The GOP's anti-research agenda

[NNN0LHI]

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/21/11794921-the-gops-anti-research-agenda?lite

The GOP's anti-research agenda

By Steve Benen - Mon May 21, 2012 1:52 PM EDT.It was bad enough when House Republicans voted to politicize the National Science Foundation, effectively telling the NSF what is and isn't acceptable science to fund. As Ezra Klein recently explained, "That's not how scientific decisions are supposed to work. And the effect could be chilling."

But it's just as bad that House Republicans have targeted the American Community Survey. As Catherine Rampell reported, it's arguably "the most important government function you've never heard of, and it's in trouble."

This survey of American households has been around in some form since 1850, either as a longer version of or a richer supplement to the basic decennial census. It tells Americans how poor we are, how rich we are, who is suffering, who is thriving, where people work, what kind of training people need to get jobs, what languages people speak, who uses food stamps, who has access to health care, and so on.

It is, more or less, the country's primary check for determining how well the government is doing — and in fact what the government will be doing. The survey's findings help determine how over $400 billion in government funds is distributed each year.

Last week, House Republicans voted to eliminate the American Community Survey altogether.

[SpartanDem]

1. These idiots are destroying this country

we can't even do a survey with these idiots crying about freedom