Senator Webb (D-VA) comes out of the box so intensely Salamanderesque that I can do little more then require everyone to read his latest from the WSJ. Judging from my email, many of you had.
This is so good you want to get nakid and roll around in it, paper cuts be d@mned - read it all!
I have dedicated my political career to bringing fairness to America's economic system and to our work force, regardless of what people look like or where they may worship. Unfortunately, present-day diversity programs work against that notion, having expanded so far beyond their original purpose that they now favor anyone who does not happen to be white.Yes; he comes off the top-rope.
In an odd historical twist that all Americans see but few can understand, many programs allow recently arrived immigrants to move ahead of similarly situated whites whose families have been in the country for generations. These programs have damaged racial harmony. And the more they have grown, the less they have actually helped African-Americans, the intended beneficiaries of affirmative action as it was originally conceived.
Discrimination laws should be applied equally among all citizens, including those who happen to be white. The need for inclusiveness in our society is undeniable and irreversible, both in our markets and in our communities. Our government should be in the business of enabling opportunity for all, not in picking winners. It can do so by ensuring that artificial distinctions such as race do not determine outcomes.I would add that everything the government does should be color blind - and the military unquestionably should be. As we know though, the Diversity Industry and the Navy's branch, the Diversity Bullies, don't and won't let it because it feeds their racialist ideas and fills their pocketbooks.
Memo to my fellow politicians: Drop the Procrustean policies and allow harmony to invade the public mindset. Fairness will happen, and bitterness will fade away.
If you want to see the latest outrage - you will need to make sure and catch Diversity Thursday next week - via one of my spies, it outlines how "accountability" is being operationalized. I would hope that next-Thursday's post will make it to one of Senator Webb's staffer's hands. If it will upset him half as much as it will upset you when you read it - then there might be a chance to fix this cancer that is eating our integrity from the inside out.
Senator Webb, I have disagreed with you on some areas - but that is fine and natural - but here you have 100% of my support and my greatest thanks for speaking out and saying what is true. You're good company.
37 comments:
Search the armed forces for the graduates of Harvard Princeton and Yale. We have been at war for almost 10 years now and yet they are scarce in the service. Blacks, like White Catholics and Jews and Hispanics, know that, while you will face individual prejudice in the military, as an institution it is the best path up that rewards competence available to the disenfranchised. Now Democratic politicians like Webb are feeling the giant sucking sound that comes from the Obama administration failing massively by every criteria. They are desperate to disassociate themselves while protecting their flanks.
It is unfortunate that the repudiation of the EEO shell game and affirmative action culture will be used by a few genuine bigots. They should be rooted out by conservatives for the reason they always should be. Bigots are lousy employees and should be found and fired by any competent manager. Any Commanding Officer who needs a lawyer and an EEO officer to tell him what is happening in Deck Division berthing should be fired. Any Chief Petty Officer who does not let his XO, Department Head and Division Officer know should be fired.
Sorry Sal, Webb is doing a CYA. Why now? Politically expedient? Distancing from Barry?
Unfortunately, our politically system has dissolved into the politicians looking out for themselves. It is all about retaining power for themselves. Our nation, our citizens are the last thing on thier minds, unless it is about campaign funds or votes.
Political expediency and plausible deniability. Yup, that's our government in a nutshell.
Heh -- I just heard outtakes from this speech, and was headed online to find the full text and email it to the good CDR. I guess I'm getting slow.
Even if that's the case, it's still refreshing to see this as part of the dialogue.
I'm pretty cynical, and for the most part I believe that by the time somebody is a serious candidate in any race (from student council to POTUS), they're already compromised. That being said, Sen Webb is okay in my book, given these recent comments as well as his push for the new GI Bill, which I intend to use during my first three years transitioning to retirement.
For those of you that don't follow Maggie's, this is awesome:
http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/15033-A-simple-solution-to-race.html
Morgan Freeman has my vote!
Apparently, the good senator has taken to heart feedback from his son.
Webb can sometimes be kinky and kooky, but he is not afraid of controversy and often makes excellent points. This time he is right on target.
Hope they listen too him, but I fear that the massahs on de welfare plantation, especially L. Douglas Wilder will see this as an opportunity to dump Webb and revert to traditional Democrat pandering policies promoting a career of victimhood and dependency.
