 | Congressman Rohrabacher and Joe Loya B I O G R A P H Y of Congressman Rohrabacher Currently serving his ninth term in Congress, Dana Rohrabacher represents California's scenic 46th District. Stretching along the Pacific coastline of Orange County and Los Angeles from Huntington Beach to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, the district includes Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Seal Beach, Santa Catalina Island, Midway City, Sunset Beach, Surfside, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, Palos Verdes Estates and Rolling Hills Estates as well as portions of Long Beach, Westminster, Santa Ana and San Pedro, and Newport Beach. As Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee, Rohrabacher is a most forceful spokesman for human rights and democracy around the world. As new Chairman, one of his first priorities is an investigation into the U.N. Oil for Food program. In addition to Oil for Food, Chairman Rohrabacher will look into technology transfer issues, visa policies practiced by the State Department, Chinese proliferation of nuclear weapons technology as well as other volatile areas of concern such as the massive cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan. As a senior member of the International Relations Committee, Rohrabacher led the effort to deny Most Favored Nation trading status to Communist China, citing the rogue nation's dismal human rights record and opposition to democracy. Rohrabacher is a strong voice for lower government spending and taxes. His record of fiscal restraint and pro-growth policies has won him acclaim from the National Taxpayers Union, Citizens Against Government Waste, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business. Past Accomplishments Rohrabacher served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics from 1997 to January 2005, having been given a two-year waiver to serve beyond the normal six-year term limit. His final achievement as chairman was to secure the enactment of his Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act, signed into law by President Bush on December 23, 2004. The law clears the way for small and middle-sized entrepreneurs to build commercial space passenger vehicles and bolsters private sector participation in space travel. Rohrabacher led efforts in the 104th and 105th Congresses to restore the intellectual property rights of American inventors legislated away with the implementation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), authoring the Patent Term Restoration Act. The 46th congressional district is the birthplace of California's Proposition 187, a reform initiative which removes illegal aliens from the state's welfare and education rolls. Rohrabacher inspired the grassroots movement and, as a principal congressional spokesman for Prop. 187, framed the debate that led to the passage of the popular measure. Prior to his first election to Congress in 1988, Dana served as Special Assistant to President Reagan. For seven years he was one of the President's senior speechwriters. During his tenure at the White House, Rohrabacher played a pivotal role in the formulation of the Reagan Doctrine and in championing the cause of a strong national defense. He also helped formulate President Reagan's Economic Bill of Rights, a package of economic reforms that the President introduced in a historic speech before the Jefferson Memorial. Rohrabacher's roots in Orange County run deep. He attended elementary school locally and during his college days, he resided in Sunset Beach. Prior to joining Ronald Reagan's White House staff, he was an editorial writer for the Orange County Register. Rohrabacher was born June 21, 1947, in Coronado, California. He graduated from Palos Verdes High School, attended Harbor Junior College and received his bachelor degree in history from Long Beach State College in 1969. He received his master's degree in American Studies from the University of Southern California. In August 1997 he married an Orange County native (and fellow surfer), Rhonda Carmony and April 27, 2004, they became the proud parents of triplets. Congressman Rohrabacher serves as Ranking Member of the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Committee on International Relations and is a senior member on the House Committee on Science. Click here to learn more. |
 | STS-120 Space Shuttle Discovery Rollout Space shuttle Discovery is in place for launch on the STS-120 mission after rolling from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A on Sept. 30, 2007. Rollout is a milestone for Discovery's launch to the International Space Station on mission STS-120. The crew will deliver and install the Italian-built U.S. Node 2, named Harmony. The pressurized module will act as an internal connecting port and passageway to additional international science labs and cargo spacecraft. No copyright protection is asserted for this video. If a recognizable person appears in this video, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this video is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. |
 | China Launches New Communications Satellite A Chinese Long March 3B rocket successfully placed the Chinasat-9 direct-broadcast television satellite into geostationary transfer orbit June 9 - a launch that caused public-relations discomfort for both Chinese authorities and satellite builder Thales Alenia Space, for different reasons. Chinasat 9, a Spacebus 4000 satellite platform, is expected to operate for 15 years at 92.2 degrees east longitude. Chinese government authorities have been upset with the French government in recent weeks following a demonstration-marred passage of the Olympic flame through Paris in April and the near-simultaneous decision by the Paris city council to make the Dalai Lama an honorary citizen - an act that the Chinese Foreign Ministry termed "a grave provocation." For that reason, industry officials said, China will not be drawing attention to the fact that Chinasat 9 was made in France. For Thales Alenia Space, the launch highlighted the fact that the French-Italian firm is alone among the world's major commercial satellite builders to be able to export satellites to China for launch on the Chinese rockets. The other manufacturers all use U.S.-built components whose export to China is barred by current U.S. technology-export policy. Competitors, particularly Space Systems/Loral of Palo Alto, Calif., have sought to put pressure on Thales Alenia Space by stimulating congressional action that would make it difficult for Thales North America - part of the same Thales Group that owns a majority share in Thales Alenia Space - to win U.S. Defense Department business unless it refuses to export satellites to China. No one has alleged that Thales Alenia Space has violated any U.S. laws, but Thales officials nonetheless have elected to apply discretion when talking about the company's Chinese satellite customers, or non-Chinese customers who have chosen to use the Chinese launch vehicle. The situation was far different in 2004, when the $145 million Chinasat 9 contract was signed in the presence of China's vice premier and the French prime minister. Chinasat 9 carries 18 36-megahertz Ku-band transponders and four 54-megahertz Ku-band transponders. It will be operated by China Satcom, notably to broadcast Olympic Games events. |
 | Dynamic Duo on Launch Pads For the first time since July 2001, and the last time ever, two space shuttles are on the launch pads at the same time at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Atlantis is targeted to lift off on the STS-125 mission to service NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, and Endeavour is ready to act as a rescue vehicle for Atlantis, if needed. No copyright protection is asserted for this video. If a recognizable person appears in this video, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this video is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. |
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![Daily flights from NYC to Mont Tremblant\](images/articles/thumbs/nytremblantthumb.jpg "Daily flights from NYC to Mont Tremblant\")
