Free Republic

What one finds when reading congressional legislation is invariably surprising. Take the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, for instance, which was created by merging Senate and House bills. When the Senate returns from recess one of its first actions will be to vote on the bill, which passed the House on June 30. I was searching the bill for a provision about derivatives. What did I find but Section 342, which declares that race and gender employment ratios, if not quotas, must be observed by private financial institutions that do business with the government. In a major power grab, the new...

Auburn, NY -- Three days before Christmas, Auburn Police Chief Gary Giannotta laid down the law for his command staff. At the closed meeting Dec. 22 in the department basement, Giannotta gave this ultimatum: Tell your patrol officers to write more vehicle and traffic tickets — at least one each per shift — or there will be repercussions for those who don’t.... Threatening to punish employees who fail to make a ticket quota violates state labor law. Tuesday, the Auburn police union took Giannotta to task for his proclamation, and two college criminal justice experts questioned the ethics of his...

Opec cuts back, Russia ramps up oil exports MOSCOW -- Russia is surpassing Saudi Arabia in oil exports for the first time since the Soviet Union’s collapse as Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin exploits OPEC production cuts to gain market share. Exports of crude oil and refined products from Russia rose to 7.4 million barrels a day in the second quarter, from 7.25 million in the first quarter, according to Energy Ministry data. Saudi shipments fell to about 7 million barrels a day, from 7.39 million, according to International Energy Agency estimates of output and domestic demand.

Canada's arts community is pondering another swell idea. The folks that brought you compulsory Canadian content on Canadian TV channels at night, and "Can-Con" on radio, are kicking around a new concept, according to a recent news story. Canadian filmgoers aren't going to art theaters and film festivals in large enough numbers to help the Canadian film industry. So, some in the industry are suggesting that one remedy would be to force your local multiplex to devote one or two screens to Canadian films.

Reverse Discrimination By George Neumayr Published 3/12/2008 Left-wing paternalists regard themselves as architects of racial progress, guarding and guiding blacks along the path of success -- a role in which they assume to stand forever at the head of the march. But what happens when blacks overtake their enlightened white helpers? All hell breaks loose and the mask of progress drops to reveal the stricken faces of the white avant-garde . Geraldine Ferraro's remarks confirm that beneath left-wing paternalism lurks considerable racism. "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," she said to the Daily...

Another Token Dropped by: Malcolm A. Kline, January 25, 2008 Contributing to the political imbalance on university payrolls, the University of California just lowered its quota of Republicans. “David A. Kessler, a former head of the Food and Drug Administration, has been terminated as dean of the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine,” Susan Kinzie reported in the Washington Post last month. “After a long-running dispute over the school’s finances, in which he questioned accounting controls and an anonymous letter launched an audit of his spending, he was asked to resign this summer but...

A year after the city's racial quotas kept their daughter out of an elite public school, an Indian couple from Brooklyn is filing a class-action lawsuit to make sure it doesn't happen again to her or any child. "Children should be judged on the content of their character, not on the color of their skin," said Dr. Anjan Rau, the girl's dad, about the quotas at Mark Twain School in Coney Island. "The selection process should be colorblind," Rau said. For decades, the school has enforced racial double standards on its tests to maintain a 6-4 white-to-minority ratio to comply...

Seeking Affirmative Action Success by: Malcolm A. Kline, October 09, 2007 A New York University law professor who has analyzed Supreme Court quota cases, like many proponents of affirmative action, is hard put to give an estimate of something diversity offices make a goal of—the increase in enrollment in college of minority students using racial preferences. “I don’t know that it would have any change on the number of people going to college,” Samuel Estreicher said on Constitution Day at the Cato Institute. “It might change the mix of schools attended.” The question of how many blacks have benefited...

OAKLAND Managers of Yoshi's, one of the Bay Area's best-known jazz venues, said they will pull the club's first-ever CD off the market after community leaders complained the recording featured no black musicians. Club managers apologized Friday for what they called "a huge mistake" and "a major oversight." They said they plan to create a new recording that better reflects the musicians who play the 340-seat venue at Oakland's Jack London Square. "We really messed up on the CD," said Yoshi's owner Kaz Kajimura. "We apologize to anyone who feels slighted by this omission, as that was never our intention."...

Sen. Mel Martinez, the first-term lawmaker who previously served in President Bush's Cabinet, will assume the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, GOP officials said Monday.

