November 25, 2009

Latest Diversity crisis: the Coast Guard Academy

Here's an excerpt from a long article in the Washington Post:
Despite pact, few blacks at Coast Guard school

Eight years after the U.S. Coast Guard and the NAACP signed a voluntary agreement to work together to boost the number of African-Americans at its 1,000-cadet service academy, the annual enrollment and graduation figures for blacks remain in single digits.

Seven blacks graduated from the academy based in New London, Conn., in the spring of 2001, the year the agreement was signed. The same number graduated from the Class of 2006, the first class for which blacks were recruited under the agreement. Subsequently, there were seven black graduates in 2007, five in 2008 and four in 2009.

That makes 23 graduates in four years under the agreement, including the academy's first black female valedictorian. In the four previous years the number was 33.

Leading lawmakers have grown increasingly upset with results even as they repeatedly are told the Guard is working hard to improve diversity in a service where only 311 of its 6,787 commissioned officers are black, with only one black admiral.

"The Coast Guard has just not paid attention to it. It is not antipathy or animosity toward it," said Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Transportation Committee. "I think we're moving in the right direction and got the Coast Guard's attention and we're not going to let up."

Under a House bill, sponsored by Oberstar and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the Coast Guard subcommittee chairman, members of Congress would nominate candidates for the academy. All the other service academies have long used congressional nominations.

On a 385-11 vote last month, the House advanced the legislation to the Senate.

The Coast Guard Academy historically has taken pride in viewing itself merit-based and choosing its applicants without regard to their geographical distribution among the states.

Cummings, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, expects black enrollment to grow with congressional involvement, at least in part because the House typically has about 40 black lawmakers who would be effective recruiters in largely black congressional districts.

The Coast Guard's position on the bill has been rather subdued.

The academy's superintendent, Rear Adm. J. Scott Burhoe, likes the existing "merit-based system," but would be "fine" if Congress adopted congressional nominations.

"I think for us part of our fear is the unknown, really, right now," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The Coast Guard Academy graduated its first black officer in 1966. In the 43 years since, only about 2 percent of the academy's graduates have been black and only once has there been as many as 10 in a single year.

Two years ago, the academy drew national attention when a noose was found among a black cadet's personal effects on a Coast Guard vessel. That was followed with the appearance of a noose for a white officer who was conducting race relations training at the academy.

Cummings said at the time that the Coast Guard must redouble its efforts in the face of a clear attempt to threaten and intimidate efforts to increase diversity.

An investigation involving 50 federal agents including the FBI produced no arrests or motives.

At present, the academy reports it has 136 minorities, with 72 Hispanics, 39 Asians and 25 African-Americans.

The Coast Guard, when asked by The Associated Press how many African-Americans were admitted to its academy as a result of the NAACP memorandum of agreement, said, through spokeswoman Nadine Santiago, that there was no way to know.

Lawmakers lashed out at the Coast Guard at a hearing last June for admitting so few blacks for the 2013 class only months after a previous hearing and discussion about the need to provide for congressional nominations.

"I am shocked that you only have five African Americans entering the class of 2013 and that you only offered two African American students appointments that were coming directly from high school that did not need additional preparation from a preparatory school," Oberstar said. "The Naval Academy found 149 fully qualified African-Americans to attend their Academy."

The U.S. Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Md.,, accepted 1,328 as cadets for its Class of 2013. For that class, 327 African-Americans applied, with 138 of the 149 blacks deemed fully qualified accepting offers of admission.

The Coast Guard, for its own 2013 Class, offered admission to 411 of 1,672 applicants, with 290 accepting offers. Only 47 blacks had applied, with seven being offered admission and five accepting. At the same time, 26 Hispanics and five Asian-Americans accepted admission. ...

The Coast Guard must graduate 70 percent of its cadets in science, math and technological fields. For the 2013 Class, the average SAT math and verbal scores totaled 1240, with the average GPA a 3.8, and half of the students were in the top 10 percent of their high school class.

A couple of points: Is it really that surprising that as the Naval Academy increases its "commitment to diversity," that has an effect on the demographics of the Coast Guard Academy?

I call it the Diversity Domino Effect.

Second, I introduced the concept of "critical mass" into the diversity debate in this 1995 National Review article, which the Supreme Court used in its Grutter and Gratz decisions of 2003:

One little-appreciated reason for the impressive record of accomplishment by blacks in the Army (e.g., after Desert Storm there were 26 black generals) is their lack of success in the Navy (only two black admirals). Achievement in one field naturally breeds more success in that same field. Initially arbitrary variations self-perpetuate. Successful immigrant group like Asian Indians rise to affluence precisely by dominating niches of the economy like motel-keeping. As Adam Smith pointed out on P. 1 of The Wealth of Nations, specialization is the road to riches.

