Also, note that simply because they try to make sure their children get ahead doesn't mean their kids will get ahead. Even if they do, if they don't maintain it, well.......

Again, all things being equal, sure. But things are not equal. Take a guy with the right attitude and compare him to someone with the money and with the same attitude and abilities, you could be right. However, life isn't always that way. That is like saying "Because I have a more powerful car, I will always win the race.". If our driving skills are equal and everything else is, sure. What if I have the more powerful car but I went out partying last night and am hung over or I simply am too lazy to show up for the race?

I think wealth and connections are simply a tool. The abilities are more important than the tool. I can't tell you how many times a person with less education and with less tools has done a home improvement project better than what I can do simply because he has the aptitude and the attitude.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Not having grown up in Hawaii, I can't comment on the particulars of race relations in that state. However, I'd contrast the experience of your political representatives with most of the remaining states in the mainland, where 41 of the 49 current governors are white men, and an additional 5 are white women.

You Have to Wonder How Many Japanese Citizens Suffer from Racial Profiling or Use of Excessive Force in Japan

New Orleans police officers routinely violate citizens' constitutional rights in myriad ways, from using excessive force to conducting illegal searches and discriminating against minorities, according to a blistering new report by investigators from the U.S. Department of Justice.

I blame plate tectonics.

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I'm sick of .sig files

Multicultural participation in politics is different in the 50th state given its diverse population base and the political base of organized labor in a service sector labor based economy. Different opportunities exist in different places at different times.

My newly adopted state of Arizona has an interesting modern history of female governors.

What if the harder you worked made no difference in how likely you were to succeed? What if, instead of having access to opportunity, you instead had to face MORE obstacles to opportunity compared to someone growing up white in a middle class suburban neighborhood?

African Americans are more likely to grow up in poor neighborhoods and single parent, single income families. They are more likely to go to lower quality schools. They are more likely to confront violence and/or drugs in their neighborhood growing up. When they do grow up, they are less likely to receive job opportunities compared to white Americans of equal qualifications. They are more likely to be stopped by the police while driving, and more likely to be given harsher sentences than white Americans for comparable crimes.

I can only imagine what it must be like to be a young black man in this country, to look at the way our society's attitudes towards African Americans as a whole, and not come away from it thinking "what's the point?"

Contrast that with the experiences of Asian Americans, say, in the University of California. Whereas Asians make up 12% of the state's population, they comprise 37% of the students admitted to the UC system, and are admitted at a rate of 77%. Whites make up 76% of California's population, 32% of new admits, and are admitted at a rate of 72%. Blacks make up 6% of the population, 4% of new admits, and are admitted at a rate of 50%.

To be a Chinese American in this state, if not the country, is a blessing compared to being African American.

You might not have said that in the late 19th and early 20th Century in the US, would you? The same for being Japanese American in the early 1940s in California? However, examine how each found a path.

Being Jewish, Irish, German, Polish or Italian wasn't particularly easy either at different moments in our history. Was it literally not being dark skinned that made the difference?

Well, I suppose we could remove all obstacles during the childhood, adulthood and in your old years. Or better yet, why not just give you success and skip the whole process? Life is full of obstacles. Either overcome them or don't. If you cannot, perhaps it is time to buy a copy of "The Final Exit". Even if you are successful today, you could fail tomorrow because somebody is better than you or has an edge. What then? What about the next obstacle and the one after that? Where will it end? Living this life is about overcoming obstacles. So, as they said in the Shawshank Redemption, "Get busy living or get busy dying".

Kinda makes you think of the Japanese, don't it? Hated throughout Asia and over here but yet they somehow managed to kick American ass in the production section because they had the right attitude. They didn't sit back and say "Everybody hates me.".

Perhaps you are right. There is no point. So why live? It can't get better so you might as well check out. If I was permanently crippled, I'd certainly check out and not wait around.

Oh, well that makes the difference. Somebody is better than the dumb black man/woman. So why can the Asian not say "Well, I might be better than the black guy but I can't be white. Might as well not try."? Look back during the times of the railroad building. The chinaman would get paid less, have less opportunity and yet could save more than the white man and be what you said. Why? WILLPOWER.

And to be Chinese isn't as good a the blessing of being a white male. So should I also sit on my ass and say "Poor me"?

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Or how about in 1945 where you were hated in your neck of the woods and over here?

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

What is the it, I don't understand?? Care to say what I don't understand, when you don't even know me??

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'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

Edward thinks that because you are a white male, you have no clue as to how it is to be a minority with no open doors, etc, etc. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. IDK. However, since I am a first generation immigrant and a member of a race that is not white, I would love to see how he tells me how I don't understand it.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

I thought this was a thread about how well the Japenese seem to be handling the disaster versus what happened in NO during Katrina.

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Jim

I see. That's odd, he knows nothing about my race, creed, nor national origin - nor anything else about me. Sounds like he's projecting what he wants to believe about others, as fact.

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'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

It's focus has drifted across several Continents and topics since then.

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'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

Since the topic compared the Japanese to the US, it was bound to drift, like a GT-R around Suzuka . . .