Quick Hits - February 2, 2012

It's Groundhog Day - in Pennsylvania, Phil saw his shadow so 6 more weeks of winter.  However, in Canada, their resident groundhogs failed to see their shadows, so it's an early end to winter in the Great White North...

In a new version of President's Day, Barack Obama will step outside of the White House and if he sees his shadow there will be one more year of trillion dollar deficits...

The breaking news this morning is that Donald Trump, at his 12:30pm Pacific time press conference, will be announcing his endorsement of Mitt Romney for President.   When the buzz started about an endorsement from The Donald, the first thought by many was that one ego would be endorsing the other ego - Newt Gingrich for the GOP nomination.

The endorsement of Romney would come after serious lobbying from some supporters of the frontrunner, according to several sources.
It would also make more sense, since Trump typically tends to like to go with a winner.

What this means is open to speculation.  Trump renounced being a member of the Republican Party last fall - switching to being an Independent while stoking up buzz of a potential third party run for President.  At the least, I would suspect that this will primarily make Newt just a little angrier which means that we can expect him to insert a foot in his mouth just as Mitt Romney did yesterday with his terribly phrased and framed answer to a question from CNN's Soledad O'Brien.

In the Nevada caucus being held on Saturday, polls are showing that Romney has a 20 point lead over Newt Gingrich.

In yesterday's QH, one of the topics touched on was the President's fundraising - and a link / commentary that the President was having some challenges with raising funds to use to buy votes.  Bill Whittle in this video, brings our focus to the Real Vote Buying Scandal that exists....

Staying within the subject of using money to buy votes, California's lobbyists spent a record $285 million dollars lobbying and influencing State elected officials and government workers.  The two largest contributors of lobbyist funds to Sacramento, the California Teachers Union and the California State Council of Service Employees - representing the SEIU public sector union members.  These groups accounted for nearly $12 million.

Yesterday, Indiana became the first 'rust-belt' state to enact a right to work labor law prohibiting labor contracts that require workers to pay union registration fees.  Governor Mitch Daniels signed the bill Wednesday afternoon - just hours after the State Senate approved the measure by a 28-22 vote.

"Seven years of evidence and experience ultimately demonstrated that Indiana did need a right-to-work law to capture jobs for which, despite our highly rated business climate, we are not currently being considered," Daniels said in a statement.

Today, only about 7% of the total private sector workforce is unionized.  Unions are seeing dropping membership in the public sector.  Dropping membership also means lower revenues to the unions from the dues of the membership. By enacting 'right to work' and not requiring union membership, unions are going to see substantially reduced revenues - and will be held more accountable by their membership.  The unions opposing this bill prefer to direct their focus on the claims that this legislation will lead to lower wages and poorer quality jobs for workers.

Advocates of right to work say that not only are unions open to be held accountable by their membership - to offer real value worth the price of the dues, but by not mandating union membership, economic and job growth is promoted.

The Heritage Foundation notes that more states are looking into right to work laws...

The union movement strongly opposes right-to-work laws. It has self-interested motives in doing so: Union membership fell 15 percent after Idaho and Oklahoma passed right-to-work laws.
Most of the union-represented workers who choose not to pay dues when given the option are those who do not benefit from union contracts. Disproportionate numbers of highly educated workers, for example, choose not to pay dues—the very workers held back by union seniority systems. Without the threat of losing their jobs, the union movement will not persuade these workers to pay dues.

One of the challenges that unions inject in the workplace are their efforts to protect employees by making it incredibly difficult for government entities to dismiss incompetent or negligent employees who members of a public sector union.  The 'rubber rooms' of the NYC Board of Education or the challenges to dismiss teachers from the LA Unified School District are well known - even in the case of criminal offenses being committed.  The Sacramento Bee takes a look at the question, 'How hard is it to fire a state worker?'

Here's a simplified explanation of how the state's disciplinary system works:

1. The employee receives a written Notice of Adverse Action, up to and including termination, at least five business days before it takes effect.

2. The employee can ask for a meeting with the employer to resolve the matter before discipline takes effect.

3. If there's no resolution, the employee can appeal to the State Personnel Board within 30 days of the adverse action's effective date.

