a battle for the heart and soul of the
Florida Republican Party!
AP – Saturday, Nov. 17, 1973
President Richard Nixon speaks near Orlando, Fla.
Promises, Promises: Chasing an elusive pledge
By H. JOSEF HEBERT,
Associated Press Writer H. Josef Hebert, Associated Press Writer
– Fri Oct 31, 2008 4:32 am ET
WASHINGTON – It will be 35 years next week since President Richard Nixon, responding to an Arab oil embargo, vowed to make the United States energy independent — and do it in seven years. America is still waiting.
Is it possible, or even desirable? Many energy experts say it's not. People disagree on what energy independence means — zero energy imports, or something less? And even if the United States were energy independent, would it be insulated from global oil price shocks, with oil priced in a global marketplace? Again, energy experts say don't count on it.
"As president I will turn all the apparatus of government in the direction of energy independence," McCain declared, labeling his energy agenda "the Lexington Project," after the New England town where America declared its political independence. He concedes it "has confounded" past Congresses and seven presidents.
Obama also embraces the idea. He promises as president to "make sure that we finally get serious about energy independence."
Republicans and Democrats in Congress have been equally enamored of the catch-phrase. It's the justification GOP lawmakers cited repeatedly for more oil drilling off the nation's coasts and in an Alaska wildlife refuge.
Democrats called the energy legislation they pushed through Congress last year the "Energy Independence and Security Act," although its key provisions — a 40 percent increase in auto fuel efficiency and greater use of ethanol in cars — fall far short of achieving such a goal.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi even created a new House committee to highlight the issue: the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.
But to many experts the promise of energy independence, echoed over decades, is "pie-in-the-sky" political rhetoric. If it means self sufficiency, various critics have called it "a misguided quest" a "red herring" a "mirage" and a "myth" that might even cause more harm than good by shifting attention away from reducing U.S. vulnerabilities while still relying on imports.
Thirty-five years ago, on Nov. 7, 1973, the nation had lines of motorists waiting at gas stations and people worried about running out of fuel oil in the coming winter. "We are running out of energy," President Nixon warned, addressing the nation four weeks after Arab oil producers had cut off supplies in response to U.S. support of Israel in the Mideast war.
As he unveiled "Project Independence," Nixon declared: "Let us set as our national goal ... that by the end of this decade we will have developed the potential to meet our own energy needs without depending on any foreign energy sources."
In 1973, the United States imported 36 percent of its oil, up from 28 percent a year earlier, about half coming from the OPEC cartel. During the first eight months of this year, imports accounted for 13.4 million of the nearly 20 million barrels a day of U.S. consumption, again about half the imports coming from OPEC.
Far from becoming reality, the promise of energy independence by Nixon and every president since is more remote than ever.
"I think it's a false hope. The politicians love to say `I'm going to move this country to energy independence.' It's not possible. It's a goal that's not feasible," says Robert Ebel, a senior adviser in the energy and security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think-tank.
If you're talking about zero dependence on foreign oil "we can't do it" because even with the new emphasis on alternative fuels "we're going to be using the same kind of primary energy in 2020 that we're using today, though maybe in slightly different percentages," says Ebel.
"There are very few if any (countries) that are energy independent. They have to import something," said Ebel.
Were it not for oil, the United States might well be energy independent. It has more coal than it needs, and plenty of natural gas; 104 nuclear reactors, and the potential for plenty of wind energy and biomass fuels such as ethanol. With only 5 percent of the world's population, the U.S. consumes nearly a quarter of its energy.
Jay Hakes, former head of the government's Energy Information Administration and author of a recent book "A Declaration of Energy Independence," says skeptics miss the point.
"I don't think it requires going to zero percent imports," to end the country's "damaging dependence on foreign oil," Hakes said in an interview. He argues that the United States cut its oil imports in half from 1977 to 1982, from 8.6 million to 4.3 million barrels a day. While it "goes against conventional wisdom," dramatic cuts can be made again, he said.
Gal Luft, co-founder of the pro-energy independence Set America Free Coalition says it's all about national security "not having to kowtow to regimes that are hostile" because of oil.
