Friday, June 18, 2004
On I.Q.'s: Rico the Border Collie has just been pronounced as smart as a three-year-old human. With a 200-word German vocabulary, Rico can retrieve specific toys on demand and can even learn new words for new toys introduced to him. Since the article appeared, a number of people have approached me and asked whether my dog is a Border Collie. She looks a bit like a Border but is actually a tri-color Australian Shepard . And if I'm not mistaken, they rank second to Border Collies in the smarts department but I can attest that she has no where near a vocabulary of 200 words. I'm not sure my college-age son does either but that's another story. I'd say our dog has a vocabulary of thirty words max. She understands when she is asked to bring a toy although no matter which one you specify, her choice is completely random to your wishes. Having said that, our dog only has two toys to her name and no designated spot where they are kept so perhaps I should give her more credit for being able to find any toy at all. If you tell her to go to a specific family member she is usually pretty good at locating the right person. She'll stop on a dime if you tell her to and she knows all the generic commands like sit, down, heel, food, water, bad, good, etc. Is our dog less lovable because she has a lower I.Q. than Rico? Certainly not. But am I glad she isn't a seeing-eye-dog for someone dependent on her for 24/7 guidance? Yes.
Which brings me to Bush. There has been a plethora of speculation and jokes out there about Bush's I.Q. One report in particular (which started circulating in 2001), claimed that Bush had the lowest I.Q. of any of the last twelve presidents to serve. The 'report' turned out to be pure myth i.e. he appears to be smarter than he looks or is given credit for. Apparently he scored a 1206 out of a possible 1600 on his SAT's (566 verbal and 640 math) which might theoretically convert to an I.Q. of 129. Not the brightest bulb on the block but not stupid either. I frankly would have died for Bush's SAT math score. I am also admittedly surprised he got a 566 on his verbals when one considers the syntactical ineptitude he has demonstrated throughout his Supreme Court-appointed presidency. As a side note, an SAT score of 1206 these days would have you knocking on the doors of third-tier colleges, not Yale, no matter who you could boast as alumni.
I might well be able to live with a president with an I.Q. of 129 were it not for one disturbing factor. The context of Bush's decision making is based on the confines of his faith rather than synapse activity. In Bob Woodward's book, Bush admits as much by saying that at the end of the day, he is beholden to a 'higher father.' Unfortunately there has been untold carnage and injustice over the centuries in the name of that higher father and so I am mighty mistrustful of those who proclaim to be doing 'God's' bidding (after all isn't that exactly what the Islamist movement is claiming to be doing?). Add to that the fact that Bush's faith-based extrapolations are exacerbated by the neocon Straussians who surround him and whose motto is: We are superior to every one else in the world therefore our actions are noble and justified, and you've got trouble in Kansas City. I'd like to know how it is that a crazy man on the street who hears voices is locked up and given drugs, but the man who would be president and admits he heeds a higher order is given a blank check and allowed to send soldiers to die? Particularly that every single justification Bush gave for going to war with Iraq has turned out to be delusional ranting. Just a question....
On a light and not so lighter note from Harper's Index:
* Percentage change in Mattel's first-quarter earnings last winter, when Barbie and Ken's "break-up" was announced: -73
* Number of individual "songs" for sale in Apple's iTunes Music Store that consist of utter silence: 17
* Weeks the Patriot Act allowed the government this year to delay the ACLU's announcement of a suit over the Act itself: 3
* Seconds it took a Maryland consultant last winter to pick a Diebold voting machine's lock and remove its memory card: 10
Which brings me to Bush. There has been a plethora of speculation and jokes out there about Bush's I.Q. One report in particular (which started circulating in 2001), claimed that Bush had the lowest I.Q. of any of the last twelve presidents to serve. The 'report' turned out to be pure myth i.e. he appears to be smarter than he looks or is given credit for. Apparently he scored a 1206 out of a possible 1600 on his SAT's (566 verbal and 640 math) which might theoretically convert to an I.Q. of 129. Not the brightest bulb on the block but not stupid either. I frankly would have died for Bush's SAT math score. I am also admittedly surprised he got a 566 on his verbals when one considers the syntactical ineptitude he has demonstrated throughout his Supreme Court-appointed presidency. As a side note, an SAT score of 1206 these days would have you knocking on the doors of third-tier colleges, not Yale, no matter who you could boast as alumni.
I might well be able to live with a president with an I.Q. of 129 were it not for one disturbing factor. The context of Bush's decision making is based on the confines of his faith rather than synapse activity. In Bob Woodward's book, Bush admits as much by saying that at the end of the day, he is beholden to a 'higher father.' Unfortunately there has been untold carnage and injustice over the centuries in the name of that higher father and so I am mighty mistrustful of those who proclaim to be doing 'God's' bidding (after all isn't that exactly what the Islamist movement is claiming to be doing?). Add to that the fact that Bush's faith-based extrapolations are exacerbated by the neocon Straussians who surround him and whose motto is: We are superior to every one else in the world therefore our actions are noble and justified, and you've got trouble in Kansas City. I'd like to know how it is that a crazy man on the street who hears voices is locked up and given drugs, but the man who would be president and admits he heeds a higher order is given a blank check and allowed to send soldiers to die? Particularly that every single justification Bush gave for going to war with Iraq has turned out to be delusional ranting. Just a question....
On a light and not so lighter note from Harper's Index:
* Percentage change in Mattel's first-quarter earnings last winter, when Barbie and Ken's "break-up" was announced: -73
* Number of individual "songs" for sale in Apple's iTunes Music Store that consist of utter silence: 17
* Weeks the Patriot Act allowed the government this year to delay the ACLU's announcement of a suit over the Act itself: 3
* Seconds it took a Maryland consultant last winter to pick a Diebold voting machine's lock and remove its memory card: 10
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