And that doesn't even include all the people who switched to business while still in school.  Not because it's "hard", but because that's where the money is.  But if you actually want to practice in those fields, you might be out of luck.  I think it's a bit more complicated than the "visa" issue though, I think a lot of U.S. companies today are less interested in creating and more interested in selling.

However, the unfavorables are actually higher for Romney 49-42. That's a 12 point negative gap for Romney compared to a 7 point negative gap for Santorum.

I hate to bring her up, lightning rod that she is, but let's use the high-profile example of Hillary Clinton.  What was her experience with struggling to pay bills, or being a stay-at-home mom, or being a single parent?  She led a very comfortable life, as I recall, and yet, somehow, she managed to convey - through her work and the things she put her energy into and focus on - that she grasped quite well what those problems and needs were - and are.

So, rather than just take Hilary Rosen-style potshots at any of the candidates' wives, why not look at what issues they stood up for?  What were Ann Romney's public interests when Mitt was governor of Massachusetts, for example?  Who did she speak up for?  I haven't done the research on that, but it would seem to me far better to go there, than to attack someone for "never having worked a day in her life."  At a minimum, I think raising children is hard work, and so is being on the campaign trail or being the governor's wife, or the wife of a major executive - they all require balance and a lot of juggling and major organizational skills and demands on one's time that mean putting one's own needs on the back burner.

There is no question that Ann Romney was fortunate to be able to choose to stay home with her children, but we all know that she - and every other woman in the public eye - gets damned one way or the other.  Had she been a mother who worked outside the home, don't we know that she would be attacked for not being the "right kind" of mother?  Don't we know that, rather than talking about her "experience" in the working world, people would  be talking about how she neglected her kids, or let strangers raise them?

And Ann Romney didn't choose to get MS or breast cancer, either, even if she did have the wherewithal to pay for whatever treatment and medications she needed or still needs, but that doesn't mean she isn't capable of being struck by how daunting those bills would be if she didn't have the means to pay for them.  But where is she publicly on those kinds of issues?  I honestly don't know.

Please don't misunderstand: I am not putting Ann Romney on any kind of pedestal.  Or back-handedly advocating for her husband.  That's not the intent or end-game of my comments.

Yes, some women have the luxury of not having to work so they can stay home and take care of their kids - does that mean they can't sympathize (or at least educate themselves to "better speak the language") of someone in a different situation?

I have got to start checking urls before clicking on links.

/end rant

Also interesting has been Amazon's reaction in encouraging self-publishing, which has exploded -- and Amazon's encouragement of free ebooks for a day or a few days, which also has had huge impact.  So have ebook boards, forums, etc., in which readers help each other find the freebies and sort the wheat from the chaff.  There is a lot of chaff, unfortunately, when authors do not have editors. :-)

But the simplified process now of formatting and the like for self-publishing so intrigues me that I am bookmarking sites about it and, when I am past my current stage of having to be published via standard processes (for my job) and finally can write for fun -- and retire! -- I may have some fun self-publishing, as I have been an editor and may be able to avoid adding more chaff to the thousands of ebooks emerging daily.

We are seeing the inter-workings of the conservative mind, if they don't tout me or my views, then they are biased against me.

It's the victimization view that made Fox News popular.  It's why conservatives think there is only one 'Fair and Balanced' news source, it's the only one that supports their warped world view, therefore it must be right.  And the mountains of other news sources are clearly biased.