4. The two sides meet with an SPB administrative law judge, usually within 90 days of the filing date of the appeal. They can discuss the case and the appropriate level of discipline. Wiles and Caltrans settled at this stage. Most cases do.

5. If there's no settlement, a public hearing is scheduled before an SPB judge who hears testimony, takes evidence and then writes a proposed decision that goes to the five-member board.

6. The board agrees with judges' proposed decision most of the time, but they can reject it, modify it or hear the case themselves. The board normally issues a decision within 90 days after the hearing.

7. Either side can ask for the board to reconsider its final decision.

8. Once the civil service process is exhausted, the board's decision can be appealed to civil court.

In the example used by the SacBee, the department trying to dismiss the employee decided that it was easier and less expensive to let the employee retire than to spend $100K plus to go through this process to make the termination with cause stick. 

While it is possible that right to work will result in abuses and unjustified terminations, there still is recourse for the employee - and a battery of anti-discrimination laws on the books to protect the employees.  One has to wonder, with all the laws on the books to protect workers - is the only interest to the union what's best for them and to hell with the taxpayer / consumer / business owner?

One public sector employee who should be terminated with cause is the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder.  The AG is testifying before a House committee this morning on Operation Fast and Furious - the DoJ / ATF gun running operation that sent over 2,000 weapons from the US to Mexican Drug Cartels.

Congress has been investigating this program for nearly a year - and the Department of Justice under Holder has been active in obfuscating, stonewalling, and misleading Congress on the ownership of the program that directly contributed to hundreds of dead, including a US Border Patrol agent murdered by weapons provided by the ATF.  Notes the NY Post...

“Today’s Capitol Hill hearing on the ‘Fast and Furious’ mess promises drama that may well rival the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings or gangland chieftain Frank Costello’s memorable 1951 testimony in front of Sen. Estes Kefauver’s hearings on organized crime. 

. . . By turns whiny, petulant and deceitful, Holder would rather accuse his critics of racism than substantively address the scandal. But with each ‘withdrawn’ letter, Friday-night document dump and sudden resignation, it becomes ever more clear that the man who facilitated the outrageous Marc Rich pardon for President Bill Clinton is incapable of shame.”

The DoJ has actively ignored Congressional subpoenas for information - slowly releasing to Congress only about 10% of the documents that are known to exist on the program.

"There's some things in there being hidden that you don't want us to see," said Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind. "We have every right under the Constitution to check on what you're doing .. so for you to deny us for anything like that is just dead wrong."

Burton said it's "baloney" for Justice Department officials to assert that such documents cannot be released.

Issa told Holder the committee will do what is necessary to obtain the information, "If you do not find a legitimate basis to deny us the material we've asked for."

Holder said earlier during testimony that he would release additional materials "to the extent that I can."

Adding to AG Holder's challenges, the family of Brian Terry, the US Border Patrol agent murdered by drug cartel members using guns from Fast and Furious has filed a $25 million lawsuit against the ATF - the lead agency in Fast and Furious.

The Holder DoJ has been a challenge since his appointment as AG. As opposed to a focus on the law, the Holder DoJ is more focused on politics and the progressive agenda. From open politicization of decisions, to cover-ups and lying to Congress, to filing suit against states trying to enact their own laws to do what the DoJ and Federal Government will not do, the DoJ has been negligent in their responsibilities and duties. Now comes the latest example of DoJ corruption and malfeasance...

A U.S. Justice Department source has told The Daily Caller that at least two DOJ prosecutors accepted cash bribes from allegedly corrupt finance executives who were indicted under court seal within the past 13 months, but never arrested or prosecuted.

The sitting governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, his attorney general and an unspecified number of Virgin Islands legislators also accepted bribes, the source said, adding that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is aware prosecutors and elected officials were bribed and otherwise compromised, but has not held anyone accountable.

A new sticking point has appeared in the efforts to get a final agreement on the bailout that Greece needs in order to avoid a March default...Greece's international debt inspectors have found that the debt-ridden country still needs an extra €15bn on top of a €130bn bailout and a €100bn debt relief from private investors.

This shouldn't be much of a surprise. Greece was already bailed out once, but the root problem wasn't really addressed, so Greece needs another bail out to prevent default and a likely messy exit from the Euro. Where will Greece get the additional funds it needs now? Not from the big daddy of the Eurozone...

