  Ok, so I was a little hasty in assigning blame to the president's administration alone. Turns out they had a little help from the urlLink plethora of committees and subcommittees that oversee the goings on of the EPA. Look who just happens to be on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee! George Voinovich of *gasp* Ohio! Guess where this new Homeland Security Research Center is! Cincinnati! Furthermore, the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment is attended by two of Mr. Voinovich's statemates, Steven LaTourette and Robert Ney. I can only wonder what these boys traded support for to get this... The EPA urlLink press release on the opening of the center says the site was chosen because of the existing EPA urlLink Office of Research and Development in Cincinnati. Am I the only one who is disgusted that the work of the EPA Office of Research and Development is being farmed out and diluted to the giant waste pool of government resources known as Homeland Security?
This is called an Earmark, that is when congress includes in an agency's budget some special tasks that either pump money into a district, accomplish a congressional task not quite aligned with the agency's mission, or both. In the old days, it was called pork. Here in Houston, many were pleased and a few were displeased that the CAIB (Columbia Accident Investigation Board) urlLink named earmarks as a contributing factor among problems that contributed to the situation of NASA at T=0.
urlLink NASA Watch keeps a urlLink running tally of such earmarks and said the following about this year's budget: "The Committee has recommended a total program level of $15,540,300,000 in fiscal year 2004, which is an increase of $71,000,000 from the budget request and an increase of $201,393,000 when compared to the fiscal year 2003 enacted appropriation. " What are the chances that the government will learn from this and correct their destructive habits? 
