Dear President Obama...

There have been multiple times since Mr. Obama became president that my hackles have raised, particularly in response to multiple apologies to the world for the sins of America. (America, the great bastion of democracy who freed the world from tyranny, but who have become somehow irredeemably evil). I have till now managed to smooth my own ruffled feathers. No more. I have finally submitted a comment to the White House via their website:

Dear President Obama:

Your recent statement that the Cambridge Massachusetts police "acted stupidly" made me angry. You admit that you are prejudiced (in the classic English sense) in favor of your friend, Prof. Gates, and that you don't know the facts of the matter.

In my opinion, your comment was ill considered and reflects poor judgment and immaturity -- not qualities that speak well of our chief executive.

I believe that you owe a sincere apology to Sergeant Crowley and all the police of our nation.

Now I must admit to my own prejudices -- I am a former Marine Corps sergeant and a former police (auxiliary) sergeant. So perhaps I tend to support sergeants. Doesn't matter to me what skin tone they have.

Equality or excellence?

It was with some concern we recently noted that, at five local high schools, the valedictorians and salutatorians were all girls. And in our own high school, twelve of fifteen senior honors students were girls as well. That boys are not represented in proportion to their demographics is starkly exposed. Boys are not achieving on tests that girls are knocking out of the park.

No one seems to know exactly what is going on here. Various cultural and social theories of the causes are proposed. Potential solutions are suggested – encouraging the boys, providing incentives, perhaps tutoring, or remedial studies.

But in the goal of equal results, there is another approach that can be taken. Let’s fiddle with the tests so that girls’ achievements are leveled and the boys are then seen to be equal.

After all, that was good enough for the City of New Haven (Ricci v. DeStefano), as confirmed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals (Sotomayor, Pooler, and Sack). When equality is the goal, it is only excellence that suffers – a small price to pay.