I gotta tell ya, CDR, that pretty much all the folks I knew when I was in, and those I speak to today, were unaware how terribly ignorant of true suffering they were until the Diversity Zampolits explained it to them. sarc.off/
Seriously, though, you'd think the Navy could a h3ll of a lot better uses for the budget appropriations for the Diversity crew. I'm going to send a letter on monday to Senator Snoew and Senator Webb and ask them to let me know just how much the Navy spends on that command, and Diversity programs each year. I'm afraid of how large a number that might be.
Thanks for posting that. I was at work and would have missed it had you not.
There is a diversity CONOPS? Dear God.....
Webb is only half way there. All the PC/Diversity crap has to go. Some proof that this is just a CYAOP...he just voted in favor of the finance bill which creates another bureacracy within the federal reerve of Diversity Bullies. He said what needed to be said, but he needs to walk the walk if he's going to talk the talk.
TUS,
You nailed it. Took the words out of my mouth. He now needs to stand up and expose the back-channel discrimination in the financial reform package, and in the now-federalized student loan debacle.
You should read his book on the Scot-Irish - you might change your mind.
Morgan Freeman should go to the next NAACP convention and tear down the Temple walls...
And College Admissions too. Try getting into any upper tier college if you're white, and been involved in, say, 4-H, FFA, JROTC, Civil Air Patrol, Junior Rodeo, etc.
And medical school admissions. A white male cannot get into an allopathic medical school with any certainty. The white male physicians for the next two generations, at least, will graduate from the very fine but terribly expensive Osteopathic medical schools.
Webb is an odd guy. I'm glad he wrote the column and I hope it gets wide distribution, but like you, I'll be more impressed if he starts voting his conscience.
<span>Any Commanding Officer who needs a lawyer and an EEO officer to tell him what is happening in Deck Division berthing should be fired.</span>
THIS! Good googly moogly, this hits the target.
That's a great book. I read it in high school.
http://www.amazon.com/Born-Fighting-Scots-Irish-Shaped-America/dp/0767916891/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279991138&sr=1-1
But Brad, true as it is as a sentiment, we have created an environment where commanders are forever looking "up" at their bosses instead of "down' to the troops they are supposed to be leading.
Sad state of affairs.
Yes, and apparently it is being read. Just a coincidence, I'm sure.
The 2009 Sailor of the Year winners, who for the first time in history are all women, were meritoriously advanced to Chief Petty Officer during a ceremony held at the Navy Memorial July 22. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead was the guest speaker at the pinning ceremony hosted by the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON)(SS/SW) Rick D. West.
Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Ingrid Cortez, U.S. Fleet Forces Sea Sailor of the Year; Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Shalanda Brewer, Navy Reserve Sailor of the Year; Operations Specialist 1st Class Samira McBride, U.S. Pacific Fleet Sea Sailor of the Year and Cryptologic Technician (Technical) 1st Class Cassandra Foote, Chief of Naval Operations Shore Sailor of the Year were each presented their chief petty officer appointment letter from the CNO prior to having their anchors pinned to their collars and combination covers placed on their heads.
hunh. go figure.
It took almost three years to roll out a Naval Operations Concept (NOC) to operationalize the maritime strategy. Will wager it proably will take less for a DOC and it will get more play (read: effort) at the OPNAV and other FO levels... Priorities? Please?
w/r, SJS
Like many, I believe Webb has often been wrong on critical policy matters. However, he is a patriot, warrior, and pretty good writer; here he is spot on. Diversity is good, in general to be inclusive. To institutionalize diversity to disadvantage and favor those without the right melanin is remains unamerican.
Geo, somehow you managed to evade the Troll Watch...
THAT is a fantastic link, Whisper. Rock on Maggie. Had no idea.
Awesome. Americans are Americans. 'Novel' idea. Really puts liberals in their place: don't do me any frickin' favors with a month...
And that will happen as long as we elect the politicians that we do. They will nominate the flags, and the flags will in turn promote.
Trickle-down-diversinomics
gawd, haven't this much bitchin and moaning since my last westpack
You don't come here much? We do a LOT more bitching and moaning than this!
But the points made are spot-on. Juxtapose real leadership elsewhere with the politically motivated drivel of the US Navy's senior officers.
