Federal Budget Rollback Could Slash NIH Grant Success Rates
The squealing begins! NIH director warned researchers on Saturday that the House Republican budget plans could slash by half the funding rates for biomedical researchers.
Tag: government
Warrentless raids and arrests at Florida barbershops
This appears to be an abuse of power: Since August Florida police have conducted two warrentless sweeps, raiding nine barbershops and arresting 37 people (for “barbering without a license,” a misdemeanor), using the state’s business regulations as a cover. Key quotes:
The operations were conducted without warrants, under the authority of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation inspectors, who can enter salons at will.
With the exception of two misdemeanor marijuana charges and Vasquez’s arrest, deputies were unable to connect any of the illegal activity to anyone. Meanwhile, store owners reported property damage from the raids, including a large hole employees said deputies busted into a wall at 809 Barbershop in Ocoee. However, several owners said the damage to their businesses and reputations has been much worse.
California – the Coming Collapse
Another government budget disaster: California – the coming collapse.
Bankruptcy of U.S. government “mathematical certainty” says banker
The former CEO of one of the nation’s largest banks says that unless the federal government gets its budget under control, bankruptcy is a “mathematical certainty.” I especially like this quote from the CEO, John Allison, in describing the past history of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack:
“I was on a committee, a Financial Services Roundtable, for nine years trying to do something about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae,” said Allison. “You couldn’t help but see it coming,” he said. “You ran the numbers, particularly the last several years, and it was mathematically certain Freddie and Fannie were going bankrupt.”
“We met with Congress. We met with [House Financial Services Chairman] Barney Frank and [Senate Banking Chairman] Chris Dodd and they absolutely wouldn’t see it,” said Allison.
Florida Today calls for more NASA spending from new Congress
The first hints of the new space war over NASA: Florida Today calls for the new Congress to continue the NASA budget increases as authorized by the old Congress.
We ain’t goin’ away
An evening pause: As election day is just about over, I think this song will help explain to our elected officials the kind of government the United States has, and how the results from today are merely a single moment in a long struggle.
New regulations by EPA threatens to reduce the electrical grid capacity by 7.2%
A deluge of new regulations by the EPA threatens to reduce the American capacity to produce electricity by over seven percent.
Anti-American propaganda from the National Endowment for the Humanities
Anti-American propaganda from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Key quote:
In my thirty years as a professor in upper education, I have never witnessed nor participated in a more extremist, agenda-driven, revisionist conference, nearly devoid of rhetorical balance and historical context for the arguments presented.
UN conference passes broad ban on “geoengineering”
A UN conference in Japan today approved the extremely broad language that I had noted earlier this week, banning all “climate-related geoengineering activities that may affect biodiversity . . . until there is an adequate scientific basis on which to justify such activities.” You can read some reactions here. Key quote from the ETC group, a Canadian non-profit organization which supports the language:
The agreement, reached during the ministerial portion of the two-week meeting which included 110 environment ministers, asks governments to ensure that no geoengineering activities take place until risks to the environment and biodiversity and associated social, cultural and economic impacts have been appropriately considered. The CBD secretariat was also instructed to report back on various geoengineering proposals and potential intergovernmental regulatory measures.
If the broad language of this policy is accepted by the United States government, it will effectively shut down almost all new construction and development, as practically anything people do “may affect biodiversity.”
SpaceX’s Dragon capsule cleared for launch but not landing by FAA
Our government at work! The FAA has given SpaceX a license to launch the Dragon capsule, scheduled for a November 18 launch on the Falcon 9 rocket, but not yet given them a license to land.
First ticket issued for deadly butter
Our government doing the really important work! Health officials in Baltimore have handed out their first ticket to a restaurant for not using the proper cooking recipe, as determined by the government. Key quote:
“They originally had a margarine that was above 3 grams, actually, which is very high compared to the .5 that is allowed. Then when we came back and they had replaced it, they replaced it with one that was 2 grams, so it still was too high,” [Health Department agent Juan] Gutierrez said.
And then there’s this: Fake health inspectors at restaurants on the rise.
Tax Official Threatens to Shut Down Kids‘ Pumpkin Stand For Lacking ’Proper Permit’
More government idiocy: Tax official threatens to shut down kids‘ pumpkin stand for lacking “a proper permit.”
Why this election is important
Mark Steyn explains why next week’s midterm election and what the next Congress does has very special significance. Key quote:
In a two-party system, you have to work with what’s available. In America, one party is openly committed to driving the nation off the cliff, and the other party is full of guys content to go along for the ride as long as we shift down to third gear. That’s no longer enough of a choice. If your candidate isn’t committed to fewer government agencies with fewer employees on lower rates of pay, he’s part of the problem. This is the last chance for the GOP to restore its credentials. If it blows it, all bets are off for 2012.
