Re: Politics by another means? (from T. Lipka)

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From: Tompaleo@aol.com
Date: Tue, 1 Aug 1995 20:36:26 -0400
To: paleonet-owner@nhm.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Politics by another means?
Status: O

I have been pretty busy these last two weeks and have not kept up with the
news on a daily basis as I usually do.  There does seem to be a group of
politicians whose myopia appears to be contageous. They seem to want to ax
all science except for some medical research .There is still a concerted
effort but the new minority to kill the Space Station.  Conversely, a
majority politician just tried to shut down NASA Goddard here in Maryland and
move it to his district in California. Most of the squabbling is of  the
usual partisan-district- centric bickering to ingratiate the constituency of
the (positively) effected politician. The media is well, the same old
mouthpiece for only one point of view. There has been a geometric increase in
the number of  PSEUDOSCIENCE shows passing themselves off as real science
usually having to do with UFO's and aliens etc.  Even stations have gotten
into this type of tabloid journalism and it has apparently paid off. Even
dinosaur related tv shows seem to only focus on certain things and certain
people (mostly Bakker and Horner) giving less attention to other views and
persons.
On a personal level, I have to continually defend the need to keep museums
open and to fund paleontological research to some of my co-workers and
friends who dont "see a need to fund rock diggers etc". I feel that these
tight fiscal times have created a funding gestapo  who can easily find
scapegoats in the sciences, especially in these times of demand for  instant
results and gratification! Remember the Super Collider? Tokomac? NASA's
continuing woes?  Enough said! Ooohm, ooohm. There, my blood pressure is
returning to normal :-)


                                     Regards,
                                    Thomas R. Lipka
                                    Paleontological/Geological Studies

PS
   Thanks Norm for improving an already excellent service and forum for the
paleo sciences!