According to Charles Moskos of Northwestern, the leading sociologist of military life, one key to the strong performance of black Army officers has been a widespread self-help organization for black officers called Rocks. In it, senior officers mentor younger men in how to live up to the demands of being an officer and a gentleman. In the Navy, however, a lack of critical mass hampers similar efforts: if, say, you are the only African-American officer on your nuclear submarine, you can't turn to another black man for advice for your entire cruise. Thus, it continues to makes more sense for an ambitious young black to join the Army than the Navy.

Of course, the Supreme Court got the concept of critical mass absolutely backwards, seeing it as a reason for quotas: We must have critical masses of talented blacks in every single institution in America! To have Diversity we must have utter homogeneity at the institutional level!

Yeah, well, there simply aren't enough talented blacks to go around -- that the reason for quotas in the first place. Instead, what happens when, say, the Army gets a critical mass of black talent is the Navy gets pressured to raid the same pool of black military academy applicants. Then, when the Navy gets its quota system going full strength, the next domino to fall is the Coast Guard. Unsurprisingly, you end up with no critical mass of talented blacks anywhere. There's no place where blacks feel comfortable.

Of course, that's the point of it all. The NAACP doesn't want talented blacks to come together where they feel comfortable. It wants to spread them thinly, mixed in with untalented blacks, so they always feel people around them are biased against them. Thus, the NAACP stays in business. As Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison wrote in 1964 about Quebec in his Oxford History of the American People, "Racial minorities, as the history of the last century shows, are seldom satisfied because their leaders, to keep in power, are always stirring up fresh resentments." [Vol. III, p. 77, 1972 edition]

But, nobody in power understands this simple chain of logic because if you wrote it down and emailed to anybody, your career is in jeopardy the next time there's a discovery process in a discrimination lawsuit. So, nobody even thinks about it.

It's the unilateral intellectual disarmament of America.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

75 comments:

RKU said...

I must say that most European-derived peoples seem enormously gullible and foolish in their behaviors and beliefs, especially when bombarded by modern mass media.

I wonder if East Asian peoples are equally gullible and foolish under similar conditions. Perhaps yes, perhaps no...

Anonymous said...

I was in the airport the other day and saw a recruitment ad for West Point, which seemed a little strange. They would seem to have a fairly narrow target market, which would largely come to them anyway.

The ad featured a black cadet, so I suppose it was intended as an affirmative action ad. An airport in a white northern city again would not seem to be a place for that market.

I don't think blacks like the ocean or service at sea, but that won't be factored in.

Difference Maker said...

Leading lawmakers have grown increasingly upset

LOL!

Anonymous said...

There's a similar point I think you're missing.
The Army officer corps is more like Harvard Law and the Navy officer corps is more like Yale Law (the coast guard officer corps may be more like either a small second tier law school or like Caltech*).

Harvard Law School is huge for a law school, so those helping black elite lawyer networks can develop even with less than 12% of each class being black. Likewise, the army and its officer corps is huge for a military branch.

The naval officer corps is much smaller, just like yale law school is much smaller. Thus the network is more feeble, which does feed into your point about the advantage of networks.

The coast guard and caltech seem to me to be the most selective regarding their admits. And some of the blacks going there probably shouldn't anyway -they may be going to prove themselves rather than to where their talent can be maximized. This might even be similar to Obama being President. Maybe there's a reason most (or all) of the white Harvard law magna cum laude graduates have chosen paths for utilizing their talents other than running for President. Maybe our best legal minds shouldn't be spending months shaking hand and talking with the average morons of our Republic. But since we don't have nation managers the way we have city managers, that may be a more worthy price to pay than the loss that comes with some black lady becoming the "first black female coast guard valedictorian" when perhaps she should've spent that time becoming a slightly above average biomedical scientist or market analyst.

-Hopefully Anonymous

http://www.hopeanon.typepad.com



*maybe more like caltech because despite 3.8 average gpa, only 10% are in the top 10% of their class, implying to me that the recruits tend to come from very competitive and relatively elite high schools, maybe a bunch of rich yacht kids among the white applicants, not sure where so many hispanic applicants come from for that particular academy, unless they draw heavy from California, or it's mostly rich Cuban americans?)

Half Sigma said...

To sum this up in two points:

(1) The other military services practice stronger affirmative action than the Coast Guard, so blacks see better opportunities in those other branches.

