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The Spectacle Blog
This should be a huge scandal. Even a decade past 9/11, few groups in the country enjoy the respect that the Fire Department of New York does. See what the Obama DoJ is doing to the FDNY, even AFTER Ricci v. DeStefano should have put this sort of thing off-limits. Heavily edited, this still gives the flavor of it:
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s obsession with racial grievance-mongering could get Americans burnt to a crisp in their own homes. That’s because his Justice Department is trying to force the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) to hire flunkies who got 70 percent wrong on a basic, fire-related multiple-choice, open-book test. The exam was used to screen applicants to the fire academy. More than 90 percent of black and Hispanic test-takers passed, which isn’t enough for liberals addicted to affirmative action…. On Feb. 28, Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, submitted a proposed order for damages for rejected applicants who scored 25 or higher on the 85-question exams. New York’s taxpayers would be forced to pay compensation to the flunkies to make up for years of seniority supposedly lost when the city chose not to hire them. Minority rejects also would receive seniority over firemen who had been working all the while.
Here’s a good quote that sums it up nicely: “[This order] would serve well as comic relief if the stakes weren’t so high, and is a good example to support the contention that the Plaintiffs are apparently not concerned with the safety of NYC residents, visitors or firefighters,” wrote deputy fire chief Paul Mannix, president of Merit Matters, an advocacy group opposed to weakening entrance exams.
The earlier news on this was almost as disturbing:
The lead Justice Department attorney in the FDNY case is Loretta King, who ordered the dismissal of most voter-intimidation charges against Black Panthers in Philadelphia and who is hip-deep in other race-based legal controversies. On Sept. 30, she wrote a memo to Judge Garaufis pitching four proposals to require “representative” or “proportional” quotas. Ms. King glosses over the professional challenges of firefighting to focus on whether minorities feel “stigmatized” or if black firefighters could further their “sense of fairness in their place of employment” if surrounded by more workers of their own race. Firemen should be hired for ability, not racial bean-counting. The judge’s fiat, wrote Manhattan Institute Fellow Heather MacDonald in the City Journal, “was not just groundless, it was recklessly inflammatory.” The heroic FDNY doesn’t deserve to have its operations so inflamed.
Fire departments are there for our safety. A job at a fire department is a responsibility for brave and noble people, not a right for slackers. This abomination by the DoJ and Judge Garaufis must be stopped.
View all comments (25) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Quin Hillyer
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/03/07/obamaholder-doj-attacks-new-yo
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Patrick | 3.7.11 @ 10:44PM
I wish this shocked me, but it does not.
Patriot| 3.8.11 @ 1:46AM
Marxists don't give a damn about others; it's always all about ideology with them. They are a nasty sort who live their lives full of rage.
grant1863| 3.8.11 @ 9:11AM
I thought it was also about getting a check without actually having to do anything. Oh and and medical care and a pension
Patriot| 3.8.11 @ 2:46PM
Not for rich Marxists like Obama and his corrupt cronies.
Will| 3.8.11 @ 6:04AM
Like Patrick, I'm not surprised by this. What troubles me is not that these creeps will try this ploy, or any other desperate measure to dumb down the system, but that we have not seen Senate hearings on these matters, as of yet.
Bob K.| 3.8.11 @ 7:21AM
You won't see any Senate hearings either. It would require too many displays of disapproval and outrage from the Democrats in order to pass muster in their home states! Better to sweep it under the rug.
Pelligrino| 3.8.11 @ 9:28AM
Why does everyone pass tests nowadays? Why are tests "open book?"
If you think this is limited to public sector fire departments or police squads, no, not at all. It is the same in the US military. Certainly in the US Army. Testing occurs at various junctures in a career. But are the tests or exams challenging? Goodness no!
I thought it used to be a matter of professional pride for an institution to boast about how its pass-fail rates were brutal. What's happened?
creeper| 3.8.11 @ 9:54AM
This is just another method of redistributing the wealth. For the classic case, see the aptly-named Pigford.
Deborah D | 3.8.11 @ 10:01AM
Good grief. This woman just keeps popping up constantly in grievance mode. Is this the conversation on race our current president had in mind? "Conversation" to him means -- you, shut up and listen while we "fundamentally transform the United States of America" one big piece and one little piece at a time.
Then there was Holder calling Americans "cowards" on race. Well, perhaps we should get some courage and call BS on his Justice Department. What kind of courage is he displaying by pushing the NYFD around?
Rules, laws, traditions, safety of Americans... nothing is more important than ideology and sticking it to white Americans. That's the takeaway here.
Remember Tanasha from yesterday's posts about unemployed men? Sheer hatred of men and whites was evident in her comments. Is that the mindset running the country now?
Akaky| 3.8.11 @ 1:47PM
Deborah, there is no NYFD. The organization charged with protecting New York City from fire is the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) and has been since its organization in 1865. ;-)
capper | 3.8.11 @ 10:01AM
White people just need to shut up and deal with it.