"It's got nothing to do with self sufficiency,"
Luft said in an interview,
calling that a
"simplistic view of energy independence."
Political Economy: Porn or Ph.D.s
House Republicans scored a small victory last week in the battle over what they consider wasteful spending. They temporarily sidetracked a bill that would renew for five years the federal government's underlying support for scientific research and development. Oh, and in the process they struck a blow for proper behavior by getting the House to support a ban on viewing pornography in federal workplaces.
From the looks of things, in fact, the House GOP doesn't like federally financed scientific research any more than it likes federally financed porn. Quite possibly less.
By linking the porn ban to their proposal to shorten the period covered by the bill to three years and to freeze the spending levels for the National Science Foundation, the National Institute for Standards and Technology, and the research operations of the Department of Energy, the Republicans elevated the political stakes and guaranteed that a large number of Democrats would join them on the vote. The spending cutback was agreed to by a vote of 292-126.
Five GOP lawmakers who had supported the measure in committee three weeks earlier voted to gut it on the floor.
One lone Republican,
Vernon J. Ehlers of Michigan -- who happens to be one of three physicists in the House -- voted against the Republican language.
Ehlers' vote is telling. He presumably knows better than most of his colleagues the value of scientific innovation. His willingness to ignore the poison pill porn provision and stand up for boosting research and development goes right to the heart of what some contend is a critical fight over the future of the U.S. economy. It would be a bit much to hang American competitiveness, and the prospects for sustained job growth, on one authorization bill that almost no one in the country has heard of -- but only a bit.
The amount at stake here is small in relative terms, just a few billion dollars a year difference between the bill approved by committee and the cutbacks engineered on the floor by the GOP. But to many of those who see the United States falling behind other countries in our ability to educate and innovate, every penny matters. That's what this fight comes down to: Should the federal government be in the business of financing research and development, and if so, in what fashion? And with how much money?
It was the Democrats who, in 2007, made a concerted effort to expand research spending under the America COMPETES Act (the acronym is for Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education and Science). That's the law up for renewal this year; complaints about it are aimed not at the presumptuous title, but rather at its underlying premise.
Slipping as Innovation Incubator Such objections lead people such as Robert Atkinson to rise up and object. Atkinson is the founder and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a fledgling Washington think tank that takes a somewhat unique approach to policy arguments by eschewing most economic orthodoxy -- liberal and conservative. To its credit, ITIF is getting some attention for its efforts to promote innovation as a necessary 21st century goal that requires government input, and lots of it.
In a study last year for the European-American Business Council, Atkinson's group countered the conventional wisdom that the United States leads the world in innovation. Using more than a dozen metrics, ITIF found that the United States ranked sixth among roughly three dozen industrialized and developing countries, behind Singapore, Sweden, Luxembourg, Denmark and South Korea. More critically, the United States was last in the rate of improvement over the decade from 1999 to 2009.
In terms of government support for research and development, the United States ranked sixth, but it was 24th in the rate of increase over the decade. For corporate R&D, educational attainment and the number of researchers, the U.S. standing was roughly the same.
This portends a crisis for the nation's economy within the next decade,
Atkinson says, and he blames it on flawed economic principles that he says dominate policy prescriptions on the right and left. Conservatives and many liberals (those in the mold of Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers) are too fixated on the deficit, he says. Some other left-leaning policy makers are too focused, he says, on higher taxes to finance benefits directed to workers.
Too few people, he says, care about the need to vigorously promote innovation -- which in his view requires targeted government-financed research; close partnerships among government, companies and other organizations; and strong tax benefits to promote private R&D. It's fair to say that most who hew to the established positions of right and left in Washington can find something to embrace in Atkinson's policy proposals, as well as something to reject. The question is whether they can see his logic.
When the House again takes up the science authorization bill this week, Atkinson and his allies will be watching to see if lawmakers can direct their attention to the long-term goals of the law, or whether they remain distracted by politics and smut.