Germany's finance minister, has said that his country's part in the stabilisation of Greece is "sufficient". Earlier today Greece's debt inspectors warned that the nation needs an extra €15bn - on top of the €130bn bail-out and €100bn debt write-off - in order to avoid bankruptcy.

It certainly doesn't sound like Germany are keen to put their hands deeper into their pocket...

In Egypt, at least 73 are dead as fans riot after a soccer match...

SecDef Leon Panetta has announced that the US seeks to end its Afghan combat mission in 2013.  This is a major decision that I'll comment more on in a dedicated post.

Big Hollywood notes that the egotistical hypocrite from Hollywood, director James Cameron, has announced that he's leaving the US indefinitely - moving to New Zealand..

Is anyone going to miss him? Director James Cameron is leaving the US indefinitely…moving to New Zealand… I would like to apologize to our Kiwi allies….Cameron is an elitist arrogant putz – we’re sorry he decided to inflict himself on your great country. As for Cameron, good riddance to yet another hypocrite from Hollywood. If only more would follow you…

Buh-Bye James.

On This Day in History

1848 - The Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo is signed ending the Mexican-American War in favor of the United States.  This treaty added 525,000 square miles of territory to the United States - which would become Texas, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming.

1942 - Vidkun Quisling, a Norwegian Nazi collaborator, is established as Prime Minister of a puppet government under the Nazi's.  His name has become synonymous for being a traitor.

1943 - Field Marshall Freidrich von Paulus surrenders the remnants of the German 6th Army trapped within the Stalingrad pocket.  The Soviet victory at Stalingrad was the turning point of the brutal fight between Germany and the Soviet Union.  The 6th Army entered Stalingrad with nearly 300,000 men.  When the 6th Army surrendered, only 90,000 were still alive (35,000 had been evacuated), and of these who entered Soviet captivity, only 5,000 were repatriated to Germany - some a decade after the war ended.

1971 - Idi Amin takes power in Uganda.  He would rule in a brutal and violent dictatorship until 1979.  He received asylum in Saudi Arabia where he would live until his death in 2003.  During his 8 year reign, he ordered the murder of at least 300,000 Ugandans.

Grim Forecast for November 2012 - If You Are President Obama

In today's Quick Hit post, one of the items I mentioned was the release by Gallup of their annual state by state presidential approval numbers - and that the President was only in the majority of approval (over 50%) in just 10 states plus the District of Columbia.

From this information, the Washington Examiner has taken a look at this with the electoral map for November's election.  They worked from the basis that if President Obama only carries the states where he has a net positive approval rating in 2011 (% Approve - % Disapprove = Positive number), he will lose the Presidential election to the Republican nominee 323 electoral votes to 215 electoral votes.

This could be even worse if Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan are in play this fall.  Two of the three (WI and MI) trended Republican in 2010 - and in Wisconsin in particular, the efforts by Governor Scott Walker have successfully addressed the fiscal challenges he inherited.  Illinois is one (along with NY and CA) of the most fiscally troubled states - but while there should be a Republican backlash there, the progressive stronghold of Chicago will likely decide the state - just as how the SF Bay Area and Los Angeles metro determine California.

I think it is not unwise to consider Wisconsin or Michigan in play.  New Jersey could also be in play given the success and approval ratings that Governor Chris Christie is having as he works to repair the fiscal damage.  That's 26 to 40 electoral votes that could move from Obama's column to the Republican nominee. 

Rasmussen also released data today that provides another grim forecast for President Obama and the Democrat Party.  Voters who define themselves as Democrats is now at an all time low of 32.5% of the US electorate.  Those who define themselves as Republicans now represent 35.9% of the electorate.

Of course, the fact that Republicans now outnumber Democrats is something to keep in mind when you look at polls that consistently oversample Democrats by between 8% and 10% - or when the mainstream media starts to talk about the Republican lack of enthusiasm in this year's election.

A Story About Climate Change

On Tuesday's NBC Nightly News broadcast, anchor Brian Williams took a look at the warm winter temperatures across most of the continental United States - and in particular, New York City where he broadcasts from most weeknights.

