BIG WIN FOR FIREFIGHTERS
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the white firefighters in the Ricci v. DeStefano case, overturning a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling signed by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

SOTOMAYOR HAD IGNORED WHITE FIREFIGHTERS PLEA FOR REVERSE DISCRIMINATION
The high profile case involved charges of reverse discrimination after a test for promotion in the New Haven, Conn., fire department was thrown out when white test-takers performed much better than their black counterparts. Sotomayor upheld New Haven’s decision to dismiss the test results, and her controversial ruling has been frequently discussed in the context of her Supreme Court nomination.

The lead plaintiff in the case is Frank Ricci, who has been a firefighter at the New Haven Fire Department for 11 years. Firefighter Frank Ricci gave up a second job to use time to study for the test. Because he has dyslexia, he paid an acquaintance $1,000 to read his textbooks on to audiotapes. Firefighter Ricci also made flashcards, took practice tests, worked with a study group, and participated in mock interviews. His commitment to studying resulted in him ranking the 6th highest score, among firefighters who took the test. The city of New Haven discarded the test results to avoid an anticipated Civil Rights Act of 1964 Title VII disparate impact lawsuit brought by minority firefighters.

Time will tell if today’s United States Supreme Court reversal of the New Haven Connecticut firefighter case will affect Sotomayor’s confirmation. Democrats have set her confirmation hearings to begin on July 13 so the Senate can confirm the judge by August 6, before Congress takes its month-long summer recess. Sonia Sotomayor, 54, a Princeton and Yale Law School graduate, needs Senate confirmation before she can sit as the first Hispanic and third woman Supreme Court justice when the United States Supreme Court begins a new term on October 5, 2009.

Read the full background on the The Ricci v. DeStefano Lawsuit here …

From the United State Supreme Court … Slip Opinion
6/29/09 07-1428 Ricci v. DeStefano [PDF]

Could you say Senator instead?

Most people would figure that Brigadier General Michael Walsh has worked harder earning his title than Madame Barbara Boxer … and he was probably just trying to do his job along the way.

Transcript of Barbara Boxer’s request to be addressed as ‘Senator’
Madame Boxer:
Why has it been delayed?

Brigadier General Michael Walsh:
Ma’am at the LACPR [INTERRUPTION BY BOXER]

Boxer:
Do me a favor. Could you say “Senator” instead of “Ma’am” … it’s just the thing … I’ve worked SO hard to get that title. I’d appreciate it thank you.

Brigadier General Michael Walsh:
Yes Senator.

OK DRAMA QUEEN
Ma’am is a term of respectful or polite address used for a woman. Very common in the military, too. Madame Barbara shows her elitism arrogance that a senator must be of some higher status. Maybe Madame Boxer should have worked harder to keep California from becoming bankrupt, and spent less energy on working on her title.

Boxer was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992, becoming one of the first of two female Jewish senators, along with Dianne Feinstein. Throughout her career, Boxer has been a vocal advocate for environmental issues, abortion rights, gun control, and medical research. She is generally classified as a progressive or liberal and is often in conflict with conservative groups. To her credit, Boxer authored a bill to protect commercial airliners against attacks by shoulder-fired missiles, and wrote the law allowing airline pilots with special training to carry guns in the cockpit. Boxer wrote the High-Tech Port Security Act, and sponsored the Chemical Security Act to address terrorist threats against chemical plants. Senator Boxer also cosponsored comprehensive rail security legislation.