Click here to see more Political Economy columns
The
Wed
Mar 28,2007
To: TECHNOLOGY EDITORS
Contact: Press: Anne Caliguiri,
+1-202-682-4443, anne_caliguiri@aeanet.org, or Research: Matthew Kazmierczak, +1-202-682-4438,
matthew_kazmierczak@aeanet.org, both of AeA
WASHINGTON, March 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- Today AeA released its latest report, We Are Still
Losing the Competitive Advantage: Now Is the Time To Act. The report serves as the natural sequel to the AeA report of two years ago: Losing the Competitive Advantage? That report focused
on how the
"We are releasing this new report today because over the past two
years, while awareness of the problem has grown tremendously, action has not
followed," said AeA President and CEO, William
T. Archey. "Now is the time for that action. In
updating the data and analysis from our previous report, all indications are
that the competitiveness challenges confronting the
"When AeA issued its first report on
American competitiveness over two years ago it sent shockwaves through the
halls of Congress, corporate boardrooms, and university classrooms across
This is an
urgent call for action by Congress and we must heed the call."
"As Congresswoman Eshoo's comments confirm, policymakers in
In fact, the President and the Speaker
seem very much on the same page regarding competitiveness. Their plans differ
only in the details, not in the direction."
"Two years ago, AeA called the United
States the proverbial frog in the pot of water, oblivious to the slowly rising
temperature of a world catching up to us.
Today, the heat is still rising and
we are still in the pot."
"We call on Democratic and Republican legislators, as well as the
Bush Administration, to act in the 110th Congress on what was essentially
agreed on but did not pass in the 109th: comprehensive legislation to advance
American competitiveness in a global economy.
This legislation would provide a
crucial first step.
But make no mistake; dealing with these challenges
successfully is a long-term proposition."
Recommendations for timely action can be found on pages 6-7 of the report.
Page 4 shows a timeline of what has happened in the last two years to move the
competitiveness debate forward. Pages 2 and 28 offer testimonials from
executives in the high-tech industry, illustrating the challenges they confront
everyday in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. The updated data
and analysis section can be found on pages 8-26 of the report. To download the
report, please go to: http://www.aeanet.org/competitiveness
About AeA
AeA, the nation's largest technology trade
association with 2,500 member companies representing all segments of the high-tech
industry, is dedicated solely to helping our members' top line and bottom line.
We do this in partnership with our small, medium, and large member companies by
lobbying governments at the state, federal, and international levels, providing
access to capital and business opportunities, and offering select business
services and networking programs. For more information, please visit http://www.aeanet.org
SOURCE AeA
You Betcha!!!!!WINK WINK
*Sarah Palin
Climate-change studies:
Florida must act to avoid* catastrophic damage
Two new studies suggest global warming poses expensive and daunting challenges to
Florida's economy
and coastline
Religious
leaders act on climate change
By H.
JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer Wed
Oct 31, 2007WASHINGTON
- A coalition of religious leaders urged Congress on Wednesday to ensure that
the poor and most vulnerable are protected from the effects of climate change.
"While not all of us agree on much,"
said the Rev. Michael Livingston, president of the National Council of Churches,
"we do agree on the need to protect God's creation.
It has become clear that global warming will have devastating impact on those in poverty around the world." Added Bishop Thomas Wenksi of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:
"Those who contribute least to the problem are likely to suffer the most."
The Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, said
84 percent of evangelicals
support mandatory limits on greenhouse gases.
He said it is
not a matter of political persuasion
but
"of moral leadership."
Florida Bay's ecology on the brink of collapse
By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer –
Wed Aug 5, 2009 6:52 am ET
ISLAMORADA, Fla. –
Boat captain Tad Burke looks out over Florida Bay and
sees an ecosystem that's dying
as politicians,
land owners
and
environmentalists bicker.
Oil drilling - God wills it!
By Randy Schultz Palm Beach Post Editor of the Editorial Page
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Admit it.
When Columbus sailed off for the New World, he didn't ride a bicycle.
Huh?
Yes, the comment stopped me, too, when I watched last Monday's so-called debate in the Florida House
over a bill that would turn this state into Louisiana
by allowing oil and gas drilling 3 miles off the Gulf Coast.
HE
wanted to make the point - such as it was - that the nation needs power.
Too much to get from such piddling sources as wind and sun.
And he was prepared to reach high in making his point.
