CREW: Watchdog asks: Why is Bush's kid brother, NEIL BUSH, getting federal $$$$$$ for COWs?

[L. Coyote]

Watchdog asks: Why is Bush's kid brother getting federal bucks?
Source: Nick Juliano // Rawstory.com

* CREW REQUESTS DEPT. OF ED. AUDIT OF NCLB FUNDS SPENT ON NEIL BUSH’S IGNITE! LEARNING PRODUCTS // 12 Sep 2007
http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/30105

12 Sep 2007 // An independent watchdog agency has asked the Department of Education to investigate why President Bush's younger brother, Neil, has received money earmarked for the president's signature education initiative to sell a curriculum program that has not been subjected to the rigorous evaluation it deserves.

Neil Bush, 52, who has no background in education, founded Ignite! Learning in 1999 with donations from his parents and a slate of international business interests. The company produces "Curriculum on Wheels" devices -- computer/projectors that are pre-loaded with software aimed at preparing students for standardized tests that are the central tenet of the president's No Child Left Behind law.

The "COWs" are sold to school districts at a cost of $3,800 to $4,200, although they have not been subjected to peer-reviewed scientific studies, according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. CREW says nearly $1 million has been spent on the systems in 16 school districts, mostly in Texas, where George W. Bush served as governor before his election in 2000, and Florida, where brother Jeb Bush is governor.

The watchdog group is requesting an investigation from the Education Department's inspector general, alleging that the Ignite! systems do not meet the standards laid out by Congress dictating how NCLB funds can be spent. ..........

[againes654]

1. K&R

Good story!!!! Educating our children should be #1 since the are the furture. I went to a store the other day, and the girl actually had to use to calculator to figure $10.00-$2.77. This is basic math. Things will really get bad if we continue to fail our children's educational needs.:rant:

[gateley]

12. K&R

[spanone]

2. we all know why...their corrupt as hell.

[slowry]

3. Cash COWs n/t

[sandnsea]

4. Barbara's Katrina Education Donation

I still want to know if her donation went to buying Ignite products.

I also want to know when they're going to expose Bill Bennett's homeschooling K12 program, which I've been harping about for years.

This is why rich people should pay the taxes. They're the ones who benefit.

[Horse with no Name]

22. Funny you would think that

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/3742329.html

>>>snip
Former first lady Barbara Bush donated an undisclosed amount of money to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund with specific instructions that the money be spent with an educational software company owned by her son Neil.

Since then, the Ignite Learning program has been given to eight area schools that took in substantial numbers of Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

"Mrs. Bush wanted to do something specifically for education and specifically for the thousands of students flooding into the Houston schools," said Jean Becker, former President Bush's chief of staff. "She knew that HISD was using this software program, and she's very excited about this program, so she wanted to make it possible for them to expand the use of this program."

[Horse with no Name]

23. Wonder how big of a tax break she got for giving her kid money

Most parents that consistently bail out their worthless kids end up losing--not gaining.

[sandnsea]

24. Well they write the rules

I'm sure they know how to take advantage of them. It's what Bush meant when he said rich people just hire expensive accountants to avoid paying taxes. Now THAT is something the Kerry campaign should have exploited and didn't. What an arrogant thing to say, and he didn't pay for it at all.

[zabet]

26. Bar wanted to do something special alright...

something special that would kick back money to her
off-spring being as she could not strain her 'beautiful
mind' thinking about the people of Katina. :puke:
Nepotism from the top of the Hill to the lowest gutters
swimming with the Katrina dead. :grr:

[tanyev]

5. Because if he had to earn his own way like everybody else, he'd still be living in Bab's basement.

[Trillo]

6. The blessings of nepotic privitization.

K&R

[cosmicdot]

7. "Know your BFEE", right, Octafish?

March 2006

03.24.06 -- 3:37PM

By Josh Marshall

Back on the question of how Barbara Bush donated money for Katrina aid and 'earmarked' part of it for the purchase of educational software produced by Ignite!, the company her son, Neil Bush, to bag money from international potentates, tycoons and crooks. Taxprof's got a post on a subject I've been curious about. George and Barbara Bush -- like a lot of other folks investment for non-economic reasons -- are actually investors in Ignite!

So how is it exactly you get away with making a tax subsidized contribution that you stipulate must be used to purchase products from a company in which you are a partial owner?

