I think this is extremely sad, but it's typical.  Of millions of potential
budgetary items that could be eliminated and waste that could be trimmed, it
is the list of useful, therefore mainly unpolitically motivated funded items
that can be cut without a fight in congress.   Art, research, and
humanitarian aid are not voter issues.  Taxes, guns, reproductive rights,
and taxes (did I mention taxes) are.  The global market view is that if US
industry wants to compete, they will, and therefore will fund research.  But
knowledge isn't always about profit, so we lose a little bit of ourselves
every time we shut something valuable in and of its own right down.  I'll be
glad to be the first to send them a dozen $100,000 toilet seats if they'll
add the savings to the Bee lab budget.
Ben Hanson
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