This is one of the reasons I think Obama is a better vote when it comes to science and technology. I have a strong hunch that the Bush administration has been a big obstacle to scientific research in every area but weapons and surveillance development. Science advisors were ignored repeatedly, from what I've heard, as decisions were made in terms of political and ideological forces rather than people who actually know science.
McCain seems saner on this score than Bush, but I strongly object to any suggestion that buying these sorts of things is not fundamentally important to what our scientific future will look like when our children today are deciding what field to go into in 10-15 years.
India is posed to run us over like a Mac truck in these areas in 10-15 years. They're off to the moon in the next couple years while we won't even have a Space Shuttle any more! We're going to be relying on the Russians to get us to the space station!
Not the most important issue, not the issue that should decide who you vote for, but one issue among many... and definitely an aspect of American education we need to ramp up...
6 comments:
ooohh...cool picture.
It is very odd indeed that McPalin has focused on earmarks for education and scientific research purposes. With the budget as swelled as it has been with corporate loopholes, etc., you think the focus would be on something more substantial - but they have not wavered from this at all.
Remember that McCain kept referring to this thing as "an overhead projector". That's hardly an honest description. For those who haven't read the Tribune article, the planetarium's existing projector is 40 years, outdated, and only partially functional. The earmark, sponsored by members of both parties, would pay for less than half of the cost of updating the planetarium.
It's funny how political spinmeisters can create impressions that distort the truth so severely. The McCain-Palin campaign would have you believe that this is a wasteful, expensive, and unnecessary burden on the taxpayers. For others, though, it's an investment in a precious national resource, the scientific education of our children.
In the same speech that she said that their administration would step up autism research, Palin made fun of money spent on "fruit fly" research, which happens to be a big part of the advances in autism research. Ugh!
I still don't understand why Republicans bring up these nickel and dime issues ($3 million is less than 1 penny per American) when we drops countless bombs that cost millions each.
One of the leading int'l science journals - "Nature" - recently endorsed Obama based on the value of scientific inquiry.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v455/n7217/full/4551149a.html
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