[tomder55]

George Washington has 2 books over due from the NY public library. One of the books was the "Law of Nations," which deals with international relations.

Emmerich de Vattel: The Law of Nations or the Principles of Natural Law (1758)

The other was volume 12 of debates from Britain's House of Commons.This is a 14 volume collection that the library still possesses sans volume 12 .

Both books were due on Nov. 2, 1789.

This discovery was made in a ledger in a rubbish heap in the library's basement, revealing the names of all the people who had borrowed books from the library between July 1789 and April 1792.The ledger also shows that Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay all borrowed books in that time. But they returned them.

The library is not looking to collect late fees (adjusted for inflation, $300,000 even though I don't believe library fines are adjusted in that manner)
But the library is very interested in having the books returned.

[twinkiedooter]

George is probably still reading the books.

As for the dufus in office now, I seriously doubt he's reading much of anything except his teleprompter. Maybe travel brochures on where to spend his next vacation on the taxpayers at exorbitent weekly rental rates. The summer is coming up fast and I'm sure he's already picked out a nice, pricey assortment of summer vacations already.

[Kitkat22]

I don't think George Bush could read very well.:rolleyes:

[Clough]

I don't think George Bush could read very well.:rolleyes:

But, what about George Washington?

[tomder55]

I intended this to be a fluff posting and did not expect it to turn into a commentary on the current President or the recent one.
But OK since that is where it turned...

The current President would not care what the Brits say in their Commons. He hates them so much that one of his 1st acts in office was to insult them by returning a gift of a bust of Winston Churchill that the Brits gave us. The normal procedure if he did not want the bust in the White House would've been to store it in one of the gvt warehouses. But by returning it ,he was making a statement of his dislike of the Brits. The Brit tabloids have frequently mentioned that when discussing his treatment of BP .

He probably would read 'The Law of Nations .....'and is wondering how he can supplant the Constitution with laws from other nations (mostly Venezuela ) It would sit on his shelf next to his copy of William Ayers 'Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals '.

President Bush read extensively and the list of the books he was reading were routinely part of the public record. Probably the most influential book that shaped his foreign policies was Natan Sharansky's 'The Case for Democracy. The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror'.

Washington of course was a prolific reader and a genuine Renaissance Man.

[speechlesstx]

I think the current president has read a bit too much Superman.

[Kitkat22]

Bush had a dictionary to look up the words he didn't understand.
That's why he still has the books, he's only half way through one of them.

[speechlesstx]

Cute, but W. has a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Yale and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School. His education at those two institutions was fraudulent?

[Kitkat22]

Cute, but W. has a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Yale and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School. His education at those two institutions was fraudulent?

I'm saying what I think and that's that... Didn't mean to start an argument. I do not like the current President nor did I like Bush.

[speechlesstx]

Who's arguing?

[Kitkat22]

Who's arguing?

Bush couldn't give a good speech if his life depended on it. I cringed just as I do now when Obama gives a speech. Bush was no Rhodes Scholar. You guys and I mean Exy and all of you are very intelligent.. and I'm not saying that in jest. I read a lot of your post and although a lot of them I don't understand , they are pretty great.

Do me a favor , find some books by the people who George went to school with and I don't mean people who write a pack of lies. I mean reputable people who tell about his school and College days. He is not a smart man. I voted for McCain by the way. A war hero. I'm not going to argue.

[speechlesstx]

I'm not going to argue.

OK. How about discuss?

[Kitkat22]

OK. How about discuss?

You guys are way to smart for me. I really mean that! I appreciate the offer:D Sorry Tom didn't mean to mess up your thread. Wonder what Clinton read:eek:

[tomder55]

Clinton I am sure has a diverse reading list and is one of the 1st class intellects in the political world. But ;for raw brain power ,Nixon had them all beat as a graduate of Duke Law School . What did it mean ? Nothing Nixon ,Carter (top 10% at Naval Academy) ,and Clintoon's Presidencies were flawed /or outright failures .

Here is an interesting read.

Bush's bad rap

Bottom line the way I read it is that intellect is in no way a barometer of how successful a Presidency will be. Note that history is judging Harry Truman's to be a highly successful Presidency .He is the least educated of the modern Presidents.

