So if the President died or resigned, the VP would become the president and the now president would appoint the new VP?

Whereas if the VP died or resigned, the President would appoint the new VP?

Sounds like you figured it out.

Right, the person is appointed/nominated by the President, then they have to be approved by a majority of Members of Congress.

Now the Speaker could be nominated and approved, but the Speaker is not in line for the VP seat.

I though everyone knew all this. I really did; how does this happen? I had a ninth grader ask me recently if Philadelphia was a state.

Sorry, Bris. I just forgot. I am sure I learned it at some point. Granted it would have been decades ago as I never studied government in college.

My memory has never been my strong point. Give me a book to edit or analyze and I can do that well. I was also a good public speaker. But I always stunk at biology and chemistry. Too much memorization for me. My poor memory is why I decided not to go to law school. I figured I could never remember all the case histories.

That is pretty sad about the 9th grader. Although for a while in high school, I used to think Utah was a ski resort. So maybe I should not say anything else, or Stacy will call me a POT.

In regards to geography, it really burns me that it is not even taught in the schools today. My daughter grew up with US and World maps as her placemats. She is now better at geography than me, but I am ok with that.

Now the people that didn't know much have google and wikipedia and can appear to know a lot. Yea, this stuff isn't exactly politics is it?

Okay, I am going to try not to take offense. But I have NO DOUBT that I am not the only one out there that does not remember all this stuff.

I was just following the flow of the thread. Or do guys only like to go OT when it is to insult each other?

Oh dear, maybe I did take offense after all.

No offense meant. Unless you are a pinko like Brisbain.

I didn't mean to come off as a smarta55--not this time, anyway.

I am just SO disillusioned with our educational system that I fear for our future. I cannot fathom some of the things I'm seeing before my eyes, and I'm appalled.

Someone, the other day, thought I was talking about some fictional evil when I referenced the Medieval period. People think Gothic refers to 21st century teens only and I was asked, when seen with a copy of Lolita, if it was about Amy Fisher.

It gets me grumpy.

Okay guys, sorry. I am grumpy today too.

I agree about our educational system. I volunteer at my dd's school every week to teach her and several other kids advanced reading, as her teacher is from Hungary and does not even speak proper english. Nice lady though.

And my dd's school in rated in the top 10% of the public schools in our state.

We need better schools and higher standards, that is for sure. K, maybe that should be the thread, I told Rochelle I would start today.

Meon now if you made fun of me not knowing something, then I would call you a pot.

People study and remember different things later in life. I remember a lot of my biology, but my chemistry....nope. I was shocked how many didn't realize how our President is elected and think we are actually a Democracy.

Even if people don't know all this, they have a right to their opinion. We can't all be expected to retain every thing we ever learn, doesn't happen that way.

Bris,

As far as the educational system. A few years ago I went back to take a few classes. I need a very strong math background for these classes. I didn't even take the placement tests, because there were some of the basic things I learned just for when I needed them. I needed a refresher on all. I started with the basic math.

There were kids that had just 2 months out of high school. They couldn't do long division, etc. I was SHOCKED they were actually able to pass a test to get out of high school.

Kid who can't read graduate high-school. I consider it a national crisis.

I have GOT to get my dd to read something besides the Twilight Series. Granted, she is 8, so it is advanced reading but no substance.

We try so hard to get her to read ANYTHING of value, but no luck yet.

Bris , I started this , its my fault , not Meon. It was this Post...... here

"I do agree that I find Pelosi some what odd. But I don't know exactly how one becomes the Speaker of the House. I must of spaced a little to much during poli-Sci. Never real cared for that course much".

Sorry Meon it was me. I to forgot , if I really ever learned it , in the first place.
C

This could be why they don't know math. I love this; it's done by a math teacher.

New Math:

These are our leaders, yes it is bad, very bad. Many can't read and I work with some of them.

Oh my daddy, an engineer with a Masters, HATED "New Math" with a passion, which they had when I was in school.

But that video is even newer New Math, I wouldn't have learned the math then either.

You know....if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

It's okay, Chuckee. I don't think a war is brewing or anything.

It's just conversation.

My dad was a mathematical wonder. He taught me to do it his way.

Don't get me wrong; there's nothing wrong with learning base eight. In fact, computers are designed on base two, and I was the kind of kid who played with math problems in bases two through ten, but it can't get all muddled up like that. Learn base ten--go from there. And don't go through seventy hoops when only one is needed, you know?

This stuff is crazy. That's my opinion, anyway.

But they aren't getting the basics first, that's the issue. I got in trouble more than once with getting the correct answer but not the way they said, the way my daddy explained it. I actually had problems marked incorrectly when we had to show our work. The way I did it was not incorrect, just not the "new way" at all.

Base two I understand, very simple to convert to binary when taught, but I learned that as an adult also and used it. It seems kids aren't getting the simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division Rules down first. Not even the order of how to solve an equation, which sometimes CAN give you an incorrect answer if not done in correct order.

When I was in school, kids could fail and did and yet, we didn't have to take a test to graduate and we actually knew how to read and write.

Yes, there needs to be something done in our educational system. Can you imagine these kids being the leaders of our Country?

Private schools still educate. What's coming is a loss of potential and class divide.

It makes no sense to ignore the millions of children in public schools when our next DiVinci, Einstein or Shakespeare may be wasting there. I do fear for the future, Stacy. I do.

Mine was too, an engineer. He used a freakin slide rule. Just the thought brought me back.

Love slide Rules--AND abacuses. I also like the idea of Quantum computers, but it all began far more basically.

Einstein said his lab was a ballpoint pen and a pad of paper. I love that man.

Abacuses....one of my first jobs the Accounts Payable woman there still used one of those. When she did use a "calculator" it was one of these:

There is no replacement for education but I think people should check out the History and Discovery channels from time to time. Yea, those teenagers must have designed those Gothic cathedrals in France.

He wasn't much of a dresser though. I read that he owned 7 sets of the exact same set of clothes so he would not have to expend excess thought deciding what to wear each morning. I don't have that problem, since I look like crap in anything.

He was sexy though. Those EYES and that brain and all.

I have manged several retail stores in my life. The computer cash draw would go down and I would hand the kids working for me a pencil and a pad of paper.

Then I found out the kids couldn't add. Then I went out and bought them all a small calculator. They still couldn't do it. WTF. They didn't know how to figure out the 6% on a dollar sales tax.

But that was not the only thing and not the worst in my eyes. They couldn't count back the change. They were so used to having a machine tell them how much money to give back , they couldn't do it for them self's.
C

People still can't count back change when the machine tells them everything.

I've had them try and count back change at Wal-Mart to a $20 and they sill messed up.

When I had a garage sale and had the kids of a friend of mine help, I had to get them a calculator. We weren't selling big ticket items and they still had a problem.

Try and have one count down a drawer leaving $50 in cash, keeping some of all coins.

They can't do it.

Try asking a random group of teens to name four parts of speech. Most don't know an adjective from an adverb.

Better yet, ask one what constitutes a sentence.

Whenever machines take over a rote mental task, such as calculating change in a sales transaction, human brains tend to dump the data, it seems. Think of all the phone numbers of your most important people - a few years ago, you probably had them all memorized. But now, cell phones store and retrieve those for us, and many people no longer know them 'by heart'.