiring because the Vulcan Society “just want(s) more black firefighters on the job”- should, by any measure of safety, common sense and decency disqualify the Vulcan Society from any role in test development.

Paul Washington has also gone on the record regarding his opinion of tests, stating that FDNY promotion tests are “pretty fair” and allow black firefighters to advance; “the problem is getting in the front door” due to entry exams the Vulcan Society believes are biased.(7) I asked him in a published letter to explain how written tests for promotion don’t discriminate on the basis of race but those for entry do and am still waiting for a response. He also advocated that a candidate’s position on a hiring list should be determined “by a graded physical exam- which is color blind” in preference to a written test. (8) I asked him in the same letter to explain how physical exams are color blind but not written tests but have not received an answer to this question either.

Firefighter John Coombs, the current Vulcan President, has given voice to beliefs similar to Paul Washington. Among his statements:

9. Commenting on timed fire drills instituted during Fire Academy training that he contended were designed to weed out minorities, Coombs said, “We’re not timed in fires…(a)nd being timed doesn’t make you a better firefighter”. This display of either ignorance or imprudence reflects a need to read our firefighting procedures more carefully (although a large part of the lawsuit’s argument concerns the Vulcan contention that reading comprehension ability is not necessary to be a firefighter) for the possibility of ignorance or is an echo of Captain Washington’s recklessness in minimizing the dangers of firefighting for the possibility of imprudence.

10. Coombs has written that, “It is unfortunate that many believe firefighters are born. In fact, firefighters are trained, and during one’s career he or she actually gains the skills and knowledge of a firefighter”. This is true, but Coombs undermines his own belief by supporting the premise that reading comprehension ability is not important and by utilizing the argument that Merit Matters supports testing for cognitive ability as one of the reasons for removing one of its Board members from the test panel.

There are many other examples I can cite showing that the Vulcan Society leadership wants hiring (and no doubt promotion) decisions made on the basis of race; places their desire for more black firefighters ahead of the safety of civilians and firefighters of all races; and engages in duplicity and obfuscation to try to make the case that racism in the FDNY is systemic. There is, in fact, such a dearth of racism that they have to lie about the city’s efforts at integration and create false narratives out of incidents that have nothing to do with racism. Attorney General Eric Holder recently commented that we are a nation of cowards when it comes to race; we at Merit Matters, who advocate true equal treatment and opportunity for everyone, are eager to discuss this issue.

Mr. Holder, it turns out, figures prominently in this discussion. As stated early in this letter we also have concerns about his Department of Justice- specifically the Civil Rights Division and individuals assigned to it- and their involvement in the development of the test in question.

Our concerns are related to the ongoing investigations into the actions taken and decisions made in the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case as well as other cases in which it is being alleged by employees of the Division that decisions as to whether to prosecute or not were being made on the basis of race. We recognize that all are innocent until proven guilty but while these investigations are going on- they are being conducted by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives as well as the Department of Justice Inspector General and its Office of Professional Responsibility-the participation of the Civil Rights Division in an exercise so fraught with racial overtones does not seem prudent.

Two individuals assigned to the Division- Thomas E. Perez and Loretta King- are particularly concerning because of their involvement in both the New Black Panther Party case and the lawsuit against the FDNY. Mr. Perez is the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division and has appeared as a signatory on numerous court documents filed in the FDNY case, including #526 dated 9/9/10 which was the United States’ Response Supplementing The Special Master’s Report On Potential Interim Hiring Procedures. Mr. Perez’ sworn testimony that the decision to drop the New Black Panther Party case was not made by political appointees at Justice has been contradicted by a log of Justice Department documents.(11) Loretta King, who also signed this document as the Acting Chief of the Division, has received sanctions of hundreds of thousands of dollars by federal court judges for bringing unmeritorious cases and for failing to respond to court orders, including a sanction in January 2010 that specifically said her employer is not responsible for paying the costs (a very unusual action). (12)

Just as with the Vulcan Society, we can cite many more examples and sources supporting our claim that the Department of Justice personnel connected to the FDNY entry test development should be removed from the panel. Officials of the various agencies involved in this endeavor cannot ignore the concerns we have raised and those we are eager to still present and pretend they are concerned with avoiding conflicts of interest or insuring the integrity of the next test.

