puffy999: GAT_00: Oh, and the reason they can do this? The Democrats will never call them on it, because calling them on it requires some media to play in their favor genitalia other than a giant, douche-filled vagina.

/ftfy
//that's right, I said it, Democrats are f*cking pussies

I'm nearly as left wing as they get, and I agree wholeheartedly. Dems ARE total pussies.

Normally I'm all for small gov't, but science is one exception.

Spend it, but spend it wisely; not on such job farms as NASA.

Billions to bankers not so much. Too big to fail? I don't think so.

Donald_McRonald: Last week Republicans forced Democrats to pull the bill from the floor by pushing through an amendment that combined substantial cuts to many of the main initiatives in the bill with a provision cracking down on federal workers caught viewing pornography on their office computers.

Stay classy.

Goddamitsomuch, there should be a law against "amending" laws with bullshait that has nothing to do with the original bill, or maybe one step further and ban all amending. If the law isn't good enough, it fails and you have to make changes and resubmit the damn thing.

Though it would probably be striked down because some asshat would try to add an amendment saying US would turn a blind eye to baby seal clubbing if passed, or some other BS

/both said are guilty of these kind of shenanigans btw.

lefande - Dear Federal Government:

Please stop spending my money. My roads, schools, hospitals and fire trucks are covered by the state and local government through my property and sales tax.

I don't need anything else and you certainly aren't capable of spending my money more wisely than I do.

Thanks,

Matt



"Alright, guys... Wrap it up... Let's shut her down... We're done here... Matt's fine.

Last one out, turn off the lights."

BTW if you look for a federal budget that doesn't fund science directly, you won't find one. There has never been one. Lewis and Clark's expedition was funded as a scientific expedition. And as such succeeded brilliantly.

I am guessing the GOP wants to see India and China pull ahead of us in that respect.

Couple of decades past that, I'm afraid.

lefande: Please stop spending my money. My roads, schools, hospitals and fire trucks are covered by the state and local government through my property and sales tax.

May I suggest you read some history books?

puffy999: GAT_00: Oh, and the reason they can do this? The Democrats will never call them on it, because calling them on it requires some media to play in their favor genitalia other than a giant, douche-filled vagina.

/ftfy
//that's right, I said it, Democrats are f*cking pussies

This is absolutely the truth. They are so afraid of taking a stand for what they believe because it might cost them votes. They are afraid that voting down the amendment would have made them seem "soft on porn" or some such.

These guys have the majority, and they act like a bunch of cowering schoolgirls so desperate to stay popular that they'll blow every guy in homeroom. Then they wonder why they feel like they've been used.

Strategy, Democrats. It's not just for Republicans anymore.

Dinki: boost funding for the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies involved in basic and applied science, provided loan guarantees to small businesses developing new technologies and promoted science and math education.

And that is somehow a waste of money. The GOP is really unfarkin believable.

The NSF paid for me to do a summer research program in material analysis. It was a pretty kickass summer (although it was just me and the guy who ran the analysis lab, would've been nice to be able to network a bit more like my fellow research undergrads who were in more populated labs). It wasn't anything spectacular money-wise but since I was paying for most of my school I couldn't afford an unpaid internship anywhere anyhow. And I got a paper and poster out of it (which was a requirement for the funding anyway, fair enough). I learned a hell of a lot that summer that I couldn't learn at my school, and if I hadn't gotten into that program, I probably would have spent a third summer in a row doing temp work. At least the summer after that my own department got enough funding to keep me doing paid research for the summer. Plus I got to say I went to an Ivy League school for a summer.

Anyway, props, NSF.

It would really suck if they got rid of programs like that... they already killed the gifted program I was in from 2-8th grade, and they're thinking of cutting the math/science program I was in in high school. Yep, that's the way to stay competitive. Damn, I feel sorry for a kid who's just like me but had the disadvantage to be born two decades late.

Prank Call of Cthulhu: When Bob Wilson was testifying before congress in the late '60s, defending the appropriation to build Fermilab, some dipshiat senator kept asking him whether or not the accelerator would have any applications to national defense. Wilson's immortal reply was, "It has nothing to do directly with defending our country except to make it worth defending."


