From the "No surprise to anyone" department

Or category. I should use that category thing in MT. Turned on the autotrackback feature a few days back, after all. . .

From, oh, let's go with The Mercury News: Rice supports some use of race in admissions:

Friday's statement was an unusual foray into domestic policy for Rice, the president's top foreign-policy adviser. For one of Bush's most loyal aides, it also was an uncharacteristic expression of personal views at odds with the official White House line -- which could affect the national debate.

[. . .] Rice [like the President] also opposes quotas, she said in an interview Friday with the American Urban Radio Network.

``There are circumstances in which it is necessary to use race as a factor among many factors in diversifying a college class,'' she said. ``And so I've been a supporter of affirmative action that is not quota-based and that does not seek to make race the only factor, but that considers race as one of many factors.''

Guess asking folks to either specifically define or refrain from using the word "quotas" in this debate is pointless. . .

As for the other member of the administration generally pointed at to demonstrate their inclusiveness and wonderfullness, CNN.com: Powell defends affirmative action:

Calling himself a "strong proponent" of affirmative action, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday he believes race should play a role in university admissions.

"I wish it was possible for everything to be race neutral in this country, but I'm afraid we're not yet at that point where things are race neutral," Powell told CNN's "Late Edition."

"I believe race should be a factor among many other factors in determining the make up of a student body of a university."

[. . .] Powell said he had talked with the president on many occasions about affirmative action and believes him to be "committed to diversity in education," but that Bush felt Michigan's policy went too far.

"It's just that he found that the University of Michigan case did not meet what he believed was a constitutional test," Powell said.

In the past, Powell said he believed the university had a strong case, but he and Rice deferred Sunday to the court to make the final decision.

I'm not sure what "deferred. . . to the court" is supposed to mean. Didn't think Colin and Condi had been planning a military coup, although I'm sure the thought does cross their minds whenever they hear Bush speaking extemporaneously.

I'm also not sure their opinions on this domestic policy issue count for a hell of a lot, given that the administration doesn't seem particularly interested in what they have to say. Maybe it's supposed to be enough that they're permitted to publicly disagree.

You know. Like the thousands of demonstrators yesterday.

On a completely unrelated note, Colour still marks US job market according to a BBC writeup on that University of Chicago/Massachusetts Institute of Technology report from a while back.

Completely unrelated.

Completely.