How to Stop the Looming Depression | Thin Is the New Miserable | Get Ready for a Wal-Mart Christmas

Headlines Newsletter November 19th, 2008 All stories, blogs, and video »

How to Stop the Looming Depression Without Lining Fat-Cat CEOs' Pockets By Mike Davis, Tomdispatch.com We are now at a crash site, and our priority should be to save the victims. Here's how we do that. Read more »   It Is Going to Be a Wal-Mart Christmas By Marie Cocco, Washington Post Writers Group Wal-Mart is the only store where hard-squeezed consumers can afford anything, and so it keeps posting big profits amid the retail bloodbath. Read more »   End of the Road: Is the Auto Industry Dead? By Mark Brenner, Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes With U.S. car makers billions of dollars in the red, jobs vanishing and factories closing, the industry's problems may be insurmountable. Read more »   Thin Is the New Miserable By Stephanie Losee, AlterNet A new book from Valerie Frankel shows how dieting affects people's mindsets about more than just body weight. Read more »   Keep it Simple: Stop the Foreclosure Crisis with the Right to Rent By Dean Baker, TruthOut.org There are a lot of complicated plans being discussed, but sometimes the simplest solution to a problem is best. Read more »   Make That Former Senator Ted Stevens By John Nichols, TheNation.com Democrat Mark Begich unseats Stevens in Alaska, bringing Dems one step closer to a filibuster-proof Senate. Read more »   PEEK and Video: The hottest buzz and videos on the web     Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales Indicted By Grand Jury By Faiz Shakir, Think Progress A South Texas grand jury has returned multi-count indictments against Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Read more »   Senate Democrats Allow Lieberman to Go Unpunished By Staff, Think Progress Harry Reid: "I don't apologize to anyone for what we did today." Read more »   Anti-Choice Advocates Oppose Measures That Actually Decrease the Abortion Rate? By Jill Filipovic, Feministe When you think about it, it really isn't that surprising. Logic has never been their strong suit. Read more »   Has Newsweek Gone Mad? New Article Gives Voice to Antichrist Whack Jobs By Steve Benen, Washington Monthly Sickening: Newsweek publishes a 600-word piece on those who wonder about Obama being the Antichrist. Read more »

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Presspass - News Edition

	Charleston.net News Commercial Real Estate Subscribe to the Post & Courier Place a Classified Ad	4 charged in CSU abduction case
			Four Charleston Southern University student-athletes were ordered held on high-dollar bail amounts Tuesday in the armed robbery and kidnapping of one student and a campus visitor. One of the athletes was identified as a starting running back on the Buccaneers football team, while the others said they had been members of the team.
Enjoy a every Sunday Only In The Post & Courier find locations		S.C. last in country in anti-tobacco spending South Carolina ranked dead last in the nation for funding programs to prevent children from using tobacco, 10 years after receiving nearly $1 billion in a landmark case against the tobacco industry. Man's death stuns family, neighbors Delbert Cooper Jr. is the last person his neighbors would have expected to die by the hand of another man, they said. Residents rally for teacher A teacher who fell off a second-story balcony Sunday in downtown Charleston remained in critical condition at Medical University Hospital two days later, as parents and colleagues from her school rallied to help. Woman accused of bilking home buyers They paid thousands of dollars in hopes of buying seized property from the U.S. government on the cheap. They forked over the money and waited. Their calls went unanswered.
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Presspass - Sports Edition

	Charleston.net News Commercial Real Estate Subscribe to the Post & Courier Place a Classified Ad	Spiller's future still undecided
			CLEMSON â€" If Clemson running back C.J. Spiller doesn't already have your number in his cell phone â€" don't bother calling him because he's not picking up. With the NFL draft less than six months away and Spiller a lock to be a first-round pick, the consensus is that Spiller will forgo his senior season. "If your number is not programmed into my phone, I usually don't answer it," Spiller said at Tuesday's weekly press conference.
		Two games, two goals CLEMSON â€" The ultimate goal of the 2008 season didn't last as long as the first quarter against Alabama. Clemson's national championship hopes faded before anyone in orange broke a sweat. Offseason decision pays off for Panthers CHARLOTTE â€" Kris Jenkins is having one of his best seasons, dominating at nose guard and helping the New York Jets become a playoff contender. The Carolina Panthers sure made a mistake trading the three-time Pro Bowl selection for third- and fifth-round draft picks, right? So, just who wants to win the Atlantic Coast Conference? What's up with the Atlantic Coast Conference? Maybe the players and coaches were caught up in the presidential election. Perhaps they're all trying to lose enough games to get in on the federal bailout, figuring that would be more profitable than the BCS. Or this might be a ploy to keep everyone interested now that it's basketball season. Spurrier dismisses rumors of impending retirement COLUMBIA â€" It's November, so it must be time for the Steve Spurrier rumor mill to again churn.
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Presspass - Business Edition

