I'd like to know the average I.Q. of our Congressional Rep's! How 'bout you?

I would estimate the average IQ of our elected officals at the federal level to be about 120. The average IQ of all persons is supposedly 100 with a standard deviation of 15. That would make an IQ of 120 somewhere in the top 5 - 10% of the population. 115 is in the top 15% (1 std dev above mean). 130 is in the top 2% (2 std dev above mean). Extrapolating in my head, I estimate top 5-10% for 120. Well, if they are so smart, why all the stupid ideas? Easy. They are ego driven, arrogant and dishonest. Knowing they are smarter than most, they figure they don't have to fool all of us, just most of us. Usually, they do. Until the voters of the USA again realize the honesty of a person has to be the primary number 1 qualifying characteristic to hold office, we are going to continue to be screwed over.

Hello ladyluna, I did see the news story but it isn’t detailed enough to formulate an opinion. By details, I mean that it does talk about setting up of fund but has not given any details as to how this fund will actually be translated to practical measures on ground. Shortly speaking, it hasn’t discussed the “mechanism” of this proposed aid and ‘how’ this fund will be used to help developing nations acquire clean power technologies. Why I am saying this is because ‘if’ the mechanism of providing and using this fund is like Economic and Military aid to different countries then you need not get angry or lose your sleep over this fund. I’ll give an example to clarify myself. USA gives Israel a huge amount in aid. But, Israel is restricted to use almost all of Military portion (major part) of this aid in Military purchases ‘only’ from American defense Industry and the rest (economic part) is also mostly used in repaying loans for earlier Military purchases. Only a very tiny amount is used for economic purposes in Israel. This not only, in itself, keeps American Defense manufacturers afloat, rather prosper, but also secures 10s of thousands of jobs in America (at least 60,000 to my last knowledge). But that’s not all about it; it has farther and more profound healthy implication and benefits for American Defense corporations and economy at large. This aid forces Israel’s Arab neighbors to make Military purchases worth tens of billions of dollars from America. So, America is actually only giving few million dollars to Israel and gets back 10s of billions of dollars in return along with 10s of thousands of jobs for its citizens, not to mention funding research in defense to keep it’s Military technology atop others. Same is the case with $10 billion Aid to Pakistan “most” (more than 90%) of which was restricted to be used in Military purchases from American defense corporations. No body of knowledge of these affairs would contend that this amount should be directly spent in America because there needs to be a ‘demand’ for American defense industry to ‘supply’. So a better approach would be to question what are the terms and conditions and strings attached to the release of these funds. I don’t know yet, but It may be that those countries are helped but with the condition that they buy American technology or collaborate with American corporations OR they must share, without conditions, the results of their research and development with America. One may think that this can be better done in America! Yes, sure. Surely, involving a third party will incur some loss, but this loss is compensated by political gains. So, knowing exact details, you may even like to congratulate your congressional reps for their genius and then you will be celebrating their higher IQ :-) But, as I said before, I personally don’t know, it all depends on what are the conditions and details (mechanism) of this fund, and hence I can’t formulate an opinion as yet. What I have learnt through years is that American Congressmen and senators are not moralists, by and large, they are pragmatists.

One thing that I have learned about members of Congress is that they never let actual facts get in the way of a feel good idea. Never mind that man is not responsible for any climate change or global warming - or cooling either for that matter... never mind that CO2 emissions have no real bearing on climate change.... never mind that global warming really isn't, that instead the earth seems to have been cooling since 1998... never mind that the IPCC and their consensus was politically motivated and is an attempt to grab world power.... and never mind that Al Gore is a blithering idiot who fancies himself as an environmental scientist, and whose "Inconvenient Truth" has been judged as a work of fiction on nine counts by a British Court. Congress does not want to be bothered by any of these facts because they are too busy trying to prove that they "care" about the world and are desperately trying to save us all from imminent impending doom while the "evil realists" are in complete denial and taking kickbacks from "big oil" and "soulless corporations". Congress doesn't want to acknowledge any of this because that means that they would have to admit that they were wrong. It also means hat they would have no more excuse for the exorbitant tax increases that they have planned in the name of stopping global warming and climate change. Anyone who buys into this charade is being foolish and demonstrating a naivety that is usually demonstrated by the liberals in our society... and it is all based on emotion and feelings and not a logical assessment of actual facts. In short, it is nothing more than a bill of goods and a big fat scam aimed at the American taxpayer. When it comes to liberals in any kind of position of power then it is time for a BOHICA Alert, because the American people are about to get screwed...again.

I get your drift, but I don't think that IQ scores necessarily measure any real values, and there is quite a bit of risk that they would be altered anyway. I've seen first hand some of the conditions under which those tests are administered and in my opinion there is quite a bit of room for error in the first place. Here is my prescription. Get a nice tall drink of iced tea or if it is cool up there today, a nice warm glass of spiced apple juice or hot chocolate, sit down, watch the 1979 movie called Being There, starring Shirley MaClaine and Peter Sellers, and repeat after me, "I can't read."

Am I the only one who caught the fact that India and China were the two prime countries mentioned in the article?....Yeah, I think I was considering the answers that I read. India and China just entered into an all encompassing agreement that seems to be holding very well. It covers military, economics, education, etc., etc. If this awesome agreement holds, it makes this the most formidable agreement ever written between two countries ever. It will make these two countries the biggest super power in the world. Do you suppose it is time for some Burro behind kissing? I do not think that in this case the Congressmen were showing their stupidity. They were showing their fear! They still have not made a wise choice. The money that is turned over will not be used for antipollution controls. It will undoubtably be used to further their (China,India)own agendas, but I think the Congresmen/women are grasping at straws, because they read what I read and it really scared me! Shalom~Adoniah

The article suggests the fund may be financed by private money, from investors in clean technology. It's not clear how much public money will be used. This doesn't sound such a bad idea. That said, politicians obviously will not always do the right thing (defined by what I would want them do. :-)). They'll often do what is most politically advantageous for them, and so will somewhat reflect the IQ of those they represent. And then there are the kick-backs, bribes, etc.

Having a high I.Q doesn't guarantee one will have common sense and some whose I.Q. scores may not be quite in the "genius" range may actually have more common sense than their "less intelligent" counterparts. That having been said, I fear that while many of our members of Congress may have high I.Q.'s they may not fare as well if there were a "C.S." test given. However, having read the article you referenced, I can't see any problem with the plan so far. I'm not in the Climate Change Denial Club so I think it's a problem that definitely needs to be addressed and from what this article stated this may be a good start which will benefit the U.S. as much as it benefits other nations in the long run. How new is that? It doesn't say they will be using billions of our tax dollars, in fact it doesn't say they will use any of our tax dollars, but even if they did I'd say it's money much better spent than on this never-ending war in Iraq and all the funds being given to Bush's pals by way of no-bid contracts. Annie