(2) Blacks don't like boats that much anyway.

Cat Patrol said...

"I must say that most European-derived peoples seem enormously gullible and foolish in their behaviors and beliefs, especially when bombarded by modern mass media.

I wonder if East Asian peoples are equally gullible and foolish under similar conditions. Perhaps yes, perhaps no..."

The White race is easily the most corruptible race.

Richard Hoste said...

AA in the army is like socialism being taught in the universities.

The US Army is so strong that it can afford women and incompetent blacks in positions of power. There's no serious enemy to fight against.

Likewise, capitalism is so secure that our society can afford to not only allow, but subsidize communists and socialists to teach in our universities.

Both show economic/militray strength but moral decadence.

Middletown Girl said...

What about the injustice of there being so few Mexican-Americans in the NBA, NFL, and Wall Street law firms?

Why are these kinds of 'progressive' activism aimed selectively or solely at institutions where white male gentiles of above-average gentiles excel?

Anonymous said...

Maybe there's a reason most (or all) of the white Harvard law magna cum laude graduates have chosen paths for utilizing their talents other than running for President.

Leaving aside that, at best, the job is only available once every four years.

Anonymous said...

We Brits dont know much about the US Coast Guard.

Who does it appeal to? Are the officers yachting types, tend to live on the coast? Is there more opportunity to be stationed close to home, in a way thats not feasible in the USN?

Also Im wondering if the CG might actually see more action in an everyday sense than the Navy? Fighting drug dealers, search & rescue.

I wonder if these factors might influence recruitment.

And less O/T I saw a while back that there is a Coast Guard ship called the Alex Haley, yes that Alex Haley. That should set a few alarm bells ringing!

Anonymous said...

Brilliant post Steve.

william of ockham said...

>>>
I must say that most European-derived peoples seem enormously gullible and foolish in their behaviors and beliefs, especially when bombarded by modern mass media.

I wonder if East Asian peoples are equally gullible and foolish under similar conditions. Perhaps yes, perhaps no...
>>>

I would say yes, since the main factor here is conformity.

White Europeans are nowhere near as individualistic as we claim to be. Conscientiousness and conformity are very closely related traits. It is not for nothing that ideologies like communism, fascism, nationalism originated in Europe.

Observer said...

"I must say that most European-derived peoples seem enormously gullible and foolish in their behaviors and beliefs, especially when bombarded by modern mass media."

Great article here by recovering former liberal psychotherapist.

"The Left has managed to put half the country in a mass hypnotic trance using these strategies...


http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/08/how_to_influence_a_liberal_but.html

Anonymous said...

Slightly OT.... I recently watched the 2008 PBS series Carrier. The documentary follows among others a squadron of Navy fighter pilots. I was absolutely shocked that the one pilot we see badly screwing up - being unable to hook up with the tanker in the air, running out of fuel and having to divert to Baghdad where he breaks his tire upon landing - and being grounded...was the one black pilot (who was also a graduate of the Naval Academy). We are told that it costs a million dollars to train one of these pilots and the planes cost 60 million. But, hey, you can't put a price on diversity.

Harry Baldwin said...

Couldn't we easily resolve the lack of diversity in the Coast Guard by enacting Impressment Laws such as the Royal Navy employed through most of the 19th century? Under the authority of such laws, press gangs could roam our coastal cities and shanghai men of whatever race necessary to meet their quotas. I think as long as we call it "National Service" or something equally progressive, it should pass muster.

Anonymous said...

A large percentage of blacks recruited to the Navy can't swim and are afraid of water.

I saw this phenomena in Boot Camp with my own eyes.

This fear of water explains a lot re the Coast Guard, I'd guess.

Jimmy Crackedcorn said...

On a 385-11 vote last month, the House advanced the legislation to the Senate.

How many of these congressmen will be campaigning on the fact that they changed the admissions policy at the CGA from merit-based to patronage-based? None of the Republicans, I'd wager.

All this mention of the military academies and diversity reminds me of the Air Force Academy rape scandal of 2003. Did we ever find out who the cadets accused of ape were? And if not, why not?

We Brits dont know much about the US Coast Guard. Who does it appeal to?

Basically a sea-going law enforcement job, without the months spent away from home, but with more day-to-day action; probably with military benefits (though it falls under the Department of Homeland Security, not the Department of Defense), as well as military rank and uniforms.

Someone mentioned a Coast Guard cutter named for Alex Haley. Haley spent 20 years in the USCG, including time as a journalist.

Anonymous said...

I recall during the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina the media celebrating the Coast Guard as the one institution that really came through and did their jobs well.

