[Rhodes22-list] More about Science and Politics

[Brad Haslett]

Ron,

Remember where you are located - right in the middle of "King Corn".  God
forbid we apply science to study ethanol production and publish
research showing it is basically a corporate welfare program.  I just got
back from the Gulf and visited with one of our friends we helped get back on
his feet.  His new home is directly across the street from a former FEMA
park.  FEMA spent $2.5 million to develop a facility that contained about
100 trailers for 18 months. Do the math on that and see if you don't come to
my conclusion.  It would have been cheaper to send them all to Las Vegas for
the duration.Now it is a privately owned RV park, all developed for the
owner with our money. And people want more government?

Brad


On 1/25/08, Ronald Lipton <rlipton at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> There was an "all hands" meeting today where the Director of Fermilab
> described plans for 1 week/ 2 month unpaid furloughs for all employees
> and possible plans for layoffs of 200 staff.  All R&D for new projects
> was zeroed out, leaving no real path for the future of the field.  It
> will be
> almost impossible to regain momentum.
>
> This was in the wake of a substantial projected increase in the science
> budget
> prompted by reports on the loss of American economic competitiveness due
> to lack
> of investment in basic research.  Frantic cuts before the omnibus
> package passed
> killed many programs in physical science in favor of maintaining pork
> and other
> things like farm subsidies.   This was evidently done in haste by
> a few congressional staff (I heard that the staffer who "likes" science on
> the appropriations committee had an operation that weekend).
>
> There has been some fairly heartening support, including a letter from
> Craig
> Barrett, chairman of Intel:
>
> "The United States stands at a pivotal point in our history. Competition
> is
> heating up around the world with millions of industrious, highly educated
> workers who are willing to compete at salaries far below those paid here.
> The only way we can hope to compete is with brains and ideas that set us
> above the competition - and that only comes from investments in education
> and R&D. Practically everyone who has traveled outside the United States
> in the last decade has seen this dynamic at work. The only place where
> it is
> apparently still a deep, dark secret is in Washington, D.C.
>
> What are they thinking? When will they wake up? It may already be too
> late;
> but I genuinely think the citizenry of this country wants the United
> States to
> compete. If only our elected leaders weren't holding us back."
>
> /Craig Barrett is the chairman of Intel./
>
> The full letter is at:
> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/20/EDFDUHP1I.DTL
> He evidently sent a more harshly worded letter to Pelosi.
>
> Ron
>
>
>
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