Paul D. Mannix

President

Merit Matters

516-848-9847 cell

meritmatters@gmail.com

Chief Mannix’s Third Letter Concerning the Flawed Development of Exam #2000

March 23, 2011

We forwarded a letter on January 31, 2011 raising our concerns about the involvement of the FDNY Vulcan Society and the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division in developing the next FDNY entry test. These concerns involve an agenda we believe to be racist and dangerous on the part of the Vulcans, and also the numerous ongoing investigations of the Civil Rights Division because of claims that decisions within that Division are being made on the basis of race. Special Master Mary Jo White responded on February 2, 2011 that she has noted our concerns but the Court has directed that these parties are to participate in the test development project (so, presumably, their participation is a fait accompli). We forwarded another letter dated February 4, 2011 in which we presented our concerns in a very specific manner (the first letter was more general) providing quotes, a bibliography and the four different entities who are investigating the Civil Rights Division.

On February 28, 2011 Document # 619-4 was filed with the title, “Plaintiff United States’ Revised Proposed Relief Order”. Section V, “Development of New Selection Procedure” 80 (b) reads, “(The Parties shall continue to develop this new selection procedure in accordance with the following guidelines): the development of the new selection procedure shall be guided by the professional judgment of the experts and shall not be constrained by specific determinations made before the development process began”. This document, an order of the Court signed by the presiding Judge in the case, makes it clear that the participation of the Vulcans and the Civil Rights Division in test development is not a fait accompli. We are calling for a re-evaluation of the participation of the experts representing these two groups in the test development process.

Document 619-4 also touches upon the subject of confidentiality. Section V 80 (g) reads, “the Parties shall hold meetings as directed by the Special Master to discuss progress on this joint project (development of the test). Unless otherwise agreed to by all parties, counsel for the Vulcan Society and the Vulcan Society’s expert shall keep confidential any information regarding such meetings”. This passage raises two questions:

Why are the Vulcan Society counsel and expert singled out while the other Parties are omitted?

Will our concerns about why the Vulcan Society prep course covered the very unusual questions that appeared on the last test (January 2007), when the city’s own prep course did not, now be investigated as we have called for?

I brought my concerns mentioned in the second question, along with a Timeline detailing the reasons for them, to the NYC Department of Investigation last fall. On November 12, 2010 I was interviewed under oath by two investigators from that agency. On December 3, 2010 I was notified by one of the investigators who had interviewed me (Matthew Brefort) that the case was being referred to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services. Following a series of phone calls and e-mails that began on February 2, 2011 I was told by Mitchell Paluszek of the DCAS Legal Division on March 7, 2011 that the issues I have raised are getting attention but it is doubtful that DCAS would be conducting an investigation about the prep course run by the Vulcans. We had not raised this issue in either of the first two letters so as not to interfere with any investigation that may take place; since it seems that both DOI and DCAS are curiously incurious about our valid and detailed concerns we are considering how to proceed on this matter.

I will end this letter the same way I ended the last one: Officials of the various agencies involved in this endeavor cannot ignore the concerns we have raised and those we are eager to still present and pretend they are concerned with avoiding conflicts of interest or insuring the integrity of the next test. We do not wish to unduly delay development of this test (although there is no guarantee it will produce results acceptable to the Court or the Department of Justice: the recent controversy surrounding the November 2010 Dayton, Ohio Police test revealed that this test, developed by a California based firm, resulted in fewer blacks passing than passed the Dayton internally developed exam in 2006) (1) but do wish to maintain standards for hiring and insure the integrity of the test.

As always, we are available to answer questions, provide context, explain circumstances and discuss the history of events surrounding the issue of FDNY hiring. All contact information is provided below.

