About Me

Name: Mike
Biography
Loading...

Create Your Own Blog Find Other Townhall Blogs

Comments

Blog Roll

 

Further Reflections on the Ricci Case

Posted by Mike on Friday, May 29, 2009 6:45:44 PM
http://westernperspective.blogspot.com/
The effect of the actions taken by the City of New Haven to bring about racial diversity was to pull the rug out from under the firefighters who honestly believed that preparing for and taking the civil service exam in good faith would thereby lead to a chance of gaining a promotion to Lieutenant within the Fire Department.

As a question of law, does the City owe a duty to its citizens to act in good faith when administering civil service exams? This is over and above the question of whether it was simply stupid of City officials to administer the exam and then throw out the results because they didn't like the outcome. Subsidiarity bars the federal courts from interfering simply on the basis of the City's prudential judgments, no matter how bad those judgments were for the people.

Were the White and Hispanic firefighters who passed the bogus test discriminated against? The answer is no. They were simply made to look like fools because the City did not in fact promote anyone from within the Department based upon its own predetermined criteria.

Do these firefighters then have a cause of action?

Clearly there is a duty to act in good faith. If the City essentially held out a carrot and said "Here, take this", and then reneged on its promises to promote the top scorers, then this is a case of government lying to the people. Since the City officials did not act in good faith, they breached their duty of truthfulness and fairness and should be held accountable for the harm they have caused to the firefighters who took the exam in good faith and would have been promoted were it not for the City's duplicity.

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Affirmative Action Out the Window

Posted by Mike on Friday, May 08, 2009 10:41:10 AM
http://westernperspective.blogspot.com/
The controversy over hiring practices by the City of New Haven resolves around one issue, and only one. Do the taxpaying citizens have a right to hire Lieutenant Sharp rather than Lieutenant Dumbo for their police and fire departments?

Most local revenue is generated by property tax and sales tax of local businesses. The people who pay these taxes have an expectation to receive the best service for their buck.

The real losers from Affirmative Action are the taxpaying citizens, the mothers and children who will die in fires that could have been prevented or put down, the victims of gang related shootings and other crimes.

Capitalism is unjust because it is based on the idea that some may reap the rewards of other people's labor by hook or crook. No economic system is perfect. In today's world, the two competing systems are capitalism and socialism. It is the responsibility of citizens and government leaders to make justice happen in America. This we can expect from our courts, but the wheels of justice turn very slowly. Besides, there are other injustices including racial prejudice that must be overcome.

Our courts will go a long way when they start punishing politicians and judges responsible for killing our citizens by abortion, and legally disenfranchising white fathers. While it is true that some fathers want their children aborted and pay for abortions, and that many fathers who lose their children through abortion are non-white, the Supreme Court's rationalization for abortion in the 1973 cases was clearly an attempt to hold back the younger generation of white males, just as the related legal injustice from Affirmative Action during the same time period.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive
« Previous1Next »