So much for that ...

Anonymous said...

The Coast Guard, when asked by The Associated Press how many African-Americans were admitted to its academy as a result of the NAACP memorandum of agreement, said, through spokeswoman Nadine Santiago, that there was no way to know.
high octane stupid.

Anonymous said...

Diversity. America's new religion. Don't know why, but don't you dare question it or you'll be burned at the stake (or its 21st century equivalent).

Anonymous said...

"Blacks don't like boats that much anyway."


What about Somalis?

dearieme said...

By the time this comment appears, will anyone have alluded to blacks and swimming? Let's hope not.

Anonymous said...

someone once told me that all the coast guard admirals were from new england...i doubt it's still true...and that if you weren't from NE it was difficult to rise to the top.

l said...

"One little-appreciated reason for the impressive record of accomplishment by blacks in the Army..."

Depends on the branch and the MOS (Military Occupational Specialty = job). I was in MI (Military Intelligence)in the Army. There were no (as in zero) black linguists or analysts in my Signals Intelligence battalion. There were over 100 linguists and analysts in the battalion. Admission to SI MOSes is determined by ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) and DLAB (Defense Language Aptitude Battery) test scores. The ASVAB GT (General Technical) score roughly equates to the civilian WAIS Performance IQ.
Among other Army branches I noticed some interesting demographics. The 'elite' combat troops -- Rangers, Special Forces -- are disproportionately white. Blacks tended to cluster in support MOSes -- supply, transportation, etc. -- which require lower ASVAB scores. Some support units were overwhelmingly black.

l said...

P.S.: The stuff in my post above re: MOSes apply to the enlisted ranks. The standards for the selection/branch assignment of officers is somewhat different. Maybe someone who was/is an Army officer could chime in.

Fred said...

The Coast Guard has always been the most elite service in terms of recruitment because it is by far the smallest service.

Anonymous Brit,

In peacetime, the Coast Guard appealed to those who wanted to see some action, such as the examples you mentioned. In war, the Coast Guard is not limited to domestic service and does deploy overseas. E.g., there are elements of the Coast Guard currently deployed in the waters off of Iraq.

Next Anon,

That miniseries was great. It followed not just the fighter pilots, but a smattering of servicemen and women in various capacities on a carrier, as the carrier and its battle group sailed from their home port in San Diego, to a deployment off of Iraq, and back. You're right that the one pilot who gets grounded was the black one (though he looked to be at least half white). The series did show, as a counterpoint, a competent black (non-pilot) officer though.

Some other interesting observations from that miniseries:

- The vacation aspect of naval service. Even on an ostensible combat mission, the battle group found time to let its sailors drink on some Pacific island, and even at a resort in the Persian Gulf.

- The welfare aspect: On its way home, the battle group picks up kids of its sailors in Hawaii and they have a family bonding cruise from there back to San Diego.

- How naval aviation is ill-suited to irregular warfare like that in Iraq: The pilots at one point have an interesting discussion about this, after not dropping one bomb during their time flying over Iraq. Do the ground troops not understand how to use them effectively, or are fighter/bombers pretty much useless in urban counterinsurgency?

Osama,online dyalisis pioneer, speaks from his cave said...

'...- being unable to hook up with the tanker in the air, running out of fuel and having to divert to Baghdad where he breaks his tire upon landing - and being grounded...was the one black pilot..'

Diverse US Army is our No. 1 priority.

Anonymous said...

There probably isn't a single Congresscrud-not even Ron Paul-who has the courage to openly advocate merit systems outside Sportsworld. Or Israel.

Too bad David Duke had so many flaws.
(mostly typical flaws for a politician though, who are mostly whoremongers and thieves); he proved himself a very able candidate.

Jim O said...

Alex Haley spent 20 years as an enlisted man in the the CG, FWIW.

Unknown said...

The shocking sentence for me was here:
"For that class, 327 African-Americans applied, with 138 of the 149 blacks deemed fully qualified accepting offers of admission."
That's a black acceptance rate of almost 50%. The overall acceptance rate at the USNA is 13.9%. It seems like AA is already pretty strong. Is the average black candidate really almost 4 times better than the average candidate? I'd like to see GPA/SAT and physical fitness info, but I am inclined to think that that is not the case.

MaryJ said...

And less O/T I saw a while back that there is a Coast Guard ship called the Alex Haley, yes that Alex Haley.
--
He was a Coast Guard officer -- probably one of the most famous they've ever had.

Svigor said...

I would say yes, since the main factor here is conformity.

If the main factor is conformity, then I would say "more so."