Akaky| 3.8.11 @ 1:44PM
very true, capper, and the next time you're in the city and you need a fireman who knows his business and instead you get an affirmative action hire whose major qualification is his skin color and his willingness to vote Democrat, then you'll need to shut up and deal with it. Life is like that.
Conservative Bob| 3.8.11 @ 10:02AM
It is nice to know that the tradition of blind just lives on in our great Republic.
Imagine the damage if the justice department actively sought to favor one group over another...
I wonder if as they considered the post racial candidate from Chicago the voters who put this fool in office imagined that he would appoint and sanction the action of an Attorney General who first looked out for "his people"
As I recall there was something in that old worn out document about equal protection but I could be mistaken.
Timothy L. Pennell| 3.8.11 @ 11:01AM
"MY PEOPLE".Just remember WHO his Boss is, and WHO he gets his Marching Orders from.
Glenn Beck shoulda stood his ground.
Barack Hussein Obama is a White Hating, Jew Hating, America Hating, Marxist/Communist/Maoist, just like everybody he's ever been surrounded by, his entire life.
"Men shall know you bye the company you keep."
Indeed.
Oldefarte| 3.8.11 @ 11:25AM
Great stuff [as usual], Quin! I'll be branded as a racist, but this is just a typical example of liberals' desire to shove their favored political classes of individuals TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE and to COMPLETELY IGNORE QUALIFICATIONS OF SAME. Any/all school/acedemic preferences are examples of this [ie Columbia Law School's famous reservations of entrance availabilities for usually unqualified minorities, along with the New Haven Connecticut firefighters legal case (which should have disqualified Sotameyor for the SCOTUS]. You cannot now view a TV commercial, movie, TV show, etc that doesn't feature a minority/favored class; and it all due to liberals'/Democrats' subversively controlling academia, Hollywood, etc and therefore promoting their radical-extremist viewpoints upon the rest of us [who do not agree with same, but nonetheless are forced into having it shoved down our throats on a houly/daily basis]. When will it stop? The answer is NEVER [or not until we collectively begin using the courage/guts to effect political change from the ballot box and to use our economic/financial power of persuasion upon the MSM/entertainment industry/colleges-universities hiring practices!!!!!!!!!!
Oldefarte| 3.9.11 @ 12:50PM
PS: The SOLUTION is NOT to rig/fix the testing so that favored population classes succeed/get promoted; BUT RATHER to fix our public educational [broken] system so that truly qualified minority members are graduated/educated with the proper intellectual tools that will enable them to outperform on such testing in the future!!!!!!
DEIN| 3.8.11 @ 12:03PM
Several years ago here in Maryland,our moron governor,the less than esteemed Martin O'Malley ,democrat ,liberal,illegal loving,tax raising,pro gay marriage,pro abortion,pro obama,club hopping,product of political nepotism,overspending former mayor of the "race to the bottom"of murder and welfare city of Baltimore once cancelled the results of a citywide firefighters test because none of preferred minority populace,which by the way, is the majority, COULD NOT PASS THE TEST.This political hack would fit in well with the current thugocracy, and I believe he is setting his sights on a national office.Keep your sights out for this ambitious,lying loser.
Morgan| 3.8.11 @ 9:09PM
This is no surprise to anyone paying attention to the repeal of DADT. There the issue was not the real needs of the military in maintaining a strong fighting force, but the agenda of the gay activists. To these folks it is all about the constituency, not the larger social organization. We should remind them of all this the next time any liberal opens his or her mouth about "special interests".
Aline McKay| 3.9.11 @ 7:43AM
This just goes to show that the safety of the community is not important to this DOJ. For some Blacks, there is so much hatred for Whites that they would rather have sub-standard work in the NYC fire department which could mean the difference in life and death, than to hire the very best if the best is White. No one cares what color the firefighters are when they're saving your life, they just want them to be the best, Black or White.
Givmeh2o| 3.10.11 @ 12:43AM
We have a federally mandated consent decree in Philly, ordered by a LIBRAL ACTIVIST JUDGE by the name of BECHTEL and since then we have had NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS! This happened back in '82 and now some of these Valiants are incharge and CAN'T PUT OUT A MATCH WITHOUT CALLING FOR A MULTI-ALARM CALL!!! I'm DONE and OUT IN 3!!!
Occam's Tool| 3.24.11 @ 11:38PM
Another fine piece of blathering from our Attorney General, Vermin T Maggot, Attorney at Law. (I keep wanting to write a series of stories starring Vermin Maggot, and one day I'll get around to it. Holder is a great archetype for Vermin, as are the Obamas.)
Eric Sanders | 9.1.11 @ 9:32AM
The issue and controversy is that court found that the examination was reasonably related to the scope of the duties and responsibilities of firefighters. In addition to the other problems related to the screening process where Caucasians were passed because of their affiliations as opposed to better qualified African-Americans that were disqualified.
The Sanders Firm, P.C. http://www.thesandersfirmpc.com