Not good news for the local community, where the main drag is NASA Parkway and many employers are somehow related to Johnson Space Center.

As many as 2,300 people, most of them contractors, could lose their jobs at Johnson Space Center as the shuttle fleet nears retirement in two years, NASA officials predicted Tuesday.

In the first report of its kind to Congress about the expected drawdown in the space agency's work force, the officials said the reductions would come mostly from the ranks of contractors. The number of permanent civil servants would essentially remain flat.

The officials did not predict the timing of the cuts across the space agency but said that they may begin near the end of the current fiscal year, which ends in September. Between 5,800 and 7,300 workers throughout the agency would lose their jobs over the next three years.

The losses at the space agency's Clear Lake complex could amount to as few as 400 jobs through 2011 if work quickly picks up on the Constellation program, the initiative to build a successor to the shuttle for missions to the moon and Mars. That would depend on an increase in congressional funding and support by the next president.

Of course, this number does not include the possibility of retirements offsetting some of the job losses.

This really is a concern around here. Many friends from church, as well as at least one local political blogger, are NASA employees. I've got friends working on the Constellation program, helping to prepare the next generation spacecraft. Moving the Ares program to the Marshall Space Center in Huntsville could mean transfers for some of them, assuming their positions are not eliminated. Will they be back, or will the jobs permanently shift to Alabama?

But there will be AT LEAST a five-year gap in manned space flight following the shuttle's retirement. I agree with Nick Lampson on this one. We need to shorten that gap -- both for economic reasons and for scientific ones.

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Now that I own a digital camera and take a lot of digital photos, I think one of the gadgets IÂ’d like to get my hands on is a digital photo frame. One of the many sites you can purchase them from is digitalframesdirect.com -- Digital Frames Direct, which is the largest digital frame wholesaler in UK. They have quite a selection. Best of all, they have some of the best prices around on digital photo frames, since they strive to beat the competition. And a digital frame certainly is a great gift for friends and family members, since IÂ’m not the only one with a digital camera looking for a great way to display the pictures.

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This raises more questions than it answers.

The news keeps getting worse for two heavily promoted cholesterol drugs, Vytorin and Zetia. These drugs were supposed to offer a valuable alternative to the older cholesterol-lowering agents known as statins, a class that includes Lipitor, Zocor and other drugs that not only reduce cholesterol but also reduce the risk of heart attacks. In clinical trial results released this week, the newer drugs failed to reach their main goal: slowing the growth of artery-clogging plaques — a suggestion that they might not help ward off heart attacks.

* * *

In the clinical trial, 720 European patients with genes that cause abnormally high cholesterol levels were given either Vytorin, a combination pill that contains both Zetia and Zocor, or simply Zocor alone. As expected, the combination pill proved better than the statin alone at reducing the level of bad cholesterol. But to everyoneÂ’s surprise, Vytorin failed to slow the growth of fatty plaques in the arteries, and it may have even allowed greater growth than the statin did.

It seems clear that there is an issue with Zocor. But is Zetia as flawed a drug? I asked one doctor that question yesterday, only to be told that her reading of the study is that the problem is with Zocor itself, because of the lack of a sample with Zetia being given alone. And given that the drug is effective with its primary purpose, Zetia remains a good drug for those who have difficulties with the statin drugs.

I suspect we will hear more in the not terribly distant future about other studies. But one would have hoped that this would have been vetted during the approval process.

Posted by: Greg at 10:09 PM | Comments (59) | Add Comment
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What is it about a diamond that is so attractive to us as a species. After all, it is just a piece of crystallized carbon, heated and compressed until it produces a shiny rock in one of many different hues. And yet we value them deeply, and have built up a mystique around them that goes back millenia. From the earliest days of human civilization, the diamond has had value in terms of trade and beauty.

Diamonds themselves have often been the prerogative of royalty and the very wealthy. But in the twentieth century, a custom arose of buying diamonds for engagement rings. Prior to that time other stones (or none at all) might have done instead. But it is said that the advertising of a South African diamond firm pushed the American public towards diamonds as a sign of love – and the customary figure has risen from spending one months salary to two or even three on the stone and setting. While such a gift shows financial security (after a fashion), does it really symbolize love? While diamonds are forever due to their durability, I don’t know that they signal an enduring love any more than the amethyst ring that my wife and I picked out while we were dating.

