UlsterScots432 - 06 October 2010 07:29 PM

And I don’t pretend to have any expertise outside of my field, which is why I am so offended by the conceit of congresscritters like Barbara Boxer, or Barney Frank.  Every president leading up to Obama, had actually done something in their life and now, as we are seeing, experience matters.

I agree, and that is one of the main arguments I have against GW Bush. What did he accomplish before becoming Governor of Texas? He ran three oil companies into bankruptcy and was the titular head of the Texas Rangers baseball team, where he made several million dollars off the Tarrant County Texas taxpayers after threatening to move the team unless they built a new stadium. If his daddy wasn’t rich and well connected GW Bush would be known as nothing more than an abysmal failure.

What did Ronald Reagan accomplish before becoming president? He spent WW II making propaganda films for the Department of Defense. He was a bad actor. As Governor of California he helped pass Prop 13, which set up the state for its current continuing financial troubles. As president he was a disaster. George Bush I wasn’t much better. We all know Clinton’s failures.

Let’s go back a bit further. Lyndon Johnson was a consummate politician, nothing more. He was so good a politician that dead people voted for him.

Presidents have been going downhill since Harry Truman, and the trend is getting worse.

DarronS - 06 October 2010 07:39 PM

UlsterScots432 - 06 October 2010 07:29 PM

And I don’t pretend to have any expertise outside of my field, which is why I am so offended by the conceit of congresscritters like Barbara Boxer, or Barney Frank.  Every president leading up to Obama, had actually done something in their life and now, as we are seeing, experience matters.

I agree, and that is one of the main arguments I have against GW Bush. What did he accomplish before becoming Governor of Texas? He ran three oil companies into bankruptcy and was the titular head of the Texas Rangers baseball team, where he made several million dollars off the Tarrant County Texas taxpayers after threatening to move the team unless they built a new stadium. If his daddy wasn’t rich and well connected GW Bush would be known as nothing more than an abysmal failure.

What did Ronald Reagan accomplish before becoming president? He spent WW II making propaganda films for the Department of Defense. He was a bad actor. As Governor of California he helped pass Prop 13, which set up the state for its current continuing financial troubles. As president he was a disaster. George Bush I wasn’t much better. We all know Clinton’s failures.

Let’s go back a bit further. Lyndon Johnson was a consummate politician, nothing more. He was so good a politician that dead people voted for him.

Presidents have been going downhill since Harry Truman, and the trend is getting worse.

What is your field of expertise Darron? 

(which begs the following response:)  Who me?  Actually, I’m just a kid who gets paid to argue with other folks online…I’m playing Call to Duty while I type this, actually. 

UlsterScots432 - 06 October 2010 07:44 PM

What is your field of expertise Darron? 

(which begs the following response:)  Who me?  Actually, I’m just a kid who gets paid to argue with other folks online…I’m playing Call to Duty while I type this, actually. 

My field of expertise is journalism by vocation. I returned to college last year to study science. I plan to get an Associate of Science in Mathematics, then transfer to a university (probably The University of Texas) and major in either Astronomy or Geology. Astronomy is my hobby, but the Geology degree appeals to me because it requires Biology, Chemistry and Physics in addition to the Geology courses. All the sciences fascinate me.

Quoting Ulsterscot:

What is your field of expertise Darron?

That was an interesting question, Ulster.  What was the basis for it?  What were you thinking of concluding dependent on Darrons’ answer?  Were there any implications within it?

Occam

DarronS - 06 October 2010 08:35 PM

UlsterScots432 - 06 October 2010 07:44 PM

What is your field of expertise Darron? 

(which begs the following response:)  Who me?  Actually, I’m just a kid who gets paid to argue with other folks online…I’m playing Call to Duty while I type this, actually. 

My field of expertise is journalism by vocation. I returned to college last year to study science. I plan to get an Associate of Science in Mathematics, then transfer to a university (probably The University of Texas) and major in either Astronomy or Geology. Astronomy is my hobby, but the Geology degree appeals to me because it requires Biology, Chemistry and Physics in addition to the Geology courses. All the sciences fascinate me.

Cool, I always read the “layman’s” science books (Davies, Hawking, Tipler), and always wish I had the actual mathematical expertise…strike that..understanding, to read and comprehend original source material that actually backs up many of the theories about quantum physics, for example.  I always struggled with math. 

I was a military journalist, which probably set me up for college more than anything, and to this day, I tell people that being a journalist (interviewing, writing reports) probably has come in more handy for being an agent, than my experience as a cop (which was after I got out of the service). 

Not sure if you have ever made it to DC, but they have TONS of science-related exhibits in the Smithsonian and Native American (might be called “Indian”) museum.