We are talking about the daughter of a high school science teacher who believes that humans and dinosaurs walked the earth at the same time ... did her dad? wow!

Seriously -- part of the problem the US has is that, although 40 years ago, it had the best educated workforce in the world, Palin is simply wrong when she say "the American workforce is the greatest in this world, with the ingenuity and the work ethic that is just entrenched in our workforce."

In fact, the ingenuity and work ethic is retiring -- the best educated US workers are currently in the 55-59 age cohort (actually the 56-60 now), and below 50 the level of educational attainment of the US workforce slides very drastically. If you want to check the numbers visit the website of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development -- the OECD

While you are there consult the PISA studies for 2006 (http://www.oecd.org/document/2/0,3343,en_32252351_32236191_39718850_1_1_1_1,00.html), a worldwide study in most developed countries and many developing countries of the level of scholastic attainment of 15 year olds. Read the executive summary for the United States -- it's pretty make grim. Grimmer when you find out that the literacy test done by the US Department of Education had to be excluded because, get this, the test sent to the schools had too many typos and English errors to be reliable (the only country with this problem by the way.

The US can draw on the most highly educated labor force among the principal industrialized nations, when measured in terms of the formal qualifications attained by 25-to-64-year-olds in the labor force. However, this advantage is largely a result of the “first-mover advantage” which the US gained after World War II by massively increasing enrolments. While the US had, well into the 1960s, the highest high school completion rates among OECD countries, in 2005 it ranked, with a high school completion rate of 76%, 21st among the 27 OECD countries with available data, followed only by Spain, New Zealand, Portugal, Turkey and Mexico. Similar trends are visible in college education, where the US slipped between 1995 and 2005 from the 2nd to the 14th rank, not because US college graduation rates declined, but because they rose so much faster in many OECD countries. Graduate output is particularly low in science, where the number of people with a college degree per 100,000 employed 25-to-34-year-olds was 1,100 compared with 1,295 on average across OECD countries and more than 2,000 in Australia, Finland, France and Korea

Scary! Well then dig out this study on the situation regarding high skilled workers in the United States, which you will find in PDF at http://bookstore.petersoninstitute.org/book-store/4136.html

Why does this matter? Because the anti-intellectual trends in US life, the sneering at egg-heads, this whole electoral stunt by the Republicans started in the late 60s and 1970s and it is this very contempt for education, this sneering at hot house flowers and nerds that the Republicans have promulgated that has driven the slow decay of the US economy. Sarah Palin's nomination, the sneers at say Samantha Powers, ot Obama for having made it to Harvard law school, these are symptoms of the decline and fall of the United States.

Why do I read these reports? I am an international lawyer, specialising in technology. I have to advise clients where they should for example consider spending huge amounts of money to build factories -- these reports are considered highly relevant. I have to look at where major technology lawsuits should be brought, and then decide, do I want a dumb jury or a smart one? To use a Palinism, can I tell'ya that investors worry about these - you betcha!

I wonder why no one ever asks candidates about releasing their academic transcripts like they have to release their tax returns. If an individual is running for the highest government offices in the country, then their lives should be open books, and take all the skeletons out of the closets as well. We're going to ask, they might as well volunteer it, that is, if they have nothing to hide. Grades are a definite part of the picture--especially when talking about education in this country and a certain GOP VP candidate went to five colleges before finally graduating. And the main GOP candidate just barely graduated from Annapolis--5th from the bottom. It says something about academic abilities and the way that individual works.

"If I'm not mistaken

London lad was being sarcastic, and not insulting to AnnieW.

-- General Zod"

That was my take, too. I thought LL was paying a compliment. Hope so, anyway.

You guys really do have your very own ivory tower, don't you? I have Republican relatives, and I will tell you since you don't seem to know: they really are that dumb. Have you ever talked to a person with a 100 I.Q.? According to a study of I.Q., a person with a 100 I.Q. can probably finish high school and perhaps some college but will have trouble with advanced coursework and probably not be smart enough to finish college.

100 is average. Half of people are dumber than that.

Elitist? Hell yeah I'm an elitist! I want the smart people in charge. I have worked with normal people; I was manager of a grocery store. I don't trust normal people to build my house or fix my food or wax my floors properly without constant supervision, much less set policy. I want better-than-average people to represent me. And I also know that the average person isn't smart enough to recognize a smarter-than-average person or know why it's important. I'm not smart enough to be president myself - I can barely find Iraq on a map - but at least I'm smart enough to know that the PRESIDENT needs to be able to find Iraq on a map. That puts me in the top 1% of people in this country.

dmeeks...you really got me depressed.

MacK..--you're on target: anti-intellectual trends. Scary indeed.

The "big rage" seems to be about "Joe/Jane Six-Pack" (whomever they are), when, in fact, a lot of people who could be quarantined to those quarters are NOT stupid. Gee, go figure. So categorized, they've got minds. Maybe we out here in blog land can't speak for each and every one...?

That's one matter. The other is the one that worries me more. I've got relatives up the wazoo (my two siblings included) who come from middle class, got education (against odds, in some cases), and made it. And guess what? They're Republicans now. Like a lioness with her cub, they protect their own. Good people. I love them. But they scare me more than the so-called Joe/Jane Six-Pack crowd (and I still think that's a maligning reference, but apparently the GOP doesn't). You'd think that after the last eight years, maybe, just maybe, they'd change their tune? But, no. As long as I shut up about politics and we all just play with the babies and reminisce over the family history, we can all get along.

Sigh.