That's right up there with Mr. Rogers testifying in front of Congress. Just beautiful.

puffy999: Merkin For The Weekend: puffy999: GAT_00: Oh, and the reason they can do this? The Democrats will never call them on it, because calling them on it requires some media to play in their favor genitalia other than a giant, douche-filled vagina.

/ftfy
//that's right, I said it, Democrats are f*cking pussies

I'm nearly as left wing as they get, and I agree wholeheartedly. Dems ARE total pussies.

It's funny, actually. Al Franken seems to have more balls than most other national politicians... and he's a F*CKING COMEDIAN (and not a good one)!
Same with Jon Stewart. Though, to be fair, he's actually funny.

I mean, if Republicans can state flat-out LIES, and look confident doing it, they're going to gain votes. I mean, it's already working to an extent.

I agree. Note that the Dems who aren't pussies are also the ones who aren't afraid of being called Liberals. They are proud of it. The rest of the party still hasn't managed to get over the way that the republicans successfully managed to convince everyone in america that it is a bad thing to be liberal. Until they step up and say it loud that they are liberal and proud, they won't grow a new set.

Good lord, ignorant Republican disciples. Science funding by the federal government has for the past 20 some years been deficit reducing, not deficit increasing. For every dollar the US government spends on science, they get back between $1.80-$2.40 according to two published studies (it's late and I'm not your mule...do your own research on it). You aren't funding this with your piddly little $40k a year income. It funds itself. This is really the LAST major industry in the US. Without it, all we are is a bunch of damn paper pushers with no industry whatsoever. And guess what? We're losing it. We're losing it to the goddamn third world and to the Middle East. We have places like Saudi Arabia recruiting top researchers from the US for a hell of a lot more pay than they receive here. With them go their patents and their technology. Who do you think is going to benefit from that? Us? No. Them? Oh hell yes. Those are patents and technology we will ultimately be paying for in the end. And we will pay dearly. Even a first year postdoc can earn $75k there, be given a house, tax free, 3 months paid vacation, flight costs to and from the native country, and up to $15k in independent funding. What do we pay them in the US? Just under $38k. Where the fark do you think they are going to go?

If anything, those that oppose this bill should be brought up on charges of treason. They are actively waging war against our national interests, our economy, and our well-being.

But, hey, far-right wingers, when you wonder why the cost of next gen imaging shoots up 4 fold, just remember, you asked for this. This is what you wanted. This is your political ideology. This is your failure. And that pathetic $40k gross income of yours isn't going to cover it.

/"you mad"
//You better goddamn believe it.

technicolor-misfit: lefande - Dear Federal Government:

Please stop spending my money. My roads, schools, hospitals and fire trucks are covered by the state and local government through my property and sales tax.

I don't need anything else and you certainly aren't capable of spending my money more wisely than I do.

Thanks,

Matt



"Alright, guys... Wrap it up... Let's shut her down... We're done here... Matt's fine.

Last one out, turn off the lights snuff the lamps and trim the wicks."

I wonder how much public funding Edison got for his stuff?

Merkin For The Weekend: puffy999: GAT_00: Oh, and the reason they can do this? The Democrats will never call them on it, because calling them on it requires some media to play in their favor genitalia other than a giant, douche-filled vagina.

/ftfy
//that's right, I said it, Democrats are f*cking pussies

I'm nearly as left wing as they get, and I agree wholeheartedly. Dems ARE total pussies.

Same here, and agreed.

/monumental pussies, imho, for that matter
//barring the occasional bernie sanders, al franken or russ feingold 'media moments'
///must note that it doesn't help when the media is corporate and the opposition party is pretty much completely in bed w/ it
//not that half of the dems aren't
/but as a matter of proportionality... it's no contest

puffy999: GAT_00: Oh, and the reason they can do this? The Democrats will never call them on it, because calling them on it requires some media to play in their favor genitalia other than a giant, douche-filled vagina.