UPDATE (June 29, 2009): See The Cardinal:
Supreme Court Reverse: Overturns Sotomayor Ruling Ignoring Firefighter Discrimination Claim …

In February 2008, Judge Sonya Sotomayor (Barack Obama’s May 26, 2009 pick for The Supreme Court) joined the unsigned opinion of a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a lower court’s decision to reject a racial discrimination lawsuit (Ricci v. DeStefano) that had been filed by one Hispanic firefighter and 19 white firefighters against the City of New Haven, Connecticut. The twenty firefighters were hopeful contenders for 15 open captain and lieutenant positions. In the lawsuit, the firefighters claimed they were denied promotion based on their race when the City of New Haven, Connecticut discarded a 2003 promotion exam because not a single black firefighter received a score on the exam that met the requirement to qualify to earn a promotion. Seventy-seven* firefighters took the test; 27 were black firefighters. The City of New Haven cited the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a legal response to decide not to use the test and not to promote any firefighters. The New Haven Fire Department has a staff of about 411, with 360 personnel serving in Fire Suppression and Emergency Medical Services. New Haven is the third largest municipality in Connecticut, after Bridgeport and Hartford, with a population of about 124,000 people.

The Ricci v. DeStefano Lawsuit
The lead plaintiff in the case is Frank Ricci, who has been a firefighter at the New Haven Fire Department for 11 years. Firefighter Frank Ricci gave up a second job to use time to study for the test. Because he has dyslexia, he paid an acquaintance $1,000 to read his textbooks on to audiotapes. Firefighter Ricci also made flashcards, took practice tests, worked with a study group, and participated in mock interviews. His commitment to studying resulted in him ranking the 6th highest score, among firefighters who took the test. The city of New Haven discarded the test results to avoid an anticipated Civil Rights Act of 1964 Title VII disparate impact lawsuit brought by minority firefighters. The decision came after a rabble-rousing African-American minister, Rev. Boise Kimber, with close ties to the mayor, disrupted meetings, pressured the city civil service board, and warned of dire political consequences if the city promoted persons from the list generated by the exams

Mayor John DeStefano Jr is the major of the City of New Haven, Connecticut at the time of the firefighter promotion test, the court case, and since 1993. DeStefano unsuccessfully ran as a Democratic candidate for Governor of Connecticut in 2006, losing to M. Jodi Rell, the Republican candidate who won by one of the largest majorities in general election history.

Judge Sotomayor was chastised by fellow Clinton-appointee Judge Jose Cabranes for taking extraordinary measure to ignore and throw out claims of unfair treatment raised by firefighters. Judge Sotomayor’s panel heard a case raising important questions under Civil Rights Act of 1964 Title VII and equal protection law, but attempted to dispose of the firefighter’s arguments in a summary order. The summary order was refuted by Judge Jose Cabranes, who is the second Puerto Rican to be appointed as a judge of a United States Court of Appeals. Judge Jose Cabranes was also considered for the seat on the Supreme Court of the United States that went to Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Defenders of the City of New Haven’s decision to discard the test claim that the test developed by Industrial/Organizational Solutions, Inc. was poorly constructed. Terminology of the test questions and answers was not specific to the language or terminology that is used locally in New Haven. For example, the use of the words “uptown” or “downtown” are not used in New Haven, but they were used in the test.

Other details of the test involved suggestions that the test should have used a weighted score similar to other communities that have had less problems with racial disparity issues. Other issues arose regarding content validity and the failure of the test designers to subject and present their methods to objective, outside fire department experts and a scientifically valid “cutoff” score — as specified in the Industrial/Organizational Solutions, Inc. contract with the City of New Haven.

Also, on admission of test writers, the test involved contradictory information, increasing the chance that items selected would potentially have “correct answers” or “incorrect answers” that were open to interpretation and dispute.

Will anyone ask why the City of New Haven decided to use the promotion exam in the first place, if there were so many problems? Wouldn’t it be better to certify the test before administering the test?

The case was in The Supreme Court Wednesday, April 22, 2009 and is awaiting a ruling. The Los Angeles Times has quoted Yale law professor Drew Days, a former chief of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, that he was surprised the justices agreed to hear the case of Ricci vs. DeStefano. Now that they have, he added, a ruling for Ricci “could have very far-reaching consequences because it may well apply to all employers.”

See also …
Supreme Court of the United States Wiki: Ricci, et al. v. DeStefano, et al.
Case issue: Whether municipalities may decline to certify results of an exam that would make disproportionately more white applicants eligible for promotion than minority applicants, due to fears that certifying the results would lead to charges of racial discrimination.