Now if you are shopping for jewelry, there is always the option of using an Online Jewelry store to make your diamond purchases. If you do, be sure to find a business that is reputable, like MyJewelryBox.com. They have a wide selection of diamond jewelry, including Diamond Pendants, for you to purchase for the special person in your life. And as a Wholesale Jewelry company, you can often expect to pay much less than at the store at the mall for your jewelry purchases. So drop by and take a look at what they have available – you won’t be sorry.

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Hillary or Obama?

According to one email making th rounds, Obama.

According to FactCheck.org, Hillary by a hair.

A misleading e-mail has been making the rounds, alleging that Clinton has fewer legislative accomplishments than Obama, and that they are less substantive. We've had questions about it from a number of readers, and blogs have jumped into the fray. So what's the real story on the Senate careers of the Democratic presidential candidates?

We find that the e-mail is false in almost every particular:

It sets up a face-off between apples and, well, broccoli, comparing only the Clinton-sponsored bills that became law with all bills sponsored or cosponsored by Obama, whether they were signed into law or not.

It includes legislation Obama sponsored in the Illinois state Senate, a very different legislative body.

It tells us that Obama has sponsored more legislation than Clinton, when in fact he has sponsored less.

It implies that Obama has passed more bills into law than Clinton, when the opposite is true.

Contrary to the e-mail's assertions, Clinton's and Obama's contributions are not qualitatively different, and quantitatively, Clinton has the edge.

What would be really interesting, though, would be to add John McCain to the mix. The results would be a heavy advantage to the GOP nominee. After all, he has made more substantive contributions legislatively than both of the Pants Suit and the Empty Suit combined.

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Is it the fault of the oil company executives who control the companies? Or the Congress, which is responsible for passing and changing the tax code?

Lawmakers grilled executives from the world's five largest publicly traded oil companies Tuesday, criticizing them for taking tax subsidies and not investing in renewable resources amid record prices for oil and gasoline.

"Americans are hoping that the top executives from the five largest oil companies will tell us that these soaring gas prices are just part of some elaborate hoax," said Ed Markey, D-Mass, chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. "Unfortunately, it's not a joke."

Markey slammed executives from Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA), BP (BP), Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500), and ConocoPhillips (COP, Fortune 500) for their opposition to eliminating about $18 billion in tax breaks over a ten year period amid record profits for the industry.

"Last year these companies alone made over $123 billion in profit," said Markey. "What is the oil industry doing with all this profit? Unfortunately, it goes as much to financial engineering as to renewable engineering."

Some members of Congress want to take away the tax breaks. That is their prerogative. Of course, that may very well increase consumer prices as the oil companies pass the increased tax burden along to the consumers in the form of higher prices – just as they have passed the increased cost of a barrel of crude oil along to the consumer.

After all – these executives have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to manage their money in the most prudent manner. That includes taking tax breaks authorized by the tax code – or pricing products accordingly if their tax burden increases.

There is, however, one option that none of these lawmakers have suggested for lowering gas prices – doing away with the 18.4 cent a gallon federal gas tax. Not that such a thing would ever be considered while the Democrats control congress.

Interestingly enough, CNN sticks this little tidbit, similar to something I posted some time ago, near the end of the article.

The industry has argued they need to be big to compete with large state-owned oil companies from places like Russia and China. They also say that while the raw numbers are high, their profit margin - at around 9 percent - is roughly in line with other industries.

Is it truly the contention of these members of Congress that a 9% profit is extortionate? Will we next see laws setting a maximum permitted return on investment -- AKA profit -- for American companies?

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Using the tactics of the Islamists, no less.

Citing threats of violence by animal rights activists, the San Francisco Art Institute said Saturday that it is canceling a controversial exhibition that included video clips of animals being bludgeoned to death, as well as a public forum it had scheduled to address the controversy.

"We've gotten dozens of threatening phone calls that targeted specific staff people with death threats, threats of violence and threats of sexual assaults," said Art Institute President Chris Bratton. "We remain committed to freedom of speech as fundamental to this institution, but we have to take people's safety very seriously."

