Denys writes:

> Over the last several years I have come to realize that science is
>  politicized in a huge way.  I lean toward thinking that government money
>  in science has a nasty effect in the long run.  It kills pure research
>  because research scientists have a tendency to want to eat and have
>  families and for this they need money which comes in grants given by
>  people with agendas.

This one paragraph represents such a deep ignorance of the process that it's
hard to know how to respond.

The people who award the grants at organizations such as NIH, NSF, NASA,
DARPA, etc. are other scientists themselves. It is considered part of your duty as
an acknowledged authority on a subject to review papers and to serve on such
committees -- and yet hold everything you read as confidential and not take
advantage of what you read in your own research proposals. Grant reviews, just
as with paper reviews, are generally keep anonymous.

Although the vast majority of the money for non-pharmaceutical, non-medical
research in the US comes from public funds (meaning the taxpayer), reviewers
for government-funded grants exist almost exclusively outside of the government
itself, although some clearly work at at government laboratories. The granting
agencies do not determine specifically who will or will not receive money.
That's done competively, based on the reviewers' assigned scores. The highest
ranking proposals are the first to be funded and the process continues from
there, working its way downward, until the allocated monies have been disbursed.
The granting agencies do often however emphasize certain broad research
initiatives and assign money to those initiatives based on what they believe to be
either national priorities or opportunities for significant success in the near
to medium term. See e.g.:

     http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/publicat/nsf04009/cross/priority.htm

But simply because these priority areas exist doesn't mean that you can't
write proposals for any area of research that you find both fascinating and
justifiable.

Wirt Atmar

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