John Boehner

[Mike_Rupp]

Regardless of what that law says, there is racial bias in academic admissions. A while ago, I applied for a graduate program at an extremely prestigious school in the Midwest. I had an interview with a current student instead of a faculty member. When the interview was winding up, the interviewer told me that it was unlikely that I would be accepted. He said my undergrad gpa and GMAT score were in the range, but I was applying at that last admission period of the rolling admission process. He said that during the last period, the admissions director would typically shape the demographics of the upcoming class.

Basically since I was a white male I had no chance. Rather than wait for the next year to try again I just went to my second choice.

I'm sure that my story is not unique.

 

[knewsom]

Sounds to me like if you had applied earlier you would've gotten in. Again, this doesn't mean the people they took instead of you weren't as qualified as you are.

 

[DiscoJen]

Poor naive Knewsom.

My girlfriend is the director of a new social program in her company. She was told that she had to hire a minority and a male (in her field males are very much a minority.) One of the hiring requirements per their grant was that the person also be a master level degree holder in that field. To meet their "other" requirement they ended up lowering their minimum education requirements by hiring a bachelor level person who was a male minority. They threw out applications that were from crackers.

So yes, not only is there discrimination but unqualified applicants are also hired over more qualified folks.

In December, I had to fire someone and turn around and hire someone else that has been with us for a while to meet such an affirmative action requirement for a specific city government financed contract we are working on. Luckily, the new guy that we hired is very capable.

It happens more often than you think Knewsom.

 

[apg]

I suppose you'd rather have a president who went to college here?

See if you can name the "scholar" that attended these schools: University of Hilo; Hawaii Pacific College; North Idaho Community College; University of Idaho; Matanuska-Susitna Community College, University of Idaho. A total of 9 semesters, 2 or 3 declared majors, and we all know how easily credits transfer from one institution to another....

 

[stu454]

Kris,

You boggle my mind.

......What I DO know is that most accusations to the contrary were politically and/or racially motivated, greatly harming their credibility.....

Dude, affirmative action is nothing but racially motivated. To use 'racially motivated' as a swipe against those whites who were discriminated against is so far past absurd that it's ridiculous.

 

[MarkP]

Keep in mind that Knewsom also believes CA doesn't use coal for electricity, that they have moved away from coal as an energy source.

This view of the world fits very well with the perception that there is no discrimination or favoritism under affirmative action.

This is the same mentality that thought the 1993 Fed decision / policy that determined traditional lending criteria like income, credit history, etc. were 'outdated'.

I know Knewsom is younger than me so I'm assuming his brain hasn't fully developed yet.

 

[brian4d]

All that being said, if the son of a Irish and German imegrant living in a two bedroom house with 11 siblings picking up loose change in a dive bar and ending up Speaker of the house isn't chasing the American dream I don't know what is.

 

[knewsom]

You guys totally missed my point. Whether you agree with his politics or not, you cannot deny that Obama's life story is an incredible one, the very essence of the American Dream. I can certainly agree apart from the rest of my feelings regarding Speaker Boehner, that his life story is also compelling and "American Dreamy". In fact, it makes him MORE dangerous, because so many people can "see themselves in him".

I'm not saying that Affirmative Action was fair, and that under-qualified applicants were never hired because of it (especially depending on the MANY different iterations it took), what I'm saying is that it was created to compensate for preferential treatment of whites, it was never intended to give minorities an unfair advantage, regardless of what happened in some instances. I'm not in favor of AA myself, especially because people will always use it to deride the accomplishments of minorities, like Mark did earlier in this thread. What President Obama has accomplished in his life is INCREDIBLE, there is simply no denying that.

 

[roverMc]

Mike - I keep hearing accusations that Obama is a Marxist, and also that he's a corporate shill... those two really aren't compatible.[/quote]

He's bipolar.

 

[MarkP]

I will agree that Obama has a charismatic personality but he has yet to show that he is exceptional beyond that. As pointed out in the article he was not a distinguished student, clearly less that a 3.3 gpa (not on honors roll, which is just list of students at 3.3 and above). If he was close to 3.3 he would have released his transcripts, which he hasn't. His speaking/communications skills are clearly sub-par (teleprompter). Which brings up why was he was admitted to Harvard? It clearly wasn't on academic performance. If it wasn't academic the only other answer would be AA.

