Its not a bias policy it is an access policy.  There was never any real threat for more qualified individuals.  Race, gender, etc, were not to be determinative factors but simply factors to be considered.

Correct - and here's the thing - this is the same as the welfare debate - EVERYONE's got a story about how, you know, their mailman claims that he's delivering welfare checks to people with solid gold cars, or that they saw someone buying caviar with food stamps or that some homeless derelect was hired JUST because he was black/native american/whatever.

And there's a two part answer - on one hand - it's fallacious logic to damn a whole program because of some (unverifiable) reports of random people abusing it, and two - I'm willing to bet that people don't know what to do with food stamps and welfare checks - one of the many reasons a person might be in a position of poverty is that they don't know how to manage money.  Of course they'll not know what to do with money given to them.  The solution isn't to dismantle the whole program, but to fix it to make sure the money is used properly.

What's more - it's insidiously offensive, the idea that Affirmitive Action exists to give unqualified minorites jobs that whites are better qualified for.  I can promise you that there are plenty of blacks who are more qualified to do my job.  I'm lucky that my last name is O'Brien and people can't tell that I'm part Mexican.

Oh Al, I did not post anything more or less controversial, irrelevant than you have - so are you troll?

Biting tongue so hard it's almost bleeding.  :P

That may be the goal, but it's not how affirmative action is often implemented.  My understanding, and I've seen examples of this, is that affirmative action goes beyond simply stating that you may not have a negative bias against a protected minority.

No one disputes that any policy can be abused.  For this reason the use of quotas in college admissions was deemed unconstitutional.  But the principles behind Affirmative Action as a policy was to create better access for historically discriminated people.  The definition identified in the "Hawkings" post was not an accurate depiction of Affirmative Action but a characterization intended to incite white resentment similar to the infamous Jesse Helms commercial. 

QUOTE: It was more of a policy statement on who Daniel Presedo is. •• The Pope?

Which brings us right back to my earlier post:

 I'm lucky that my last name is O'Brien and people can't tell that I'm part Mexican.

You are lucky you don't tell potential employers about your Hot Dog Pie!  That would cost you a job!