On 8 July 2011, the US space shuttle program came to an end. The shuttle Atlantis was the last operational shuttle to be launched into space; its mission was to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). The space shuttle program lasted for 30 years and involved 135 launches and two tragic disasters.

One of America?s premier corporations, Boeing, has built a second production plant in South Carolina (its other one is in Washington State) for its 787 Dreamliner airplane, creating over 1,000 jobs so far. But the National Labor Relations Board, created in 1935 by the Wagner Act, has taken exception to Boeing?s decision.

Dr. Jack Kevorkian died last week at the age of 83. He had assisted in about 130 suicides in the 1990s and thereby symbolized the right-to-die movement that gained strength during that decade. [Doctor-assisted suicide has gained legitimacy in Oregon, Washington and Montana, but in no other states of the union.] He was a Michigan pathologist who would hook up patients to his homemade suicide machine.

In an extraordinary speech last Thursday, President Obama endorsed using the 1967 boundaries as the baseline for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. He is the first American president to do so! [He also prodded Arab governments to carry out the democratic reforms their citizens have demanded in the so-called ?Arab Spring.?] In the 1967 war, Israel?s victory over Egypt and other Arab neighbors expanded its control over territories in the West Bank and Gaza, over the Golan Heights and over East Jerusalem.

The present administration in Washington is against school vouchers and even permitted the very popular and demonstrably effective voucher program in the District of Columbia to die. But Obama resurrected that program as a part of the deal he struck with the Republican Party over the 2011 budget. What evidence is there that vouchers serve students well and give parents a valid option for educating their children?

President Barack Obama invited President Bush to join him as he traveled to ?ground zero? in lower Manhattan last week. President Bush declined the offer. In issuing this invitation, perhaps President Obama recognized how much he truly owes to President Bush. In fact, one could probably argue that President Bush?s decisions right after 9/11 made the death of Bin Laden possible.

As I am writing this, the President of the United States just announced that Navy SEALS had killed Osama bin Laden, the head of al Qaeda. It will take some time before we know the ramifications of this momentous event but permit me a few preliminary observations…

Last week, Standard & Poor?s announced that it might need to downgrade the US government?s AAA bond rating for the first time in history, because of the dim prospects for serious debt reduction. This panicked investors, in the short term, who believe that Treasuries are the last safe haven in an uncertain world.

The economist, Robert Samuelson, has an interesting take on Social Security: He calls it ?welfare.? Here is why: First, it taxes one group to support another group, meaning it is pay-as-you-go and not a contributory scheme where people?s own savings pay their later benefits. Second, Congress can constantly alter benefits, reflecting changing needs, economic conditions and politics. Let?s think about this provocative thesis.

The debate over the 2011 federal budget is presumably over. After taking the nation to the brink, even possibly facing a possible shutdown of the federal government, the congressional leaders cut the budget and finally passed the 2011 budget, which runs through 30 September. As I approach this Perspective on the 2012 federal budget, I find the words of the economist, Robert Samuelson, refreshing and brutally honest…