http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/34137Nobel laureates petition Bush over funding shortfall
A group of 20 Nobel-prize-winning physicists have written to US President George Bush, asking him to work with Congress to find at least $510m in “emergency supplemental funding” for the agencies that pay for much of the nation’s physics research. The laureates sent the letter in response to a similarly-sized shortfall in the amount of money granted by Congress for scientific research in this financial year compared with what Bush had first proposed.
"The 2008 budget sends a terrible message to the next generation of scientists," the laureates complain in their letter. "Instead of providing incentives for budding scientists, the funding plan provides discouragement". The letter's signatories include laser pioneer Charles Townes, particle theorist Frank Wilczek and 2006 winners, the cosmologists George Smoot and John Mather.
The funding situation in the US been difficult this year because the budget for the 2008 fiscal year — which began in October 2007 — was only agreed upon in December 2007, after 11 months of wrangling between the President and Congress. This delay was bad news for those researchers and institutes that had already started spending their 2008 money, only to find that their funding had been cut back or even curtailed.
http://www.aip.org/fyi/2008/048.htmlSenator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) has gone on record warning that the United States might be liable to a $750 million default clause in the ITER agreement. Lamar's comments, made at an April 9 hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, were addressed to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.
The Administration requested $160 million for ITER last year for the U.S. contribution to the project this year. The report accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act passed in December contained the following language: "$0 for the U.S. contribution to ITER, and $10,724,000 for Enabling R&D for ITER," later stating, "Funding may not be reprogrammed from other activities within Fusion Energy Sciences to restore the U.S. contribution to ITER."
Science, and especially fusion research - is the only realistic hope for getting the world out of its energy hole.
Withdrawing from ITER would be pretty weak given the trillions blown in Iraq.
Still, its the first time Duhbya is apparently the good guy
It will be the last though.
Last edited by Dilbert_X (2008-06-30 03:08:43)
Fuck Israel