House members, Rep. Van Zant said,
could express their "reverence in our Creator"
by allowing companies to drill for the oil and gas
that God had blessed Florida with in abundance.
Rep. Van Zant, who holds two degrees from Baptist seminaries, knew this turf.
Earlier in debate, he had said,
"We worship a God who made (the oil),
and if we ran out,
I think he could make some more."
Now, that is renewable energy
IDIOT ALERT!!!
Powerful group
pushing for legislative approval of
oil drilling off Florida
By MARY ELLEN KLAS - Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Published: Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009
Updated: Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009
TALLAHASSEE — A secretive group of powerful legislators, business groups and Texas oil companies
has been laying the groundwork since December
to win legislative approval to open Florida waters to oil exploration and end the 20-year drilling moratorium.
Florida Energy Associates,
which identifies itself only by saying
it is financed by a group of independent oil producers,
has hired lobbyists,
public relations experts,
a financial consultant
and a pollster
to help advocate for the sale of drilling leases in state waters between the shore and 10 miles off Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Future state House Speaker(?!?!!)
Dean Cannon,
R- Winter Park,
and
Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Indialantic,
plan to co-sponsor legislation in the 2010 session to allow the Cabinet
to issue more offshore leases to oil companies.
A Daytona Beach-based group(!?!?!!)
of independent oil companies
that helped launch last session's lobbying push in Tallahassee.
With the Legislature possibly ready to endorse drilling,
all eyes will be on Cabinet members who would have the final say-so.
WILL BIG OIL
LOBBYISTS WIN YET AGAIN?
For a nine week supply of "wrong direction" fuels?
The U.S. uses about 7.5 billion barrels of oil per year,
so the estimated oil production
is the equivalent of a roughly three-week supply.
The nation uses about 23 trillion cubic feet of natural gas per year,
so the estimated gas production
amounts to nearly six weeks of consumption.
Send Secretary of Interior Salazar a message asking him to stop the rush to drill off Florida's coast.
Lead
the way Our
position:Nelson, Martinez
should have (HAD) a higher profile
on new climate-change
effort.
Meanwhile,
while our
politicians,
Martinez, Mica and Feeney,
are wimping out on
alternative energy.......Work on
North America's
biggest solar
power plant
will start next year in
Ontario,
Canadian
province's energy minister
said once complete in 2010, the 40-megawatt project,
near
will be able to
supply enough emission-free electricity to power up to 24,000 homes
Our views: Harnessing the sun (Dec. 13 2009)
State lawmakers should push approval of larger solar plant at KSC
Out at Kennedy Space Center, the launch pad for decades of space exploration, another venture is taking flight.
That’s solar energy production at Florida Power & Light’s new $78.9 million, 10-megawatt solar power project on 60 acres of old citrus field south of the KSC Visitor Complex.
It’s one of three solar plants the company is building in Florida, a state whose endless supply of sunshine should make it a national and international leader in the burgeoning alternative energy industry.
When completed by the end of 2010, the KSC plant will power about 3,500 homes, and prevent 227,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions — the equivalent of taking 1,800 cars off the road each year.
Construction of the nearly 40,000 solar-panel plant has already created 100 jobs in Brevard County. And shows the huge potential to draw more solar and renewable energy jobs to transform the spaceport into what it can and should become — a green-energy hub that would bring direly needed high-tech jobs.
A Pew Charitable Trusts study in June said that Florida’s clean-energy economy grew 7.9 percent from 1998 to 2007, creating more than 30,000 jobs and 3,800 industries.
And it’s just gearing up.
Lawmakers, wake up
But Brevard and Florida are at a crossroads, and large numbers of future jobs will go elsewhere unless the state Legislature finally wakes up and becomes a far more aggressive player in the race to land alternative energy research, development and manufacturing.
So far, its record is pitiful.
This year, lawmakers killed Gov. Charlie Crist’s initiative to require utilities to provide 20 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2020, standards that would act as an adrenaline shot for an alternative energy boom in Florida.
House members locked in “drill, baby, drill” mode foolishly blocked them, however, after the Senate refused to pass a last-minute, ill-advised attempt to open Florida’s near-shore waters to oil rigs.