	Charleston.net News Commercial Real Estate Subscribe to the Post & Courier Place a Classified Ad	Manufacturer to shutter local plant
			A longtime North Charleston plant that makes display cabinets and fixtures for retail stores will go dark by early next year in a move that will eliminate about 110 local jobs. Leggett & Platt Inc. notified employees Friday that it will start shutting down the former Goer Manufacturing site in mid-January. The plant at 4500 Goer Drive off Montague Avenue is expected to be shut down for good by the end of February, Leggett & Platt said in a statement Tuesday.
		SPA posts a good October Bucking a trend of falling container volume, the S.C. State Ports Authority Tuesday reported a nearly 6 percent increase for October compared with the same month last year. Fall would benefit South WASHINGTON â€" If it's no surprise that Michigan lawmakers are behind the pitch for a $25 billion lifeline for Detroit automakers, then it might be just as predictable that Southerners would be leading the charge against it. Top lawmakers back plan to help borrowers WASHINGTON â€" Top lawmakers threw their support Tuesday behind a proposal to use $24 billion in government funds to help struggling borrowers, as reports showed U.S. home prices sinking in four out of five cities and home builders reported their worst-ever business outlook. Paulson defends bailout strategy WASHINGTON â€" Faced with exasperated lawmakers upset by shifts in bailout strategy, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson launched a spirited defense Tuesday of his handling of the $700 billion program and expressed fresh reservations about tapping the pool for mortgage guarantees to relieve skyrocketing home foreclosures.
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1150p 11/18 Update: Shuttle heat shield cleared for entry as is

=================================

CBS NEWS STS-126 STATUS REPORT: 37
Posted: 11:50 PM, 11/18/08

By William Harwood
CBS News Space Analyst

Changes and additions:

   SR-35 (11/18/08): Spacewalk ends
   SR-36 (11/18/08): Mission managers pleased with spacewalk; engineers study options for replacing lost grease guns
   SR-37 (11/18/08): Shuttle heat shield in good shape; officially cleared for entry

=================================

11:50 PM, 11/18/08, Update: Shuttle heat shield in good shape; officially cleared for entry

The space shuttle Endeavour's heat shield was given a clean bill of health late today and officially cleared for entry as is. While there are a handful of minor blemishes, engineers studying launch and on-orbit imagery say none of them poses any problem for re-entry.

"Hey, Fergie, we didn't want to interrupt the EVA earlier on to give you this information, but we just wanted to let you know that all the assessments have been completed and as expected, the TPS (thermal protection system) has been cleared for entry," mission control radioed.

"Hey, that is absolutely fantastic news, thanks so much," shuttle commander Christopher Ferguson replied. "It kind of weighs on all of us a little bit until the final word comes, but that is very welcome news. I think we'll all rest a little bit easier tonight."

=================================

Quick-Launch Web Links:

CBS News STS-126 Status Reports:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html

CBS News STS-126 Quick-Look Page:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/currentglance.html

NASA ISS Expeditions Page:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/index.html

NASA Shuttle Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/index.html
NASA Station Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/index.html
Spaceflight Now: http://spaceflightnow.com/index.html
GoogleSatTrack: http://www.lizard-tail.com/isana/tracking/

=================================

11p 11/18 Update: NASA managers study options to replace lost grease guns

=================================

CBS NEWS STS-126 STATUS REPORT: 36
Posted: 11:00 PM, 11/18/08

By William Harwood
CBS News Space Analyst

Changes and additions:

   SR-31 (11/18/08): Spacewalk begins
   SR-32 (11/18/08): Depleted nitrogen tank moved to shuttle; coolant system component mounted on space station; SARJ cleaning work begins
   SR-33 (11/18/08): Stefanyshyn-Piper loses tool bag; grease contamination; SARJ work begins
   SR-34 (11/18/08): Spacewalkers make progress cleaning, lubricating starboard SARJ
   SR-35 (11/18/08): Spacewalk ends
   SR-36 (11/18/08): Mission managers pleased with spacewalk; engineers study options for replacing lost grease guns

=================================

11:00 PM, 11/18/08, Update: Mission managers pleased with spacewalk; engineers study options for replacing lost grease guns; lost tool bag not considered a threat to station

NASA planners are studying options for replacing, or doing without, two grease guns lost overboard from the international space station today when spacewalker Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, struggling to clean up after an unexpected grease gun leak, somehow let a 30-pound tool bag get away.

The incident occurred as Stefanyshyn-Piper and fellow spacewalker Stephen Bowen were preparing to begin work cleaning and lubricating a damaged solar array rotary joint on the right side of the station. Video from Stefanyshyn-Piper's helmet cam showed her struggling to clean up after the leak. Apparently thinking the bag was still tethered, she moved it to one side and briefly turned away. The bag immediately began floating away. She made an attempt to catch it, but the bag was beyond her reach.

It was one of the most significant tool losses in recent memory and Stefanyshyn-Piper's chagrined "oh no" as the bag eluded her grasp and floated away summed up her feelings.

"We were running well ahead of time going into the beginning of the SARJ (solar alpha rotary joint) work," said spacewalk officer John Ray. "That was where things got kind of interesting. When Heide got out there and opened up the bag with the tools and spare bearings and things that we had packed to go out to the SARJ, we found that one of the grease guns had, the word Heide used was, 'exploded.'

"What it appeared on the downlink video was that one of the guns had leaked a fairly significant amount of grease out into the inside of the bag. We could see that there was grease on a lot of the tools inside the bag. Then as Heide was trying to clean that up, we could see some of that grease getting onto her gloves and she was cleaning it off her gloves as she went."

In the process, "one of our crew lock bags, which contains one set of tools that we were using to clean the SARJ with, that became untethered and separated from the bag and was lost," Ray said. "So we had to perform our SARJ cleaning with one set of tools, just sharing those between Steve and Heide. It turned out, with the additional time we had going into the EVA, they were able to work together very effectively, we still got all of our objectives done for the SARJ. Everything went really well with the SARJ cleaning."

Three more spacewalks are planned Thursday, Saturday and next Monday and all three involve more SARJ clean and lubrication.

"We've got spares of everything we can replace for the other EVAs except for the grease guns," Ray said. "But we've got some options we're looking into and some folks are working on that right now."

One option would be to use or modify one of two similar grease guns on the shuttle Endeavour as part of a wing leading edge repair kit. A heat-resistant material known as NOAX is on board to repair small cracks or blemishes in the leading edge panels and Ray said the applicators are roughly similar to one of the lost grease guns.

"We're also looking to see if we can just replan these EVAs to do them with one set of guns and just sharing them," he added. "That went fairly well on today's EVA."

Praising Stefanyshyn-Piper's work today, Ray said "all it takes is one small mistake for a tether just not to be hooked up quite correctly or to slip off where it's supposed to be engaged. And that's what happened here."

"Heide did a great job for the rest of the EVA and she showed real character and great discipline in recovering and doing a great job for the rest of the EVA," he said.

An analysis of the lost bag's departure trajectory indicates it poses no threat to the space station. An hour after the spacewalk ended, the bag was roughly 2.5 miles ahead and 650 feet below the station, moving steadily away.

While the spacewalk was going on outside the station, the rest of the combined station-shuttle crew was busy moving racks and other equipment from a storage module carried up aboard Endeavour and attached to the lab complex Monday.

"We had a great day today, both inside and outside the space station," said lead flight director Ginger Kerrick. "We had a lot of rack transfers scheduled for today. The crew has completed all of them and is a quarter of the way through the rack transfers for tomorrow. So we've been having a hard time keeping up with them."

After getting ahead of schedule Monday, the astronauts moved two 1,700-pound water recycling racks into the Destiny lab module. They also transferred combustion research gear and other rack-mounted experiment hardware, a new toilet and crew sleep stations intended to give station astronauts a bit of privacy.