I think old Jim Webb, is more a Republican in Dem Clothing... He just doesnt seem to bleed as much blue as Maxine or Barney...
MTH, Don't forget that Jim Webb was a Democrat before he became a Republican. Although he supported Ford in '76, he didn't officially break with the party until '77 after Carter granted amnesty to Vietnam resisters and draft dodgers.
Although Jim Webb has had almost as many personas as Bob Dylan during his professional life, this one is probably his true personality. I agree with DM05 in his assessment. Once upon a time, the Democratic Party had room for people like this.
26 years ago before flight school, I was stashed in the CNATRA Office in P-Cola processing BOOST, MECP and NECP applications. What struck me was that there were three "piles" in each category, each with its own criteria for selection. One for whites, one for blacks, and one for other minorities. When I made the briefing folders, I read the apps, and it always struck me as ironic that a poor white was expected to clear a higher hurdle than a middle-class or well-off African American to get into the programs. Granted, there were not as many middle-class or affluent Arifcan Americans applying as whites in the same category.
Being the young, naive and somewhat righteous 22 year-old that I was, I asked the PhD who ran the office why race was such a major factor in selecting candidates. I reasoned that it should be a single standard for all sailors and Marines who applied. He chuckled a bit and in a condescending but nice way told me I would understand later that it was about righting past wrongs and making the officer corps more reflective of the racial makeup of the enlisted ranks. I asked him why it was fair for a poor white who was trying to better himself to be denied an opportunity in favor of a middle-class African American who hadn't taken advantage of the opportunities he'd been given. He stopped smiling and basically told me to just shut up and process the applications.
Nothing's changed in 26 years, but we need politicians like Webb to keep saying the things that mainstream Dems are afraid to say, or 26 years from now, we'll still be having this discussion and race will continue to be the elephant in the room.
BOOST was pretty much for everyone who a) had the academic potential and aptitude to be an officer and b) didn't have the opportunity or background that would normally preclude direct accession to USNA or NROTC. I remember going to BOOST with all the kinds of folks. Race was not a predominant factor, but economic class was. I may overgeneralize, but we all came from poor, working poor, or lower middle class backgrounds. I was a sharp kid, but there was no way I could afford college, so I enlisted in the Navy.
That's the BOOST that I remember.
Later, I became a board member for S2A and we chose people based on potential for being an officer. Race played no role whatsoever.
I've been following these forum for a while, and I'm glad that young sailors don't carry around all the racial hangups that y'all do.
Guest, Not sure when you went through BOOST but when it was established in the early 1970s race was, in fact, a primary factor for acceptance as the program's goal was to increase the number of minorities at the Naval Academy and NROTC. When you consider that there were only 36 blacks at USNA (old timers will understand the significance of that number) when I entered in 1966, they were right to be concerned. In the 1980s the criteria changed since minority enrollment in both programs had increased as had concern regarding court challenges of the emphasis on race.
Recommend that you take a look at Russ Douthat's op-ed,"The Roots of White Anxiety" in the July 19, NYT, for some insight on the "hangups" that some of the young sailors do have.
WestPac. WESTPAC. You carry a WESTPACK when you are on liberty during a WESTPAC. Sheesh!
i went to BOOST in 90-91.
though i really like ross douthat's writing and i appreciate his point in this article, the author of the study said doucet extrapolated beyond the reach of the data to reach the wrong conclusions. are there young white sailors out there stewing in resentment because they were rejected from princeton? rejected because of their involvement in 4-H and FFA???
there simply are not many poor whites applying to ivy league schools. the applicant pool tends to upper middle class families--regardless of race.
i think resentment and anxiety on the part of white folks should not be dismissed. it's real and it should be addressed, i just don't think diversity should be code for "minority" or "reparations." america shouldn't have a protected class--and i mean that both ways. many folks grew up protected, but just don't know it
Guest, Good points. By your time BOOST had changed significantly from it's early days. By the I commanded a Naval ROTC unit a few years after your time only one of my BOOST students was a minority.
I didn't mean to imply that any sailor was stewing about being rejected from Princeton but rather with being rejected from Navy programs that they're eligible for and trying to rationalize it. Was trying to make a parallel through the Douthat piece.
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