Does China have a history of internationalist elites like Europe does? That seems to me to be one of the key factors; western elites seem to have little loyalty to their own (not something I see as exceptional). Another key factor doesn't seem reproducible; I know of no east Asian equivalent to the JQ.

The White race is easily the most corruptible race.

We'll find out once all the coolies in China have moved into the middle class. Right now the Chinese have no incentive for race-replacement. Which reminds me, it isn't exactly radical to suggest that a surplus of individualism is one of the reasons we're being race-replaced.

But, hey, you can't put a price on diversity.

Per Casey we now know that it would be better for 13 grunts to die than for anyone to question diversity.

Jimmy Crackedcorn said...

This is totally off-topic, but apparently the government of Britain is moving ahead with plans to keep records of every Britons internet activity, emails and phone calls for at least a year. The plan is being pushed, of course, by John Yates, who runs the UK's anti-terrorism operation.

I think it's brilliant the way government has used immigration as a way to extend its powers and its reach, and I'm surprised you never seem to write much about it, Steve. In the United States the increase in medically uninsured has been largely driven by uninsured immigrants, especially the illegal kind. The push to eliminate our privacy is being driven by the same dynamic. Were it not for Muslim immigration we wouldn't need the Patriot Act or this plan in Britain.

Real world consequences mean nothing. In Britan the Muslim population has increased by over 50% since 9/11.The least intrusive way to fight terrorism would be to end Muslim immigration and to repatriate non-citizen Muslims to their home countries, but that is not the solution our governments are pursuing.

Tanstaafl said...

Obama Thanks Hollywood With Coveted Invites To First White House State Dinner – Deadline.com.

David Geffen, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Michael Lynton, Ari Emanuel.

Where's the diversity?

Da fat nabob said...

“White Europeans are nowhere near as individualistic as we claim to be. Conscientiousness and conformity are very closely related traits. It is not for nothing that ideologies like communism, fascism, nationalism originated in Europe.”
Yes but democracy was spread around the world by Europe too. And while the Indians and Arabs were kissing the naboobs ass, the French were slaughtering their aristocrats (I do not have a positive opinion about the French Revolution BTW). And so did the Russians much later (I have no positive feelings about the Russian one either). And as far as the Chinese being conformists, explain the Boxer revolution and the overthrow of the Mongol rulers by the Chinese people to me. Indeed I cannot think of any such people's revolution in either the Middle-East, in South Asia or Africa before their contact with modern European ideas. And does more conformity explain why Europeans gave such a hard fight to the muslims and exhausted the Islamic invaders while India and Iran fell?

Let's! said...

Steve said:
But, nobody in power understands this simple chain of logic because if you wrote it down and emailed to anybody, your career is in jeopardy the next time there's a discovery process in a discrimination lawsuit. So, nobody even thinks about it.

Sure you can. Just do it in a trollish way - advocating ham-handed remedies that will get struck down by the court but won't hurt your career: "We need to double the size of our black freshman cadet class. I believe we must add an oral test administered in conjuntion with our partners at the NAACP and make it count for half of the scoring."

Anonymous said...

Alex Haley served in the Coastguard during WW2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Haley

At the end of the "Roots" TV series Haley appeared in person talking about his career in the CG. From this I got the impression that there were a lot of blacks in the service.

Jim Baird said...

"Also Im wondering if the CG might actually see more action in an everyday sense than the Navy? Fighting drug dealers, search & rescue."

Yes. The CG are basically a combination cop/fireman of the sea, so they get a lot of "hero" types. But, ain't no boats in the ghetto, so I don't imagine too many brothas want to join.

"And less O/T I saw a while back that there is a Coast Guard ship called the Alex Haley, yes that Alex Haley."

Haley was a Coasty. From wikipedia:

"He enlisted as a mess attendent and then became a Petty Officer Third Class in the rate of Steward, one of the few rates open to African Americans at that time. His Coast Guard service number was 212-548. It was during his service in the Pacific theater of operations that Haley taught himself the craft of writing stories. It is said that during his enlistment he was often paid by other sailors to write love letters to their girlfriends. He talked of how the greatest enemy he and his crew faced during their long sea voyages wasn't the Japanese but boredom.

After World War II, Haley was able to petition the Coast Guard to allow him to transfer into the field of journalism, and by 1949 he had become a Petty Officer First Class in the rating of Journalist. He later advanced to Chief Petty Officer and held this grade until his retirement from the Coast Guard in 1959. He was the first Chief Journalist in the Coast Guard.[2]

Haley's awards and decorations from the Coast Guard include the American Defense Service Medal (with "Sea" clasp), American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Coast Guard Good Conduct Medal (with 1 silver and 1 bronze service star), Korean Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, and the Coast Guard Expert Marksmanship Medal. [2]"

Jeff Burton said...

