Monthly Archives: June 2010

Barbara Boxer vows support for UCR medical school amid funding concerns with … – Press-Enterprise

Posted on by

89.3 KPCC
Barbara Boxer vows support for UCR medical school amid funding concerns with ...
Press-Enterprise
Barbara Boxer on Friday appeared at UC Riverside to renew support for its medical school, which is supposed to open in 2012. Boxer said a medical school ...
Sen. Boxer seeks $1M for UC Riverside's new medical school89.3 KPCC
Senator Barbara Boxer Has Requested $1 Million in New Funds for UCR's School ...UC Riverside

all 3 news articles »

Huntsville Constellation Layoff Update

Posted on by

Aderholt Pledges Constellation Fight, WAAY 31

"WAAY 31 talked with one of Constellation's strongest supporters in Washington - Congressman Robert Aderholt of Haleyville on Friday. "I think it was a little bit premature" the Republican told us. "considering the fact that Congress has still got to pass the appropriations bill, the money has still got to be appropriated to NASA, and it was just disappointing that they would go ahead and move forward on this without Congressional approval."

Boeing says 100 will lose jobs here due to Constellation cuts, Huntsville Times

"Boeing will issue termination notices July 2 to 100 Constellation rocket program employees here, a spokesman said today. "That's the first increment," spokesman Ed Memi said. Additional cuts could be ahead, he said."

Constellation's cancellation could affect thousands of jobs, WAFF

"ATK spokeswoman Trina Patterson said the company has 90 employees in Huntsville, and 2,000 overall who work on the Ares project. "We have received no direction from NASA, so we cannot comment on how we will proceed," commented Patterson."

Stop the Dirty Oil Tax Refunds

Posted on by

You read that correctly. Exxon, the most profitable company in the history of the world, paid no federal taxes at all  last year. Instead, they got a $156,000,000 tax refund from the IRS.   Regular citizens who pay taxes sent Exxon money to pollute the world with their dirty fossil fuel energy. In addition, Sanders reported today in a radio show that Exxon is spending millions on lobbying fees so that they can retain the rights to drill offshore and so is BP. In 2009, he said, BP spent $19 million dollars just on lobbying. (Who is getting that money?)

We are effectively “bailing out” Exxon through our taxes that go to the IRS, a company that doesn’t even remotely need bailing out. We need to stop handing over our money to multi-billion-dollar polluters like Exxon and BP.  We need to get off fossil fuels completely.

Bernie Sanders is a liberal Senator who is on a radio show every Friday. (The Thom Hartmann show). He is one of the few Senators who realizes that we need to move “very aggressively” away from fossil fuels and he said today that we have adequate technology right now to do that. He has legislation currently before the Senate that calls for 10 million new solar panel-covered rooftops in America, new solar thermal plants (that could provide 30% of the electricity to homes in the Southwest, according to Sanders) and other renewable energies. The following is from senate.sanders.gov, the website of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Repeal Big Oil Tax Breaks

BP posted $5.6 billion in first-quarter profits. Exxon Mob il, the world rsquo; ;s most profitable corporation, paid no federal income taxes for 2009 and – guess what? – received a $156 million IRS refund. Enough is enough! Oil industry tax breaks that Bernie called “obscene” would be repealed by an amendment he filed Wednesday. Outlining the proposal in a floor speech, he said it would begin to transform our energy system away from dirty and dangerous fossil fuels by investing $10 billion in energy efficiency and sustainable energy, and cut the deficit by $25 billion. Another bill Bernie filed in the wake of the BP oil disaster would ban offshore ocean drilling and make cars get far better gas mileage. “Sanders gets it,” Katrina vanden Heuvel wrote for The Nation.

Global Warming

The Senate on Thursday defeated a Republican-led effort to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases. The Senate voted 53 to 47 to reject an attempt to block the E.P.A. from imposing new limits on carbon emissions based on its 2009 finding that the gases threaten human health and the environment. Senator Bernie Sanders framed the debate in terms of science vs. politics. “With all of this evidence who’s arguing against [...]

FDA sends letters to 5 genetic testing companies

Posted on by

It appears that the FDA sent letters to several different direct to consumer genetic testing companies. They are 23andme, Navigenics, DeCode, Illumina, and Knome, which provides whole genome sequencing. The FDA is claiming the tests must undergo approval as a medical device, but did not say anything about removing them from the market. The article also mentions that Pathway Genomics, the company producing the genetics tests that Walgreens considered selling in its stores, also received a letter.

Having recently received my 23andme results, I’m a little concerned by this statement:

Concern about the tests was also raised this week when 23andMe said that because of a laboratory mix-up, up to 96 customers might have received genetic information belonging to someone else.

I certainly hoped that they notified these customers of the potential error…