My first diary -- whither science?

There's been alot of talk lately about the U.S. losing ground in scientific research to Asia.  Right now, the hot-button issues being tossed around are, of course, the intelligent design flap, the stem-cell flap, and so on.  Our awful education system doesn't help, either, and the Bush's increasing de-emphasis on research funding is starting to put real pressure on the research community.

But this isn't a diary that talks about those things.  My reasoning for the decline of science in the U.S. is alot more pragmatic and personal, from someone that's been in the trenches since 1993.  My assertion is that a large part of what's killing science is lack of good employment in the field.