Yes, I agree. Attempting to defend an indefensible position IS silly - yet you keep doing it.
No, you quoted the losers who were attempting to justify their failure. There IS a difference.

As others have pointed out, there are a number of reasons for the question about the direction the truck is parked on a hill to be an important point.
I disagree. To someone who needs the help and wants to get ahead in his chosen field, the cost is minimal.
Nobody had to at all. The person who CHOSE to recognized his personal failings and obtained assistance at his own expense in order to further his career.

Please - by all means, explain for all of us exactly HOW this is racially discriminatory.
Not really. If you're poor in the United States it is largely because of your own choices - one of those choices typically being a lack of motivation.

However, that has nothing to do with the issue at hand. The issue was the claim that the test was racially discriminatory. So far, you have yet to present a single reason as to why.

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In case you were wondering, yes, there really ARE more idiots these days....technology has made natural selection obsolete.

Silence is golden...Duct tape is silver.

Yes, as a matter of fact, I did.
Not until NOW you didnt.
Bullshit. They were making the same income as the white firefighters. Pay rates are equal for a given job. They do not change on the basis of one being white and the other hispanic.
Maybe you didn't bother reading the case, but race most assuredly WAS the issue - at least it was the argument they made.
Again, nobody HAD to purchase additional material. Some CHOSE to in order to ensure they would perform better on the test, and thereby advance their career.

It may surprise you, but some of us choose to make ourselves more valuable to our employers at our own expense. We consider it an investment in our future earnings potential.

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In case you were wondering, yes, there really ARE more idiots these days....technology has made natural selection obsolete.

Silence is golden...Duct tape is silver.

Actually they said they didn't bother knowing that information because their station did not use the equipment in question. The type of equipment was most assuredly identified in the exam.

Just because THEIR station may not use it does not mean OTHERS don't, and part of the job could easily involve having to manage equipment from other sources.

Try actually reading the OP Maat. You'll look like a little less of an idiot.

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In case you were wondering, yes, there really ARE more idiots these days....technology has made natural selection obsolete.

Silence is golden...Duct tape is silver.

The people who did not buy the extra books were more qualified because these extra books had wrong information in them, such as how to park a truck on a hill.
The purchased books disagreed with the free books at the fire houses, and how they actually used the equipment.
Those who did not buy the extra book, were confident in their knowledge of actual procedure.

And yes, considering how the SCOTUS is packed with right wingers, I do trust the minority more. There are some I would never trust, like Scalia, Kennedy, and Rehnquist.
When the majority is stacked, the minority is almost always better.

How do you know this? Because some loser who probably failed the test told you so?What is this based on?So you believe there WAS racial discrimination here? At least, if I remember correctly, that is what the case was about and, hence, also the ruling.

Wrong.
Since almost half of the SCOTUS also disagreed, it is not at all indefensible to disagree with the majority decision.

It does not matter who I quoted, if he brought up a valid point, and he did.
Of course the direction a truck is parked on a hill may be an important point, but the test was wrong because there is no one consistent answer.
According to how the current procedures are done, it depends upon numerous factors, as to which way was best.
So the test which was based on the additional books, was wrong, according to the actual firefighters.

Buying books in order to try to simulate actual field knowledge, is not only cheating, but wrong.
Books are never as good as real experience, and the test failures prove it.

And NO, it is not I who ever said the test was racially biased.
It is the white firefighters who said throwing the test out was racially biased.
I said the test was financially biased and badly written.

And anyone who claims that it is their own fault for being poor, is obviously bigoted. That is totally untrue.

So wait a second. You're saying that the test makers/users were bigoted (wealth-wise, not race-wise) because they KNEW that the rich (and not the poor) would buy books, they knew exactly WHICH books the rich would buy, they knew that these books had a rare truck-parking inconsistency in them, and they went ahead and added those specific questions into the test to screw with the poor?

It is clear you don't have any idea what this about.
It was the white firefighter who made the racial argument.
No one else made any racial argument, because that was never a public issue.

And while no one should have had to purchase the extra material, clearly the test did contain questions that came ONLY from the extra material.
It was wrong for the test to do that, especially since the extra material seems to have faulty information in it.

And no one should have to buy additional material in order to study for fire fighting exams. All that material should have been available at the fire houses. How else can you know it is right for their equipment and procedures?

Wrong.

The exam did not specify what kind of equipment.
It asked a generic question for all fire trucks.

The firefighter explained that the test was wrong because it did not differentiate between different types of equipment and how they actually use it.

I read it, you obviously did not.

Of course it is easy to know which books the wealthy would use and which the poor would use.
The wealth would buy all the expensive books, and the poor would use the free ones.
Anyone who would make a test based on books you had to buy, when the actual fire stations really operated based on the free ones, would have to be a complete bigot.

So all of the "expensive" books had one set of information in them, and all of the "free" books had a totally different set of information in them?You'd have to show me some of these inconsistencies and prove the above part. Right now you're apparently going off of what one loser who probably failed the test said.

"Wealthy"? Please, were you are getting this utterly idiotic idea that any of the firefighters involved were "wealthy"?

It is dumb statements like that which demonstrate how little you care about actual facts, and how unhinged you are from reality.

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"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane

Weren't they all at the same pay grade before taking the test?

I don't understand what is so complicated about this.

A color blind society means whoever has the better firefighting skills gets the promotion.

Period.

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January 21, 2013: The End of an ERROR.

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic."
"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."
---Benjamin Franklin

Having read ginsbergs dissent she relies on the assumption that the error made was the 60:40 written/oral system. However, because that was set by contract with the firefighters union that seems like something which would have to be resolved by both parties, not simply unilaterally decided by the town to be discriminatory, considering that, it wouldn't support throwing out these exams since the superior exam would have the same structure until the negotiations finished.

More or less, some were more senior, and I believe there were different positions open.