Endeavour's last launch

Behind the Scenes: STS-134 Spacewalk Training 03/21/2011 -- Astronaut Mike Massimino visits the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory near NASA's Johnson Space Center as the STS-134 crew of space shuttle  Endeavour gets ready to conduct another spacewalk training session.

 

Living Space: Endeavour

Astronauts Chris Hadfield and Stan Love discuss their flights on space shuttle Endeavour.

Are corporations selling out America?

Morgan Spurlock of “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” and panel explains why America has been bought and paid for by big corporations.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Raise $1 million in a week to save school jobs?

Not even in Beverly Hills  The Beverly Hills school district falls short of its official goal but raises enough cash to cause the board to cancel 11 layoffs.

By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times

May 12, 2011

An effort to raise $1 million in one week for Beverly Hills schools fell short, but the drive to prevent key layoffs is likely to succeed anyway because of a financial maneuver by officials and a pledge from the teachers union.

The initiative, called the One Campaign, was notable for its ambition and speed. It called attention to the resources that Beverly Hills can command for its schools but also underscored the reality that, even there, campuses have suffered from an ongoing statewide financial crisis that has caused even greater duress elsewhere.

·         STORY: DATABASE: California Schools Guide

·         STORY: DATABASE: Los Angeles Teacher Ratings

For the official weeklong period that concluded Sunday, the Beverly Hills Education Foundation had raised about $540,000. The total has since reached $600,000 — from 1,900 donors, 35% of whom hadn't previously donated, said organizer Jonathan Prince.

The largest single donation was $25,000 from Lili and Jon Bosse, parents of a recent graduate of Beverly Hills schools; Lili Bosse, a City Council member, is a graduate of the local schools. One child turned in a dollar found on the playground. A parent donated a thousand soccer balls, which are being sold for $5 apiece. Saks Fifth Avenue donated $10,000, andother local merchants and restaurants also contributed goods or proceeds.

"The campaign brought everybody together," said Alex Cherniss, an assistant superintendent. "People have this perception that in Beverly Hills, one person can write that check. That's not the case and that's not what happened. There are lots of middle-class, hardworking folks here, and almost all of them contributed."

The tally was enough to persuade the school board Monday to save all 11 targeted positions, including counselors, specialists for disabled students, an elementary school technology teacher, middle school instrumental music teachers and, at the high school, the journalism teacher, a performing arts teacher and custodial staff.

Two of five board members opposed restoring all the positions, in part because of the sizable gap between money raised and money needed. But the district was up against the deadline for notifying employees, said school board President Lisa Korbatov, who voted for the restoration.

Beverly Hills Unified, with five schools and about 4,700 students, maintains offerings and small class sizes that have disappeared elsewhere. Even with the restorations, at least 15 positions will still fall under the budget knife.

To help fill the gap, leaders of the teachers union signaled a willingness to accept two unpaid furlough days. Each would save $150,000, according to the school system. The specifics must be negotiated, however, and approved by union members.

The school board majority also identified about $245,000 that it added to next year's budget. The funds had originally been earmarked to oppose potential subway tunneling under Beverly Hills High School. Instead, that cost will be shifted to the separate, school-construction bond fund. Two legal opinions supported the maneuver because subway tunneling would affect the district's plan to strengthen the building foundations and seismic safety at the high school, Korbatov said.

Officials also spent about $150,000 last year for a public relations and lobbying campaign to advocate for an alternate subway route. That amount will not be charged to the bond fund.

howard.blume@latimes.com

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

McKeon Launches AmericanJobCreators.com Initiative

From: BuckMcKeon  | May 11, 2011 

Bachmann Gives Support for Intell Authorization Bill

Uploaded by RepMicheleBachmann on May 12, 2011

Today on the House floor, Rep. Michele Bachmann urged her colleagues to support the Intelligence Authorization bill brought forward for a vote. A portion of her remarks, as prepared for delivery: "I am so proud to stand here on the House Floor as a member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, calling on my colleagues to pass the Intelligence Authorization Bill. The American people have made it clear again and again that they want this Congress to exercise the utmost seriousness when dealing with our nation's spending crisis. This bill is a step in that direction, ensuring that there is proper Congressional financial oversight, something that was lacking for the past six years. But they also want to be sure that our responsible approach does not sacrifice the security of our country, and this measure, which funds our intelligence community, ensures that they will have the resources to keep us safe."

