OT: How the "war" effects our lives, and yours
Published by nika on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 at 9:58 AM.
We got some bad news yesterday and I had to say something tho it feels like just p*ssing into the wind.
My husband worked for a tenured prof (deputy head of his department) at a university for almost 8 long very productive years. Their mission was (and is) to disseminate the hard work and interesting projects happening in the academic and private supercomputing communities as educational initiatives for K-12 and undergraduate kids.
This is big synthesist thinking that had a DIRECT impact on many teachers and kids across the USA (you and your neighbors). It leveraged already funded projects, extending their reach even further, well beyond that envisioned by the review boards on the original grants. It created synergies between academia and industry, it created excitement. This work was deeply appreciated by these communities.
This work has been killed because several grants, that bouyed this work, have been rejected by our government after YEARS of support.
You may ask why, and I will tell you. This has happened for the very same reason that so many other people are having to fire postdocs and lab techs or outright shut down their labs across the USA - the money is being shunted to the war.
Its very simple, its also not something most of you would know, its being kept very quiet outside of the science communities.
I do not work in science anymore (even tho I have a PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology and had an excellent publication record including two Nature articles) because my field has been strangled by this administration (I worked in the nuclear transfer, stem cells, and reproductive biology world).
Every lab I worked in since I finished grad school had to be shut down or severely curtailed due to non-refunding of critical grants.
I am not certain what we are going to do. This means that my husband's job is coming to an end soon (just in time for the delivery of this baby).
What I would like to say to those who have gotten this far in an all-text no-food photo that has nothing to do with food post (other than perhaps wondering how we will get enough) is this:
Thanks for reading. Its a beautiful day, I think I will try to get out and take a few deep breaths.
My husband worked for a tenured prof (deputy head of his department) at a university for almost 8 long very productive years. Their mission was (and is) to disseminate the hard work and interesting projects happening in the academic and private supercomputing communities as educational initiatives for K-12 and undergraduate kids.
This is big synthesist thinking that had a DIRECT impact on many teachers and kids across the USA (you and your neighbors). It leveraged already funded projects, extending their reach even further, well beyond that envisioned by the review boards on the original grants. It created synergies between academia and industry, it created excitement. This work was deeply appreciated by these communities.
This work has been killed because several grants, that bouyed this work, have been rejected by our government after YEARS of support.
You may ask why, and I will tell you. This has happened for the very same reason that so many other people are having to fire postdocs and lab techs or outright shut down their labs across the USA - the money is being shunted to the war.
Its very simple, its also not something most of you would know, its being kept very quiet outside of the science communities.
I do not work in science anymore (even tho I have a PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology and had an excellent publication record including two Nature articles) because my field has been strangled by this administration (I worked in the nuclear transfer, stem cells, and reproductive biology world).
Every lab I worked in since I finished grad school had to be shut down or severely curtailed due to non-refunding of critical grants.
I am not certain what we are going to do. This means that my husband's job is coming to an end soon (just in time for the delivery of this baby).
What I would like to say to those who have gotten this far in an all-text no-food photo that has nothing to do with food post (other than perhaps wondering how we will get enough) is this:
- vote democrat in this fall's midtermsWithout direct action by we the citizens of this republican-ravaged country, they will get away with murder and larceny and the genocide of the American Way.
- push your congresscritter (very hard) to impeach Bush
- push the critter to bring war-crimes charges against this administration
- push same critter to investigate the massive fraud perpetrated by this admin
- further push for the reinstatement of what has been lost in this country - a return to educational and scientific excellence
Thanks for reading. Its a beautiful day, I think I will try to get out and take a few deep breaths.
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