/ftfy
//that's right, I said it, Democrats are f*cking pussies

But, in saying it, have you not fallen prey to the same bleak, existential terror that afflicts the hearts and minds of all men? In those lonely hours between dusk and dawn when we are alone with our mortality, and the black empty pit that is the essence of the universe stares back at us across the yawning gulf of our inadequacy? When all the superficial trappings of the civilized man have been stripped away, leaving only that shivering, trembling, terrified animal that we sprang from?

Or, is it just indigestion?
Who the f**k knows?

jso2897: puffy999: GAT_00: Oh, and the reason they can do this? The Democrats will never call them on it, because calling them on it requires some media to play in their favor genitalia other than a giant, douche-filled vagina.

/ftfy
//that's right, I said it, Democrats are f*cking pussies

But, in saying it, have you not fallen prey to the same bleak, existential terror that afflicts the hearts and minds of all men? In those lonely hours between dusk and dawn when we are alone with our mortality, and the black empty pit that is the essence of the universe stares back at us across the yawning gulf of our inadequacy? When all the superficial trappings of the civilized man have been stripped away, leaving only that shivering, trembling, terrified animal that we sprang from?

Or, is it just indigestion?
Who the f**k knows?

The horror, the horror.

lefande: Dear Federal Government:

Please stop spending my money. My roads, schools, hospitals and fire trucks are covered by the state and local government through my property and sales tax.

I don't need anything else and you certainly aren't capable of spending my money more wisely than I do.

Thanks,

Matt

The location in your profile says "Washington DC". You want to rethink any part of what you posted?

doctor wu - I am guessing the GOP wants to see India and China pull ahead of us in that respect.



Couple of decades past that, I'm afraid.



It's a shame our kids are gonna to be too stupid to do tech support for them.

But the GOP certainly knows which side their bread is buttered on. Every time a kid drops out, a Republican politician gets his wings. If they can just dumb this country down enough, they'll be unstoppable... and King shiat of Turd Mountain ain't nothing to sneeze at.

Wololo: GAT_00: Because the Dems were billing this as a jobs bill so the GOP had to kill it. They're scared of Americans getting jobs.

Has anyone taken a look at pork fat packed into this bill? There's got to be a more intelligent reason why the GOP thought this was a bad idea, at risk of incurring the wrath of rational thinkers/voters across America.

Ha ha, you're funny!

MiddleyMcCentrist: Merkin For The Weekend: puffy999: GAT_00: Oh, and the reason they can do this? The Democrats will never call them on it, because calling them on it requires some media to play in their favor genitalia other than a giant, douche-filled vagina.

/ftfy
//that's right, I said it, Democrats are f*cking pussies

I'm nearly as left wing as they get, and I agree wholeheartedly. Dems ARE total pussies.

Same here, and agreed.

/monumental pussies, imho, for that matter
//barring the occasional bernie sanders, al franken or russ feingold 'media moments'
///must note that it doesn't help when the media is corporate and the opposition party is pretty much completely in bed w/ it
//not that half of the dems aren't
/but as a matter of proportionality... it's no contest

They also haven't realized that the Republicans can't win arguments against people who proudly self identify as liberal. 7/8 of the Republican 'rhetoric' [SIC] machine is nothing more than demonizing and villifying people as 'libruls.' The people who readily admit to being liberals then go on to MAKE GOOD POINTS that MAKE SENSE, to which the Republicans have no decent counter argument except more of the same that has already been stipulated to. The republicans have no defense against logic except whaargaarbl.

Who needs science? Al Gore said the debate was over.

StreetlightInTheGhetto: jso2897: puffy999: GAT_00: Oh, and the reason they can do this? The Democrats will never call them on it, because calling them on it requires some media to play in their favor genitalia other than a giant, douche-filled vagina.

/ftfy
//that's right, I said it, Democrats are f*cking pussies

But, in saying it, have you not fallen prey to the same bleak, existential terror that afflicts the hearts and minds of all men? In those lonely hours between dusk and dawn when we are alone with our mortality, and the black empty pit that is the essence of the universe stares back at us across the yawning gulf of our inadequacy? When all the superficial trappings of the civilized man have been stripped away, leaving only that shivering, trembling, terrified animal that we sprang from?

