Tag: california

Tom Hanks: When I Said Mormons Were ‘Un-American’ What I Meant to Say Was They are the ‘Most American’

In an apology put out today by Tom Hank’s public relations firm he took back all the mean things he ever said about anybody.

Ok, well, not exactly. He actually took back his recent comments that Mormons in California were Un-American because they supported proposition 8 which banned gay marriage. But it had about as much meaning as it would have if he’d just said nothing at all.

I mean the apology simply reaks of a forced hand. I bet he didn’t even bother to write it himself. And I think its darn clear that he didn’t mean it. Sure, its a well crafted statement but it only concedes one point. The point that people who supported prop 8 aren’t un-American but really it seems he believes that’s only true because nobody should be labeled un-American not because he feels differently about them.

Also the complete 180 from calling their actions and beliefs “Un-American” to calling them the “most American” shows the disingenuous nature of his “how do I get away from this backlash” apology. I mean who is gonna go from hating someones ideas and actions to absolutely loving or respecting them in the span of a couple of days?

Give us a break Tom Hanks. Nobody believes you’re sorry.

UPDATE: Hot Air gives a possible reason for the remorse

Soros and Ayres behind the destruction of the University of California’s standards?

It looks like the main backers of the proposal to obliterate the University of California’s standards, The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, have close ties with some of the most radical men in America, George Soros and William Ayres.

Yes, that’s right, Soros and Ayres both actively fund the organization which is, according to my UC grad contact for this story, mainly responsible for trying to kill UC’s standards and by extension its respectability.

But nobody should be too shocked here as only people who believe absurd things could possibly be behind the absurd changes that have been proposed thus far. Changes that include:

1. Removing the SAT II subject test requirements because, get this, some applicants don’t know they are requirements for acceptance. I think former Congressman Doug Ose captured my reaction to this one the best when he said:

“This staggeringly simplistic rationale raises legitimate questions about the wisdom of the regents’ willingness to consider admitting to the UC system students who cannot understand the most fundamental step of entering college which is to apply for it.”

2. Lowering the minimum GPA requirement from 3.0 to 2.8 along with eliminating the SAT II subject test. Yet they still try and argue that this move is intended to bring in more qualified students than the current standards do… Who are they kidding?

3. And this is my favorite, removing the SAT II subject test as requirements in order to promote “diversity”, even though race-based admissions policies have been illegal in California since 1996, and despite the fact that most experts agree that the SAT II subject tests actually help minority students get into college because they allow them to showcase abilities that would otherwise go unnoticed. California Assemblyman Van Tran elaborates on this…

All of us who believe in quality education that is based on performance, and only performance, need to take a stand against this (further) cheapening of our valued institutions in higher education. We need to get involved and put pressure on the people considering these absurd proposals.

Visit saveucstandards.com to learn more about how you can stand up for what is right.

UPDATE: The Washington Examiner reports that UC will cut its enrollment by 10,000 students making the proposal to slash admission requirements all the more absurd.

And they wonder why they can’t win people over…

Seems the “NO ON PROP 8” supporters have been protesting and even fighting with police out in California. The protesters where disruptive enough that the Los Angeles Police Department had to declare a tactical alert which requires all available officers, including some from other precincts, to respond. Fox News even labeled it “rioting“, though that seems a bit excessive considering only a couple people were arrested and there doesn’t seem to be any property damage or injuries at this point… Here’s a link to the video, judge for yourself.

Either way this is pathetic on the part of the gay marriage proponents. I mean, when you throw tantrums and threaten people after you’ve lost an argument do you really think its going to change their mind?

P.s. Here’s a final thought… Now that we know what the gay marriage supporters will do after losing a ballot proposition, what do you think an Obama loss would have been like?

UPDATE: Malkin eventually picked up this story and has more details on the mayhem

UPDATE: Now they’re getting people fired simply for supporting Prop 8.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: More details on the economic and personal aftermath associated with simply supporting Prop 8

Is the University of California about to destroy its own standards?

UPDATE: Soros and Ayres behind the group pushing the destruction of UC’s standards

It would seem so as the University of California Board of Regents is proposing the elimination of the SAT subject test as an admissions requirement.

The SAT subject tests asses how well a student performs in 20 different subjects ranging from advanced mathematics to language skills. This part of the SATs have become an important part of admissions at nearly all American colleges and universities. In fact, the Dean of admissions for Harvard has said that subject tests are “Better predictors than either high school grades or the SAT”.

So why in the world would the UC Board of Regents want to do this?

Well, you probably already guessed but this is all an underhanded attempt to reinstate affirmative action at UC despite the fact that race based admission policies were outlawed for California in 1996. The basic logic behind this proposal is that lower SAT standards combined with the lower gpa standards they are simultaneously proposing will make more minority applicants eligible and therefor increase ever-coveted diversity.

Now, as expected, the lowering of standards has pissed some people off, here is California Assemblyman Cameron Smyth’s objection for example, and rightfully so… But the funny thing in all of this, if there is anything funny about this, is that SAT subject tests actually help minorities get into college. You see, the SAT subject tests enable minority students to showcase their abilities in certain areas, such as the social sciences and language, that would other wise be overlooked.

Thus, and quite unexpectedly, there are people pissed off because this plan would, most likely, hurt diversity in the California University system. California Assemblyman Van Tran is a great example of someone in opposition to the proposal because it would actually hurt minority students, here is his opinion.

A concerned UC grad, who tipped me off about this situation, has also told me that the Regent’s meeting where they will be discussing this proposal is coming up in mid November. So everybody try to put as much pressure on the Regent’s as possible in order to keep them from willfully destroying UC’s admission standards.

Here is the contact information for the Regents:

Email: anne.shaw@ucop.edu

Phone: 520-987-9220

Fax: 520-987-9224

Website: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/

UPDATE: Michelle might want to put this issue on the conservative “to do” list…

UPDATE: There is now a website dedicated to the cause of saving UC’s Standards