We Brits dont know much about the US Coast Guard. Who does it appeal to?

Think of them as sort of like firemen, except in boats, and without so much fire. Appeals to adventurous types who want to save the yachting types' lives. I have a friend whose father was Coast Guard. He said the Coast Guard is that small nucleus around which the U.S. Navy forms in times of national danger. I think he was only half kidding.

Greg Marquez said...

The article referred to the Naval Academy students as cadets when it is midshipman. The first black midshipman graduated in 1949 he was a prior enlisted. He was also a graduate of Dunbar High School.

Anonymous said...

I really don't see the mystery. You do not see many southern blacks who want to get in the water, swimming or in a boat. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but a much higher percentage of the black population is just not comfortable or confident in the water than among whites.

I've seen articles that it is harder for blacks to swim because of the lower fat percentage of their bodies (fit ones, at least, who would qualify for the CG). They are said to be less buoyant.

How many blacks do you see on swimming teams? How many black colleges have swimming teams?

acy said...

Anonymous, I know 3 CG Academy grads, one from a southern coastal city but not yachting class, the son of the former, both career officers, and one from a north-east suburb forty miles inland, little prior boating experience.

You are only stationed close to home insofar as you are in the US - one was stationed Alaska, Texas, North Carolina, New York, etc; transfers every few years common as in all branches of the service.

Anonymous said...

Just curious - what's the Coast Guard Academy football team's record this season? I can't find it on ESPN.

SGOTI said...

"The US Army is so strong that it can afford women and incompetent blacks in positions of power. There's no serious enemy to fight against.

Likewise, capitalism is so secure that our society can afford to not only allow, but subsidize communists and socialists to teach in our universities."

Ummm, maybe you missed the fact that we don't actually win many wars anymore and our economy is in the s@#$%er- and circling ever lower in the bowl.

Maybe once we could be so cavalier, but no more.

Anonymous said...

"There's no serious enemy to fight against."

I disagree...

---Sunday, October 04, 2009
Associated Press

KABUL — Hundreds of insurgents armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades stormed a pair of remote outposts near the Pakistan border, killing eight U.S. troops and capturing more than 20 Afghan security troops in the deadliest assault against U.S. forces in more than a year, military officials said Sunday.

The fierce gunbattle, which erupted at dawn Saturday in the Kamdesh district of mountainous Nuristan province and raged throughout the day, is likely to fuel the debate in Washington over the direction of the troubled eight-year war.

It was the heaviest U.S. loss of life in a single battle since July 2008, when nine American troops were killed in a raid on an outpost in Wanat in the same province---

Jack said...

1240 is pretty shitty for such a selective school with half of its entrants in the top 10% of their class.

sj071 said...

Steve, what happened with your blog? Is it true that you interviewed Tiger Woods and afterwards he drove his Cadillac into a nearby tree around 2am?

Bartnonymous said...

OT: Hey, Steve, why don't you comment on this nugget from NYT's David Brooks:

Western Men Are Doomed

"Asians place emphasis on context while Westerners place more emphasis on individuals. But I do have one more Grand Historical Theory to spin out for you, and it involves thinking styles. Different cultures and groups have different styles of thinking, or to be more precise, the average behavior is different from one group to another. So is it possible that Westerners, on average, have thinking styles that make them ill-suited for the problems of the future while Asians have styles that make them better suited?"

Wow. Thanks to Mr Brooks for another brilliant salvo of subtle attack-dog intellectualism. Kudos.

But wait. It looks like Brooks has slipped up badly and is actually publicly declaring racial differences in brain processing (OMG!). Asians are better than "Westerners" at what type of thinking exactly? "Problems of the future"?!

WTF?!

But I do love the gender specific headline of the article: Western Men Are Doomed ...which leaves open the mass kidnapping and insemination of Western shiksas. The white women are not doomed, I tell you!

For certain types, it's always about the inevitable decline and death of Western Man and the dispossession of his white women. That is WHAT IT'S ABOUT.

PS Steve, remember the article about the foreign bitch residing in Italy who complained about the lack of multiculturalism in Italy (not enough Chinese) but meanwhile ironically lived in her own little monocultural Jewish apartment in Italy? I bet she emailed this NYT article to all her friends.

Anonymous said...

"I disagree..."