Paul D. Mannix

President

Merit Matters

516-848-9847 cell

meritmatters@gmail.com

www.meritmattersusa.blogspot.com

(1) Dayton Daily News  March 6, 2011 (Lucas Sullivan 937-225-2494)

ALERT: Please READ Quin Hillyer's piece on Thomas Perez....

Thomas Perez - Champion of Disparate Impact

Quin Hillyer has written an excellent piece on why Thomas Perez’ nomination for Secretary of Labor should be blocked by the Senate.

Not only is Mr.Perez a champion of the fatally flawed disparate impact theory that played a large role in the mortgage crisis and the subsequent financial collapse of 2008, but he unethically sought to keep a challenge set to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, by the City of St. Paul Minnesota from being heard by the court.

According to the Wall Street Journal; “On February 3, 2012, Mr. Perez and his deputy, special counsel for fair lending Eric Halperin, met in St. Paul with Mayor Coleman, Deputy Mayor Paul Williams, City Attorney Grewing and Mr. Lillehaug. Our sources say that Mr. Lillehaug and Ms. Grewing told Congressional investigators that Mr. Perez talked about the importance of disparate impact, mentioned Mr. Mondale's concern and proposed another deal: Justice would decline to intervene in Newell (a false claims case), the city would withdraw its Supreme Court case, and then the feds would also decline to intervene in Ellis. The mayor agreed.

“On February 9, Justice filed a notice in federal court in Minnesota, declining to join Newell. On February 10, St. Paul moved to withdraw Magner from the Supreme Court and issued a press release that explained:

"The City of Saint Paul, national civil rights organizations, and legal scholars believe that, if Saint Paul prevails in the U.S. Supreme Court, such a result could completely eliminate 'disparate impact' civil rights enforcement, including under the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. This would undercut important and necessary civil rights cases throughout the nation. The risk of such an unfortunate outcome is the primary reason the city has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the petition."

(SEE: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324281004578356581889324790.html?dsk=y)

Quin Hillyer notes, in his piece, that; “...Perez himself admitted to the Justice Department Inspector General that he does not think voting rights laws are meant to protect white people (see citation at the 2:04 mark of this Lou Dobbs interview). He certainly ran a department where the idea of deliberately racially-weighted justice ran rampant.

“Willful misleading of Congress, multiple times: This wasn’t just a single case of confused testimony; it was repeated, deliberately false representation. The man is a serial prevaricator.

“Radical abuse of the heroic Fire Department of New York — to the detriment of public safety and of qualified black (!) applicants, too: This, to me, is the most explosive of all Perez’s outlandish actions: Even when public safety is of paramount importance, he has pushed the FDNY to hire applicants who miss as many as 70 percent (!) of questions on a fire academy entrance exam testing absolutely basic knowledge and ability. Even liberal Mayor Bloomberg is up in arms — and even the left-wing Village Voice devoted a whole cover story to how Perez’s actions helped lead to denial of jobs for black applicants who actually were qualified and did play by the rules. As I’ve reported numerous times, this is part of a widespread pattern of Perez abusing municipal police and fire departments for illegitimate, radically leftist ideological ends.

“Improper hiring practices: Even though the Inspector General found no hard evidence of law-breaking, the IG report left no doubt — as had been reported earlier even by the New York Times — that under Perez, the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice deliberately skewed the hiring practices of “career” employees to completely shut out anybody without leftist views. Reported the Times: “During the first two Obama years, none of the new hires listed conservative organizations, while more than 60 percent had liberal credentials.” (Of course, the real story is even worse than the NYT portrayed — as reported here.) When the Bush Justice Department took political considerations into account — to far less skewed eventual results than Perez achieved — the establishment media breathlessly treated it as a major scandal.”