That failure is hampering Florida’s chances of tapping green industry benefits now up for grabs.
Meanwhile, more forward-thinking states, including Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Pennsylvania, are setting up strong renewable energy standards and offering attractive incentives to draw solar power companies, jobs and tax revenue.
So are nations such as Germany, not known for its sunny climate, but nonetheless the world leader in solar energy and the skilled jobs the industry is creating.
It’s now building solar power stations across the country, including the world’s largest, capable of powering 10,000 homes with emissions-free energy. It’s also more than halfway to meeting the European Union’s target for 20 percent renewable energy by 2020.
Dropping the ball
Sun-drenched Florida could easily top that if Tallahassee stops dropping the ball.
Last week, Crist and the Legislature appeared to have taken no action on an urgent request from the Florida Research Consortium for approval of renewable energy legislation.
Lawmakers were rightly focused on a rail deal, a legitimate priority as a job creator and economic spur.
But the renewables’ measure also demands quick attention because it’s tied to FPL plans to build a much larger, 100-megawatt plant just north of the KSC Visitor Center.
Construction would start by late next year and bring 1,000 temporary construction jobs and 50 long-term science and engineering jobs to Brevard.
First announced in November, the plant would produce enough juice to power 12,000 homes, or a small city, and save one million barrels of oil a year.
It also would act as a magnet to draw companies that manufacture solar-plant components near KSC.
That’s not pie-in-the-sky.
SunPower, the California-based company building the 10-megawatt KSC solar farm and pegged to construct the larger facility, wants to build a solar energy research and development center and solar-panel manufacturing plant in Florida, said CEO Tom Perkins in a Dec. 4 letter to Crist.
Brevard can gain
With its highly skilled work force and desperate need for new industry to replace job losses at KSC when the shuttle fleet retires next year, Brevard is the natural site for both.
But the plan could fall through without fast-track legislation to allow regulatory approval.
We hope the deal can be struck, and will lead to more pacts with green companies eager to set up shop and take advantage of the Space Coast’s high-tech work force.
To that end, Brevard’s lawmakers should be shouting from the rooftops to speed authorization of the larger plant, in whatever ways possible.
Because waiting until the regular legislative spring session
may be too late.
Obama expected in Arcadia to support green jobs
Obama will hit three of the swing state's largest media markets. He begins in Jacksonville, stays overnight in Miami and flies to a rural area in a moderate Republican congressional district near Tampa Tuesday morning before returning to Washington.
The last time Obama was in the state, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist canceled a lunch with former governors, including GOP favorite Jeb Bush, and literally embraced the president on a stage in Fort Myers as he touted a $787 billion stimulus plan.
Now Crist is running radio ads criticizing Obama for trying to “spend our way into prosperity” as he faces an increasingly tough Republican primary for the Senate.
And the self-styled
“green governor”
will be nowhere in sight
Tuesday when
Obama headlines the opening of the solar plant in Arcadia
that Crist helped push through the state legislature.
Crist further tried to distance himself from Obama last week when the trip was announced, telling a Florida reporter,
“I don't even know what day he's coming.”
(Someone should tell Charlie the President will be in Arcadia on Tuesday 10/27/2009 )
Instant Editorial: Obama's coming to Arcadia, so should Crist
This is greater than electoral politics — it’s about the future of the state.
The governor should not cave into those who would pressure him
to avoid being seen with the president again.
Yes, he's running for the Senate,
but
Crist is governor of this state and has an obligation to represent Floridians' best interests.
And, if he doesn’t show up,
then we Floridians should worry
about any future leadership he might provide
on the important alternative energies issue.
Since alternative and renewable energies are a cornerstone of the state's plan for its future economic development,
it would behoove him to be in Arcadia with the president.
STATE
IDIOT ALERT!!!
WILL BIG OIL WIN YET AGAIN?
For a nine week supply of "wrong direction" fuels?
JUST ASK
DEAN CANNON
"YOUR" FUTURE
FLORIDA HOUSE SPEAKER-
OR
“Reader suppose you were an idiot.
And suppose you
were a member of Congress
(and/or the "new" administration)
But I repeat myself.”