The exhibit that sparked the controversy was a one-person show by Paris artist Adel Abdessemed called "Don't Trust Me," which opened March 19.

And the threats were pretty specific.

Abdessemed's show, one of about a dozen public exhibitions that the 650-student school hosts each year, had opened fairly quietly. But as word spread among animal rights groups, more than 8,000 people sent e-mails to the institute slamming the show. Institute officials temporarily closed the show Wednesday and scheduled a public forum for Monday.

But then the tone of some of the e-mails turned violent, Bratton said, with threats against individual staff members, such as, "We're going to gather up your children and bludgeon their heads." Officials decided to shutter the exhibition permanently, the first time in the institute's 137-year history that a show was closed for safety reasons. They also canceled the forum.

"Some of the people who said the most threatening things said they would be present at the forum," Bratton said.

Well, friends, there we have it. The violent animal rights folks – putting animal lives above human lives – have been permitted to put their values and ideology above those of every other American. The artistic establishment has made it clear that they will give in – and no doubt other groups will follow their lead.

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Actually, that isn’t quite true – I don’t think she goes far enough.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says President Bush should consider boycotting the opening ceremony of the Olympics Games in Beijing this summer to protest China's human rights record.

"I think boycotting the opening ceremony, which really gives respect to the Chinese government, is something that should be kept on the table," Pelosi told "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts in an interview to air Tuesday morning, according to the ABC News Web site. "I think the president might want to rethink this later, depending on what other heads of state do."

Pelosi said she does not think U.S. athletes should boycott the games themselves.

"I believe a boycott of the Beijing Olympics would unfairly harm our athletes who have worked so hard to prepare for the competition," she said in a statement last week.

I see no good coming in allowing the Chinese a propaganda victory via a presidential visit – especially as we are seeing allies choose not to attend. Indeed, I have stated that the IOC should consider canceling or moving the games due to the ongoing human rights violations in China.

The 1936 Berlin Olympics were a low point in Olympic history, as Hitler used the games to promote his shameful ideology. Is it too much to ask that the same mistake not be made in 2008?

Posted by: Greg at 12:13 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Kay Bailey Hutchison is almost certainly to be a candidate for Governor in 2010.

More reports that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is running for governor. It's not like the senior senator has tried to tamp down speculation or anything. On an airplane with John McCain this month traveling between Houston and Austin, Hutchison came back to chat.

I greeted her with, "Governor, good to see you."

"I like the sound of that," she said, smiling broadly.

There was speculation she would run in 2006 – and I urged against it. I’ve come to regret that position, given the particular lousy performance of Rick Perry as governor over the last 18 months. If he were my available choice, I’d be inclined to vote for Kinky Friedman, just for the entertainment value – after all, the singer/author/funnyman actually intends to make a fool out of himself much of the time – Perry does so unintentionally.

Which leads us to other possible candidates. Other than the possibility of Perry himself running, we could see Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst seek the office after biding his time for the last decade. I canÂ’t see him sparking much more enthusiasm than Perry, though, among the GOP base, most of whom at least like Hutchison even when we disagree with her. On the other hand, there are frequent rumors about a hard-right bid from State Senator (and radio personality) Dan Patrick, given his available media footprint that covers close to half of the stateÂ’s population.

And if Hutchison runs and resigns from the Senate (not a requirement, but a strong possibility), who would replace her?

Mentioned as the top front-runners are Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (who also has indicated that he plans to run for governor), former Secretary of State Roger Williams, Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams and, if he so chooses, Perry himself.

Now Perry states he isn’t interested in a national position – but if his option is having his head handed to him by Hutchison in the primary, I could see naming himself as a real possibility. I sort of like the Michael Williams possibility myself.

Am I ready to slap a KBH bumper sticker on my car? Not yet – but at this point, I don’t see anyone on the gubernatorial horizon who I believe is better situated to win on 2010.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Outside the Beltway, Maggie's Notebook, Adam's Blog, Right Truth, Shadowscope, Stuck On Stupid, Conservative Cat, Adeline and Hazel, D equals S, third world county, Allie is Wired, DragonLady's World, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, , Tilting At Windmill Farms, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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