May 26, 2011

Casey and I actually love these studies...

Apparently there's a big fuss over the National Science Foundation and their apparent goal to study the most ridiculous things. I don't know about you, but I would actually prefer to see how long a shrimp can walk on a treadmill, wouldn't you?

The Senate’s top watchdog on government waste, in a new report Thursday, said taxpayer money has gone to fund such programs as Jell-O wrestling at the South Pole, testing shrimp’s exercise ability on a treadmill and a laundry-folding robot, all funded by the National Science Foundation.

Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, said he identified more than $3 billion in mismanagement at NSF, ranging from questionable studies to exorbitant operating costs, and in some cases duplication by the science agency of operations performed by other agencies.

At a time when the federal government is struggling with record deficits and bumping up against its borrowing limit, Mr. Coburn said the agency is a prime example of the kinds of spending taxpayers should no longer tolerate.


I'm wondering the validity of these claims, thinking that a congress person could look at one small part of a program (Really how much does jello-o wrestling cost? Remember college?), and then incurring the entire cost of the program to that one aspect. I don't think there are many scientists out there that want there entire life's work to be a robot that can cut a stick of butter. This is more of a public stunt than a real crackdown expose. The only thing I'd be concerned with is the duplication of operations that could be limited.

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