Isn't that a scam of some sort?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/007995.php


I suspect Neil used taxpaid Poppy Bu$h's post-White House office expense account to set Ignite up - but, that's just my conjecture. Why make long distance calls on his dime?

"Since his 1992 election campaign, Bush has retired to be with his wife at their home in the exclusive neighborhood of Tanglewood in Houston, with a presidential office nearby." wiki

[jhain]

8. DING DING DING

been praying for this to start making the 'news'. As is No Chld Left A Dime wsn't enough of a travesty.

[Sanity Claws]

9. $ for Cows? It should have gone to Barbara, not Neil

Neil is more of an ass, not a cow.

[CabalPowered]

10. Slightly off topic

And not related to Neil but interesting as I think the stink at DoEd goes well beyond Ignite!


Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools; Overview Information; Grant
Competition To Improve Public Knowledge of and Support for Democracy;
Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2007

...

Full Text of Announcement

I. Funding Opportunity Description

Purpose of Program: To improve the quality of civic education
through the implementation of comprehensive programs to improve public
knowledge, understanding, and support of the United States Congress and
the State legislatures.

II. Award Information

Type of Award: Discretionary grant.
Estimated Available Funds: $2,984,750.
Estimated Range of Awards: $500,000-$2,984,750.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $500,000.
Estimated Number of Awards: 4-5.

Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice.

Project Period: Up to 18 months.

...

III. Eligibility Information

1. Eligible Applicants:
State educational agencies, local educational agencies,
institutions of higher education; and other public and private
agencies, organizations, and institutions, or a combination of such
entities.

The full RFP is here..
http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/announcements/2007-3/071107b.html

If you notice, the RFP doesn't even require that this grant be implemented in a school setting. The inclusion of "other public and private agencies" means that this could very well go to some PR firm. Federal support for civics education in schools is administered by SDFS, through a program called We the People. They receive their own money in a line item in the DoEd budget. This particular RFP is taking money from other categories in the SDFS budget to fund this PR crap. Here's the Bush Bot in charge..

http://www.ed.gov/news/staff/bios/price.html

[WinkyDink]

11. It's the ENTIRE, without qualification, raison d'etre for NCLB.

What? You thought maybe Bush values educated citizens?!

[AzDar]

13. K & R

Corrupt to the core.

[mitchum]

14. Because it's in the bush family DNA to feed at the public trough...

and those pigs always feed big

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. Book 'im Dano!

[flashl]

16. K&R n/t

[jtrockville]

17. Is this the same Neil Bush of the S&L scandal?

[L. Coyote]

19. Yes, the very one, the competent dude who cost taxpayers $1.6 billion

Neil Bush was director of Silverado Savings and Loan when the institution collapsed in 1988, costing taxpayers $1.6 billion. Why isn't this how Reagan is remember, for the S & L era!

[tanyev]

21. And the same Neil of the magically appearing hookers.

Quite a guy.

[Roland99]

18. Milking the Treasury.

I have a big beef with this!

[Initech]

20. It's not just Dubya himself, that whole family is fucking evil.

Why is this surprising to anyone?

[TankLV]

25. because nobody will let him near a savings and loan anymore?!?!

I'm guessing here...

[tom_paine]

27. Isn't it obvious? The Amerikan Treasury BELONGS to the Imperial Family

and it an embarassment that they should have to resort to subterfuge to lay their hands ON WHAT IS THEIRS BY DIVINE RIGHT.

Not to worry, just another few generations of Americans, those of us who were born in freedom and still remember it, grow old and die off.

Not that much longer to wait, really.

The Penultimate Phases and the Final Phase of Amerika's transition to the New Totalitarianism are coming.

Let's hope Middle Phase takes it's sweet time.

[L. Coyote]

28. The treasury is now empty, and the deficit belongs to those holding treasury notes.

The tax cuts for the rich have been transformed into National debt. In effect, the Rs have given the rich money to loan to the government and now they can earn interest on it for 20 years and then still have the money.

[SpiralHawk]

29. "Smirk, smirk, smirk" - BFEE

BFEE

[MsMagnificent]

30. Why? Um maybe

because he's a crony??

God I hate these people.

[L. Coyote]

31. Is Neil having a good weekend? visibility kick