Sowell states, "Any employment requirement that one racial or ethnic group meets far more often than another is said to have a "disparate impact" and is considered to be evidence of racial discrimination.

In other words, if group X doesn't pass a test nearly as often as group Y, then there is something wrong with the test, according to this reasoning or lack of reasoning."

There could be something wrong with the test, which results in "disparate impact." The major problem with the firefighter's case is the test was not evaluated prior to or after the test was given for bias. It is entirely possible to create a test which favors a certain socieoeconomic class or race. For example, a picture of a house--what is missing from the house? answer: a chimney. If you lived in the city where few houses exist the answer might not be apparent. We don't know if the test for the firefighters had bias problems or not. It very well could have. But the majority ruling seemed to ignore the disparate aspect of the Civil Rights Law. Should we say they are activist judges?

Mr. Sowell is correct for once ... when he writes that some racial or other groups do some things better than other groups. This explains the absolute mess that is most of Africa.

"Does anybody seriously doubt that the leading cameras and lenses in world have long been produced by Germans and Japanese?"

Yes I do.

The best lens were made by American Optics. These lens where used on spy satellites that were capable of counting troops in formation from space.

The Japanese were taught lens manufacturing by Germans. This fact, proves you can teach a group to do something new to them or their culture and they can meet the quality of those who taught them.

American companies were too fat and lazy. Kodak once made Ektar Lens. These where wonderful lens. In fact, the Speed Graphic camera was the mainstay of photojournalism for over three decades.

Leica, a German camera had the best lens on earth in the 35mm format. Leica missed out on digital. In their German superiority mode, Leica looked down on digital. Leica missed the digital boat.

The moral of the story is humans are adaptive. Sometimes they just need an opportunity to excel. Those who excel tend to sit on their butt and one day the world has passed them by.