godlessmath

Well said Loren.

Pee Pee Poodle

Skeptictank

You don't seriously believe Rice and Powell were picked because they are black?! Rice is a PhD, was provost of Stanford, and coached Bush on international affairs through the campaign. She has extensive qualifications and has a brilliant mind.
Powell, a former General and CHAIRMAN of the JCS under Bush I is very experienced, has enormous political capital abroad and is hugely popular here in the US among broad segments of society. Both Rice and Powell being black is incidental to their qualifications.
You may disagree with him or say he recieved AA action from his legacy status, but he is not a hypocrite on this one.

elwoodblues

I see. Can't win for losing.

Situation 1: Bush appoints an all-white or nearly all-white committee. Ah, well, it's obvious he's a racist asshole.

Situation 2: Bush appoints a well-mixed committee full of qualified individuals. Ah, well, it's obvious he's only doing so to cover his ass, because he's really a racist asshole.

Situation 3: Bush appoints more blacks to the committee than any president before. Ah, well, it's obvious that he's trying to just garner good-will from minorities, because he's really a racist asshole.

Amazing the conclusions you come to when you've made up your mind ahead of time.

beyelzu

i am making a new post on just affirmative action in colleges.

Jimmy Higgins

Oh blow elwood. Have you ever been wrong?

Its this simple. Rice and Powell are extremely qualified for their jobs, however, do you think that there wasn't a white person who was capable of taking these positions? These two have been used by the right since Reagan. The fact that you aren't seeing any other races is very telling of this. Since Reagan, you'd think they'd have more color than all the white people they have in the cabinent, wouldn't you? If Powell wasn't black, he wouldn't be where he is today, and that is a fact!

Kinross

Affirmative action is discrimination no matter how you cut it. You are giving preferential treatment to an individual based upon race. No matter what race it is it is discrimination. Admissions into a public college should be solely based upon merit. In the very rare instance where two people have equal merit the decision should be random chance, either first come first served or the flip of a coin.

The problem of unequal pre-college education is a completely different problem issue. There are other ways to solve this problem than through affirmative action. Solve the problem at hand, don�t clump different problems into one encompassing solution.

cheetah

WHAT? A completely different issue? no way, it is TOTALLY a precursor to the EXACT issue we are talking about and to say it shoudl be dealt with separately is to leave those kids that are trying but do not have resources, to the dogs. They DO need to be addressed contemporanously (sp?) to adequately address the issue of equal access to education, which is what affirmative action does a bad job of addressing.

elwoodblues

I think it's great that you have these magical powers that allow you to see into this alternate universe where Colin Powell isn't black.

I agree. Not tying education spending to local property taxes would be a wonderful start.