An interesting question, at that. How much money are we really talking about
here? They have some guy, probably, already on the payroll, or maybe even a
computer translator, that translates the site into Spanish. I bet it doesn't
cost all that much compared to their whole budget. They probably spend more
on wastebaskets every month.

Your statement shows a remarkably optimistic (okay, ignorant) view of
how our government bureaucracy functions. Here's how it really goes
down:

1. A new Congressional mandate rolls into the National Weather Service
office: ALL DOCUMENTS MUST NOW BE PUBLISHED IN SPANISH.
2. Head of NWS decrees "Thou shalt translate all weather forecasts
into Spanish."
3. NWS meterologists hold meeting (in Las Vegas, in January) to
discuss the issue. All look at one another blankly -- Who amongst us
speaks Spanish? Answer: No one.
4. Report goes back up the chain of command: No one here can predict
the weather in Spanish!"
5. Head of NWS makes a request for additional bilingual staff,
preferably meteorologists. No one even considers a translator.
6. Government bureacrat in another department evaluates request for
more staff, and determines that this must be a Pay Level 13 job, since
it requires a degree in meteorology. Pay Level 13 starts at $34.00
per hour. Starting pay is $70K per year.
7. Spanish-speaking meteorologists are scarce as hen's teeth, and the
search committee fails to find the required 25 new positions.
Therefore, the pay is increased to Pay Level 18, or $56.00 per hour.
Starting pay is now $116K per year.
8. Suddenly, Spanish-speaking weather forecasters are coming out of
the woodwork. The NWS hires 25 new meteorologists, all of them
Spanish-speaking.
9. The Meteorologist's Union files a grievance, since these new hires
are now making more than the weather forecasters who have been there
since TelStar was launched.
10. To placate the union, all NWS forecasters are raised to Pay Level
18.
11. The NWS is now in a budget crunch, and goes to Congress pleading
for more money. No one tells Congress that the budget crunch was
caused by their mandate to translate everything into Spanish.

....And the beat goes on...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"