Daily Archives: May 10, 2012

ATK Announces Complete Liberty System to Provide Commercial Crew Access

Posted: May 10, 2012 at 5:16 am

LOS ANGELES and ARLINGTON, Va., May 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- ATK (ATK) announced today it has developed Liberty into a complete commercial crew transportation system, including the spacecraft, abort system, launch vehicle, and ground and mission operations, designed from inception to meet NASA's human-rating requirements with a potential for the first test flight in 2014 and Liberty crewed flight in 2015.

The company also announced Lockheed Martin (LMT) will provide support to the ATK and Astrium Liberty team as a major subcontractor on the project.

"Our goal in providing Liberty is to build the safest and most robust system that provides the shortest time to operation using tested and proven human-rated components," said Kent Rominger, vice president and program manager for Liberty. "Liberty will give the U.S. a new launch capability with a robust business case and a schedule that we expect will have us flying crews in just three years, ending our dependence on Russia."

"Liberty will enable a successful commercial space program and result in a globally competitive capability that America doesn't have today," said Rominger. "This program is changing the way we do business and can also result in a positive change to government programs."

Liberty's test flights are expected to begin in 2014, with a crewed mission anticipated in late 2015. The current schedule will support crewed missions for NASA and other potential customers by 2016, with a price-per-seat that is projected to be lower than the cost on the Russian Soyuz rocket.

Liberty's approach is to bring together flight-proven elements designed from inception to meet NASA's human-rating requirement, reducing development time and costs, and providing known, reliable and safe systems. The simple configuration of a solid first stage and liquid second stage lowers the likelihood of failure and enables a flight path with total abort coverage, maximizing survival for the crew in the unlikely event of an anomaly requiring an abort. In addition, the Liberty spacecraft leverages design work performed at NASA Langley Research Center on the composite crew module and launch abort system, for which ATK was a contractor.

"Because Liberty provides a safe and reliable vehicle for the crew, as well as a sustainable business for years to come, it can be a successful commercial business," said Rominger. "Liberty's business case benefits from mature, flight-proven elements that dramatically lower our up-front development costs."

Liberty has a robust and sustainable business case that will create and sustain thousands of jobs across the United States including Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. Its low remaining development cost accelerates the time to market, filling NASA's requirements, and provides a quicker return on investment to outside entities. Liberty's performance of 44,500 pounds to low-earth orbit enables the system to launch both crew and cargo and also serve non-crewed markets including ISS cargo up and down mass, commercial space station servicing, U.S. government satellite launch, and future endeavors.

"We believe that no other offering can match Liberty's safety, spacious spacecraft, customer service and performance," said Rominger. "These traits enable the Liberty business to provide the best commercial space flight experience."

The Liberty spacecraft includes a composite crew module, which ATK built at its Iuka, Miss., facility as part of a NASA risk-reduction program at Langley between 2007 and 2010. As prime contractor, ATK is responsible for the composite crew module, Max Launch Abort System (MLAS), first stage, system integration and ground and mission operations, while Astrium provides the second stage powered by the Vulcain 2 engine and Lockheed Martin provides subsystems and other support.

See the article here:
ATK Announces Complete Liberty System to Provide Commercial Crew Access

Posted in Liberty | Comments Off on ATK Announces Complete Liberty System to Provide Commercial Crew Access

One Liberty Properties, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2012 Results

Posted: at 5:16 am

GREAT NECK, NY--(Marketwire -05/09/12)- One Liberty Properties, Inc. (OLP), an owner of a geographically diversified portfolio of retail, industrial, office and other properties primarily under long term leases in the United States, today announced operating results for the quarter ended March 31, 2012.

Patrick J. Callan, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of One Liberty, stated, "Our first quarter results represent year-over-year growth in rental income primarily driven by our success in capitalizing on investment opportunities in the past year. In the first quarter, we acquired four properties, continuing the pace of activity we achieved in 2011. Occupancy at the end of the quarter was at 97.6%. We continue to see a steady flow of compelling opportunities, using our network of relationships to further strengthen and grow our portfolio in the coming quarters."

Operating Results:

Revenues for the first quarter of 2012 increased 4.9% to $11.64 million compared to $11.1 million for the first quarter of 2011. The net increase is primarily attributable to the ten properties acquired beginning March 2011.

Total operating expenses for the first quarter of 2012 increased 12.3% to $5.21 million from $4.64 million for the first quarter in the prior year. Approximately $184,000 of the increase is attributable to increased depreciation resulting from property acquisitions and approximately $290,000 is attributable to increased general and administrative expenses, including the quarterly impact of a $125,000 quarterly increase (effective as of January 1, 2011) in the amount payable pursuant to the compensation and services agreement which increase was not reflected in the first quarter of 2011.

Net income attributable to One Liberty in the first quarter of 2012 was $3.22 million or $0.21 per diluted share compared to $2.73 million or $0.21 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2011.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2012, the Company reported Funds from Operations ("FFO") of $5.57 million, a 7.5% increase from the $5.18 million reported in the first quarter of 2011. FFO was $0.38 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2012 compared to $0.39 per diluted share in the corresponding period of the prior year. A reconciliation of GAAP amounts to non-GAAP amounts is presented with the financial information included later in this release.