Or, is it just indigestion?
Who the f**k knows?

The horror, the horror.

TUM TA TUM TUM. TUM TA TUM TUM TUUUUMS.

T.rex: There is separation of Church and State, so i see no problem with separation of Science and State, as well.

Yea, like a Nerdocracy is sooooo likely over a theocracy.

Was listening to Michael Savage yesterday or the day before and he stated that we "no longer have real artists or scientists in this country, none that are known by name, because liberals have torn this country down in the arts."

... discuss ...

First, I'd like to point out that the conservative government in Canada just spent 200 million to steal scientists from other countries (including the USA).

Second, government funding of science is very important because government money generally comes without strings attached. Private industry funding of science always has strings. Research this. Don't research that. This idea is ours, screw the rest of the world. When scientists are free to follow their ideas great stuff comes out of it for everyone. Also some not so great stuff. Nuclear weapons certainly weren't developed by private funding.

poursoul: Was listening to Michael Savage yesterday or the day before and he stated that we "no longer have real artists or scientists in this country, none that are known by name, because liberals have torn this country down in the arts."

... discuss ...

Micheal Savage is an idiot. QED

lefande: Dear Federal Government:

Please stop spending my money. My roads, schools, hospitals and fire trucks are covered by the state and local government through my property and sales tax.

I don't need anything else and you certainly aren't capable of spending my money more wisely than I do.

Thanks,

Matt

Dear Matt,

You don't have a goddamn clue as to what you are talking about. You aren't paying for this.

Sincerely,
Science

poursoul: Was listening to Michael Savage yesterday or the day before and he stated that we "no longer have real artists or scientists in this country, none that are known by name, because liberals have torn this country down in the arts."

... discuss ...

If you're an artist or scientist, there are tons of people in your respective field that you can name. I can name 4 or 5 living scientists currently doing groundbreaking work off the top of my head. Maybe in 50 years, our children will know of them too.

If you work at Big Lots stocking shelves though, probably not.

RobertBruce: Why would funding this have been a proper function of the federal government?

Because, believe it or not, the free market does not have society's best interests at heart. It has money at heart.

Sometimes society needs to do something that the free market is not interested in providing at that moment in time because it is simply not profitable. Sometimes a good leader has to see out ahead of the profit horizon and steer us in the right direction. A free market is often an efficient solution, but it is rarely, on the whole, a visionary one. That is why the federal government has the power to tip the balance in favor of things in favor of the things that need to be done, rather than just the things that make shareholders happy.

We're fighting over deck chairs on the Titanic.

Merkin For The Weekend: MiddleyMcCentrist: Merkin For The Weekend: puffy999: GAT_00: Oh, and the reason they can do this? The Democrats will never call them on it, because calling them on it requires some media to play in their favor genitalia other than a giant, douche-filled vagina.

/ftfy
//that's right, I said it, Democrats are f*cking pussies

I'm nearly as left wing as they get, and I agree wholeheartedly. Dems ARE total pussies.

Same here, and agreed.

/monumental pussies, imho, for that matter
//barring the occasional bernie sanders, al franken or russ feingold 'media moments'
///must note that it doesn't help when the media is corporate and the opposition party is pretty much completely in bed w/ it
//not that half of the dems aren't
/but as a matter of proportionality... it's no contest

They also haven't realized that the Republicans can't win arguments against people who proudly self identify as liberal. 7/8 of the Republican 'rhetoric' [SIC] machine is nothing more than demonizing and villifying people as 'libruls.' The people who readily admit to being liberals then go on to MAKE GOOD POINTS that MAKE SENSE, to which the Republicans have no decent counter argument except more of the same that has already been stipulated to. The republicans have no defense against logic except whaargaarbl.

Yup.

I think the art of rhetoric is lost on most of the Ds... sadly, many seem to lack the mental faculties to present their winning arguments.

/that and the fact that many are just farking pussies who refuse to fight back, of course

J. Boone Pickens: We're fighting over deck chairs on the Titanic.

Do you know how much a deck chair from the titanic would be worth???

