What's New Robert L. Park 29 Sep 2011

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L Park   Friday, 30 Sep 11   Washington, DC

1. BE AFRAID: THE BUDGET CONTROL ACT OF 2011 AWAITS US.
Passed by Congress and signed into law by the President on 2 Aug 2011, the 
Budget Control Act brought conclusion to the 2011 debt ceiling crisis that 
threatened to lead the U.S. into sovereign default on 3 Aug 2011.  Like 
amputating a limb to stop an infection, it may have been necessary but it 
didn't end our suffering.  In a Science editorial last week that every 
scientist should read, Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) predicts that science will 
bear more than its share of the $2.4 trillion in federal spending cuts 
required by the bill.  I have no doubt he's right.  The only remaining PhD 
physicist in Congress, Rush has served the 12th district of New Jersey 
since 1998.  Before that he was the Assistant Director of the Princeton 
Plasma Physics Laboratory.  "With the budget control act," he 
writes, "Congress appears to have said in effect, that federally sponsored 
science has no role to play in advancing the economy, that unemployment is 
a problem that only time will cure, and that the nation's best days are 
behind us.  How contrary to American tradition that would be!  It must not 
prevail." 

2. TEVATRON: ACCELERATORS ARE BUILT TO BE SHUT DOWN.
Located at Fermilab National Laboratory on the Illinois prairie about 50 
miles west of Chicago, the Tevatron  is no longer the world's most powerful 
accelerator.  Later today Pier Oddone, director of Fermilab, is preparing 
to issue the command to shut down the most successful particle accelerator 
ever built.  It should be the occasion for celebration.  The command 
to "shut down" is an announcement that Tevatron has completed the tasks for 
which it was intended. We should all be so lucky.   

3. EXECUTION: KEY AL QAEDA FIGURE IS TAKEN OUT BY DRONE.