This look brought forward Williams' concern that the warmer than normal January temperatures are just the latest in the examples of the effects of climate change that we are facing.  He then turned the story over to the network's Chief Environmental Affairs correspondent Anne Thompson who proceeded to present a story to add to the climate change alarmism and promotion.

Zombie, the intrepid blogger for PJ Media, has an excellent post that brings forward something that we all need to consider the next time we are inflicted with an individual, a group, a panel, an academic, broadcasters, non-government, or government entity that argues that climate change demands immediate action and solutions...

I just finished reading a terrifying new book about climate change. I learned this:
• Climate change is happening faster than we realize and it will have catastrophic consequences for mankind.

• There’s very little we can do to stop it at this late stage, but we might be able to save ourselves if we immediately take these necessary and drastic steps:

- Increase our reliance on alternative energy sources and stop using so much oil and other carbon-based fuels;

- Adopt energy-efficient practices in all aspects of our lives, however inconvenient;

- Impose punitive taxes on inefficient or polluting activities to discourage them;

- Funnel large sums of money from developed nations like the U.S. to Third World nations;

- In general embrace all environmental causes.

You of course recognize these as the solutions most often recommended to ameliorate the looming crisis of Global Warming. But there’s a little glitch in my narrative. Because although the book I read was indeed about climate change, it wasn’t about Global Warming at all; it was instead about “The Coming of the New Ice Age,” and it isn’t exactly “new” — it was published in 1977.

The real goal and focus from the progressives who are advocating the immediate adoptions of 'solutions' is not to address what is causing the problem.  The cause for them is immaterial.  What is important is the solution - and the implementation of the solution which just so happens to support the progressive / socialistic solution to society which has nothing to do with science and everything to do with power and control for the elite progressives.

It's a perfect example of - when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.  Or in this case is it when all you have is the hammer and sickle?

Lunacy from Both Sides of the Aisle

Loons exist on both sides of the political spectrum.  Regardless if they are loons from the hard left or loons from the hard right, they provide humor and entertainment for most everyone else.

Joseph Farah, the editor of what I call the World Nut Daily (WND), was a panelist on Sean Hannity's Fox News program last night.  During the panel discussion, the subject came up promoting Florida Senator Marco Rubio as being one of the most talked about and desirable candidates to run as the Vice President on the GOP ticket.

Farah immediately chimed in saying that Rubio is ineligible for running as the VP on the GOP ticket because Rubio is 'not a natural born citizen' of the United States.

Farah, and the World Nut Daily, are some of the leading advocates of the Obama birtherism accusations - stating that President Obama is not eligible to serve as President as he is, in their claims, not a natural born citizen.  Farah and his fellow loons believe that the fact that someone was born within the territory of the United States is insufficient to make one a 'natural born citizen' - that the citizenship status of one's parents are also a factor - with 'natural born citizens' being those who parents who both hold American citizenship. 

This goes even further down the rabbit hole than those who believe that Obama wasn't born in Hawaii or that the birth certificate from Hawaii is the real birth certificate of Barack Obama.

In Marco Rubio's case, Farah calls him ineligible because he was born in 1971 and his parents were not naturalized as US citizens until 1975.

Representing the loons on the hard left is Representative Jim Moran of Virginia.  We're not quite sure if the D after his name is because he's a democrat or a dunce, but either way, it's bound to give him a pass from Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson for proclaiming himself the arbiter of blackness in America.

Representative Moran attacked Representative Alan West, a Republican member from Florida, who is a retired Army officer and an African-American by stating West 'is not only not representative of the African-American community or of the Republican Party, let alone of the American public.'

Video from Mediaite...



Representative Moran is well known regularly making vile and noxious comments about Jews, Israel, and conservatives.  In January, Moran set his target on those who oppose the policies of President Barack Obama by calling those who do so, racists...

“It [the Republican successes in the 2010 elections] happened for the same reason the Civil War happened in the United States. It happened because the Southern states, the slaveholding states, didn’t want to see a president who was opposed to slavery. In this case, I believe, a lot of people in the United States don’t want to be governed by an African-American, particularly one who is liberal, who wants to spend money and who wants to reach out to include everyone in our society.”

Unsurprisingly, the meme that opposition to Obama is entirely based on racism is rampant at MSNBC...

