WTF Has Obama Done? - Issue No. 019 - Scientific & Medical Research

Don't listen to what the REDs (Republicans) are telling you.  Scientific and medical research are two of the most important, if not the most important topics when it comes to our future health and well-being.  Without them, we wouldn't have the medications we have today, without them we wouldn't have the technology that has helped billions around the world.  Without them we wouldn't have space exploration, mapping, and all the wonders we come across each and every day.  We live longer lives because of Scientific and Medical research, don't let the REDs tell you otherwise.  Yeah I'm calling them REDs from now on.

Did you know that the majority of the people who vote against government intervention and against the policies President Obama sets forth, are the same people who use the system?  I'm not lying.  And did you know that the majority of the red-states are actually the people with the most welfare recipients?  So yeah, don't go saying "we don't want government" when the majority of you are the ones using it.

Sorry for getting off the subject at hand, but the REDs are driving me nuts.  Over the last three years President Obama has issued three broad policies, two funding and three targeted actions in regard to scientific and medical research.  I will post one achievement from each category today.

WTF-55

Removed restrictions and provided support for embryonic stem-cell research and new biomedical research.

Pledging that his administration will “make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology,” President Obama on Monday lifted the Bush administration’s strict limits on human embryonic stem cell research. [Read More-1, Read More-2]

"I believe that the restrictions that President Bush has placed on funding of human embryonic stem cell research have handcuffed our scientists and hindered our ability to compete with other nations," Obama wrote in response to a questionnaire from a consortium of scientific groups. 

"As president, I will lift the current administration"s ban on federal funding of research on embryonic stem cell lines created after Aug. 9, 2001, through executive order, and I will ensure that all research on stem cells is conducted ethically and with rigorous oversight," he said. [Read More]

The Obama administration has begun approving new lines of human embryonic stem cells that are eligible for federally funded experiments, opening the way for millions of taxpayer dollars to be used to conduct research that was put off-limits by President George W. Bush. [Read More]

WTF-56

Provided new federal funding for science and research labs.

President Barack Obama pledged Monday to spend more money on scientific research and improve science education.

In a speech to the National Academy of Sciences, Mr. Obama said federal funding in the physical sciences as a portion of GDP has fallen by nearly half in the past 25 years. Students in Singapore, Japan, England, the Netherlands, Hong Kong and South Korea are outperforming their American peers, he added.

"Other countries are now beginning to pull ahead in the pursuit of this generation's great discoveries," Mr. Obama said. [Read More]

Nuclear energy and energy research are among the big winners in the proposed $28.4 billion Energy Department fiscal 2011 budget the White House unveiled in February, 2010.

In keeping with his theme that the United States is at risk of falling behind the rest of the world in clean energy, Obama said those programs will produce the "jobs of the future" in the United States.

"We also continue to lay a new foundation for lasting growth, which is essential, as well," Obama said today at the White House. "Just as it would be a terrible mistake to borrow against our children's future to pay our way today, it would be equally wrong to neglect their future by failing to invest in areas that will determine our economic success in this new century." [Read More]

Obama's Budget Gives a Boost to Science - While other federal departments face budget cuts, science agencies get more money [Read More]
 

WTF-57

Appointed an assistant to the president for science and technology policy.

"Will appoint an Assistant to the President for Science and Technology Policy who will report directly to the president, and be deeply involved in establishing research priorities that reflect the nation's needs based on the best available advice from experts around the country." Obama promised during his campaign in 2008.

And continuing with his list of promises kept, President Barack Obama appointed John P. Holdren to three different positions involving science. Holdren is assistant to the president for science and technology; the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President; and co-chair of the President"s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST).  [Read More]

I promise to come back to this topic in another issue, until then, please feel free to read my previous issues by clicking here.

Make sure to read the next issue
Issue No. 020 -Space Exploration & Space Station

WTF Has Obama Done is an ongoing series posted daily or weekly on BLADE 7184 until Election Day, 2012!