BLATANTLY CHOOSING IGNORANCE Lamar Smiths war on the National Science Foundation: Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) Jay Mallin/ZUMA Republican Congressman Lamar Smith of Texas took his opposition to basic science straight to the source: The grant-writing archives of the National Science Foundation. In an unprecedented violation of the historic firewall between the lawmakers who set the NSFs budget and the top scientists who decide where to direct it, Smiths researchers pulled the files on at least 47 grants that they believed were not in the public interest. Some of the biggest-ticket projects they took issue with related to climate change research; the committee apparently intended to single out these projects as examples of the NSF frittering money away on research that wont come back to benefit taxpayers. The investigation is ongoing, and the precedent it sets—that scientific research projects are only worthwhile if they directly benefit the American economy—is unsettling.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 22:33:51 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015