Quick Hits - February 1, 2012

As reported last night, Mitt Romney won a sweeping victory in the Florida GOP Presidential Primary yesterday, returning himself to front runner status in the race for the GOP nomination.  This was a closed primary, where only those registered as Republicans were entitled to vote.  7 out of 10 of those who voted described themselves as conservative or very conservative.   Romney won big in the Hispanic vote, gaining 54% of that crucial bloc as compared to Newt Gingrich only gaining the support of 14%.  Romney also did extremely well with women in Florida, besting Gingrich by a 22 point margin.

With 100% of the vote counted, Mitt Romney had 46.4% support, Newt Gingrich 31.9%, Rick Santorum 13.4% and Ron Paul 7%.

In a high profile Los Angeles fundraiser attended by a number of progressive mover / shakers from Hollywood, First Lady Michelle Obama cited the 'remarkable progress' made by her husband on the national economy since taking office as the reason that the President should be re-elected.

This brings us to a couple of interesting memes...

Even though he is proclaiming himself as a champion for the 99% in his strong support for the OccupyWallStreet class warfare movement, over 60% of the campaign funds being raised by Barack Obama for his re-election come from the big money campaign bundlers - the 1%.  Of the $120 million that his campaign raised in 2011, at least $75 million came from 445 major bundlers.

Yet, President Obama's money advantage for his re-election campaign is disappearing.  Despite large numbers of fundraisers, the cash he is raising is lagging behind the levels set by George W. Bush in 2004 - and the amounts being raised have dropped each of the last 2 quarters from the previous quarter.  This trend could reflect lagging excitement towards Obama as the nation's economic woes linger. 

Also lagging are the President's approval ratings on a state by state basis.  Hot Air reviews the Gallup release of approval ratings on a state by state for 2011 - where the President has over a 50% approval in just 10 states plus the District of Columbia.  This cannot bode well for the President since his approval numbers in 2011 are worse than in 2010 where the President and the Democrats suffered a historical defeat in the midterm elections Nov. 2010.

On the economic front, the President is also in significant trouble. 

Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released their report on the status of the federal budget and national debt.

Obama's four years in office have seen the 4 highest deficits since 1946...

Even the Keynesians who run CBO concede that the 2013 tax hike—on capital gains, dividends, estates and small business—would knock economic growth down to 1% next year and raise unemployment to 9.1% (from 8.5%). That means about 750,000 more jobless Americans. You can't have such a lousy economy and cut the deficit in half.
CBO also indulges in the fantasy that discretionary spending will fall by nearly $2 trillion over the next decade—with almost all the cuts after 2015. About $1.25 trillion of those cuts come from the automatic across-the-board reductions that Congress and Mr. Obama agreed to last year. But wait. More than half of those cuts will come from the military budget and even Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said these reductions could be "devastating" to national security.

To sum it all up, CBO's facts plainly show that Mr. Obama has the worst fiscal record of any President in modern times. No one else is even close.

The 2013 tax hike referenced above is part of the 30% increase in federal taxes that will occur over the next 2 years. Among these are the expiration of the Bush-era across the board tax cuts at the end of this year.

Ironically, this is the 3rd anniversary of this interview between NBC's Matt Lauer and President Obama...

“I WILL be held accountable. You know, I’ve got four years. … A year from now, I think people are gonna see that we’re starting to make some progress, but there’s still gonna be some pain out there. If I don’t this done in THREE years, then there’s gonna be a one-term proposition.”

Fresh off the first ever downgrade of the US credit rating, Standard & Poors is looking at the latest economic info and projections and is warning the US of the potential for another downgrade of the US rating.

One of the programs the President intends to use as a tool to 'fix' the national economy and reduce the record setting deficits is the 'Buffett Rule' - dramatically increasing the taxes on the ultra-rich in the name of 'fairness'...

Oh wait, the fairness of the top 10% of wage earners already paying 70% of the Federal Income Taxes isn't really the point I want to make, it's this flashback from Warren Buffett..

 

'Higher taxes on the ultra rich is not going to solve the deficit problem...'

Which we knew since $75 billion in additional revenues doesn't cover very much of a $1.2 trillion budget deficit...

