Hi everyone. Been stalking users on this site for about 5 months now...
Well, not actually stalking. I'd been visiting DU for about 4-5 months before I signed up and really took to some posters. Shout outs to SalmonChantedEvening (I hope I typed that all correctly; kind of hard to remember just how it's written when not looking at LOL cats), DonViejo, are_grits_groceries, drunken_irishman and tx4obama.
I work in Dallas, TX. But I live in the suburbs. On the flip side, I work in heavily democratic city, but i live in a heavily republican area. Then on another flip side, I work with a lot of old, ignorant white people. Now there are also a few old, smart white people here, but they are completely out-numbered.
The thing that drove me to look for a democratic site like this was the day my boss told me that they were going to have death panels. This was of course some years ago (2009) and I came across this site then, but after learning how to ignore her, I just put it behind me. Then, last year, she and a coworker were laughing about climate change. I actually thought they were being sarcastic talking about how it's just getting hotter and hotter (Dallas had been on a streak of 100+ degree days). And I thought to myself, "Wow, they actually believe in climate change. Then they started laughing and said, "Well, Fox News was just saying how cold it is in the Arctic, so clearly it's not getting warmer."
First of all, I told one coworker to NEVER again quote anything she hears on Fox News to me. After my manager's death panels comment, I figured I'd embarrass her, so I had a nice LOUD conversation in my office about being accosted by someone stupid enough to believe in death panels. That made them all shut around me for a while, until that climate change comment. My boss turned and looked at me like I was going to agree with them (that there is no such thing as climate change, or at least it's not occurring now), I just looked at her like she was crazy, shook my head and walked off.
People, I am a chemist. Most of my coworkers, and of course my manager, are chemists! You would think these people would have more intelligence than what they are displaying.
So that's why I came back. You can have all the book sense in the world, but when you beat yourself in the head with a stupid stick, the residue starts to rub off on your brain.
= new reply since forum marked as read
I was a chemistry minor in college at a liberal arts university. Learning about chemical properties and memorizing reactions is different from learning how to actually "think".
Please check out the Texas Group for the good, the bad, and the ugly in Texas. On occasion, you might even find humorous or zany items--I'm guilty of posting almost anything! 
