Sequester would stifle biomedical research

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Thursday January 10, 2013 · 11:47 AM PST

2013/01/10 · 11:47

Maybe it's because I happen to have a dog in this fight, but I am quite (and I hope reasonably) frightened of the fall-out were the sequester to actually take place. I've read here at the DK (here and here) that the Left should be using the sequester as leverage. In that the effects of the sequester would be less harmful to the Left than to the Right. There is evidential reasoning, namely in that defense cuts will be relatively higher (compared to non-defense cuts) under the sequester than any other proposal that could come to pass. Also, the sequester protects certain entitlements such as the two big Ms, food assistance, and some student aid. However, I am writing this diary to highlight some of the dangerous elements of the sequester, which stymie biomedical researchers, particularly in novel and cutting-edge fields.

Federal funding for biomedical research has already been handcuffed for the past few years due to the lack of budget. Since Congress has not passed a new budget, and instead has operated off of a continuing appropriations resolution (or CR; see: our Congress is dysfunctional), the ability of funding agencies to issue new awards has been severely limited. This is because when a budget cut comes to the NIH (or NSF, or AHRQ, or ...), many of their future dollars have already been encumbered from previous awards. These agencies cannot very well go to previously awarded investigators (who have already acquired students and are often paying technicians, post-docs, and consultants) and tell them that their funding is being stripped. So as a result, the VAST MAJORITY of spending cuts impact new awards. Which types of applications are up for new awards? Well, it almost goes without saying: novel research! This includes cutting-edge medical procedures, experimental drugs, novel biomaterials, improved equipment, etc. And furthermore, when funding for new awards is restricted, the agencies tend to go with applications which are more conservative, thus insuring that their limited dollars will be fruitful. But often-times the applications with the most reward are those with the most risk, thus further reducing the genesis of highly novel biomedical research.

I'd like to garnish this important notion with some relevant facts below the orange twist.

hi5enigma

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Saturday March 19, 2011 · 8:10 PM PDT

2011/03/19 · 20:10

This will be short, and SIAP, but this morning 2 independent calls were made to the Coast Guard, both reporting a sighting of a new oil slick. One caller estimated 0.5 mi sq, and the other reported a 100 mi long slick! This could be devastating news for the Gulf region, which has only begun its recovery from the previous underwater oil eruption. Oh, also these reports came from an area approximately 20 miles from the Deepwater Horizon location.

The U.S. Coast Guard is currently investigating reports of a potentially massive oil sheen about 20 miles away from the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion last April.
According to Paul Barnard, operations controller for the USCG in Louisiana, a helicopter crew has been dispatched to the site of the Matterhorn SeaStar oil rig, owned by W&T Offshore, Inc.

Multiple reports have come in of a sheen nearly 100 miles long and 10 miles wide originating near the site.

http://www.examiner.com/...

hi5enigma

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Thursday March 18, 2010 · 7:49 AM PDT

2010/03/18 · 07:49

Let's not forget, we are still up against a formidable opponent (h/t Colbert) in the Republican opposition to ~~HCR~~ everything the Democrats do. In fact just today Pete Sessions (R-TX) said:

all House Republicans are planning to go to the Rules Committee [with ammendments]

Source

This is an effort to slow the process down entirely and delay voting in the Senate. The Republicans will throw everything at the process now, and pull out every procedural trick to stall, delay, and otherwise thwart the will of the majority of Americans (although at the behest of the majority of their campaign contributors)...

hi5enigma

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Monday July 27, 2009 · 9:16 AM PDT

2009/07/27 · 09:16

Here is a one stop shop for getting a hold of your senators and representatives to tell them that you support the President's plan for health insurance reform. The idea is that you can simply do a little copy and paste, followed by 1 or 2 clicks, and you will have sent out an e-mail message to your three federal level representatives.

hi5enigma

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Sunday September 28, 2008 · 7:49 AM PDT

2008/09/28 · 07:49

On 9/28/08 at 9:42 AM, McCain's top strategist Steve Schmidt who was on a MTP panel with David Axlerod, was asked to respond to McCain's intervention in the bailout negotiations. Schmidt responded:

What Senator McCain was able to do was to help bring all the parties to the table, including the House Republicans.

A mere 16 minutes later, McCain was on This Week with Stephanopolous. When George asked whether or not McCain deserved credit, he first responded with

I'll be glad to accept the judgement of history.

But later vacillated with

I won't claim a bit of credit.

Quickest flip-flop of all time?

Or more likely, a fundamental miscommunication in this tumultuous campaign, in which "white lies" and "false characterizations" create a fragile web of "dishonesty" in which any slight misstep by any surrogate will likely contradict the message of the candidate himself. An old adage comes to mind, having something to do with reaping and sowing ....

When the bailout only cost $120B

hi5enigma

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Wednesday September 24, 2008 · 8:57 AM PDT

2008/09/24 · 08:57

I had remembered a story from a few months ago, in which Sen. Schumer proposed a bill that would provide federal relief to those mortgage owners straddled with an ever-growing ARM. Every 6 months when there was a reset, we were reminded of the "credit crunch" facing Americans.

This proposal, made in April of 2007 was of course pooh-poohed and derided by the Right and of course by those greedy bankers over at National Association of for Business Economics for its exceedingly large pricetag of ..... wait for it ..... $120 Billion.