The latest jobs report reflects that during January 2012, the private sector added 170,000 jobs.  I suspect supporters of the President will be touting this as more evidence that the economy is rebounding, but this is about half of what is needed every month to start to reduce unemployment levels.  The low level of private sector hiring reflects continued concerns about the economy.

Still on the jobs front, American Airlines, the world's fourth largest airline, and in chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since November 2011, has announced that it will be eliminating between 10,000 and 15,000 jobs across the US.

One of the major causes for the 2008-9 recession was the collapse of the US housing market.  This was caused by a combination of issues ranging from the requirements made by progressives in Congress and at Fannie / Freddie that mortgages needed to be provided even to those who could / should not qualify in the name of 'fairness' and 'social justice'.  Combined with job losses, many faced the loss of their homes - with the sales / foreclosures dropping home values.

Even though the President has previously announced efforts to provide 'assistance' to homeowners who are 'under water' with homes worth less than their mortgage amounts or out of jobs by developing programs to allow these homeowners to refinance their mortgages  - none of which have been really successful, he has introduced a new vote buying scheme related to another program directed homeowners...

The Obama administration is trying to fix a stubborn drag on the economy by allowing all homeowners to refinance their mortgages at lower interest rates even if they owe more than their homes are worth, tackling a difficult issue of vital concern in states key to President Barack Obama‘s re-election.

The President intends to pay for this program with a new fee on large banks - which those banks will pass onto their customers...and ultimately will be far from sufficient to cover the costs.

Even though it hasn't worked before, let's do it again...in the name of 'fairness' and 'social justice'.  It's easier to repackage it than to actually stimulate economic growth, job growth, and stop lending on the basis of 'social justice'.


The Head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Darrel Issa, is threatening to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with Congressional subpoenas for documents related to Operation Fast and Furious.  In a letter to the AG, Issa nots that the DoJ has 'misrepresented facts and misled Congress' during their investigation into the DoJ program to run guns to Mexican Drug Cartels. 

The Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure, which is the leading breast cancer charity, has announced that it is ending its relationship with and stopping all financial contributions to Planned Parenthood.  Planned Parenthood is under investigation for using taxpayer funds for abortions.  Prior to this decision, the Komen Foundation provided grants to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer prevention screenings and breast cancer education. 

A US / Nato report indicates that the Pakistani-backed Taliban is poised to reclaim control of Afghanistan after the departure of Nato forces in 2013-2014.  If the case, this will represent a major failure in policy to protect human rights and limit bases that can be used by jihadists against the West.  It also reflects the policy of the Taliban to either wait out the clock for the announced withdrawal or gain so faster via a 'peace treaty'.

Pakistan has responded to this by rejecting the accusation that it provides support for the Taliban.

4 Muslim men inspired by al-Qaeda, specifically Anwar al-Awlaki,  the American born terror leader who was killed last year in a drone strike, have pled guilty to charges of planning to bomb / attack the London Stock Exchange in a 'Mumbai-style' terror attack.  With their guilty plea, they could be released from prison in as little as 6 years.

Anwar al-Awlaki was also connected with the terrorist attack on the US at Fort Hood, Texas where Major Nidal Hassan shot and killed 13, wounded 29.

On This Day in History

1790 - The first session of the Supreme Court of the United States took place in New York City.  Chief Justice John Jay was presiding...

1943 - The Japanese began their evacuation from Guadalcanal - ending the first major US offensive campaign in the Pacific theater.

1968 - Vietnam's Chief of National Police, Lt. Col. Nguyen Ngoc Loan was photographed by AP photographer Eddie Adams summarily executing a captured Viet Cong guerrilla in Saigon.  Adams won a 1969 Pulitizer Prize for this photo - which helped galvanize the anti-war movement in the United States.

1979 - Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran in triumph after 15 years in exile

2002 - Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was decapitated by Salifist barbarians.  Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, has claimed credit for the murder.

2003 - Space shuttle Columbia breaks up while reentering the earth's atmosphere over Texas, killing all 7 crew members on board.  Lost were Rick D. Husband, Mission Commander; William C. McCool, Pilot; Michael P. Anderson, Payload Specialist; Ilan Ramon - the first Israeli astronaut, Payload Specialist; Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist; David M. Brown, Mission Specialist; and Laurel Clark, Mission Specialist.