Open Thread (7/9/2008)

Admissions policies - Grrrr!

radio reports that the accident on west-bound I-74 this morning was caused by a driver using the turn-around to head back east.

I witnessed the same move last night when I was heading home.  The driver gets in the left lane, throws on the blinker, and procedes to slow way down to make the turn.  The driving situation is complicated by the cars entering 74 from 57 south, so other cars are moving to the left lane to make room.

be cautious if you drive thru there this week

thanks for that link, anon

check out more of the report from the auditing firm (page 15 of the pdf), which notes about the nursing home that AP items are not recorded in the correct accounting period and that cash receipts are being recognized earlier than is normal for all other county departments.  Both actions make the situation at the nursing home look better than it actually is.

I again say that the source of such accounting practices needs to be discovered.  There may be an innocent explanation, and there may not.

I just wanted to thank Senator Obama for voting for the FISA bill and keeping America safe. Obama even went further then I thought he would and gave immunity to those big Telecom’s so they would not face big lawsuits. I was really surprised since I thought only a few months ago he had said he was dead set against the FISA bill. Of course a few months ago he was running against Hillary. I wonder what he will do once he is in office and doesn’t have to worry about other candidates and the voters, maybe he doesn’t know either. 

RSWB:

Wow, whoever wrote the subheadline for the NRO took their stereotyping pills this morning, "Natural Abilities" help us Asians? That's news to me.

RSWB:

Wow, whoever wrote the subheadline for the NRO took their stereotyping pills this morning, "Natural Abilities" help us Asians?

Xian, I think you are being a bit oversensative.  Think individual Asian, not Asians as a group, and it reads much better.

So you are upset that the NRO is contending that some Asian students have above-average IQ's?  These are kids trying to get into Ivy League schools or elite private high schools.  She ends the article with:

How dare we complain about the accomplishments of highly successful people? How dare we put limits on their success? It is one of the deepest shames of this country that we judge people by anything other than merit.

Would you feel better if they didn't mention natural ability, and instead only referenced hard work?

So you are upset that the NRO is contending that some Asian students have above-average IQ's?  These are kids trying to get into Ivy League schools or elite private high schools.  She ends the article with:

They are not contending that "some Asian students have above-average IQ's"--that's obvious--some of any group have above average IQs. I am upset with a direct application of the archaic "model minority myth".

Would you feel better if they didn't mention natural ability, and instead only referenced hard work?

Well, if they were drawing conclusions that we directly from the data instead of just stereotyping toward conclusions, then that would be better. But it's the eugenics crap like the previous post that bothers me.

Notice she even goes so far to invoke the "outsider" stereotype of Asian Americans. While it is a population that has almost doubled in the last generation, it gets frustrating for those of us whose families have been in the U.S. for six generations.

No, it's not. It's an article by someone who could give a rat's ass about the vast majority of discrimination toward Asian Americans and decided to take up the mantle on a single issue because it's useful for pushing her own polemics. In doing so, she chooses to trot out a long ago refuted racist stereotype and give it another go. She can't even stay in character in her vile piece, instead dropping into eugenics while she is trying to appear color blind.

That's not something I celebrate, and only someone who has never spent anytime studying Asian American history or politics would.

And if people really believed in judging people on their merits, perhaps they would consider weighing the experiences and histories of people equally regardless of their ethnicity. It's hard to judge merit when you have no understanding of the context of your subject's performance.

Ha, I'm accused of being a cynic--there's a first for everything. Pure ignorance on a topic is not the same as naivete.

If you are actually interested in learning and not doing a hit-and-run on my identity, consider this link. It's to a relatively moderate Asian American site's discussion of the model minority myth. They are actually more conservative than many of the outspoken members of the community, but a very credible source.