Visit: Alternatives in English: A Critical Appraisal of Elective Programs by George Hillocks, Jr.

One line goes: As a first step in his "eclectic" approach to evaluation, he prescribes scrutiny of program rationales. Suggesting that programs can be "both elective and eclectic"....

Do we correct a poet because we do not immediately understand the intend of of the sense or the non-sense?

I am constant surprised( not really any more) when people take a holier than thou attitude towards any research that includes military money.
When letters containing smallpox were sent to the US senate building and others it says to any rational person that there are some really nasty people in this world and they have to be dealt with.
Where does the money come from? A military budget my friend.
Deep pockets and theirs are plenty deep.
Now imagine that nasty person decided to send that letter to you or your family instead. You bet your backside that you'd hope someone had a vaccine to bail you out.

Now as to the donkey( or ass) pic, I'll suggest a better one:
An Ostrich with his head stuck into the ground to ignore reality.

More realistically, Congress tends to 'launder' money going to research on infectious diseases through the military in order to avoid criticism by taxpayers for studying diseases endemic in other countries. 'That money isn't being wasted . . . It's protecting our troops!' President George Washington began this tradition when he appointed a 'Surgeon-General' to worry about public health issues such as quarantines. There is a long tradition of medical research being funded through the military budget. President Dwight Eisenhower noticed that there was a growing political subculture that objected to anything military so he started funneling some money through civilian agencies (like the civilian Vanguard rocket program for the International Geophysical Year in 1957-58 that so many people wince about in retrospect.)

Realistically, any publicly funded institution conducting medical research into infectious diseases in the United States will receive a goodly percentage of its support through ostensible military programs. It's just the way that Congress protects itself from criticism.

But that is why I don't leap to the offensive against anybody who is alarmed by putative military connections. If they study the funding of any medical research institution, they are going to discover a history of research grants from the military. Unless it is privately funded there is going to be some sort of military connection. If I claim that medical research in the United States is civilian, they will just think that I am a liar when they discover that Congress is hiding behind the military to avoid accusations of wasting money.

Lawrence

Now the test: Which is smarter, the Asino or the Mulo?

No it's not, because the next who comes in will see the pro/con arguments!

We will flog the mule and donkey with information until they become horses again, we can put in front of the crunching-cart without a bad feeling.

(no brainwashing inferred)