"Can't Keep a Bad Idea Down"

[GoodWitch58]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/opinion/27friedman.html?hp

A dysfunctional political system is one that knows the right answers but can?t even discuss them rationally, let alone act on them, and one that devotes vastly more attention to cable TV preachers than to recommendations by its best scientists and engineers.

Here is a little dose of reality about where we actually rank today,? says Vest: sixth in global innovation-based competitiveness, but 40th in rate of change over the last decade; 11th among industrialized nations in the fraction of 25- to 34-year-olds who have graduated from high school; 16th in college completion rate; 22nd in broadband Internet access; 24th in life expectancy at birth; 27th among developed nations in the proportion of college students receiving degrees in science or engineering; 48th in quality of K-12 math and science education; and 29th in the number of mobile phones per 100 people.

?This is not a pretty picture, and it cannot be wished away,? said Vest. The study recommended a series of steps ? some that President Obama has already initiated, some that still need Congress?s support ? designed to increase America?s talent pool by vastly improving K-12 science and mathematics education, to reinforce long-term basic research, and to create the right tax and policy incentives so we can develop, recruit and retain the best and brightest students, scientists and engineers in the world. The goal is to make America the premier place to innovate and invest in innovation to create high-paying jobs.

You?ll have to Google it, though. The report hasn?t received 1/100th of the attention given to Juan Williams?s remarks on Muslims.

This speaks to what I have been thinking about lately: I can't understand why a person who supported President Obama in the last election would not vote for the Democrats this time; do they really want to go back to where we were? So what if he has not done enough and has tried too hard to get Republican support; his efforts are better than the alternative;
and
why don't Republicans understand that the current group of Tea Party candidates are not really interested in making our country the best it can be...why has the Republican Party let itself be taken over by the Glen Beck community? as Friedman writes, why are television preachers listened to more than our best scientists and engineers....good questions I think. I just wish more people would ask themselves some of these questions.

 

[Kurt]

Video games and television and such appear to be much more interesting than math and science to young people. It's been 50 or 60 years since excellence has been universally expected and truly cool with the majority of students.

 

[walk the walk]

Video games and television and such appear to be much more interesting than math and science to young people. It's been 50 or 60 years since excellence has been universally expected and truly cool with the majority of students.

We are experincing a Jimmy Carter again,it will take a Reagan to save us.
Mitt Romney has the skills,VP is insignificant as Biden has proved but Newt Gingrich gets my nod for that position.

3...2...1.....here comes the insults from the left supporters.

 

[Jdarg]

We are experincing a Jimmy Carter again,it will take a Reagan to save us.
Mitt Romney has the skills,VP is insignificant as Biden has proved but Newt Gingrich gets my nod for that position.

3...2...1.....here comes the insults from the left supporters.

So anyone disagreeing with you is insulting you?

 

[walk the walk]

So anyone disagreeing with you is insulting you?

It was sarcasm.I forgot the little icon thingy.The thread is still young,it will grow legs soon enough.;-)

 

[Andy A]

So anyone disagreeing with you is insulting you?

If you think that posts by "some" on this board are not, on occasion, insulting, I have the proverbial bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you. Oh, and so you don't have to say it, that goes for the right, too, but they are usually not so obvious.

 

[scooterbug44]

Math and science can be MUCH more exciting than video games - it's all in the teaching methods..................and the teachers.

One of our math lessons involved launching water balloons of different sizes with a giant slingshot (outdoors) and graphing the results.

 

[LuciferSam]

Actually, a lot of people who are heavily into video games excel at math and science. Some of those games are incredibly complex. Definitely not for slow-witted simpletons with short attention spans.

 

[30ashopper]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/opinion/27friedman.html?hp

This speaks to what I have been thinking about lately: I can't understand why a person who supported President Obama in the last election would not vote for the Democrats this time; do they really want to go back to where we were? So what if he has not done enough and has tried too hard to get Republican support; his efforts are better than the alternative;
and
why don't Republicans understand that the current group of Tea Party candidates are not really interested in making our country the best it can be...why has the Republican Party let itself be taken over by the Glen Beck community? as Friedman writes, why are television preachers listened to more than our best scientists and engineers....good questions I think. I just wish more people would ask themselves some of these questions.

IMHO, we aren't going back to the way things were, we're going to try something new. We are moving away from single party control to a balance of power. The sides will also be switched from what we had between 2006 - 2008. The american people didn't like the results of that period, they didn't like the results of 2008 - 2010, so now we are ready to change things up again.

Some of my optimism stems from the fact that the vast majority of folks headed to congress in January have never held federal office.

 

[Lynnie]

Where should we be ranking in these categories and by whose standards?

And, why only these categories? I can think of several that aren't on his list.

I feel a movement toward overall betterment, also. True change. I am optimistic as are most of the people I know.