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From: simon@psuvax1.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: Senator William Proxmire and The Golden Fleece Awards
Message-ID: <1104@psuvax1.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 23-Jul-84 19:16:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: psuvax1.1104
Posted: Mon Jul 23 19:16:57 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 27-Jul-84 01:53:21 EDT
References: <915@ulysses.UUCP>
Organization: Pennsylvania State Univ.
Lines: 18

[]
I strongly object to the last sentence: [the Golden Fleece awards book 
makes interesting reading because ] it tells you what is worth doing and
what is not.
Why?
Why does the opinion of a (possibly idiotic) senator from Wisconsin determine
what is worth doing? Does he have a training in some branch of the sciences?
Does he represent other interests than milk farming?

For the record, he has singularly backward notion about the use of space, much
of basic research, and long-term applied research. Some of his awards went to
colossal bureaucratic stupidities, but he criticized some reasonably well
justified research. If I remember correctly, an ape research person had his
career all screwed up because of it.

How would you like to have the value of your work be judged by a farmer?

js