This is a response to a post from a friend of mine no facebook reproduced here:
It would be very sad to see our Antarctica Scientific investment be lost due to the loss of this ice breaker. However I think there are other things to think about before we bash Trump for this problem.
First of all, providing for the common defense, as is stated in the preamble of our constitution is one of the primary reasons to have government. A border wall is a project well within this goal and is thus an appropriate project for federal funding. Providing for scientific advancement could also be deemed as furthering the common defense but it is unlikely that Antarctica research will contribute much to defense technology.
Something that many Americans seem to be oblivious to is the fact that every dime extracted by taxes to pay for projects funded by the federal government are taken at gun-point. Any funding of projects that are not authorized by the constitution is an outright theft. This is so common now-a-days that people see it as some kind of right that the government and voters have. They forget that all power the government has was granted to it by The People, which our unique constitution recognizes as the only lawful source of authority in a non-theocratic government.
At the end of the life of a democracy, it's collapse always happens when the majority realizes they can vote for anything and steal it from the collective whole without any seeming consequences. Eventually there are simply not enough producers to feed the greedy majority and the system collapses economically and usually with much violence in the streets.
Our economy is failing for several reasons. A fiat money system owned by a private corporation, a great burden of arbitrary regulation well outside of the legal limits allowed by our constitution, and a very poor educational system that has produced a generation of feel-good know-nothings that lack the common sense necessary to sustain this economy.
The average American has never read or understood the concepts behind our constitutional republic, nor have they probably ever read the Federalist or Anti-Federalist papers which explains why we have what we have.
Without this basis of understanding we find many many people simply parroting the latest memes touted by the Mainstream Media as fact and true without question.
Another point on the ice-breaker issue is that government funding of research tends to skew it in the direction of whatever beliefs or policies are in place. Scientists are not free to explore what seems most promising but rather what is most fund-able. Grant writing is probably the most important skill for a scientist these days that wishes to pursue her chosen area of research. Picking a research project that bucks the idea of global warming, for example, will have a very hard time getting funding. This is a disservice to those paying the research bills - the US Taxpayer.
Another point is that the media is commonly used when funding is needed for a particular endeavor. Ever notice how NASA seems to have a breakthrough in finding life on other planets just at the time congress is voting on its budget? Ever notice how these great breakthroughs turn out to be nothing after the funding is obtained?
How critical really is this ice-breaker? It would be real nice to have $750M given to get a new one. Seems the rich can't get together and make it happen, no lets steal from the poor instead... ever think about that angle? It isn't just "evil corporations" that steal from people. (and they don't steal it. They provide a product or service people are willing to pay for.) We throw a fit when corporations get a tax break but don't realize that every dime that they are taxed simply is passed on to the customer. The price of a service or commodity is set by the market and the entire marked is adversely affected by both taxes and regulations.
Now I am not arguing that the wall Trump is building is necessarily the right thing to do, but it certainly falls within his job description and it is a project he promised to do on the campaign trail. He was duly and lawfully elected to do what he promised and amazingly enough, he seems to be keeping his promises.
How does the executive branch "move" funding from one project to another when congress has full control of the purse strings? Clearly, if the executive branch can do such things, congress is not doing its job to stop this. Let's at least point the "little finger" in the right direction.
Everyday, I drive by the waterfront so I'm interested in the ships I see there. Probably the coolest are the Polar Sun and the Polar Star. They are the two largest ice breakers in the US. The Polar Sun is deactivated and it's parts are being used to keep the Polar Star running.
The Polar Star has one mission... to open the channel every year to McMurdo Station. Without it, our science stations in Antarctica are at risk, since McMurdo is the largest base and supports most of the others.
There's been a push to get a new icebreaker to replace her... since if she breaks and we can't repair her with parts from the Polar Sun... we're kinda screwed.
The Senate allocated $750 million in Feb to build a replacement... and it still needs to be passed. But the Donald "littlefinger" Trump moved all the funding from the icebreaker to the border wall. So much more Making American Science Great Again.
First of all, providing for the common defense, as is stated in the preamble of our constitution is one of the primary reasons to have government. A border wall is a project well within this goal and is thus an appropriate project for federal funding. Providing for scientific advancement could also be deemed as furthering the common defense but it is unlikely that Antarctica research will contribute much to defense technology.
Something that many Americans seem to be oblivious to is the fact that every dime extracted by taxes to pay for projects funded by the federal government are taken at gun-point. Any funding of projects that are not authorized by the constitution is an outright theft. This is so common now-a-days that people see it as some kind of right that the government and voters have. They forget that all power the government has was granted to it by The People, which our unique constitution recognizes as the only lawful source of authority in a non-theocratic government.
At the end of the life of a democracy, it's collapse always happens when the majority realizes they can vote for anything and steal it from the collective whole without any seeming consequences. Eventually there are simply not enough producers to feed the greedy majority and the system collapses economically and usually with much violence in the streets.
Our economy is failing for several reasons. A fiat money system owned by a private corporation, a great burden of arbitrary regulation well outside of the legal limits allowed by our constitution, and a very poor educational system that has produced a generation of feel-good know-nothings that lack the common sense necessary to sustain this economy.
The average American has never read or understood the concepts behind our constitutional republic, nor have they probably ever read the Federalist or Anti-Federalist papers which explains why we have what we have.
Without this basis of understanding we find many many people simply parroting the latest memes touted by the Mainstream Media as fact and true without question.
Another point on the ice-breaker issue is that government funding of research tends to skew it in the direction of whatever beliefs or policies are in place. Scientists are not free to explore what seems most promising but rather what is most fund-able. Grant writing is probably the most important skill for a scientist these days that wishes to pursue her chosen area of research. Picking a research project that bucks the idea of global warming, for example, will have a very hard time getting funding. This is a disservice to those paying the research bills - the US Taxpayer.
Another point is that the media is commonly used when funding is needed for a particular endeavor. Ever notice how NASA seems to have a breakthrough in finding life on other planets just at the time congress is voting on its budget? Ever notice how these great breakthroughs turn out to be nothing after the funding is obtained?
How critical really is this ice-breaker? It would be real nice to have $750M given to get a new one. Seems the rich can't get together and make it happen, no lets steal from the poor instead... ever think about that angle? It isn't just "evil corporations" that steal from people. (and they don't steal it. They provide a product or service people are willing to pay for.) We throw a fit when corporations get a tax break but don't realize that every dime that they are taxed simply is passed on to the customer. The price of a service or commodity is set by the market and the entire marked is adversely affected by both taxes and regulations.
Now I am not arguing that the wall Trump is building is necessarily the right thing to do, but it certainly falls within his job description and it is a project he promised to do on the campaign trail. He was duly and lawfully elected to do what he promised and amazingly enough, he seems to be keeping his promises.
How does the executive branch "move" funding from one project to another when congress has full control of the purse strings? Clearly, if the executive branch can do such things, congress is not doing its job to stop this. Let's at least point the "little finger" in the right direction.
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