"justice" department "rewards" FDNY

Bush, of course, is no conservative in any meaningful sense - it should be no surprise his 'justice' department is suing the NY Fire department because it doesn't have enough blacks and hispanics. The reason, they don't do as well on written examinations...THEREFORE, the examinations MUST be biased. This is one of the direct consequences of Boasian 'anthropology' -because we are all born with a blank slate all differences must be socially caused. Heather MacDonald cuts through the nonsense:

City Journal
New York to the DOJ: Hands Off Our Fire Department
Firefighting is no place for racial politics.
Heather Mac Donald
23 May 2007

The Department of Justice has just filed a discrimination suit against the New York City Fire Department, alleging that the written exam for department eligibility is biased against blacks and Hispanics, because their pass rate is lower than for whites. Several questions come to mind, namely:

—Isn’t this farce getting a bit old? In the 1970s, when knowledge about the cognitive skills gap between whites and Asians, on the one hand, and blacks and Hispanics, on the other, was less widespread, it may have seemed plausible that disparities in passing rates resulted from biased tests or biased test-administering institutions. Today, however, after society has spent decades and millions of dollars trying unsuccessfully to close the test score gap on the SATs, LSATs, MCATs, NAEP, and every other objective standardized test, the claim that any given test is racist simply because blacks and Hispanics don’t score as well on it as whites and Asians is absurd. The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) has twisted itself in knots for over 20 years trying to hire more blacks and Hispanics without wholly compromising standards.

—Will the Justice Department please keep its hands off of our Fire Department? The DOJ suit alleges that asking prospective firemen to show a minimal competence in basic reasoning and reading skills is an unnecessary and racist job qualification. The New York Times printed two typical questions from the New York exam; they are ridiculously simple. In one, exam takers are asked to regurgitate information just provided in the question about the procedures for subway evacuations; in another, test takers are to choose a likely suspect in an arson from descriptions of three previous arsons and their likely perpetrators. The Justice Department argues that such elementary thinking skills are superfluous in a firefighter.

Perhaps every attorney who brought this suit, from the DOJ to the Center for Constitutional Rights, can sign up for a plan whereby the firemen protecting his home and business can’t process basic written information. [that Miss MacDonald is the problem bureucrats NEVER have to pay for the direct consequences of their actions]The rest of us can have a fire-fighting force that stands a chance of being able to perform the job adequately. The idea that all you need in fire-fighting today is a pair of strong arms is fanciful (and of course even that requirement has been lifted to get women into firehouses). The memory of September 11 should remind the Justice Department that firemen need knowledge of hazardous materials and of complex evacuation procedures; not only are the technologies for fighting fires becoming more sophisticated, but emergency medical responses depend on the capacity to learn from written material.

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Bush, while advocating torture and suspension of individual liberties continues liberal meddling suits like this. Even if they don't win the effect is clear - the "justice" department - that doesn't have to worry about legal fees can sue any firm, or even local office they suspect of not having the right mix of ethnicities (in reality only if it is majority white -majoriy-minority firms and departments are rarely if every sued)- which, presumably, is an indicator of their adherence to our new multicultural 'paradise'.