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From: abm@whuxl.UUCP (MYERS)
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: Senator William Proxmire and The Golden Fleece Awards
Message-ID: <60@whuxl.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 23-Jul-84 13:24:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: whuxl.60
Posted: Mon Jul 23 13:24:06 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 24-Jul-84 04:11:06 EDT
References: <915@ulysses.UUCP>, <178@exodus.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Labs, Whippany, N.J.
Lines: 22

Sen. Proxmire's goal to check government waste may be a good one,
but I can remember one time when he "shot from the hip" in awarding
one of his Golden Fleece awards.
(In fact, David Copp alluded to this incident in his recent followup
posting.)  I was a Wisconsin resident at the time, and was working as a
science writer for one of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's news
services.  Proxmire had blasted sociology professor Elaine Walster
for doing research on "erotic love."  As is the case with such publicity
stunts, Proxmire took one item out of context and blew it up.
Walster's research was on social relationships, and it included some
items on erotic love, but overall the research was thorough and
scholarly, having significant implications on relevant social issues --
divorce, broken families, and needed social-work response for such families.

Proxmire may still get a lot of votes in Wisconsin, but he lost my vote
that year!

Carl Blesch
hlwpc!cb
(Repliers please don't hit your "r" key -- a friend posted this for me
because my machine is cranky today about posting news!)