“Attempted trampling on religious liberty: It is extraordinarily rare for an administration to be so thoroughly smacked down by a unanimous (!) Supreme Court in a major First Amendment case as the Obama administration was in the Hosanna-Tabor case, a “ministerial” hiring dispute. Perez approved the brief that all nine justices ruled took a stance hostile to our “first freedom.”

We, at Merit Matters have long been aware of Mr. Perez’ litany of abuses.  We encourage ALL to read Quin Hillyer’s article for themselves: (SEE: http://spectator.org/archives/2013/04/23/perez-abomination-grows/print)

JMK

Are We Equal?....by Dr. Walter E Williams

This is a GREAT article by Professor Walter E. Williams that makes the point that Merit Matters is based upon - that both individuals and groups differ in both interests and abilities and that people gravitate to the jobs they hold an interest and aptitude in. Therefor disparities between individuals and groups are quite natural and to be expected.

By Walter E. Williams

Wednesday, March 27^th, 2013

http://www.creators.com/opinion/walter-williams/are-we-equal.html

Are women equal to men? Are Jews equal to gentiles? Are blacks equal to Italians, Irish, Polish and other white people? The answer is probably a big fat no, and the pretense or assumption that we are equal - or should be equal - is foolhardy and creates mischief. Let's look at it.

Male geniuses outnumber female geniuses 7-to-1. Female intelligence is packed much closer to the middle of the bell curve, whereas men's intelligence has far greater variability. That means that though there are many more male geniuses, there are also many more male idiots. The latter might partially explain why more men are in jail than women.

Watch any Saturday afternoon college basketball game and ask yourself the question fixated in the minds of liberals everywhere: "Does this look like America?" Among the 10 players on the court, at best there might be two white players. If you want to see the team's white players, you must look at the bench. A Japanese or Chinese player is close to being totally out of the picture, even on the bench.

Professional basketball isn't much better, with 80 percent of the players being black, but at least there's a Chinese player. Professional football isn't much better, with blacks being 65 percent. In both sports, blacks are among the highest-paid players and have the highest number of awards for excellence. Blacks who trace their ancestry to West Africa, including black Americans, hold more than 95 percent of the top times in sprinting.

By contrast, blacks are only 2 percent of the NHL's ice hockey players. But don't fret about black NHL underrepresentation. State underrepresentation is worse. Most U.S. professional hockey players were born in Minnesota, followed by Massachusetts. Not a single U.S. professional hockey player can boast of having been born and raised in Hawaii, Mississippi or Louisiana. Any way we cut it, there is simply no racial proportionality or diversity in professional basketball, football and hockey.

A more emotionally charged question is whether we have equal intelligence. Take Jews, for example. They are only 3 percent of the U.S. population. Half-baked theories of racial proportionality would predict that 3 percent of U.S. Nobel laureates are Jews, but that's way off the mark. Jews constitute a whopping 39 percent of American Nobel Prize winners. At the international level, the disparity is worse. Jews are not even 1 percent of the world's population, but they constitute 20 percent of the world's Nobel Prize winners.

There are many other inequalities and disproportionalities. Asian-Americans routinely score the highest on the math portion of the SAT, whereas blacks score the lowest. Men are 50 percent of the population, and so are women; yet men are struck by lightning six times as often as women. I'm personally wondering what whoever is in charge of lightning has against men. Population statistics for South Dakota, Iowa, Maine, Montana and Vermont show that not even 1 percent of their respective populations is black. By contrast, in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, blacks are over-represented in terms of their percentages in the general population. Pima Indians of Arizona have the world's highest known diabetes rates. Prostate cancer is nearly twice as common among black men as white men. Cervical cancer rates are five times higher among Vietnamese women in the U.S. than among white women.

Soft-minded and sloppy-thinking academics, lawyers and judges harbor the silly notion that but for the fact of discrimination, we'd be proportionately distributed by race across incomes, education, occupations and other outcomes. There is absolutely no evidence anywhere, at any time, that proportionality is the norm anywhere on earth; however, much of our thinking, many of our laws and much of our public policy are based upon proportionality's being the norm. Maybe this vision is held because people believe that equality in fact is necessary for equality before the law. But the only requirement for equality before the law is that one is a human being.

