Do you suppose Harper’s cutting off funding to Genome Canada in this budget has anything to do with his creationist religious views? Or is it that the jobs of tomorrow in the mind of Stephen Harper are the Cashiers at Home Depot whose ongoing employment has been assure by the CEO of Home Depot’s involvement as an advisor to Jim Flaherty and his implementation of that Home Depot friendly 15% Home renovation tax credit?
Did it not occur to Mindless Hapless Harper that cutting off funding to Genome Canada and the leading edge scientific work that is being conducted there, might lead to a brain drain. Canada is curtailing funding to Genome Canada at just the time that Barack Obama has lifted George Bush’s ban on stem cell research in the US, a policy that was clearly borne from the bible belt.
Suppose you were a world class geneticist working in Canada as part of the ground breaking genome research program, and like all Canadian, were concerned about your job security and professional career. Would you stick around in Canada in the hopes that this dysfunctional Parliament would see its way to providing ongoing funding to Genome Canada, or would you take one of those myriad of job offers from Stanford or MIT, as the US races to reassert itself in this scientific field, now that the dark days of George Bush have been replaced by the dark days of Stephen Harper, albeit in a completely different country.
Nation's credibility on the line, scientists warn
Projects uncertain after budget snub
Globe and Mail
January 30, 2009
The uncertainty over research funding in Canada left scientists across the country fretting over the future of crucial projects yesterday, and a few wondering if they would relocate their work.
Government Approves Study Using Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Washington Post Staff Writer
January 24, 2009
A California biotechnology company plans to launch the first government-approved clinical trial testing human embryonic stem cells on people by next summer after receiving federal approval yesterday.
"This is obviously an extraordinarily exciting event," Geron chief executive Thomas B. Okarma said. "It marks the dawn of a new era in medical therapeutics. This approach is one that reaches beyond pills and scalpels to achieve a new level of healing."
President Obama is expected to lift restrictions on federal funding for such research imposed by his predecessor.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Harper’s jobs of tomorrow: Home Depot cashiers. Not genome scientists
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Despite what the Harper/Bush right wing religious nutbars think , it is not God`s will that we die horrible deaths from disfiguring & painful diseases.
Man has been given the ability to think for themselves (may not know it judging by our politicians) to develop cures & make their wont in life better by using any means including science.
It discourages me when I see people like Harper & his crew pick & choose who they want to help go forward with no thought to the rest of us & what we want.
If somebody can save me or feed me with a scientific discovery , go for it.
Maybe it is time we have a say where our tax dollars go.
Oh , I forgot , that is what our MPs are for--to relay to the guys at the top what we want & to make sure it happens.
I guess time to take off the rose-colored glasses & get with the real world--we are here for their pleasure & not the other way around.
Dr Mike.
Here I thought the budget was supposed to save jobs.
I do think there are more people working at Home Depot than there are genome scientists, at (I'm guessing) 100,000 to 1.
Home Depot cashier overheard saying:
"WE DON'T HAVE ANY GENOMES BUT THERE ARE GARDEN GNOMES OUT BACK, thank you come again."
Factrbest
Post a Comment