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LAS VEGAS, Sept. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The new era of primetime Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethons has started. In six primetime hours last night, the organization leading the fight against progressive muscle diseases delivered on its promise of an outstanding 46th annual MDA Labor Day Telethon. MDA today announced that its 2011 Telethon raised $61,491,393 -- up from the $58,919,838 achieved during the prior year's 21.5-hour Telethon. This is the biggest Telethon achievement since 2008, when the global recession began. Contributions can still be made online at mda.org or by calling 800-FIGHTMD (800-344-4863). "We're so grateful to everyone who made...

LAS VEGAS -The hosts of the 46th annual Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon said Sunday that Jerry Lewis retired from the organization and its yearly fundraiser — the charity's first comments about the beloved icon's departure since an announcement last month. Lewis publicist Candi Cazau declined comment to The Associated Press when told of the statements that opened the telethon on Sunday. Co-host Nigel Lythgoe said during his opening comments on the telethon that he didn't realize Lewis, 85, was thinking about retirement during the show last year, when the comedian offered Lythgoe his seat as Lewis took a break and...

Anybody got a rough national total? I only caught the last 5 minutes ...

Few TV traditions in America are as popular as the annual MDA Labor Day Telethon, but this year’s is still shrouded in mystery as to what happened between entertainment legend and longtime host Jerry Lewis and the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Not one mention of his name in the two latest MDA press releases about the telethon. That’s not only downright rude and disgraceful, but also a tragedy. This year’s show, broadcast live again from South Point on Sunday, has been cut to 6 hours from the long-standing 21-hour marathon. MDA says the new look will be more fast-paced and hopefully...

For 45 years watching The Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon was what millions of families did on Labor Day. The Telethon was to Labor Day what fireworks were to the 4th of July and a turkey dinner to Thanksgiving. This year the Muscular Dystrophy Association has decided to replace this holiday tradition with a television show on Labor Day Eve. The 6-hour program will still be called a telethon, but Jerry Lewis won't be there and it won't be live for most viewers unless MDA has different programs for each time zone. The program will start at 6 P.M. local...

(CNN) -- The Muscular Dystrophy Association announced Wednesday that comedian Jerry Lewis is no longer serving as the organization's national chairman. Lewis, 85, and MDA had announced in May that he was retiring as host of the MDA Labor Day Telethon in September. But he said then in a statement that he was planning to continue to serve as the organization's national chairman. "As a labor of love, I've hosted the annual telethon since 1966," Lewis said in the news release issued in May by the association. "And I'll be making my final appearance on the show this year, by...

After 45 years promoting treatment and a cure for children he calls "my kids," comedian Jerry Lewis announced Monday he is retiring as host of the Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon that has become synonymous with his name. Lewis, 85, issued a statement through the association calling it "time for an all new Telethon era." "As a labor of love, I've hosted the annual Telethon since 1966 and I'll be making my final appearance on the show this year by performing my signature song, `You'll Never Walk Alone,'" Lewis said of a shortened six-hour primetime broadcast scheduled for Sept....

Complaints from Pentagon officials—from Defense Secretary Robert Gates down through the ranks—are mounting about the quality of products from the aerospace industry. David Altwegg, executive director of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), grabbed journalists’ attention during his Fiscal 2011 budget briefing on Feb. 1. He railed that contractors had been delivering poor quality. “We continue to be disappointed in the quality that we are receiving from our prime contractors and their subs—very, very disappointed,” he said. “Most of these contracts are cost contracts . . . [a problem that] costs the taxpayer more.” Although Altwegg declined to “name names,” he...

Richard Lehner, a spokesman for the Missile Defense Agency, insists that the striking similarity between MDA's website logo and Obama's campaign logo is just coincidence. He says the MDA logo was created for a recruiting campaign that preceded the 2008 election, which is confirmed by an October 2008 recruiting ad in MIT's campus newspaper. There it is on page 17 (large PDF warning), MDA's Obama-esque configuration of circles and crescents, complete with waves of grain: MDA logo, left. Circles, crescents, and red-and-white waves of grain (or rocket exhaust), just like Obama's logo. The MIT ad means that the MDA logo...

Take a look at Drudge - here is another Obama inspired logo....

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING! Click on the link provided, see it for yourself.

