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Issa Targets The Scourge Of Silly-Sounding Research

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa wants to zero-out federal funding for scientific research that sounds silly to people who watch Fox News. Issa's proposals:

AMENDMENT NO. 417: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
Sec. __. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used by the National Institutes of Health to study the impact of integral yoga on hot flashes in menopausal women.
AMENDMENT NO. 418: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
Sec. __. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used by the National Institutes of Health to examine the potential impact of a soda tax on population health.
AMENDMENT NO. 419: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
Sec. __. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used by the National Institutes of Health to research the use of marijuana in conjunction with opioid medications, such as morphine.
AMENDMENT NO. 420: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
Sec. __. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used by the Department of Health and Human Services to study condom use skills in adult males.
AMENDMENT NO. 421: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
Sec. __. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used by the Department of Health and Human Services to study the concurrent and separate use of malt liquor and marijuana among young adults.
AMENDMENT NO. 422: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
Sec. __. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used by the National Science Foundation to study whether video games improve mental health for the elderly.

Really, doesn't this kind of thing, rather than ideological bias or a hostile workplace, explain why there are so few Republicans in academia? You have a party that views scientific research as a boob-bait target. Anti-intellectualism has some clear political upside, but part of the downside is that you're going to lose the intellectual/academic vote badly.