–Mark
Twain
OBAMA
A change in leadership in
Congress and the White House
has done little
to make Florida's coastline
less vulnerable to oil drilling.
Obama
has given mixed signals on offshore drilling.
While campaigning in Florida last June,
he vowed to keep the drilling ban intact
Obama is just another talking suit if he allows this:
If (and/or when)a rig
in the eastern Gulf
springs a leak,
the spill could
turn into an oil slick that gets caught
in a fast-moving current
that runs south to the Florida Keys.
The current turns into the Gulf Stream,
which could drag the polluted mess
and carry it north to the beaches
along the east coast of Florida.
``When it wraps around Florida and becomes the Gulf Stream,
it goes very close to the (east) coast of Florida’’
``There’s nothing to prevent an oil spill from doing that,’’
Muller-Karger
professor of marine sciences at the University of South Florida,
who served on the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy
`It’s well within the realm of possibility.’’
Floridians protest offshore oil drilling
Sat Feb 13, 2010 4:59 pm ET
ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Reuters) – Thousands of Floridians demonstrated against moves to allow offshore oil drilling on Saturday along the east and west coasts of the state in a protest dubbed "Hands Across the Sand."
Organizer David Rauschkolb said about 80 demonstrations took place at beaches from Pensacola on the northwest coast of Florida to Key West in the south and Jacksonville in the north.
"This issue is one Floridians care about, protecting our waterways and coastlines from the devastating effects of oil exploration," Rauschkolb said in a telephone interview. He owns a beachfront restaurant in Seaside, Florida, on the Gulf of Mexico.
Legislation to allow oil drilling off the Florida coast passed the Florida House of Representatives last year but was blocked by Republican Governor Charlie Crist and the state Senate.
Oil-drilling opponents fear the legislation may come up again in this year's legislative session. Supporters of offshore drilling say it is needed to reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil.
"I don't think this issue is going away," Rauschkolb said.
In St. Petersburg, about 200 people including local officials, parents and children gathered at a beach resort hotel despite chilly weather and strong winds.
Most wore black to symbolize an oil spill. They stood in line facing the Gulf of Mexico and holding hands for several minutes as a small plane flew overhead towing a banner that read:
"Love tourists - not drilling."
"Do you really want oil washing up on our beaches?"
local organizer Cathy Harrelson said.
Funding shortfalls threaten science research
By Andrew Stern Fri Feb 1, 10:48 AM ET
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Scientists are chafing at the U.S. government's unfulfilled pledge to boost funding for basic scientific research, the source of innovations ranging from the World Wide Web to high-tech cancer treatments. The estimated $500 million sliced out of the fiscal 2008 federal budget for research projects seeking answers to fundamental questions such as the nature of the universe could trigger a brain drain, scientists and others warn.
"Scientists are not going to wait around to be brought back. There will definitely be a brain drain," said Republican U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert of Illinois, a key player in securing funding for Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago.
"It was very troublesome to me, because we have had such a focus on basic research and how important it is to American competitiveness and our long-term economic growth," Biggert said. "We're worried about the 2009 budget now."
President George W. Bush offers his 2009 budget blueprint to Congress on Tuesday, which could compensate for the shortfalls in the 2008 budget.
But passage of the budget is likely months away, and other spending priorities and a multibillion-dollar budget deficit are sure to constrain outlays.
In December, Bush ordered the Democratic-controlled Congress to stick to his 2008 budget cap in its final catch-all spending bill, and the resulting hundreds of millions of dollars in funding cuts left many researchers in shock.
"All these agencies (that fund scientific research) were caught up in this shoot-out between the White House and Congress," said Michael Lubell, a physicist and a spokesman for the profession's American Physical Society.
The battle erupted just months after Bush signed the America Competes Act into law, which calls for doubling government science funding over the next decade.
Bush cited the disconnect in his State of the Union address on Monday, admonishing Congress for inadequately funding science without mentioning his own role in the funding cuts.
PHYSICS HARD-HIT
Roughly 700 planned science projects have gone unfunded as a result, jeopardizing facilities in the United States and elsewhere.
The field of high-energy physics was the hardest hit. Involving particle accelerators and other expensive machines, it dominates the work at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois.
