Brendan Calling

Call #8: Actually I Don’t Know Why We Need $2 Million to Promote Astronomy in Hawaii Either. But Neither Does Maureen Dowd,

I have no idea why we need to spend $2 milion dollars to promote astronomy in Hawaii either, but I’ve emailed the beneficiary, the Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii, and left a message with Senator Dan Inouye’s office to find out. My bet is that I’ve done more research ont he topic than Maureen Dowd has, and as soon as I hear from either source i will post their response.

My bet is that there’s some kind of justification. Just a gut feeling. Maureen’s been wrong about everything else so far, so item 8 shouldn’t be any different.

2 Responses to “Call #8: Actually I Don’t Know Why We Need $2 Million to Promote Astronomy in Hawaii Either. But Neither Does Maureen Dowd,”

1. awarnock Says:
   March 4th, 2009 at 6:39 pm

   I don’t know the specifics of what this particular request is for, but Hawaii is one of the major research centers for astronomy in the world, with superb seeing conditions and a number of large telescopes used by professional astronomers. Those instruments not only serve as research tools for scientists but also require significant support staff (hint: jobs) to handle a variety of tasks on the mountain from facility upkeep and operations (roads & buildings) to instrument building and observer support.

   Seems to me that including support for existing institutions that provide jobs is a good idea, and providing funds to expand and/or enhance those facilities would provide even more jobs while supporting continued state-of-the-art scientific research at facilities in which we already have a significant investment.

   Then again, I used to be an astronomer, so maybe I’m missing the humor in the pompous blatherings of McCain and Dowd. As the saying goes, “It’s better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you a fool, than to open it and provide confirmation.”

2. Doug Flutie Says:
   March 4th, 2009 at 6:53 pm

   I’m not a rocket scientist, and I’ve never been to Hawaii, but I imagine that the very clear skys over the middle of the Pacific ocean are probably the best place in the United States to put an observatory. And we use astronomical info for National Defense purposes, don’t we?