Walter E. Williams;

Dr. Williams serves on the faculty of George Mason University as John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics and is the author of 'Race and Economics: How Much Can Be Blamed on Discrimination?' and 'Up from the Projects: An Autobiography.'
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H/T to Stuart Gang: "Stuart Gang was born and raised in the Bronx, where he spent most of his career in the NYPD, before retiring at the rank of lieutenant.  He was the 1996 president of the Shomrim Society, the department's Jewish fraternal organization."

Tweets, Twits and Twaddle

Merit Matters Press Release

Sunday, April 7th, 2013

Supporters, observers and even critics of Merit Matters know that we do not have to make the statement in the following paragraph. However, we will do so anyway because history has shown that Vulcan leaders and supporters will likely say that we are making excuses for or support the positions espoused in the vile tweets recently exposed by the media. So here it is, in bold font...

Merit Matters condemns the racist, derogatory and offensive beliefs, opinions and positions contained in the tweets (or any other form of communication) sent out by members of EMS, or any similar messages sent by anyone that may come to light in the future, that were recently highlighted in the media. We also condemn anyone holding such beliefs, opinions and positions.

Predictably, all reasonable people were repulsed by the racist and sexist content revealed in the tweets. Predictably, the Vulcan Society reacted by seizing on the comments of, initially, one individual as a chance to indict and denigrate an entire group of people (FDNY firefighters) because of the actions of EMS workers (who are not firefighters). Predictably, they also claimed that, “It’s easy to understand that these types of attitudes are pervasive throughout the FDNY”. This is a statement that echoes earlier claims they have made that there is racism in the FDNY from top to bottom - statements that may place them in legal jeopardy, as will be explained later.

Predictably, we are responding.

A pattern has emerged in our society in recent decades based on the premise that you should never let a crisis go to waste because it allows you to do things you otherwise could not do. Accordingly, whenever a discriminatory practice is exposed or an inappropriate comment is made or a legal argument is successfully presented, leverage is provided to an aggrieved person or group. This leverage is then applied to force unfettered and often harmful changes or concessions, programs or initiatives.

Merit Matters supports and celebrates when discriminatory practices, agencies, institutions or people are revealed and forced to change, or to pay a price for repugnant behavior. The leverage provided, properly applied, is a big reason for the monumental and positive civil rights changes that have occurred in society in the past few decades.

The tweets sent out by twits (terms that do not properly reflect the seriousness of the issue or the actions of the offenders) do not prove that these types of attitudes are pervasive throughout the FDNY, or that they are indicative of a systemic problem. Therefore, no leverage should be claimed by or granted to the Vulcan Society in their continuous effort to impose discriminatory hiring practices.

Vulcan President John Coombs, in an attempt to seize on the overwhelming public outrage at the blatantly racist remarks, stated that this issue proves that racism is not only “embedded, it is accepted”. That’s right – he actually said that the actions of one, lone 23 year old EMT less than 3 months out of the EMS Academy “proves” that racism is rampant among firefighters. All current or retired firefighters and their families should be outraged at this racist, absurd and buffoonish statement and should make their outrage known in the media, to their elected officials and to the FDNY Administration itself.

The Commissioner’s son was forced to resign; a week later an EMS Lieutenant was suspended without pay for 30 days and will likely face a Herculean effort to fire him upon completion of that suspension. In addition, investigators are searching for similar postings made by FDNY employees in order to address them.

How does this signal that racism is embedded, John?

How does it signal acceptance?

These immediate disciplinary actions signal quite the opposite, and the knee-jerk reaction of John Coombs to denigrate an entire group just may signal something else - his prejudice. In the past few days two Hispanic EMS members have gotten themselves into trouble; does John Coombs believe all Hispanics act as these two are accused of acting?

