Do Preferences at Large Law Firms Actually Hurt Blacks?

I had a small role in an event where Richard Sander (along with some other leading legal empiricists) presented a paper for the North Carolina Law Review's 2005 Symposium this last October, Empirical Studies of the Legal Profession. The finished written work of the Symposium is coming out soon, and Sander is already causing controversy for his theories. Sander gathers data that shows that Blacks are hired at large law firms at a higher rate than their class ranking and other credentials would predict and that Blacks are less happy and less likely to succeed once they are hired. Sander then theorizes that the paradox of aggressive hiring and unhappy Blacks once they are working at the firm is a result of mismatch. Not being published yet, I am not a liberty to discuss more details on his current thesis; however, he published a similar theory on law school admission and Black performance where he stated:

Go Canes!

Nothing transcends politics like game 7's. And this one has the added benefit of keeping me from thinking about anything else today. Since the image of a poster that I tried to insert here is not working, I will leave you with a link to the Raleighing post on the game.

P.S. the Canes' victory tonight would be the first (major league) professional championship in state history.

Fuzzy Math and False Logic in the News-Record on the Landfill Proposals

When I first posted about the possible bills to tackle the growing waste management problems in North Carolina, their was little reaction from our major newspapers about the proposals. Now the Greensboro News-Record has come out against the proposed bills, which would put a moratorium on new landfills until the state can determine whether we really want to import trash from the entire eastern seaboard and to increase the fee the state charges for dumping a ton of trash to $2 (around the fee other states charge from insanely low $0 fee now).

Jim Black Gets No Respect

Buried in a great version of the N&O's Under the Dome column was this nugget:

N.C. House Speaker Pro Tem Richard Morgan found no takers Thursday when he asked for debate during the final vote on an $18.9 billion budget proposal. He waited a few moments and then called for the vote.

But at the front of the chamber, in Morgan's seat, sat a lawmaker who had plenty to say -- House Speaker Jim Black, who had let Morgan take the gavel for Thursday's session. Black had a speech prepared, praising his colleagues for their efforts in assembling what he considers the best budget proposal for education he has ever seen.

But What About That Guy Next to Me

N.C. Senate votes to ban cell phone use for teen drivers, but they still think it is okay for the rest of us. Despite this factoid from a bill supporter, Austin Allran (R):

“I think it’s a good idea. Cell phone use while driving … increases your chances of a wreck four times.”

While the teens are faced with a violation for talking on their cell phone while driving, the guy next to me is only face with the possibility of either ki

You Are Doing a Heck of a Job Rummy

Dole still not getting it:

She also expressed support for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has come under fire from retired generals and others for the way he has waged what has become an increasingly unpopular war.

Though some mistakes have been made, Dole said, Rumsfeld has "done a very good job."

"He's a very capable person," she said.

When You Are Too Ashamed to Show Your Face

The NCGOP convention was held this past weekend. What? You did not hear about it? Apparently that is because they were so scared of reporters reporting what was going on that they barred them from the event. The NC Democratic Party takes the GOP to the woodshed over this issue in this blog post:

“The North Carolina Republican Party is worried and it showed with their closed convention,” said North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Jerry Meek. “Their Party is in disarray from the Bush administration on down. For fear of their activists and delegates admitting that they are frustrated and dispirited, the NCGOP banned access and transparency. When the North Carolina Democratic Party meets on June 24th in High Point for our State Convention, all convention business will be open to the press. Not only is that more democratic, it’s the right thing to do.”

Wilmington Race Riot Commission Releases Recommendations

A couple of months ago, I blogged about the preliminary draft report of the Wilmington Race Riot Commission. The Commission was formed to examine the events of 1898, when the Wilmington City government and the majority of the Black community were attacked by a mob of White Democrats upset with the state of affairs in the city. The Commission concluded that the "riot" was really a planned overthrow of the local government--the only successful overthrow of a local government in the history of the United States. The overthrow had many long lasting negative effects on the Black community in the Southeastern part of the state.

How the Conservatives Feel About Virginia Foxx

I know that people around here do not particularly like Virginia Foxx, but now it looks like the conservatives are turning on the Republican Congresswoman from NC-5 also. The ultra-conservative Conservative Voice had this to say:

Representative Virginia Fox (R-NC) received bad marks on her performance by Congress.Org, a congressional watchdog group.

Out of 232 Republicans sitting in the House of Representatives, Rep. Foxx received a ranking of only 217 in their Power Ranking.

Richard Moore Using Shareholder Activism to Fight Executive Compensation at Exxon

State Treasurer Richard Moore is using his position as head of the state's treasury to withhold voting North Carolina's shares in Exxon in favor of the current directors, apparently over concerns of excessive executive compensation (article here). The directors will probably win anyway given the fact that the job is typically more secure than an incumbent Congressman's, but shareholder protests like this often do register with public companies. So it is nice that Moore is doing something in his power to fight the world's most profitable corporation when he sees that they are doing something that he does not think is in the best interest of the state. Now if we can only get Roy Cooper to use his powers as Attorney General to uncover some price gouging.

BlueNC

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