Hey, What About All The Others Who Were Wrong in the Sterling Scandal?

I will say at the offset that I don't have a problem with what the NBA owners did.  Not because I think private speech should be punished or that racist speech is worse than other type of "hate" speech, but because I believe in the rule of law.  Part of that rule of law is contract law.  The NBA franchise agreement gives the owners the right to fine and suspend others with a simple majority vote.  When you sign that, you agree to the terms and conditions.  Mr. Sterling doesn't have a legal leg to stand on to stop the suspension or the fine.  

But there is a great number of people who are being left out of this conversation.  We can start with former commissioner David Stern.  It isn't like Mr. Sterling's comments should come as any surprise.  He was fined one of the largest fines in the history of the country for discriminating against minorities in housing.  His racists views were well-known long before that phone call became public.  David Stern did nothing about it.  Neither did any of the other owners, well at least as far as we know.  There may have been talk behind closed doors, but publicly no one did anything.  

We then can move onto the Los Angeles Chapter of the NAACP.  To me they come out looking far worse in this than Sterling ever will.  It shouldn't be overly surprising that a 80-year-old white man has racist tendencies.  It was a perfectly acceptable way to be and to think when he was growing up.  Yes, he should have "evolved" by now, but he is far from the only one from that generation that has not.  What I can't possibly fathom is the fact that organization  was about to give him a "Lifetime Achievement" award knowing full well he has history of discriminating against minorities.  Apparently to the NAACP it matters none if you actually are racist if you write some big ol checks along the way.  Did the NAACP not know about his housing discrimination issues?  Or did they just want the money more?   Sterling is just a racist.  The NAACP Los Angeles chapter are a bunch of money-grubbing opportunists that will allow the people they are said to be protecting to be violated against as long as they get theirs.  They will close their eyes to the very serious offense of housing discrimination as long as they are getting paid to.  Which just further proves that the organization has long since outlived their usefulness and should disband.  How can they possibly be taken seriously after this?  Not that I took them seriously about this beforehand, but I hope that some people will open their eyes.  Especially when you consider they are still saying today, they are "willing to work with him" as long as he finances some things.  Another words, write them another check.  

Now we can move onto the Congressional Black Caucus.  They seriously want the government to get involved with the NBA and how they set up their franchising?  Really?  They pounced on this to keep themselves in the news and to prove to the few people in the country who think that they actually accomplish anything are doing something.   C'mon the very last thing any professional sports franchise needs is the government getting involved.  They are actually profitable.  That will turn around quickly if the feds get their grubby mitts involved.  

We then have dear ol' Rev. Al who couldn't wait to get his five minutes in front of the camera.  He is now calling for more diversity in the game of basketball.  I suppose close to three-quarters of the players being black isn't good enough.  The NBA has more minority coaches and front office personnel than any other major sports in the country.  They have done the job of letting the free market decide who does and who does not have ownership as well as management positions all their own.  They don't need any interference from others.  

I now that many people are upset that Sterling is being punished for a private conversation.  I agree that shouldn't happen.  The problem is that we just can't ignore the conversation now that it is out there.  That conversation shined a light on his other transgressions that were wildly well-known within basketball circles that no one bothered to do anything about.  Yes there is a great deal of faux outrage involved.  But the NBA is far better off without this man in their ranks.  They real shame of the whole thing is that they waited so long to do it.    

But I have to say the most ironic part of the entire story is this:

Sterling was investigated, tried and convicted for housing violations by none other than that "racist" George W. Bush administration.  His AG office tried and fined him.  The NAACP of Los Angeles was going to give him a lifetime achievement award. You really can't make this stuff up folks.  

Good Idea, Let's Lower Drop Out Rates by Passing Dummies

Seriously, I have long since thought that we should just let Mexico have California back.  Go ahead and give it to them.  Of course they have to take the debt with them too.  I am sure there are very nice people living in California; MAInfo and Left Coast Rebel to name just two, but they just keep scraping the bottom of the barrel.  I am at the point that I have to wonder how there is any barrel left to scrape.  


Drop out rates are alarmingly high in the Los Angeles Unified School District, 1 in 3 will not finish high school.  Considering that they are spending somewhere close to $28K per student one would have to say they are doing a bang up job with the taxpayer funds that they are allocated.  


One would think with numbers this abysmal they would try some out of the box thinking in order to get improvement.  Say maybe open more charter schools, maybe do a voucher program to help these students who want a good education to get into a better school system, or even allow students to go to better public schools.  Alas, no that is not what they decided to do.  In their infinite wisdom they have decided that the best course of action is to lower the standards it takes to graduate.  That's right, just pass them along anyway.  You will now be considered passed with a grade of D. Apparently learning something isn't the goal.  Just getting you passed along is good enough.  


As it stands now only 15% of the students from this school system can pass the entrance exams to enter into the Cal State University System, which really isn't so bad when you consider that 50% of them don't bother finishing the prep classes.  So lowering the standards is going to help with that endeavor?  I guess they will worry about those dismal numbers at a later date.  


Good call.  Homeschool anyone?  


Via Drudge.  

California Dreamin' - No Wonder They Are Broke

From The Los Angeles Times


1. 40% of all workers in L. A. County ( L. A. County has 10.2 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card.

2. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.

3. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.

4. Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by taxpayers.

5. Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.

6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.

7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.

8 Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.

9. 21 radio stations in L. A. are Spanish speaking.

10.. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3..9 million speak Spanish.

(There are 10.2 million people in L. A. County . )

Hmm, could this be part of the reason that Arizona passed a law about illegal aliens.  The only crazy thing is that California has not done the same.