By "serious enemy" I think he meant an enemy capable of inflicting real harm on a large scale, ie a state with large armed forces - Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, the USSR, etc. Rag tag insurgents can kill our troops, but they don't represent any kind of existential threat, in spite of what the neo-cons would have you believe.

Anonymous said...

"We Brits dont know much about the US Coast Guard.

Who does it appeal to? Are the officers yachting types, tend to live on the coast? Is there more opportunity to be stationed close to home, in a way thats not feasible in the USN?"

It's a bit like the US Navy, but involves more police duty type work, and rescue work. You're unlikely to be stationed close to home because the coast of the USA is huge, including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, etc. The Coast Guard can also be stationed overseas in wartime. I'm no expert but I never got the impression that the US Coast Guard office corps ever had any kind of elite social status - unlike the US Army and Navy officer corps has/had.

Baloo said...

Accusing somebody of ape seems _very_ racist.

l said...

The U of Minn should start up a Coast Guard ROTC program:

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/70662162.html?elr=KArksc8P:Pc:Ug8P:Pc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

Svigor said...

A large percentage of blacks recruited to the Navy can't swim and are afraid of water.

I saw this phenomena in Boot Camp with my own eyes.


Speculation: wouldn't it be much easier to avoid the water in the Navy than the Coast Guard? The Navy has floating cities and (CMIIW) a much bigger land presence than the Coast Guard.

Couldn't we easily resolve the lack of diversity in the Coast Guard by enacting Impressment Laws such as the Royal Navy employed through most of the 19th century?

I suggested this recently. We now know that diversity is a higher priority than saving lives, so it's got to be a higher priority than freedom.

Svigor said...

"Blacks don't like boats that much anyway."


What about Somalis?


Anonymous may have a point. If we can make American blacks as desperate as Somalis, we may just turn this thing around.

Anonymous said...

Someone should have mentioned that Haley was an outrageous plagiarist and hoaxster:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Haley#Plagiarism_and_other_criticism

http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/alex.htm

Bob said...

"the French were slaughtering their aristocrats"

Not really. First, the top of the French aristocracy was not very French because of centuries of arranged marriages with foreigners.

Second, the aristocrats who were killed were largely those that conspired to restore absolute monarchy.

Those that supported the Revolution, most notably the secondary royal house of Orleans, were very much spared.

The real slaughter that occurred in the French revolution was the mass slaughter of conscripted peasants from Germany, Italy, Spain and eastern Europe, whose aristocrat officers were no match for the meritocratic French revolutionary armies, though at the point the French decided they would not stop short of complete European domination, their conscripted peasants died en masse too.

Truth said...

"Just curious - what's the Coast Guard Academy football team's record this season? I can't find it on ESPN."

4-5 they lost to the Merchant Marine and Maine Maritime Academy. Ouch. I hope Jody doesn't see this. Navy is a top 25 BCS football team.

Anonymous said...

"Blacks don't like boats that much anyway."


What about Somalis?

Lol!!!!

Except Somalis are from east Africa not west like most US blacks. If there are physical reasons for the aversion to water/boats, there is a variation right there.

So, Africa Americans a distinct ethnic group relative to Somalis.

headache said...

What's the Coast Guard there for anyway? I thought they had to enforce immigration laws, but apparently there is no such policy.

Anonymous said...

Someone should have mentioned

Why? This thread was not a discussion of his literary works.

Anonymous said...

Why? This thread was not a discussion of his literary works.

"His literary works" weren't really his.

The lying POS has a ship named after him that's funded by US taxpayer's dollars. If he'd been a politician you could forgive the lying-if not the cheating-because it's part of the job description.

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't America be such a simpler place to live in if it was only HOMOGENEOUS? Yeah, yeah, I know, diversity is our "strength", (and purple elephants float around the atmosphere in Jupiter too). Imagine a clone-America, 100% identical in every way but as homogeneous as Japan. Wouldn't life in THAT America be so much simpler and less hassle-free?

Truth said...

"Wouldn't America be such a simpler place to live in if it was only HOMOGENEOUS?"

That depends on how much you want to pay for produce.

Anonymous said...

You're still missing the point. What does his plagiarism have to do with the question of whether he deserves credit for his service in the Coast Guard?

It's like saying, for example, that you shouldn't give awards for professional achievements to an actor or musician who cheats on a spouse or abuses drugs.

Anonymous said...

Haley's the "but I know a black in the Coast Guard, so what you say is balls" example. (rolls eyes)

Stats, people! Stats!

Anonymous said...

"Wouldn't America be such a simpler place to live in if it was only HOMOGENEOUS?"