The per share net income and FFO results for the three months ended March 31, 2012 take into account the issuance of 2.7 million shares in a public offering completed by the Company in February 2011, while the results for the corresponding period in the prior year only takes such shares into account for a portion of the first quarter of 2011.

Acquisitions:

During the first quarter of 2012, the Company acquired four properties for an aggregate of $9.8 million. The 2012 annual base rent of these properties is approximately $ 769,000.

Excerpt from:
One Liberty Properties, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2012 Results

Posted in Liberty | Comments Off on One Liberty Properties, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2012 Results

Ladies and germs, tattoo May 29 on the small of your back (or, just try not to forget this date), because Regina …

Posted: at 5:16 am

Ladies and germs, tattoo May 29 on the small of your back (or, just try not to forget this date), because Regina Spektor is returning with her sixth studio album What We Saw From the Cheap Seats. The first taste is a newly recorded version of Spektor and Only Sons Them Brothers, which actually wont appear on the record, but youll be able to find on the deluxe edition that comes out on the same day.

Call Them Brothers sees Spektors elegant voice wrap around subtle violins, while degraded footage of Regina and Only Sons Jack Dishel hanging out in the winter. Which brings me to my major revelation while watching this: the video looks really oldtoo old. Thats confusing to me, because I thought Regina was only around 30 and not, like 100? Its a bit disconcerting, to say the least. Is Spektor in fact a sorceress or part of the Illuminati? Its all speculation, and after hours of research I havent been able to unravel this conspiracy at all, so Ill just go back to looking at dog videos now.

Related:

Excerpt from:
Ladies and germs, tattoo May 29 on the small of your back (or, just try not to forget this date), because Regina ...

Posted in Illuminati | Comments Off on Ladies and germs, tattoo May 29 on the small of your back (or, just try not to forget this date), because Regina …

New York Policeman Asks to Add Free-Speech Claim to Suit

Posted: at 5:14 am

By Bob Van Voris - Wed May 09 19:22:34 GMT 2012

A New York police officer who claims he was locked in a psychiatric ward after documenting corruption in the department told a judge he wants to amend his $50 million lawsuit against the city to add a claim that his free speech rights were violated.

A lawyer for Adrian Schoolcraft asked U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet today for permission to change his clients complaint to include a claim the city violated his right to go public with reports that officers were told to falsify crime and arrest statistics.

He was speaking out to the public about a matter of public concern, Joshua Fitch, the lawyer, said in a hearing today in Manhattan federal court.

Schoolcraft, who sued the city in August 2010, said police officials illegally tried to intimidate him and retaliate after he revealed an alleged policy requiring officers to boost arrests, falsify reports and suborn perjury to manipulate crime statistics.

Fitch said in an interview outside court that the city violated Schoolcrafts free-speech rights by trying to prevent him from reporting the misconduct internally and blocking him from talking to the press.

William Fraenkel, a lawyer for the city, told Sweet that reporting misconduct is part of a police officers job, and therefore isnt covered by the First Amendment.

Sweet didnt say when he will rule on Schoolcrafts request.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.

The case is Schoolcraft v. The City of New York, 10-06005, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Follow this link:
New York Policeman Asks to Add Free-Speech Claim to Suit

Posted in Free Speech | Comments Off on New York Policeman Asks to Add Free-Speech Claim to Suit

Ambrose: Standing up for free speech

Posted: at 5:14 am

Leftists are killing free speech by calling disagreements hate speech and finding ways to intimidate even those who facilitate debate. But one victim recently fought back, showing us some Americans will stand up for a principle giving truth a chance to emerge. Mark Stevens, I think, is someone to emulate.

Stevens is a smart, tough guy from Queens. His father died when he was 17, leaving the family $84, an amount challenging the youth's initiative. All Stevens wanted was a chance. This country provided him with plenty, and today he is head of a hugely successful marketing firm, MSCO Inc. It advertises all over the place, including on the Rush Limbaugh radio show in New York.

It's because of that sponsorship that Stevens encountered the anti-speech "terrorists," a word he used in an interview with me in Colorado Springs. He was there to speak at a gathering of conservative think tanks about events after Limbaugh employed a nasty name to describe a woman involved in a public issue he had been discussing.

It was an inexcusable slur, and Stevens hardly approved, he but did not expect what would then come his way.

It was indeed an attack of crazies, people threatening Stevens with "surveillance," promising busloads of visits to his residence if he did not drop his advertising, telling even the female employees who answered the phone that they were "women haters."

Stevens pushed back, recognizing from the similarities that this was an organized hit. He went on the Limbaugh show and Fox News shows to denounce these thugs, increased his advertising and found great support in thousands of emails, faithful clients and even people volunteering to protect him.

I guess those trying to scare Stevens into hiding expected a mouse. They got a lion, but in cases of this kind, there are plenty of mice out there, such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Kraft Foods, McDonald's and Wendy's.

Those are some of the companies that abandoned their membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council after extreme leftist groups emitted screeches about its support of such measures as stand-your-ground laws that permit self-defense when someone is trying to kill you.

What the council mostly likes as it effectively lobbies state legislatures is free enterprise, economic growth and jobs, but the left wants government control and portrays the organization in vicious terms.

Meanwhile, more tyranny loyalists have been on the march in the case of Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corp. and its Fox News in America.

See the original post:
Ambrose: Standing up for free speech

Posted in Free Speech | Comments Off on Ambrose: Standing up for free speech