So In the News...

(Reuters) NASA has cleared Space Exploration Technologies, AKA Space X, to carry cargo to the $100B space station.  The confidence of the private company is reassuring. "This is a test flight and we may not succeed on getting all the way to the space station," Elon Musk said. "I think we've got a pretty good shot, but it's important to acknowledge that a lot can go wrong. This is pretty tricky."  We’ve come a long way from Apollo.

(Reuters) In 2011 a sleepy Air Canada pilot took rapid evasive action to avoid a collision with Venus.  Fourteen passengers and crew were injured by the pushover maneuver.  Oh, I know Venus is bright, and a tired pilot can make mistakes, but that is why they have strobes on the airplanes.  Stars twinkle, planets are bright, and airplanes flash!  People, wear your seat belts, you never know when a planet may leave its orbit.

(Reuters)  Last year almost 1,800 people renounced their US citizenship or handed in their green cards to avoid taxes.  That is more than the combined total of 2007, 2008, and 2009.  The US is one of the only countries to tax its citizens for income earned while working abroad, and apparently the IRS doesn’t make it easy to file.  As Peter Dunn said, in giving up his citizenship, he felt American Citizenship had become more of a liability than a privilege.  So let the exodus begin.

(Associated Press) SECDEF (that’s the acronym for Secretary of Defense) Leon Penetta said he regrets the cost to the taxpayers to finance is weekend trips home.  ($32,000/flight).  So far the SECDEF has found it necessary to get away 27 times for a taxpayer bill of around $860,000.  He has reimbursed the government about $17,000, so he probably only feels about $843,000 bad.

(The Weekly Standard)  Under the category of what goes around comes around, DNC Chief, Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been challenged to release her tax returns by her opponent Karen Harrington.  This is in response to Ms. Schultz call for Presidential candidate Romney to release his.  Seems fair to me, if you are going to make demands of others be sure you’re willing to meet those same demands yourself, but that really isn’t a progressive politician's approach is it?