Apparently, some polls have showed that 55% of scientists are democrats, 32% are independants, and the remainder don't know their affiliation.

This is described in an article by Slate.com

I suppose this should come as no suprise given that Republicans in American Politics have traditionally opposed things like stem cells, climate change, protection of endangered species, and so forth. I can't help but wonder what, specifically, causes this - if it's the "religious right" aspect of republican politics (which pits them against just about every science from the religious aspect) or something else entirely, like the "Fox News" crowd that thinks facts are electable by a majority vote or simply yelling loudly enough.

Still, there is no mistake that the US states that tend to do the worst academically are the red states. (You know who you are.) Though that isn't true for all red states as some do quite well, but I have to wonder...

If we better fund and completely fix our schoolastic issues and start churning out American students with top-five nation ability in math and science, then I'm willing to bet that maybe - just maybe - we can solve all of our problems.

It's a thought, anyways, however utterly random.

EDIT: Speaking of Republicans, they decided to exercise their majority vote and voted 40-57 to block cloture on DADT.
From the impression I got in the article, it seems like the battle isn't quite over and it can still be voted on before the lame-duck session of congress is over. Of course they have nothing against gays serving openly in the military, it's just procedural concerns that stopped them from voting to block the bill. In fact, it's so irrelevant, that they also blocked a defense authorization bill for the first time in nearly half a century.

... but hey... this is totally not because Republicans have anything against gay people. They would just rather have a system in place that makes the people willing to die for America paranoid that they'll get discharged for being accused of being gay instead volunteering his life for the United States Military. But as long as those dirty gays don't sissy up the military I guess...

Ignorance is the affliction of fools, the tool of the rich and the bane of the educated.

Both of my parents are registered as Republican. I'd say they're fiscally conservative, socially liberal or indifferent depending on the day. Ironically neither are religious, just laissez-faire types. I fail at politics.

I can't see how anyone can act surprised that the number of Republican scientists is so low (I actually thought it'd be lower). And I had to laugh at climate change being a "political issue", really?

(December 10, 2010 at 4:22 am)TheDarkestOfAngels Wrote: If we better fund.....

This seems to be the catcha all answer when speaking of how to improve the education of Americans,

"Let's throw more money at the problem, that'll fix it!"

It is of my opinion that once you start overpaying for a service, the service provider begins not to care about his craft, it becomes about the money. My brother and his wife are 'educators'. Their income is obsene for the work, and time invested on the job.
At social functions where I am in the company of teachers it was quite common when questioned about why they chose the profession, for them to reply; "Where else can I get paid so much for doing so little?" and "I really don't give a damn about those little shits, I just want my fat-assed paycheck, three months vacation every year, a week off for xmas, a week off for thanksgiving, a free health club membership, etc. etc."
It's a small sample but I'll go out on a limb here and say this is quite common based on the testimony of these people.

Throwing more money at these teachers is not the answer. If you were to hire teachers at a fair wage for a fair days work you cannot tell me you would not still have people lined up, resumes in hand, applying. The up side would be the people applying would be wanting to teach for the love of teaching, not for the love of money.

When my brother just entered into the market after his schooling the easiest positions to get with no experiance is in private schools. Of course his first job was in one of those. Boy he used to LOVE to crone on about how private schools consistantly churn out children who read, write and do 'rithmatic at higher grade levels than the public schools. Since private schools are notorious for low wages any 'educated' educators that pass thru their doors are doing it just to list it on their resumes as experiance so they don't stick around long in these institutions. The teachers that you see year after year have no more than a high school education themselves. (Source for this opinion is nothing more than my personal interactions with these educators.) Again, small sample, overwhelming support for my contentions.

Again, my opinion is these non-educated educators consistantly churn out higher end products than the public schools due to the teachers wanting to teach for the love of teaching, it's not about the money. I believe the problem with US public schools is because for those employed to teach, it's about the money and nothing else.

I advocate cutting teacher pay to a more fair and reasonable amount. Ditching the health club memberships and attracting those who want to do it because they want to do it, not because it's a sham job that'll get you buckets of money.

Just my 2 cents.

That 6% probably includes Creation "scientists."

(December 10, 2010 at 11:09 am)Dotard Wrote: This seems to be the catcha all answer when speaking of how to improve the education of Americans,

"Let's throw more money at the problem, that'll fix it!"

I wholeheartedly agree, but funding to many schools is a part of the problem.
Isofar as funding is concerned, a large part of the problem is the distribution of funding as well. Some schools are getting more money than they need and others aren't getting enough to make sure their student body does well acedemically.
It's just that I'd hate to talk about the problem when I frankly don't know what can be done. There are a lot of problems in many aspects of American schools beyond funding or whatever one-size-fits-all solution that politicians typically come up with. (Just like the wars on drugs and poverty.)

Whatever the problem is that it'll require a dedicated multi-tiered campaign to tackle the comlex issues in a manner that would have the highest chance to yield results.

(December 10, 2010 at 11:09 am)Dotard Wrote: I advocate cutting teacher pay to a more fair and reasonable amount. Ditching the health club memberships and attracting those who want to do it because they want to do it, not because it's a sham job that'll get you buckets of money.

I can't agree on that because I've been in school to become a teacher and teachers do NOT enter public school for the money. If anything, the teachers in good standing should be paid more than they are.

Who needs Republicans? I don't.

(December 11, 2010 at 11:33 am)lrh9 Wrote: Who needs Republicans? I don't.

No, but according to Democracy, a lot of people do.

And that's fine. Just don't expect any favors.

(December 11, 2010 at 11:38 am)Tiberius Wrote:

(December 11, 2010 at 11:33 am)lrh9 Wrote: Who needs Republicans? I don't.

No, but according to Democracy, a lot of people do.

Which form of democracy needs a Republican party?