July 1, 2010

Hereditary Privilege through Rights and Complexity

America doesn't have as much social class mobility as we might think. People who do well now generally have kids who do pretty well. There are a lot of reasons for this, but one that's kind of obscure is the increasing complexity of the meritocratic ladder, often justified in the name of Rights. The result is that kids with smart, hard-working, married parents can get an edge on the system in multiple ways.

<font color=black>Requiem for Senator Robert Byrd</font>

Sadly, a few days ago we lost a great statesman when Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) passed away at the age of 92.

Portrait Of A Hate Criminal

Keith Phoenix, the man pictured right, was, according to the SPLC's Hatewatch, a "Man Guilty of Murder as Hate Crime."

They say

"A 30-year-old man accused of beating an Ecuadorean immigrant to death on a Brooklyn street was convicted on Monday of murder as a hate crime."

Police Checkpoint Nets 21 Illegal Aliens

In an effort to cut down on drunk driving and unlicensed drivers, the city of Santa Maria, California, runs an intermittent checkpoint. The checkpoint on Sunday night was near the main intersection in town, Broadway and Main, and it netted two folks for driving under the influence and 22 vehicles driven by folks without licenses.

Guardian: Lower IQs Found In Disease-Rife Countries, Scientists Claim

From The Guardian:

Lower IQs found in disease-rife countries, scientists claim
Energy can be diverted away from brain development to fight infection, explaining 'lower intelligence in warmer countries'

People who live in countries where disease is rife may have lower IQs because they have to divert energy away from brain development to fight infections, scientists in the US claim.

Affirmative Action In France: Ideology Doesn't Matter

The French have always had an ideological aversion to affirmative action, but, in the long run, ideology doesn't much matter, so the French government is imposing quotas on its elite virtually free tuition public colleges. The funny thing is that it's all playing out along the same exact lines as it has in America. Principles turn out to be less important than demography.

Return on Investment by College

Business Week has a big table attempting to calculate return on investment for different colleges based on the PayScale database of salaries (assuming you pay full fare with no financial aid). Private colleges with high graduation percentages benefit in this calculation.

"America First?"

The global triumph of Anglo-Saxon culture is manifested in the World Cup, where the main heretics about the appeal of an English game, soccer, are other Anglo countries, such as America, Canada, and Australia, who have their own games.

Of course, cultural hegemony doesn't ensure political or economic power -- Greek cultural hegemony continued for centuries after Rome conquered Greece.

Video: Lawyer Who Quit DOJ Over New Black Panther Case

Via Hot Air, this Fox News Video about the lawyer who quit over the New Black Panther Case--for more, see Inside the Black Panther case, June 28, 2010.