A Research P.S.

Last week, I shared with you two pretty ridiculous studies that your tax dollars are funding. I want you to understand that this is a trend, not a one-time occurrence. You see, I am a bit odd. When the world is screaming at each other about whether or not the federal government should fund stem-cell research, when people are yelling about the moral issues involved, I'm sitting here with one eyebrow raised wondering, "Wait? Why is the government funding research? Isn't that something that should be privately funded? Does the constitution say that one of the functions of the government is to make value judgments about what should and should not be studied and then funnel the people's money (allocated for GOVERNING) into it? Please show me where it says that?"

You see private companies are at a disadvantage. They can't just vote to take money from people. When they get money from investors, they are expected to produce something with their funds. The government, on the other hand, has a free hand to fund studies such as this one:

The National Institutes of Health is funding a study to investigate the personal and cultural pressures on female and transgender prostitutes in Thailand.

I can't help but wonder why no private company wanted to fund that one. Research is the business of private companies and charities. The government has no accountability, and thus cannot be expected to make good choices about what to research. You're welcome to disagree; I suspect the Thai prostitutes do.