AMERICAN CONSERVATISM IN 2008 AND BEYOND

May 19, 6:44 PM (ET)
By LARRY MARGASAK
WASHINGTON (AP) - The National Archives lost a computer hard drive containing massive amounts of sensitive data from the Clinton administration, including Social Security numbers, addresses, and Secret Service and White House operating procedures, congressional officials said Tuesday.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090519/D989JCKO1.html

News 8 Investigates: Airline mechanics who can't read English
10:03 AM CDT on Saturday, May 16, 2009
By BYRON HARRIS / WFAA-TV
News 8 has recently revealed serious flaws in the way the FAA licenses mechanics who fix planes.

There is evidence of years of problems in testing these mechanics. There is also evidence that hundreds of mechanics with questionable licenses are working on aircraft in Texas.

Now there is evidence of repair facilities hiring low-wage mechanics who can't read English.

Twenty-one people were killed when U.S. Airways Express Flight 5481 crashed in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2003. The plane went wildly out of control on takeoff.

One reason for the crash, investigators found, was that mechanics incorrectly connected the cables to some of the plane's control surfaces in the repair shop. The FAA was cited for improper oversight of the repair process.
Repairing airplanes is a complicated business. Airplanes have many manuals. Typically, when mechanics repair a part, they open the manual, consult the book, and make the repair step-by-step, as if it were a recipe book.
They make a list of every action they take, so the next person to fix the plane (as well as the people who fly it) will know exactly what has been done.
If mechanics don't speak English, the international language of aviation, they can't read the manual and they can't record their activities.
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/localnews/investigates/stories/wfaa090515-_lj_harris.7a4a7d4.html

Aspiring school teachers
fail in math
Only 27 percent of the teaching
candidates pass
Updated: Tuesday, 19 May 2009, 1:47 PM EDT
Bruce Morin
MALDEN, Mass. (WPRI) - According to state education officials, nearly three-quarters of the people who took the state elementary school teacher’s licensing exam this year failed the new math section.
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released the results Tuesday. They say that only 27 percent of the more than 600 candidates who took the test passed. The test was administered in March of this year.
The teacher’s licensing exam tested potential teachers on their knowledge of elementary school mathematics. This included geometry, statistics, and probability.
Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester was not surprised by the results. He told the Boston Globe that these results indicate many students are not receiving an adequate math education.
Tom Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents , said "The high failure rate puts a shining light on a deficiency in teacher-prep programs."
http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/local_wpri_massachusetts_aspiring_school_teachers_fail_in_math20090519

Obama takes aim at climate-warming car emissions
The plan was praised by automakers, environmentalists and an array of politicians, but it will mean higher price tags for consumers. The new program will add about $1,300 to the price of producing a vehicle.
Obama said car buyers would recoup the money with the lower fuel costs realized under more efficient mileage standards.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090519/bs_nm/us_obama_emissions

Safety could suffer if we boost mileage by making cars smaller
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-05-19-auto-safety-small-cars_N.htm

Need for Speed (Read) to Pass Climate Bill
WASHINGTON -- Democrats in the House Energy and Commerce Committee have taken a novel precaution to head off Republican efforts to slow action this week on a sweeping climate bill. They are hiring a speed reader.

Republicans on the committee have said they may force the reading of the entire 946-page bill -- as well as major amendments that measure several hundred pages -- all aloud. This is a procedure lawmakers have a right to invoke. Republicans are largely against the bill, which aims to cut emissions of so-called greenhouse gases by more than 80% over the next half-century but would be costly.

Republicans haven't tried the tactic, but Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D., Calif.) is prepared.

A committee spokeswoman said the speed reader -- a young man who was on door duty at the hearing as he awaited a call to the microphone -- was hired to help staffers. After years of practice, the panel's clerks can read at a good clip. But the speed reader is a lot faster, she said.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124278191732237461.html

US Senators press Obama on 'risk' for Israel
18 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) " A vast majority of US senators on Tuesday urged President Barack Obama to mind the "risks" to Israel in any Middle East peace accord as he presses for a two-state solution to the six-decade conflict.
"As we work closely with our democratic ally, Israel, we must take into account the risks it will face in any peace agreement," 76 of the 100 senators wrote Obama in a letter released to reporters.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gYaDFEzo2OQggN0_RxnjXdjc4GrQ

You conservatives always use fear instead of solutions for the need of our country.

Right. And you have to be the dumbest person on the planet if you believe the Democrats are the answer.

Do you?

Such as??................................

Perhaps the biggest disconnect between the recently released statistics on poverty and current economic conditions is the recent rise in unemployment and the stagnation in family incomes. Over the years of 2000-2006, median family income did not change appreciably. In 2006, median family income was two percent below 2000. During the same period, earnings for men declined 3 percent while women experienced a 2.3 percent decline in their incomes. According to the Center for American Progress, even with the reported increase of 1.7 percent in median household income from 2006 to 2007, incomes are still .6 percent below the level of 2000.