"There are so many examples of young scientists who have had really very little choice about it, who have to move," Fermilab spokeswoman Judy Jackson said.
Fermilab's 1,900 staffers were told they have to take furloughs of one week without pay every two months, and layoffs are possible. Argonne has lost 20 of its 300 scientists.
Among the innovations credited to high-energy physics are the Internet and machines whose beams target cancerous tumors, design new materials or peer into chemical reactions.
The funding problem has reached into the medical field, disappointing researchers who must spend more time seeking grants or who may opt for clinical practice, said Carrie Wolinetz of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
"The National Institutes of Health has been essentially flat-funded for the past five years and we saw that trend continue" in 2008, she said.
There were other casualties in the budget battle, notably some projects with international funding, which could undermine U.S. credibility as a partner, scientists said.
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which will help determine whether nuclear fusion can be substituted for fission, got no funding even though the United States pledged $160 million to the project.
"Science today is by and large an international activity. Will people want to partner with us?" said Robert Rosner, the director at Argonne.
Rosner called the budget cuts "devastating" and said they sent a message that will deter young researchers from around the world from coming to the United States, as he did from Germany.
He predicted multinational companies that rely on the U.S. laboratories' facilities would go to Europe and elsewhere to meet their needs.
"There is a clear role for government to do the basic research, the private sector just can't do it," Biggert said.
(Editing by Michael Conlon and Xavier Briand)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans may like to make fun of girls who are good at math, but this attitude is robbing the country of some of its best talent, researchers reported on Friday.
They found that while girls can be just as talented as boys at mathematics, some are driven from the field because they are teased, ostracized or simply neglected.
"The U.S. culture that is discouraging girls is also discouraging boys," Janet Mertz, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who led the study said in a statement.
"The situation is becoming urgent. The data show that a majority of the top young mathematicians in this country were not born here."
Writing in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society, Mertz and colleagues described their analysis of data from international math competitions going back to 1974. They also looked at surveys of U.S. students.
"It is deemed uncool within the social context of USA middle and high schools to do mathematics for fun; doing so can lead to social ostracism. Consequently, gifted girls, even more so than boys, usually camouflage their mathematical talent to fit in well with their peers," they wrote.
FAIRLY EVEN DISTRIBUTION
They also challenged the widespread belief that females lack exceptional math aptitude.
"Innate math aptitude is probably fairly evenly distributed throughout the world, regardless of race or gender," said Titu Andreescu of the University of Texas at Dallas, who worked on the study.
"The huge differences observed in achievement levels are most likely due to socio-cultural attributes specific to each country."
The study looked at how many women faculty members there are in five top U.S. research university mathematics departments. It found 20 percent of them were born in the United States.
"We are wasting this valuable resource," Mertz said. "Girls can excel in math at the very highest level. There are some truly phenomenal women mathematicians out there."
The study also looked at test scores that show that in elementary school girls do as well or better in math than boys. These begin to lag in the middle school years and the gap widens greatly between girls and boys in high school.
Many of the women who become math or engineering professionals come from other countries, notably in eastern Europe and Asia, where mathematics is promoted more, the study found.
"Just as there is concern about the U.S. relying on foreign countries for our oil and manufactured goods, we should also be concerned about relying on others to fill our needs for mathematicians, engineers, and scientists," Joseph Gallian of the University of Minnesota and current president of the Mathematical Association of America, said in a statement.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Xavier Briand
WE NEED
A World Class Alternative Energy Showcase and Science Center
(ARPA)
in West Volusia
Imagine
somewhere that our ALL of our Central
Florida children can grow and learn with
Scientists and Engineers about the challenges
facing America’s
future on I-4 and
OR
We can continue to be apathetic and allow
our “Elected Retail Leaders” and “their plans”
for our kids to grow more retail shoppers that benefit China,
add even MORE students("Childrens do learn,") to our already overcrowded/under funded schools
and get even MORE low paying retail crap jobs
with no benefits that put a drag on America’s economy and healthcare system??!!
Instead of more sprawl, concrete, flooding and crime in Florida let’s use the
“Sun to Fund”
and get some $$$carbon
credits$$$ for our schools