Merkin For The Weekend: J. Boone Pickens: We're fighting over deck chairs on the Titanic.

Do you know how much a deck chair from the titanic would be worth???

From the actual boat or the movie set?

Bonzo_1116:
I wonder how much public funding Edison got for his stuff?

Edison was a huge supporter of government funding of science and technology for the benefit of the people.

Link (new window)

Bonzo_1116: Merkin For The Weekend: J. Boone Pickens: We're fighting over deck chairs on the Titanic.

Do you know how much a deck chair from the titanic would be worth???

From the actual boat or the movie set?

The actual boat.

It's too bad Intel and Microsoft don't have labs like AT&T had Bell Labs and IBM still has Watson Labs. Some of the most revolutionary science of the 20th century relied on basic research done in labs funded by AT&T. Several Nobel Prize winners got those prizes because of work done at AT&T or IBM's labs.

Wait a minute, Democrats can pass healthcare single handedly but they can't get a measly $40 Bil bill through for "general science?"

I see a lot of misplaced anger here.

12 Trillion, Dude. 12 Trillion dollars.

That's a hefty debt we have there. 40 billion here, 30 billion there... yea, that's how you get a 12 Trillion dollar debt load.

Anyway, I also see a lot of "40 Bil is nothing in the grand scheme!" Obama expects NASA to get to Mars on $6 Billion over the next five years according to the link posted prior in this thread.

$6 Billion dollars to get to Mars.

Yea, in that light, $40 Billion is farking ridiculous on "general science." A lot of great inventions came out of the private sector, far more than government has ever produced. The private sector is where new science is achieved. The government is there to help develop the most promising ones. $40 Billion to scatter shot "science" is bullshiat.

demanton: YEAH WHER SYUNCE IN CONTI2SHUN WHER

Holy hell, I think you just broke my brain.

HeWhoHasNoName: I wish we could fund this more than most shiat the government throws money at, but we are farkING BROKE.

Everybody I've ever met, except the brain damaged ones, know that when you're swimming in debt and your income is dwindling, you STOP SPENDING. Everybody except Congress and our current president, apparently.

They seem to think that they can always 'get the money from somebody else who has more than they need'.

Well, here's the inconvenient truth, folks... Our government has run out of other peoples' money.

1) You are monumentally ncorrect.

2) The dollar is still the reserve currency of the world.

3) If we stop spending (or if we hadn't pumped money into the economy when we did) the economy would grind to a halt. TARP was a mess and horribly mismanaged, but it was crucial to keep the economy from imploding. 90% or so of economists agree.

4) A main factor in recovery is to increase consumer confidence. It's a self-fulfilling prophrecy: If consumers are more confident about keeping their job and things getting better in the future, they spend; this causes more businesses to hire, output expands, the velocity of money (look it up -- if you don't know what the velocity of money is, you shouldn't comment in threads involving spending and the economy), and voila, we recover.

5) If we cut spending now, the economy contracts, people lose jobs, the velocity of money decreases, etc.

6) An investment in science is a no-brainer when it comes to ROI. That dollar you don't spend today will cost you $100 in twenty years.

7) Where were all these "stop spending" people when Bush ran the deficit up from ~$5 to ~$10 trillion during his time in office? Bush cut taxes (mostly for the rich) and increased spending DURING WARTIME. An unprecedented and foolish course of action.

Nocens: The private sector is where new science is achieved

So the private sector pays for Argonne National Laboratory? Do you understand what basic research is?

make me some tea: So, the GOP cuts science funding, and Dems cut manned space flight.

Manned space flight is expensive, and robots can do more science for the dollar.
It isn't that Dems are against a manned space program, but if you think that the right wingers got loud over science education, imagine the wharrgarble they'd make over increasing NASA's budget. Even I think that's a battle best saved for later, and I am a science nerd weaned on astronomy.

/Crossing my fingers that I'll get to see a man on Mars

I'll say it again, there should be a math and science aptitude test for the legislative and executive branch with results publicly available.