I Lag

Where was I?  Sheesh, a few days slip by and I start getting all angsty and I find myself watching The 700 Club.  WTF?  Who the hell am I?  It's not my fault, Zoe accidentally put it on this channel and then there was a segment about a book I must read.  Throw Them All Out: How Politicians and Their Friends Get Rich off Insider Stock Tips, Land Deals, and Cronyism That Would Send the Rest of Us to Prison by Peter Schweiger.  Looks pretty damn interesting, but I need to finish the two books I am reading before I start a new book.   

OK, let's get to the point:

Affirmative Action:  Ack, this one is so up and down it's hard to know where we stand as a country.  If I look at the meaning of Affirmative Action in the US it is giving minorities and women equal opportunities in employment, education or any area they have been "historically excluded".  While I agree with the intentions of Affirmative Action, over the years it really morphed into a type of 'reverse discrimination'.  Schools and employers were trying to meet a quota to show they were not discriminating, even if the better candidate happened to be a white male. 

In 1996 CA passed Prop 209 aka "California Civil Rights Initiative" which is what I would think Affirmative Action was supposed to be in the first place.  Prop 209 says "Hire or enroll someone if they meet your qualifications, but you can't look at race, ethnicity, religion, sex, or love of ferrets. "  Obviously it doesn't say that exactly, but you can look at the text of Prop 209 here.   Seriously, if I am up for a job and it's between me and a white guy who has 10 times the experience, then I wouldn't be upset to be turned down for the job.  But if I lose the job to someone with less experience but say, could be another ethnicity, then I will shout SHENANIGANS!

The fight in CA by supporters of Affirmative Action is still going.  Even in September there was a senate bill which would have cancelled out the portion of Prop 209 that affected college admissions.  It passes the CA Assembly and state senate, but Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the bill.  (I am NOT a fan of Governor Brown, but I must say, he made the right choice here).  Here's the text of SB 185 if you are interested.

There's not much more I can add here, just let's play fair.  I know it's taken years to get to where we are now, and I see things are still changing.  No need to give me any extra help to get a job.  If I am going to work somewhere I want to know I am wanted there, not needed to fill a quota. 

I guess that's all I have in me tonight.  I have a bunch of notes in a notebook where I have been writing down little reminders of things I want to share here.  That is going to come in quite handy when I finish up my Social/Fiscal statements.  :)