Judges in Geert Wilders’ Free Speech Case Removed from Trial
Things are not going well for those Dutch officials who want to squelch free speech: The judges in Geert Wilders’ free speech case have been removed, and the trial has to start from scratch.
New Study Says Cost of Health Reform Subsidies Could Far Exceed Previous Estimates
This bill is going to dog the Democrats who voted for it for years: A new study says the cost of the healthcare bill’s subsidies will far exceed Congressional Budget Office estimates.
Clinton misplaced the nuclear codes twice
It appears that while he was president, Bill Clinton misplaced the pocket electronic component, called a biscuit, that holds the codes used to activate America’s nuclear forces. And he didn’t tell anyone for months! As Ed Morrissey notes,
“Did they look under the sofa cushions? That’s where my remote usually winds up.”
Arianespace in trouble
Expensive and therefore not as competitive for market share as it could be, Arianespace is now facing a second year of losses and further competition from a variety of other rocket companies.
Closing caves for the convenience and power of the government
A variety of federal government agencies are moving aggressively to shut down human access to all American caves, including those on private property. Key quote:
In Wisconsin, where white nose syndrome has not yet appeared, wildlife managers want to get a jump on the disease by declaring G. destructans [the fungus associated with the syndrome] an invasive species, and declaring four species of bats threatened. Those designations would give wildlife agencies access to new sources of funds. They would also “give police power to the agencies to go onto private land to prevent damage to these newly named threatened species,” said [Peter] Youngbaer, [white nose syndrome liaison for the National Speleological Society]. “We fear that private landowners will be fearful of allowing even inadvertent access to caves, and thus move to seal caves shut. They’ll be causing more damage to the bats that they’re ostensibly trying to protect.” [emphasis mine]
As a caver, I not only have a strong personal interest in this story, I know a lot about bats and caves from personal experience. As a science writer who has also written about white nose syndrome for Science, I am also very familiar with the present state of the science. Based on this background, I find the actions of these government officials unconscionable. As one commenter to this article very correctly noted:
“There is currently *no* evidence that humans have spread this disease, but mountains of evidence for bat-to-bat transmission. The possibility does exist that humans *could* spread it, but even at its worst a human vector would be quite statistically insignificant in comparison to the bat-to-bat transmission.
In other words, closing all caves to human access can accomplish no good, and a great deal of harm. Yet, this is exactly what these government officials and environmental bureaucrats wish to do.
Back in March 2008, soon after white nose syndrome was discovered, I wrote the following:
I am beginning to believe strongly that the situation has worrisome political overtones linked to the unstated desire of some people to limit access to caves. . . . Some people are distorting the situation for their own purposes, either consciously or unconsciously. . . . Some of those people might have an agenda (closing caves to cavers) that is entirely irrelevant to the issue of white nose.
The article above only serves to confirm my opinions from 2008. The government officials who are demanding the indiscriminate closure of caves and the unfettered control over caves on private property are not really interested in protecting or saving the bats. In fact, their actions might actually do great harm to the bats, as the closures, the regulatory restrictions, and the threat to private property will antagonize both cavers and landowners, thus guaranteeing their unwillingness to cooperate with scientists.
So what do these government officials want? As far as I can tell, what they really want is power. And they are using white nose syndrome as a hammer to gain it.
Sadly, I fear that they are going to succeed. Today’s environmental laws are rigged to their advantage. The press is generally on their side. And the opposition to this power grab is diffuse and weak.
Once again, we see the death of freedom. And it dies, not by a single devastating blow, but by the death of a thousand cuts.
It’s the out of control spending, stupid!
Watch this so-called panel of expects on MSNBC as they desperately try to figure out why why women play such a large part in the tea party movement. Totally baffled, the best these out-of-touch “gurus” can come up with is “taxes” and “women pay the family bills.”
Putting aside their blatent bigotry (“Women as we all know are smarter than men.”) and childishly shallow generalizations (“Something about finding a voice.”), these empty headed fools, emblematic of most modern elite intellectuals, can’t see the obvious elephant in the room.
It’s the out-of-control government spending, stupid! On Monday the Treasury Department released numbers showing that since Barack Obama took office just two years ago, the debt of the federal government rose by $3 trillion.
This graph, courtesy of Gateway Pundit, gives some context to the increase in the debt:
Spending was horrible under George Bush. The public was worried about it. Now spending has gone insane under President Obama, and the public is more than worried, the public is outraged and spitting nails. That these elites don’t see this either means they are incredibly stupid, or they want the country to collapse in a sea of debt. In either case, they shouldn’t have the jobs they do.
Beating the European ban on 75 watt bulbs
Here’s some European Union madness: Because the Union banned light bulbs of more than 60 watts, a German entrepreneur is legally marketing his 75 and 100 watt bulbs by having them made in China and then importing them as “small heating devices” dubbed “heatballs.”