The water recycling gear, which will convert condensate and urine into pure water for drinking food preparation, hygiene and oxygen generation, is crucial for NASA's plans to boost the station's crew size to six next year. Kerrick said the astronauts hoped to hook up the two water processing racks Wednesday and to begin pumping stored urine into the system Thursday.

Water samples will be returned to Earth aboard Endeavour for detailed chemical analysis. A full three months of testing is planned in orbit, with additional ground tests after the next shuttle visit in February, before any astronauts are allowed to sample the recycled water.

Going into Endeavour's mission, flight controllers were holding open the option of extending the flight one day to give the crew enough time to set up and activate a potable water dispenser. The goal is to collect samples of water from the processing racks and from the dispenser, which is tied into a common potable water bus.

The crew's fast work Monday and today "puts us in an excellent position to obtain the additional PWD, potable water dispenser, samples we had intended to go after only if we had the plus-one day added to the mission," Kerrick said.

"But now, we believe that we are so far ahead that we will be able to accomplish that within the context of our planned mission. So we expect to get the water samples from the water processor assembly that was originally planned, we get those on flight day 11 (Monday) and we expect to have the potable water bus and the potable water dispenser all set up to be able to take samples from those on either flight day 12 (Tuesday) or flight day 13 (Wednesday). So it's been great going inside."

=================================

Quick-Launch Web Links:

CBS News STS-126 Status Reports:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html

CBS News STS-126 Quick-Look Page:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/currentglance.html

NASA ISS Expeditions Page:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/index.html

NASA Shuttle Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/index.html
NASA Station Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/index.html
Spaceflight Now: http://spaceflightnow.com/index.html
GoogleSatTrack: http://www.lizard-tail.com/isana/tracking/

=================================

805p 11/18 Update: EVA-1 ends

=================================

CBS NEWS STS-126 STATUS REPORT: 35
Posted: 8:05 PM, 11/18/08

By William Harwood
CBS News Space Analyst

Changes and additions:

   SR-31 (11/18/08): Spacewalk begins
   SR-32 (11/18/08): Depleted nitrogen tank moved to shuttle; coolant system component mounted on space station; SARJ cleaning work begins
   SR-33 (11/18/08): Stefanyshyn-Piper loses tool bag; grease contamination; SARJ work begins
   SR-34 (11/18/08): Spacewalkers make progress cleaning, lubricating starboard SARJ
   SR-35 (11/18/08): Spacewalk ends

=================================

8:05 PM, 11/18/08, Update: Spacewalk No. 1 ends

Astronauts Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Stephen Bowen wrapped up a six-hour 52-minute spacewalk today, installing a spare coolant system component on the international space station, moving a depleted nitrogen tank to the shuttle Endeavour for return to Earth and cleaning a damaged solar array rotary joint.

All of the primary goals of the spacewalk, the first of four planned for Endeavour's mission, were accomplished, but the excursion was marred somewhat by a grease gun malfunction that released lubricant inside a tool bag. While Stefanyshyn-Piper struggled to clean up the mess, the untethered bag, carrying two grease guns, a scraper tool and other gear, floated away. Stefanyshyn-Piper tried to grab it, but it was too late.

But sharing Bowen's tools, the spacewalkers still managed to clean and lubricate the starboard solar alpha rotary joint as required.

"You did a great job today, awesome EVA, welcome back," radioed Robert "Shane" Kimbrough from inside the shuttle as the spacewalk came to a close.

"Thanks," Stefanyshyn-Piper replied. "In spite of our little hiccup there, or major hiccup, I think we did a good job out there."

"You really did, got all the tasks done."

"You all were champs," mission control chimed in. "You rolled with the punches and made it all happen ahead of the timeline. It's much appreciated and we had a great time watching you."

Today's spacewalk began at 1:09 p.m. and ended at 8:01 p.m. This was the 115th EVA devoted to space station assembly and maintenance since construction began 10 years ago this week. Total EVA assembly time now stands at 725 hours and 40 minutes.

=================================

Quick-Launch Web Links:

CBS News STS-126 Status Reports:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html

CBS News STS-126 Quick-Look Page:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/currentglance.html

NASA ISS Expeditions Page:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/index.html

NASA Shuttle Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/index.html
NASA Station Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/index.html
Spaceflight Now: http://spaceflightnow.com/index.html
GoogleSatTrack: http://www.lizard-tail.com/isana/tracking/

=================================