Cornyn Discusses Gas Prices, Taxes on CNN with ED Hill 5-12

Uploaded by SenJohnCornyn on May 13, 2011

Congressmen view CIA photos of bin Laden dead and alive

May 12, 2011 12:38 PM

Rep. C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger (D-Md.) viewed VIA photos of Osama bin Laden dead and alive Thursday and described what he saw to CBS News Capitol Hill producer Jill Jackson.

House GOP moves to end money for new body scanners

ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press

Updated 08:51 p.m., Thursday, May 12, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans controlling the Transportation Security Administration's purse strings are moving to cut off funding for those advanced airport scanners that have sparked outrage over their revealing images of travelers' bodies.

Draft legislation released Thursday by the Appropriations homeland security subcommittee denies the Obama administration's $76 million request for an additional 275 of the scanners, which many travelers dislike because TSA employees can view full body images of travelers.

The GOP move wouldn't affect the 500 or so machines already in place at 78 of the nation's airports or the 500 just funded in a recent spending bill. Efforts are under way to solve the privacy concerns with new computer software. TSA currently gives passengers the option of a pat down in private — a choice that most people find even more intrusive.

Panel chairman Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., said his move was sparked by budgetary factors rather than protests from privacy advocates. And it comes as the TSA is trying hard to modify the machines so that they won't produce revealing images. Instead, the agency is trying out new software that would have the machines read the images and alert airport screeners when there's a potential weapon or other threat. The screener would then see the location of the threat as shown on a stick figure of the body.

That technology hasn't been proven yet, and with the new privacy software showing uneven results, Aderholt is refusing the fund additional machines.

"We don't want to skimp on security but we want to make sure that where we can make smart cuts, we do," Aderholt said.

The machines are aimed at detecting things like explosives and other threats that don't set off metal detectors. They follow an earlier generation of machines that puffed air at passengers that proved to be too fragile and expensive to maintain.

Defending the program, Homeland Security Department spokesman Adam Fetcher said that since early 2010 the full body scanners have led to the detection of nearly 210 prohibited, illegal or dangerous items at checkpoints nationwide.

Opponents of the machines took heart in the panel's decision.

"They're a nuisance. They're slow. And they're ineffective," said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a longtime critic, adding that the machines aren't not used to screen visitors to high-profile targets like the White House or the Capitol. The bottom line is that ... they're just not as effective as a good ol' German shepherd."

Chaffetz won a 310-118 vote on the House floor last year to cut off funding for the machines but the administration and the Senate refused to go along. The likelihood of a similar outcome this year may have reinforced the decision to withhold the funds.

But advocates of the full body technology say that the alternative to the machines are even more intrusive pat downs — such as recent high-profile incidents in which a baby was patted down at the Kansas City airport and a 6-year-old was upset after being frisked at the New Orleans airport. They say people far prefer the full body screenings than a hand-on pat down.

"Now they will have to hand search more people. More hand search means a lot more expense than using the technology," said Peter Kant, Executive Vice President of Rapiscan Systems

, one of the two companies that makes the machines. "Ninety-five-plus percent of people would rather be scanned than go through a pat down."

Kant was referring to a CBS News poll last year that also showed 81 percent of respondents support the full body scanners despite a concerted campaign by opponents.

The government has already spent about $1 billion on the machines. That big an investment ensures they probably aren't going anywhere.

And the machines have powerful advocates like Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee. A Rapiscan plant in his state employs 20 people manufacturing the machines.

"The whole-body-imaging machines have something that (bomb-sniffing) dogs don't have," Chaffetz said. "Lobbyists."