::chris-cross is gonna make ya jump-jump::

hi5enigma

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Sunday September 14, 2008 · 10:01 AM PDT

2008/09/14 · 10:01

A common Republican motif seems to be centered around the notion of a rugged individualism. And from around this core, several themes are extrapolated; namely, the ability to rely on oneself and provide for their family, using ones own bootstraps with which to pull oneself up (wtf does this even mean, btw?), and some fairy-land belief in an ownership society. And from these core 'values,' a legislative philosophy is derived in which one is burdened by one's own debt, past even the historical baseline for what would be called bankruptcy, one is responsible for one's own retirement/safety net beyond any contribution from the government (SS insolvency, ne1?) and employer (goodbye 401k). Expecting anything 'less' from the american people would be tantamount to socialism .... no?

But what strikes me as particularly odd is the utter acquiescence, nay, willingness for these same conservatives to provide this type of relief to those who in all respects deserve it the least.

Take the jump for some examples

hi5enigma

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Sunday July 06, 2008 · 6:46 PM PDT

2008/07/06 · 18:46

Seriously. I keep it on my RSS feed b/c I like to check out what other people who have the internet can find on the internet and then retell it to me in hopefully a different enough manner that I might be somewhat compelled to assume that I will get legitimate information perhaps a standard deviation percentage more of the time than i might get, say, typing random words into the google search bar. Bu seriously. Crazy tangents aside, I am really uncomfortable just reading through the comment section of Politico. Even the registered users go waaaaaay off the deep end. And I'm not just talking about rambling idiot obscure diarists. I mean people sit there all day every day and literally spew the most vile... look I don't want to even get into it. But these people are, what? so miserable and they just want everyone else to feel shitty as well? Total hope-kills .... total.

So 2 journalists walk into a bar

hi5enigma

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Wednesday May 28, 2008 · 6:21 PM PDT

2008/05/28 · 18:21

"It's quite a MeDiA-sToRm we're having out there today."
"Yes, quite. You know White House Constituencies are suggesting that since McClellan has admitted his deceit in the past, he now obviously can't be trusted to give information to the public."
"Ah yes, you mean the lying douche-bag McClellan whom the WH allowed into its ranks, entrusted, and is now being bent over a Donkey Kong barrel by?
"The very one - well what do you think his testimony says about the White House's own credibility?"
"I think, given the repeated accusations made by dozens of former officials against the WH, and the WH's repeated defamation of these former colleagues, and the picture that scenario paints...

::jump for punchline::

hi5enigma

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Monday May 19, 2008 · 9:12 PM PDT

2008/05/19 · 21:12

So I'll admit it, I am a reader of many-a-right-wing-blog; probably the top three would be WhatReallyHappened, Drudge, and Free Republic. I don't know why I read these, maybe to make an informed decision regarding politics and whathaveyou, maybe to make my blood boil, and maybe because when I toke I become one hell of a flamer/troll/pissant. Nevertheless, as I was lurking around F.R. recently, I couldn't help but notice the dwindling number of freepers out there. Just for instance ... at 12am on 20 May, the number of replies to their equivalent of front page diaries from top to bottom goes as follows: 7, 2, 8, 8, 7, 2, 3, 1, 15, 1 17, 10, 13, 7, 4, 5, 30, 0, 10, 11, 13, 1, 14, 11, 8, 5, 3, ... wow, 30, ... DREAM BIG. Most articles get fewer than 10 comments, and the ones that elicit more are mostly just unabated vitriol on the order of what Bill'O would have you believe exists on this site ... times a factor of ten. Honestly, the number of comment responses would not be embarrassing, and possibly respectable for the Melanie's Stories About My Cat Blog .... but this is supposed to be the right-wing counterweight to a site such as this.

::jump::

hi5enigma

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Tuesday April 24, 2007 · 5:19 PM PDT

2007/04/24 · 17:19

In light of the articles of impeachment being brought to the house floor by Kucinich, I thought I'd write a letter to my representative. She's a freggin rethuglican, so prolly nothing will happen, but I am going to publish it as an open letter editorial in my school newspaper.

jump for the copy.

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Should Cheney be impeached

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Should Cheney be impeached

Yes

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2 votes

Don't know

0 votes

Just Cheney?

17 votes

chanting Wall, wall, wall, wall. Wall, wall, wall, wall

hi5enigma

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Monday April 23, 2007 · 9:50 AM PDT

2007/04/23 · 09:50

duh-duh-duh-dun ta-dun ... WALLLL!!!!!

When it comes to solving problems, here seems to be the prescribed order of operations out of the Republican playbook.

Bomb it.

Build a wall around it.

You'd think after Reagan made such a hubbub about tearing down a wall, R's might think twice about putting up new ones.

Work On Baghdad Wall Continues Despite Premier's Opposition
http://www.democraticunderground.com...

US Republicans propose Mexican border wall
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/...

Can't afford health care? Build a wall around it!
Staggering budget deficit? No problem, build a wall around it!
Big wall getting in your way? Build a wall around it!

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politico.com give me the heebee jeebees

So 2 journalists walk into a bar

RIP FreeRepublic

My open letter to my Rep.

chanting Wall, wall, wall, wall. Wall, wall, wall, wall