Bush was a B-C student in 2 Ivy League schools and scored in the top 16 percentile in the SAT exams. (1204 accumulated score )
Bush/Gore Grades and SAT Scores

Statistically, Bush's test performance places him in the top 16 percent of prospective college students — hardly the mark of a dimwit. Of course, the SAT is not designed as an IQ test. But it is highly correlated with general intelligence, to the tune of .80. In plain language, the SAT is two parts a measure of general intelligence and one part a measure of specific scholastic reasoning skills and abilities.

If Bush could score in the top 16 percent of college applicants on the SAT, he would almost certainly rank higher on tests of general intelligence, which are normed with reference to the general population. But even if his rank remained constant at the 84th-percentile level of his SAT score, it would translate to an IQ score of 115.

George Washington was largely self taught and became a master of many disciplines.

[speechlesstx]

You guys are way to smart for me. I really mean that! I appreciate the offer:D Sorry Tom didn't mean to mess up your thread. Wonder what Clinton read:eek:

No, no, no... the only that's too smart for anyone is excon. He's even too smart for his own good.

Clinton probably enjoys reading Nina Burleigh. :D

[Kitkat22]

Clinton I am sure has a diverse reading list and is one of the 1st class intellects in the political world. But ;for raw brain power ,Nixon had them all beat as a graduate of Duke Law School . What did it mean ? Nothing Nixon ,Carter (top 10% at Naval Academy) ,and Clintoon's Presidencies were flawed /or outright failures .

here is an interesting read.

Bush's bad rap

Bottom line the way I read it is that intellect is in no way a barometer of how successful a Presidency will be. Note that history is judging Harry Truman's to be a highly successful Presidency .He is the least educated of the modern Presidents.

Bush was a B-C student in 2 Ivy League schools and scored in the top 16 percentile in the SAT exams. (1204 accumulated score )
Bush/Gore Grades and SAT Scores



George Washington was largely self taught and became a master of many disciplines.

I know you are going to laugh at this but I think Nixon will have his place as one of the best Presidents we have ever had in our generation. He was a great diplomat and he got us out of Vietnam. Go ahead...

[tomder55]

OK I'll go at it .Nixon's stategy in Vietnam was the correct course;especially adopting General Abrams plan for the war.. . No doubt about it . But ,had it succeeded ,it wouldn't be "he got us out "... it would've been 'Vietnamization' was a success .We most likely would've stayed around a little longer and left when the job was done;with a free South Vietnam able to defend itself .
But Nixon's abuses of his office ensured he would leave in disgrace . That is just the fact.
The reason we "got out " of Vietnam was that the Democrats in Congress betrayed the South Vietnamese ;defunded the strategy before it was completed thus ensuring defeat.

I have mixed feelings about the rest of the Nixon foreign policy. He was very much a Cold War Realpolitilk President. Which means that along with the defense of freedom there were Machiavellian accommodations with some very bad people who did not share our values .
I think even less of Nixon's domestic policies. He was a proponent of big government solutions .

[Kitkat22]

ok I'll go at it .Nixon's stategy in Vietnam was the correct course;especially adopting General Abrams plan for the war.. ...No doubt about it . But ,had it succeeded ,it wouldn't be "he got us out " ....it would've been 'Vietnamization' was a success .We most likely would've stayed around a little longer and left when the job was done;with a free South Vietnam able to defend itself .
But Nixon's abuses of his office ensured he would leave in disgrace . That is just the fact.
The reason we "got out " of Vietnam was that the Democrats in Congress betrayed the South Vietnamese ;defunded the strategy before it was completed thus ensuring defeat.

I have mixed feelings about the rest of the Nixon foreign policy. He was very much a Cold War Realpolitilk President. Which means that along with the defense of freedom there were Machiavellian accomodations with some very bad people who did not share our values .
I think even less of Nixon's domestic policies. He was a proponent of big government solutions .

Thanks... I didn't know some of this. Now I'm a little smarter :) Later

[excon]

Hello kit:

Let me remind you that the people who think George Bush is smart, also think Sarah Palin is smart. She's not.

Tom seems to think the amount of education one has is indicative of one's intelligence... But, it ain't so, I tell you. I didn't finish the 11th grade, and I'm DAMN smart.

excon

[speechlesstx]

I didn't finish the 11th grade, and I'm DAMN smart.

Eek, something else we have in common. ;)