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To: RealMuLan who wrote (56886)	9/22/2006 2:55:35 PM
From: RealMuLan	Respond to of 116555

NASA has allowed a 'sky is falling' mantra to replace its 'sky's the limit' tradition By Eric Peters sltrib.com (EDITORS: The writer is addressing the question, "Can the U.S. revive its space program by abolishing NASA and turning over its functions to the private sector?") WASHINGTON - As with so many federal agencies, NASA started out with a noble mission and over time evolved into a sluggish bureaucracy. And now, sadly, it's spending too much of its time and budget indulging in politics. As a result, it's constantly being outdone by smaller and innovative private space ventures in places like Brazil, Russia, China, and, yes, even the United States. The American private sector already has shown it can do a better and more cost-effective job of delivering passengers, cargo, satellites and science labs into space. In fact, NASA has awarded numerous contracts to private space contractors like SpaceX and Space Exploration Technologies, but still insists on clinging to its monopoly command position. To regain America's competitive space edge, the United States should fold NASA and - using far less costly tax incentives - aid and allow private entrepreneurs to fill the void. NASA and America's giant defense contractors - savvy D.C. players like Dick Cheney's old firm Halliburton, Boeing and Northrop Grumman - strenuously object to anything that would end the cozy bidding arrangements that guarantees billions of dollars of little-scrutinized cost overruns each year. Every time a public-spirited citizen suggests there might me a better way, their lobbying brigades fan out across Capitol Hill button-holing lawmakers and promising millions of dollars in campaign contributions. While NASA's successes in space have shriveled in recent years, it has spent inordinate amounts of time and money promoting off-mission causes. Advertisement This year marks the 20th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger explosion and the third anniversary of the break-up of the space shuttle Columbia over Texas. Yet NASA insists on putting more lives at risk by continuing to launch these 31-year-old jalopies into space while it spends billions more to develop a safe new vehicle. The space shuttle's successor, branded the Crew Exploration Vehicle, has been dubbed Apollo on steroids by excited NASA managers, which ought to give taxpayers pause. It won't be ready for flight until at least 2010. It appears that NASA's forward thrust, once again, is back to the future. Congress should end this travesty and turn over space to the private sector where success is the key ingredient because there are shareholders who care about the bottom line. The talented NASA engineers and scientists who have served honorably and brought glory to America for the past few decades undoubtedly can find better-paying jobs and more intellectual rewards as well in the private sector. Private space enterprises can fly us to the moon and eventually lodge us in luxury hotels on Mars. NASA - continuing to suffer from tired blood and myopic vision - will only disappoint us and waste our tax dollars. --- Eric Peters is an automotive columnist for The Army Times and The Navy Times.

To: RealMuLan who wrote (56886)	9/22/2006 4:01:23 PM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116555

how to build a moonbeam mysite.verizon.net BUILDING "MOONBEAM", A 100 MPG CYCLE-CAR P.S. This manual intentionally doesn’t have any copywrite. Please pass it on freely. Isn’t it sad that such a simple vehicle, which could be mass produced for $5000 or so, which awaits no fancy fuel cells nor high-tech breakthroughs, isn’t available to the public? My thanks to you for helping to bring an obvious concept to light! As you watch gas prices move on to $4 and $5 a gallon, your long labors will seem worthwhile, and you’ll be glad to be rolling light. PPS. I am often struck at how impossible it must be to follow these directions. You'll just have to hop on a bus and see the real thing here in Maine... Great picture of the moonbeam here businessweek.com

To: RealMuLan who wrote (56886)	9/22/2006 4:05:11 PM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Cablevision Systems awarded stock options to an executive after his death in 1999, then backdated them to give the illusion they were granted when he was alive, according to Bloomberg. * Former Vice Chairman Marc Lustgarten was awarded the options after he died, the Wall Street Journal reported late yesterday. * Lustgarten had worked for the company since 1975 and had been a vice chairman since 1991. * It is unclear whether the estate of Mr. Lustgarten exercised the options, the Journal said. * Cablevision is one of about 100 companies currently under federal investigation for allegedly backdating or manipulating options grants. * Stock options give the recipient the right to purchase shares at a fixed exercise price, typically the market price on the day the options were granted. * Backdating the options grant to a date when prices were lower increases the potential value of the options. * Harvey Pitt, former chairman of the SEC, called the grant to the deceased executive "really bizarre" and "absolutely crazy," the Journal said.