It the paritsans agree on *stupid* things, then bipartisanship isn't a virtue...

[acroyear]

Pharyngula: Cutting science already?:

Read this: wherever Obama has proposed stimulus spending for science, conservative senators propose chopping back massively. The increase in support for NSF? Gone completely. NASA's boost? Cut in half. And on and on.

These cuts have not passed yet, but they will soon if you don't howl at your senators.

Science Gets the Shaft - The Panda's Thumb:

US Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Susan Collins (R-ME) are proposing to cut the stimulus/spending package by roughly 10%. Their staff have identified several “useless” programs included in the bill, and it appears that they consider science funding to be one of those useless pursuits.

Over the last 50 years, much of our economic development has been driven by science, and at a time when the US is faced with losing its scientific dominance to China and the EU, the US needs increased science funding. Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will eat for a lifetime. Fund fishing research, and your children all eat for a lifetime.

From the list of stimulus projects that are on the cutting block:

* NSF 100% cut ($1,402,000,000)
* NASA exploration 50% cut ($750,000,000)
* NOAA 34.94% cut ($427,000,000)
* NIST 37.91% cut ($218,000,000)
* DOE energy efficiency & renewable energy 38% cut ($1,000,000,000)
* DOE office of science 100% cut ($100,000,000)

If you have an opinion about these cuts, you should make it known to your Senators because they will soon be voting on this proposal.

Mind, you, NSF already has plenty of "shovel-ready" grants to give, projects that have been in holding patterns for a couple of years now given the anti-science bias of the current Republican party. Senators should keep in mind that those grants don't stay trapped in DC (or, well, Balston). They go to the science and engineering schools in their own states.  Remind them of that, while you're at it.

Comments

[rokstar.livejournal.com]

if they're cutting all that [seemingly important] science stuff . . . what's left? pork?

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

may i blockquote you?