Supreme Court Oral Arguments April 22, 2009 (PDF) …

An Internet search for Industrial/Organizational Solutions, Inc. without confirmation whether this is the same company involved with New Haven, CT case, found the following web address:
iosolutions.org

* Some sources report that 118 firefighters completed the exam.

Read this comment in response to an Associated Press video about Tracy, California Sunday-school teacher Melissa Huckaby, who is accused of killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu and may have been involved in another prior case of abduction and abuse. Where’s the logic? Report: Cantu Suspect Linked to Other Child …

From YouTube.com/albertkimha
Given the facts that most of this type of crime is almost 100% committed by men in America, it is almost IMPOSSIBLE for me to believe that this poor, mentally ill & abused woman committed this evil act. I think the Tracy, California Police need to re-evaluate their evidence & forensics, for a male suspect is obviously AT LARGE and OVERLOOKED, because this woman is a victim who boosts ratings for the “rarity” value, and gives “people” like the CNN “tot mom” shrew Nancy Grace grist for her mill!

Their numbers may be a minority in comparison to men, but women are just as capable as men of crimes that are committed today.

Consider Marilyn Lemak who was sentenced in April 2002 to life in prison for doping her children Nicholas, 7, Emily, 6, and Thomas, 3, with her sleep medication, then smothered them with her hands in 1999 in her Naperville, Illinois home.

View Larger Map
The Victorian home at 28 South Loomis in Naperville, Illinois that used to be the residence of David and Marilyn Lemak and their three children. Marilyn Lemak killed them by smothering them at the home, which is currently owned by North Central College.

Consider Andrea Yates who drowned her five children in a bath tub while her husband was at work at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

View Strange World in a larger map
Location of home at the corner of Beachcomber and Sea Lark in the Clear Lake area of Houston, Texas where the murder of five children by their mother Andrea Yates occurred.

Consider trangender woman Christine Newton-John, 41, who was charged in February 2009 with the murder by exercise of James Mason. Caught on video, she pulled Mason around the pool by his hands and 43 times Christine Newton-John prevented her husband from leaving the water, while several times he rested his head on the side of the pool gasping for breath. Christine Newton-John pleaded guilty on Thursday and faces up to five years in prison.

Consider the multitude of female teachers recently charged with sexual misconduct with their students.

Objectivity is one of the best tools for successful investigation of crimes and getting criminals off the street to help prevent further crimes.

APR 15 2009 — CNN Chicago correspondent Susan Roesgen gave people who complain that CNN is a liberal, biased news service, plenty of evidence Wednesday at an anti-tax tea party protest in Chicago.

Roesgen tipped her hand that she wasn’t going to do a fair street interview when she approached a man holding a young child with a small poster. She opened up like SNL’s Church Lady, “OOOOK, let’s see, you’re here with your 2-yr-old and you’re already in debt (sarcastic tone). While interviewing a father attending a Tea Party in Chicago (holding his 2 year old son in his arms), Roesgen cut the man off while he was responding to a question inquiring as to why he was attending the event. “Because I hear a President say he believed in what Lincoln stood for, Lincoln’s primary thing was he believed people had the right to liberty and they had the right to…” at which point Roesgen cut the man off. Roesgen began to ask what his point had to do with taxes, barraging the man with questions and her own answers (Do you realize that you’re eligible for a $400 credit? Did you know that the “State of Lincoln” get $50B). Comments from the man and shouts from the crowd grew angry when the CNN reporter did not let the man finish his statement.

Read more from The Cardinal …

“Combine a crocodile with an abalone and you get a crock of baloney.”

– Rick Warren on Newsweek cover title THE DECLINE AND FALL OF CHRISTIAN AMERICA

A Post-Christian Nation
How a decline in religious affiliation will change America

More on Rick Warren …
rickwarren.com (official site)
Rick Warren on Wikipedia …