Yes, there'll be no climate disaster, "for the Bible tells me so"

SCIENCE RESEARCH FUNDING. Physicist Bob Park (What’s New) has gloomy news about federal science funding: it will be cut between 5 and 10%. So says Alan Leshner of Science magazine, who notes that the case for adequate science funding—it is necessary for the U.S. to keep competitive with other nations—was made by Rising Above the Gathering Storm and Rapidly Approaching Category 5 (U.S. National Academies).

     SCIENCE AND EARMARKS. Bob also notes that Congressional “earmarks,” those sneaky expenditures that are not openly discussed and voted upon, are almost as old as Congress itself and have been “a principal means of funding sewers and other water projects.” Hence, three days after House Republicans voted to ban the practice, one of earmarking’s most vocal critics, John Kyl (R-Az), “slipped a $200 million settlement for Arizona Indian water rights claims into an unrelated bill.”
     That’s right. That’s an earmark.
     There have been earmark scandals concerning scientific research. Bob tells of

a Washington lobbying firm specialized in obtaining large earmarks for federal scientific research grants to specific universities in the decade from 1984 to 1994. The work often failed to measure up to the standards of the funding agencies, and the money was often diverted to other uses, seriously undermining the stature of federal research awards. The [American Physical Society, of which Bob is a member] was the first science organization to expose the earmarking practice and continued to expose … science earmarks.

     THE REPUBLICAN WAVE OF ANTI-SCIENCE. Speaking of wacky Congressional Republicans, Bob zeroes in on Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce since 1997:

     He submitted a letter to his colleagues earlier this week asking for their blessing in his campaign to assume the gavel of Energy when Republicans take control of the chamber.
     Shimkus rejects the possibility of man-made climate disaster. [He asserts that] "The Earth will end only when God declares it’s time to be over. Man will not destroy this Earth. This Earth will not be destroyed by a Flood."
     Shimkus then quoted God's promise to Noah after the flood: "Never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done" (Genesis 8:21-22).
     "I do believe that God’s word is infallible," Shimkus said, "unchanging, perfect."