For two decades now I have detailed and presented the massive effort made by NYC and the FDNY to integrate the FDNY, an effort going back at least to the 1980s. This effort was usually led and staffed by minority and female FDNY employees, so any criticism that it was not genuine or effective must land at their feet. Vulcan President Emeritus Paul Washington was even offered the chance to command the Recruitment Unit, but took a pass. Incredibly, he doesn’t believe he should now take a pass on criticizing the efforts of that Unit even though when it was his time to step up, he stepped back.

Commissioner Salvatore Cassano not only supported this massive effort, he made the integration of the FDNY one of his signature initiatives – in fact, we have been critical of his Administration because we believe many times the effort entered the sphere of preferential treatment based on race or gender. A few of the many examples: The United Women Firefighters were allowed to use FDNY facilities for a CPAT orientation class that excluded males; officials of groups that openly advocate discrimination in hiring based on race and gender have been allowed to continue teaching EEO classes; First Amendment rights have been attacked (but successfully defended) because Merit Matters t-shirts, flyers and Releases advocate the premise that hiring decisions should be made without regard to race, gender etc. (which echoes the EEO Policy Statement, although the Policy seems to be routinely ignored by the EEO Unit) and we utilize easily verified facts and figures to support our positions, making it impossible for our opponents to refute our points. They demanded censorship instead and the Commissioner acquiesced.

The Commissioner has also kept us at arm’s length, refusing and/or directing his subordinates to ignore our numerous offers of help. Merit Matters has made our expertise and understanding of the facts of this issue (as well as the legal advice of our law firm, Sullivan and Galleshaw) available many, many times (and whether you agree with us or not, no credible person can say we don’t understand or have a good grasp of the facts of this issue) and always on our own time at no expense to the taxpayers. Each offer has been rejected.

In contrast, the Commissioner has been extremely solicitous of the Vulcan Society, and its members have cost the taxpayers a mountain of Recruitment and other types of overtime. When a black Firefighter disobeyed orders to stay away while Barack Obama was having lunch at his firehouse – an order that was given to every Firefighter not working that day – no discipline was applied although the event was widely reported. Two black Lieutenants are currently serving as Senior Mentors in the Firefighter Mentorship Program although they and the Vulcan Society are the subjects of a NYC Human Rights Commission complaint that they intentionally discriminated against white Candidates by turning them away from a preparatory class because of their race. EMS Union President Israel Miranda’s quote about Commissioner Cassano reflects my opinion of him perfectly: “We have our problems and we don’t see eye to eye on many issues, but he’s a good man and he’s not a racist”.

What has all this and more done on behalf of integration gotten him? It got him thrown under the Vulcan bus...without hesitation and immediately. The story was first reported on the morning of Monday, March 18^th. By that afternoon Vulcan leaders were saying:

“One must wonder where Joseph Cassano, who apparently lives with his father, developed these shameful attitudes”.

“Our Commissioner, if I recall, said not that long ago that he had never been exposed to nor witnessed racism or racist practices in the Fire Department in his 40 years. Well, that lends (sic) to a question: I wonder where the younger Cassano got such thinking from? I wonder where he found the courage to tweet what he tweeted, who made comments about people who he was supposedly serving”?

Implied by the above quotes is the assertion that Joseph Cassano was taught to be a racist by his father...a man who has bent over backwards (too far in  many instances) to integrate the FDNY and who has, again, been extremely solicitous of the Vulcans. This should be fair warning for others who think they are banking good will with this group.

One Vulcan lawyer was even quicker with a knife to the Commissioner’s back. Richard Levy sent an e-mail early on Monday March 18^th – before Joseph Cassano had even resigned - stating:

“I suppose one shouldn’t visit the sins of the son upon the parent, but as John (sic) lives at home with his father the FDNY commissioner you can’t help wondering about the influence of that home on his disgracefully racist views”.

These pathetic attempts at seizing the moment and using this as leverage to garner support for their “cause” should embarrass them.