He career is a reflection of someone using a charismatic personality, the community organizer.

In summary I used data to arrive at this conclusion. I didn't deride HIS accomplishments, I'm simply saying your expressing an emotional response by stating Obama's life is "INCREDIBLE". So far his presidential track record mirrors his private life accomplishments, mediocre.

As for Boehner, we will know who he is by March. His past is meaningless. His career will be defined by how he manages the request by Obama to raise the debt ceiling.

 

[knewsom]

From your article: "He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School (the second highest honor available) in 1991. He also was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, a very prestigious honor."

Regardless of what his actual GPA was as an undergrad (which we don't know what it was since it is not a matter of public record), we do know that at some point during his education he turned his academic performance around decidedly, coinciding with his decision to stop using drugs. This tells me that his early performance probably dropped his GPA down considerably, but that significant improvement probably spoke volumes to the Harvard admissions board.

There is absolutely nothing about the man's accomplishments in life that says "mediocre".

 

[DiscoJen]

In fact, it makes him MORE dangerous, because so many people can "see themselves in him".

So that makes Boehner dangerous...yet you imply that all of the lemmings that "see themselves" in Obama is not dangerous? It's great that Obama came from a perceived "middle class" background, but it's bad news that Boehner did? It is human nature to relate to people that we see pieces of ourselves in, but it's the work of the devil if it happens to be a conservative public figure. You are a fucking walking, breathing dichotomy. But I still like your leftie ass for some damn reason.

The American public has spoken. Now it is time to watch with a critical eye to see if they really heard us. We have no choice but to do so for another 2 years. I'm gonna give the guy a chance and I don't give a damn whether he cries or not. Hell, I still cry when I watch Deep Impact and the wave washes over Tea Leoni and her dad. Oh god, I'm gettin' all teary just thinking about it. :sniff:

 

[knewsom]

Oh hell, Obama's dangerous as fuck... and if he could cry on cue, that man could rule the fuckin' world... If I implied that I thought otherwise because I said his life was remarkable, then I was not clear enough.

...and I like ya too, Jen.

 

[MarkP]

Knewsom, I have a bridge for sale .......

You speak as if it is an ideal world, where laws, rules and requirements are followed blindly. A world of gods, not men. The reality is:

The Real Obama

.....This general attitude regarding Obama is even more remarkable given how well he performed at Harvard Law School. Obama graduated there in 1991. As many people know, he was president of the Harvard Law Review. This accomplishment, for those who know how such things work, was easy to minimize. Generally, you earned admission to the Law Review because of a distinguished academic performance in your first year. But there were some members who got on the Law Review because they wrote good essays as part of their application process and in spite of mediocre grades. A notable subset of this latter category was minority students; a politically correct institution, the Law Review cared about diversity in its ranks.

This was an unacknowledged form of affirmative action......​

Which begs the question, who wrote Obama's essay for his application? We already know his prior writings were not of his pen.

In any case, the world views Obama as a mediocre president, by his performance, not the marketing of the man. The question before us; is Boehner up to the task of Speaker of the House which originates spending bills as the country runs a $2.3T/yr deficit. We shall know by March.

 

[MarkP]

Good discussion on the day JP Morgan assumes the role as Obama's Chief of Staff.

 

[knewsom]

Good discussion on the day JP Morgan assumes the role as Obama's Chief of Staff.

Funny thing for a marxist to do...

It's obviously not an ideal world, but the amount of times a minority receives preferential treatment compared with the amount of times it goes the other way is not a topic anyone can claim certainty of.

 

[p m]

Funny thing for a marxist to do...

I should probably quote a common russian saying from my childhood -
three qualities - honesty, bright mind, and marxist ideology cannot coexist in one person. Any two, but never all three.
I have never met a dumb communist in my life. All I've ever met joined the ranks for purely career reasons. Many of them soldiered on after the demise of Soviet Union as businesspeople and managers - some of them were ambitious enough to get into politics (Khodorkovsky comes to mind).
In short... there isn't a thing too dirty for a [smart] marxist/communist to do.