ASHVILLE — The state attorney general on Monday filed a lawsuit seeking clarification on how Tennessee selects its Supreme Court justices. Gov. Phil Bredesen, who was scheduled to held a conference call about the lawsuit later Monday, has criticized the state Judicial Selection Commission for "playing games" with the process. There is currently one vacancy on the court caused by the retirement of Justice Adolpho A. Birch Jr., the only black on the court. Bredesen rejected the first panel of candidates to fill Birch’s seat after the only minority candidate, Davidson County Chancellor Richard Dinkins, withdrew for family reasons. Bredesen...

BRIDGEPORT — A polling company owner admitted participating in a conspiracy to falsify data in order to meet deadlines for clients, which included the campaigns of President Bush, U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Mayor John M. Fabrizi. Tracy Costin, 46, of Madison, admitted to U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall that she participated in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Costin, who owned and operated DataUSA, a survey and polling firm with offices in West Haven and Guilford, faces up to five years in prison when she is sentenced Nov. 30. However a preliminary calculation of...

Marshals Say They Must File One Surveillance Detection Report, Or SDR, Per Month DENVER -- You could be on a secret government database or watch list for simply taking a picture on an airplane. Some federal air marshals say they're reporting your actions to meet a quota, even though some top officials deny it. The air marshals, whose identities are being concealed, told 7NEWS that they're required to submit at least one report a month. If they don't, there's no raise, no bonus, no awards and no special assignments. "Innocent passengers are being entered into an international intelligence database as...

CHENNAI, JULY 13 : Welcoming the concept of reservation for minorities, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today said there should be "specific" reservation for Christians and Muslims. "I kindly request you to pursue this matter further so that there is specific reservation for Christians and Muslims, as they have been demanding reservation for a very long time," he said in a letter to Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh, a copy of which was released to the press here. Referring to Singh's remarks yesterday that Muslims could be given reservation under the constitutional norms of backwardness, Karunanidhi said he...

With their share of seats in elite institutions under threat, students have become a restive lot and the academic community is in turmoil over the controversial move to reserve seats in Central Universities, IITs and IIMs which has revived the 'merit vs quota' debate in the country. HRD Minister Arjun Singh's latest move to reserve another 27 per cent seats in 20 Central universities and IIMs, IITs and NITs following the 'Mandal formula' has sent shivers among sections of students belong to the upper castes. The proposal, which is before the Union Cabinet, if implemented, would lead to a total...

Some China Textile Import Quotas Re-ImposedBy MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer Thu Sep 1, 9:18 AM ET The Bush administration announced Thursday that it was re-imposing quotas on two categories of Chinese clothing and textile imports after negotiators in Beijing failed to make progress toward an agreement to limit a surge of imports from China. The administration said that it would limit imports of fabric made with synthetic filament threads and also bras and other body-supporting undergarments, in response to shipments that have battered the U.S. industry. "Today's announcement demonstrates this administration's commitment to leveling the playing field for U.S....

HELENA, MT (AP) -- For motorists wondering whether police are working on a quota system, an answer can be found in Montana. A new policy requires state troopers to stop at least one vehicle an hour, whether the driver has done anything wrong or not. But the driver doesn't have to be ticketed, so police officials say it's not a quota system. State police Colonel Paul Grimstad said the rule that took effect on Monday is intended to reduce traffic accidents and drunken driving. Montana had the highest number of alcohol-related deaths per miles traveled in a National Highway Traffic...

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - A new policy requires state troopers to stop at least one vehicle an hour, but the driver need not be ticketed, and the chief said the rule steers clear of an anti-quota law. Col. Paul Grimstad said the rule, which took effect Monday, is intended to reduce traffic accidents and drunken driving. Montana had the highest number of alcohol-related deaths per miles traveled in a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report released in December 2003. Officers and sergeants now average 0.88 stops an hour while patrolling highways, Grimstad said. A state law passed this year bars...

My reaction to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement was almost as positive as my reaction in 1981 was negative when the Reagan administration announced that they were going to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court. It wouldn't matter if all nine Justices of the Supreme Court were women, if these were the nine best people available. But to decide in advance that you were going to appoint a woman and then look only among women for a nominee was a dangerous gamble with a court that has become dangerous enough otherwise. The recent outrageous Supreme Court decision making anyone's...

EU steps up pressure on China over textiles By Stefania Bianchi BRUSSELS - The European Union (EU) has stepped up pressure on China to curb what it calls a "ruinous" surge in textile exports, urging it to take action or face possible sanctions to protect the bloc's clothing industry. On April 24, Peter Mandelson, EU commissioner for trade, called on China to consider stricter measures to curb the rise in its textile exports following the end of an international quota system earlier this year. During an informal meeting of European trade ministers in Luxembourg, Mandelson confirmed that Brussels would launch...