The firefighter son of a Vulcan official has had numerous brushes with the law in the past few years, one of them apparently for a particularly abhorrent act. Are we to wonder if he was taught to break the law by his father? According to someone who passed the bar exam and works for the Vulcans, yes. According to the simple fireman who is President of Merit Matters, no. Then again, I’m just a fireman.

Regarding this lawyer (and the others who advocate on behalf of the Vulcans) ... maybe they can help me. I mentioned that the Vulcans may have placed themselves in legal jeopardy; consider these quotes of Vulcan leaders since we became aware of the vile tweets:

The tweets are “just one more episode in the long history of racism within the FDNY”.

“It’s easy to understand that these types of attitudes are pervasive throughout the FDNY”.

Joseph Cassano’s Twitter posts were indicative of a systemic problem and “proof” of the type of issues raised in the lawsuit.

“Not only is it (racism) embedded, it is accepted”.

“This is in no way an isolated incident. It’s not limited to one or several people, it is a practice that has taken place for all too long”.

Commenting on what they refer to as a larger problem of institutional racism: “The department right now is not having a grip on it, and the public right now is viewing things in the department that have not been exposed, especially when you’re talking about race and gender”.

“That kind of crude, blatant racism (wearing Nazi paraphernalia) is receding in America and in the Fire Department to some extent. But the institutional racism is extremely pervasive and it’s much worse”.

The beliefs revealed in these comments have long been held by Vulcan officials; similar comments indicating that there is racism in the FDNY from top to bottom have been made for years. John Coombs even accused the FDNY of killing a black Probationary Firefighter a few years ago. With this in mind, consider what was said, under oath, in Federal Court in August of 2011:

Paul Washington said the FDNY was a great job and that his firefighter father loved it. He indicated he derives a great deal of personal satisfaction from being a firefighter and explained his decision not to retire when he had 20 years on like this: “I love the job”.

Michael Marshall, a Lieutenant who is Vulcan Vice-President, informed the Court that he has almost 30 years on the FDNY and that his son had 6 years on. This indicates that not only does he like the job, he even recommended it to his son.

Rusebell Wilson, a named Plaintiff-Intervenor in the lawsuit and black firefighter, said of the firehouse: “It’s like being at home”.

Candido Nunez, another named Plaintiff-Intervenor in the lawsuit who self-identified as a black African-American (although he was born in Honduras) who speaks Spanish (you read all that correctly; I wonder if Judge Garaufis will question this racial representation?) testified that the FDNY is the greatest job, that his co-workers are a family and a Brotherhood, and that he has never faced discrimination anywhere in the FDNY.

Hmmm...I’m confused. What could explain these wildly divergent and contradictory claims, statements and actions - this twaddle (foolish speech or writing)? Could it be money?

It may well be (after all, in September 2010 Mr. Levy formally requested that the Vulcans be given an “incentive award” consisting of taxpayer dollars to compensate them for pursuing the lawsuit and “championing” the cause). This is from a notice sent out by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of NY:

“Black applicants may also receive compensatory damages (which are separate from backpay) for the lost enjoyment and job satisfaction of working as an FDNY firefighter”. These extra compensatory damages are available to black applicants only, not Hispanic (which may explain why someone named “Candido Nunez” born in Honduras who speaks Spanish has self-identified as a black African-American). Imagine that! Blacks only!

But...how can blacks claim compensation for lost enjoyment and job satisfaction when the Vulcan leaders are on record saying the things they’ve said? Remember:

“…long history of racism...pervasive...systemic...embedded...accepted...taken place for all too long...institutional racism...top to bottom...”

When were the lies spoken? Under oath in 2011, or currently and stretching back over many years? In other words, is the FDNY a boiling, festering cesspool of racism or is it a job Vulcan President Emeritus Washington and his father love? Does this constitute fraud? I have provided motive; will investigators provide moxie? Will this be considered and investigated by agencies with authority to do so?

If so I, as always, stand ready and eager to help.

Paul Mannix

President - Merit Matters

516-848-9847 cell