Strange Stuff

Fall 2004

Bonuses for Feds

Apparently school budget crises have not "trickled up" to the Department of Education. According to an article in Education Week , the U.S. Department of Education gave more than $5.7 million in bonuses to its employees in the 2003 calendar year. One student-aid official raked in $71,250 on top of an annual salary. Read the full article at: www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=01Bonus.h24.

Career Change?

From a job listing on CraigsList.com:

Law Enforcement: If you are looking for a secure but flexible job, then this may be it. Metropolitan Interpreters & Translators, Inc. has been awarded a five-year contract by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to staff and manage a nationwide program of telephone wiretaps. Monitors for this contract are needed in both English and in foreign languages.

As a monitor or linguist under this contract, you will assist the Department of Homeland Security with their war against terrorism by monitoring court ordered telephone intercepts. Positions are available throughout the United States with a primary need along the Southwest border, the Southeast, Northeast, North-west and major cities through the center of the country.

Salaries will be commensurate with the candidate's background and experience as well as language capabilities, but will range from $15.00 per hour, up to $45.00 per hour, depending on the language. We are offering a slightly higher compensation for candidates who already have a valid security clearance and for individuals fluent in uncommon or exotic languages.

If you are interested in the position, please visit our website at http://www.metlang.com for more information and to apply on-line. You must complete the pre-employment questionnaire on our website to be considered for a position. PLEASE DO NOT SEND E-MAIL, as we are unable to respond to you until you have gone through the online screening process.

Immigrant Ed

A private school in Los Angeles is facing consumer protection lawsuits for claiming to award high school diplomas to immigrant students. The California Alternative High School charged Latino students $450 to $1,450 for a 10-week course. The school hooked students by promising to help them get financial aid, get into college, and find better jobs. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said the school continued to tell prospective students its certificate was the equivalent to a high school diploma, even though a court order had banned it from doing so.

The school's only curriculum was a slim workbook that included the following errors: The United States has 53 states but the "flag has not yet been updated to reflect the addition of the last three states" — Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico. World War II began in 1938 and ended in 1942.

There are two houses of Congress — the Senate and the House, and "one is for Democrats and the other is for the Republicans, respectively."

For more information, visit the California Attorney General's website: www.ag.ca.gov.

	illustration: Ben Sargent © 2004 Austin American-Statesman. Reprinted with permission of Universal Press Syndicate. All rights reserved.

No Sex in Texas

T he Texas State Board of Education is evaluating new health textbooks that make no mention of preventing pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, or HIV/AIDS except for abstinence. According to the summer 2004 issue of Network News , the newsletter of the Texas Freedom Network, Texas has the highest birthrate among teenagers ages 15-17, yet the textbooks being considered don't include basic, scientifically accurate information on birth control and disease prevention. For more information, visit www.protectourkids.com.

QUOTABLE QUOTES

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
—George W. Bush, Aug. 5, 2004

"Where did this idea come from that everybody deserves free education? It comes from Moscow, from Russia. It comes straight out of the pit of hell."
—Texas State Rep. Debbie Riddle, 2003

Fall 2004