I know we have a lot of fun back and forth banter on 'ole Sal's front porch. I like disagreement - I like creative friction without conflict - but for an exceptional moment I want to be binary. Can we agree that there is at least 1 thing that is 100% right and 100% wrong for the armed forces of a Representative Republic; the armed forces should never adopt in whole or in an obviously derivative manner any symbol of a domestic political party, organization, or movement? Can we at least find common ground there? Maybe I do need an...

The makers of America’s rockets and satellites “are still stumbling on fundamentals too often,” said Gary Payton, former astronaut and the top Air Force man on space acquisition. Payton’s comments seem to indicate a continuing trend of shoddy quality control among those whose toughest job is turning out top quality parts and software and making sure they work and fit well. The biggest problem lies with suppliers, who are selling equipment that is just not up to snuff, Payton said. However, the primes also must shoulder blame since they are not overseeing suppliers at the factory level as closely as...

The Defense Department agency responsible for U.S. missile defense systems has requested $8.4 billion for fiscal year 2011, an increase of about a half billion dollars. The request comes after an announcement last September that the United States would move away from a ground-based missile defense system to defend against Iranian and North Korean threats, to a sea-based platform. “The budget supports continuous emphasis on development, testing, fielding, sustainment,” David Altwegg, the executive director of the Missile Defense Agency, told Pentagon reporters yesterday. “We have shifted our emphasis from the ground-based defense against intercontinental ballistic missiles to the regional threat,...

The U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin team developing the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) program has achieved two key milestones: a testing milestone demonstrating that the ground system is on track to support launch of the first SBIRS geosynchronous (GEO-1) satellite in the constellation, and a maturity milestone moving the ground system into the next level of integration. SBIRS will deliver unprecedented, global, persistent infrared surveillance capabilities by providing early warning of missile launches, and simultaneously supporting other missions including missile defense, technical intelligence and battlespace awareness. The testing milestone, known as the Combined Day-In-The-Life Test (CDITL), validated the functionality, performance, and...

Eight months after the U.S. Missile Defense Agency announced a renewed interest in technologies for “early intercept” of ballistic missiles, plans are beginning to take shape with a focus on the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for ballistic missile target tracking. Requirements are not yet firm for this capability, but several architecture studies will provide data on how the agency will proceed and where it plans to put its funding in the forthcoming budgets. Early intercept (once called boost-phase or ascent-phase intercept) has been desirable for at least two reasons: •Intercept during the threat missile’s boost allows for it...

Lockheed Martin missile defense systems achieved several key milestones in 2009, including five successful intercepts and numerous other major accomplishments, further solidifying Lockheed Martin as a world leader in air and missile defense. With 20 successful Aegis BMD intercepts, six successful Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) intercepts and 26 successful Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile intercepts since the inception of those programs, Lockheed Martin continues to build on its unmatched legacy as the pioneer of hit-to-kill technologies. "Lockheed Martin is proud to continue to lead ballistic missile defense efforts for the United States and allied nations," said John Holly,...

THE CASE FOR SPACE-BASED DEFENSE The growing interest in nuclear technology by countries such as Iran presages the possibility that one or more nations may attempt to harness such a capability in the form of an electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) attack against the United States, a prominent political scientist has warned. Such a scenario, writes Brian Kennedy of the Claremont Institute in the November 24th edition of the Wall Street Journal, is not far-fetched. "It would require the Iranians to be able to produce a warhead as sophisticated as we expect the Russians or the Chinese to possess. But that is...

In conjunction with the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), U.S. Pacific Fleet ships and crews successfully completed a series of exercises to test the second generation Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) weapon system, Aegis BMD 4.0.1. This set of four exercises, designated FTX-06 Events 1-4, involved the tracking and simulated engagements of a variety of ballistic missile targets launched over the past several months from the Kauai Test Facility, co-located on the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), Barking Sands, Kauai. The Aegis BMD system is a critical component of the nation’s overall Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). FTX-06 Event 1, conducted...

The development schedule for a new U.S.-Israeli missile interceptor system is overly ambitious, and defense authorities likely will have to implement a backup plan if countries like Iran acquire a nuclear-tipped missile before the end of the next decade, according to defense experts. Advanced sensor and propulsion capabilities envisioned for the Arrow-3 interceptor likely will take significantly longer to develop than the five or six years estimated by Boeing Co., particularly given the program’s funding level, the experts said. “Look at any system that is developed — it takes 10 years from concept to deployment and there’s not much [funding]...