John...you did not address whether encouraging people to get into earth science is in the interest of those people or the country...or if it is just in the interest of earth science departments, and oil companies...the latter who have a history of laying people off and hiring at the same time....or, even, having to lay off 10% of people, having a small office with 10 people in some god-forsaken part of Texas (OK, yes, that does imply that there are parts that are not godforsaken), having someone transfer into that office, probably waiting for them to buy a house, and then laying them off (I heard this as a true story).

OK, the subject: I think everyone should have a good understanding of science. There are a lot of issues that voters have to address....global warming, the supply of oil and gas....for example, I did not watch the Democratic convention, but I understood that Kerry said he will make the U.S. energy independent. Later, he said he would not allow nuclear waste to be stored at whatamacallit mountain in Nevada. We import something like 60% of our oil. While he can make motions in the direction of energy independence, you are not going to get very far very fast...unless you ban cars or something. It would take 20 years to get the cars replaced with high-mileage cars....wind and solar can only make a relative small dent...very interesting articles in Physics Today a couple months ago on the area of solar collectors you would need to make a serious dent...I think it is the area of a state like IOWA...

OK, I'm disappointed in Kerry, but will vote for him, as the alternative is a disaster.
Chris