That depends on how much you want to pay for produce
.

Truth, this is your universal argument for immigrants. First we could simply trade with tropical countries to import lettuce, cucumbers and other fruits instead of growing such crops here. Second, we could do what the Japanese are already doing instead of using Mexicans.

Svigor said...

It's like saying, for example, that you shouldn't give awards for professional achievements to an actor or musician who cheats on a spouse or abuses drugs.

Or changing David Duke's name to "former KKK leader David Duke" (not kidding; as far as the MSM is concerned, that really is his name), but never referring to Robert Byrd as "former KKK member Robert Byrd").

Sorry, so him on TV recently and wondered for the umpteenth time how the MSM justify his pass.

Truth said...

"Or changing David Duke's name to "former KKK leader David Duke" (not kidding; as far as the MSM is concerned, that really is his name), but never referring to Robert Byrd as "former KKK member Robert Byrd")."

Byrd repudiated his past beliefs, Duke never really changed his.

Truth said...

"First we could simply trade with tropical countries to import lettuce, cucumbers and other fruits instead of growing such crops here."

Have you ever been to Europe, or Japan? Do you know how much produce costs there...when you can actually get them?

Americans who have never been to Europe would be STUNNED as to how limited the affordable food choices are. In Germany, there is, almost literaly no such thing as a salad, why? All of the vegetables are grown in Africa and imported. The only reasons they do this are because of climate and space; two problems we don't have here.

Imagine logically for a second, every head of lettuce you eat in your hometown coming of a freight ship Costa Rica.

And the Industrial food factory thing is a great idea...we'll bring in tons of Indian engineers keep them running.

kudzu bob said...

Black people used to do low-paying stoop labor. Then the Mexican people came and the Black people left. Do you remember Black people? I remember Black people. Whatever happened to Black people, anyhow? They don't write, they don't call. I sure do hope they're okay.

Jimmy Crackedcorn said...

All of the vegetables [in Eruope] are grown in Africa and imported. The only reasons they do this are because of climate and space; two problems we don't have here.

In other words a labor shortage is not the major problem - a land shortage is the problem. There simply isn't enough land in Germany to grow food for its population of 82 million. It's a country 5/6ths the size of California but with more than twice the population.

Gee - I wonder what'll happen when the United States has imported so many immigrants that we have a land and/or water shortage, too?

The United States already has a vastly larger illiterate population than Europe or Japan. We should have no problem harvesting our crops with cheap, legal labor.

And FWIW, one problem with produce in Japan is that Japanese ag policy protects tiny postage-stamp size family farms. Large scale agribusiness is not the paradign there.

Anonymous said...

Or changing David Duke's name to "former KKK leader David Duke" (not kidding; as far as the MSM is concerned, that really is his name), but never referring to Robert Byrd as "former KKK member Robert Byrd").

That's a weird non-sequitur (sp?) on your part.

Anonymous said...

Truth, one of the countries we could outsource such crops to is Mexico. Mexico is already part of the US rail network and Mexican trucks routinely drop their trailers in border cities for pickup by American drivers.

Second, Central America already exports fresh produce to the US, and Columbia exports flowers here as well.

Most non-perishable crops are already being imported from other countries. I know the Chinese already export some crops here, I think garlic is one of them.

As for your example of produce in Germany, the high price of imported food is not just due to the distance. A similar problem occurs with consumer electronics in Europe, with Euros often paying twice what we pay for the same item. Although part of the cost can be attributed to the longer distance from the Far East, part of the cost is due to higher regulations and taxes in Europe. The same is probably true of African produce.

Truth said...

"I know the Chinese already export some crops here, I think garlic is one of them."

Garlic stays good for weeks, lettuce does not, and it takes a while for a truck to come from Southern Mexico to Idaho. Or maybee we should just transport everything by jet...that would be efficient.

BTW Ronduck, after we stop using all this acreage we now use for farming, what should we do with all of the millions of empty acres?

Anonymous said...

Lettuce used to be transported in unit trains from California's interior to Hunt's Point, NY, a distance that is probably as great as the trip from northern Mexico to Idaho. Needless to say we can do it again.

Second, a trip from the produce warehouses on the border in Nogales, AZ to Idaho would take two days for a single driver since they are restricted to only driving 14 hours a day. Or I could be wrong, they could make it north in 14 hours.

Besides, I gave the example of flowers being imported from Columbia, and since flowers are a bulky, perishable crop we can do the same thing with lettuce.

Finally, the farmland can lie fallow and be reclaimed by the desert. Or the land can be used to grow labor efficient crops such as cereals.