Yesterday, a coin initiated the Super Bowl XLIV. Today it blasted into outer space. NASA still has panache.
Photo by nasaimages.org
Space Shuttle Blasts off on Last Night Flight
Shuttle Endeavour blasts off on last planned night launch, taking new room to space station
By MARCIA DUNN
The Associated Press
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.
[Endeavour and six astronauts rocketed into orbit Monday on what’s likely the last nighttime launch for the shuttle program, hauling a new room and observation deck for the International Space Station….]
You know, I really don’t care what plastic Best Foods/Helmann’s is using, or what the reduced shelf breakage is; I want glass mayonnaise jars back!! Yes I know, glass takes energy to produce, but so does plastic, Every time I pick up a jar, I want to fling it down the aisle. Who really knows what’s in this flavor of the month container? So, in light of that little tantrum, I found that Mother Jones has put out an interesting article on the corrolation between Bisphenal ingestion in mothers and increased asthma in children.
Moms Get Plastic, Kids Get Asthma?
— By Julia Whitty| Wed Feb. 3, 2010 6:18 PM PST
[More bad news on the health effects of bisphenol A (BPA), that organic compound used as a building block in many plastics—including in plastic water bottles, food packaging, sunglasses, and CDs….]
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/01/moms-get-plastic-kids-get-asthma
On February 4th, after waiting for more than nine months, and without the vote of yet to be sworn Scott Brown, M Patricia Smith, was finally confirmed as the Solicitor for The Labor Department. The vote was 60-32, with 3 not voting. Republicans have opposed Smith over the HELP (A wage watch effort.) program in New York. One wonders however, after the final vote tally, what the game was really about. Would a filibuster have lasted any longer? If the 60 votes were there, why not get it over with?
OSHA inspectors were on site in Middletown Conn. this weekend, in the aftermath of the construction site explosion where at least 5 workers were killed and 12 were injured. The Solicitor is arriving at a momentous time.
Also, on February 4th, Martha Johnson was finally confirmed as Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA). The Senate gave her the green light in a vote of 96-0, with 4 not voting.
Johnson waited ten months because of a concern Senator Kit Bond had about whether the GSA should close a federally owned building and relocate to leased space. Ridiculous! Why should this have happened? What was the Senate game?
Finally, the Iowa Independent reports, that in a flurry of inanity and bad timing, (Didn’t the POTUS just tell the world that “don’t-ask-don’t-tell” had to go?) two State of Iowa Republican legislators are attempting to get certain forms of bullying excluded from their anti-bullying bill passed in 2007. Apparently these two don’t think the words sexual orientation or gender identity ought to be in there. Jason Schultz and Matt Windschitl, shame on you!!! These Repugs have got to go!
GOP lawmakers want to exclude gay students from anti-bullying bill
By JASON HANCOCK 2/8/10 1:15 PM
[A pair of Republican state legislators has introduced a bill that would remove protections for gay, lesbian and transgender students from an anti-bullying law passed in 2007.
State Reps. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, and Matt Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley, sponsored the legislation to remove sexual orientation and gender identity as definitions used for purposes of protecting students in public and nonpublic schools from harassment and bullying…]
Grab and Keel 