  PATRIOT MISSED THE MEMO I see they have their urlLink new-look site up and running. Well it didn't take long before the reality set in to this reader: New look, S.O.S.! They're devoting essentially their entire February issue to attacking affirmative action policies on campuses and elsewhere. For our first barrel of laughs, let's proceed to Mr McFarlane's urlLink "news analysis" , entitled "A Question of Race".
The third paragraph, shall we? At issue is the extent to which a university can use race as a factor for admissions. Michigan�s undergraduate college employs a point system: of 150 possible, one can earn 20 if either black, Amerindian or Latino. Categories of merit including grades and SAT/ACT scores can net a maximum of 80 and 12 points respectively, while other nonacademic criteria such as athletic promise and provost discretion can each provide 20. The addition of 20 points on the basis of race would thus overshadow even a perfect SAT score, which has angered many legal groups, legislators and unsuccessful applicants. Gee golly, I've heard that number somewhere before. Where could it be??? Oh wait, I remember, from EVERY CONSERVATIVE TV PUNDIT in the days following the Bushies' filing of the brief against UM. The spin, of course, is that since being from an underrepresented minority gets you more points than a high SAT1 score, then that means race is more important to UM than academics, by a ratio of 20 (race) to 12 (SAT1). But if we actually look at the UM admissions system -- rather than, you know, trusting the Patriot -- high-level academic performance in highschool nets you 110 points , including for GPA, avanced placement classes, and rigorousness of the high school, all along with SAT scores.
Everyone from Tim Russert to Cal Thomas paraded out the extremely dishonest "20-12" spin in the days after the UM brief was filed by Dubya. And that piece of spin has been thoroughly debunked (go urlLink here , urlLink here , and urlLink here ). But apparently the Patriot didn't get the memo, and has gone right on flogging that discredited spin. Good work, kids! Way to boost that credibility there! 
