Monday, September 24, 2007

Neil Bush's Cash C.O.W.

Don't have a COW, man
Click-2-Listen
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Sunday, September 23, 2007
No Child Left Behind is becoming No COW Left Behind.
No, not a moo cow. C.O.W. stands for Curriculum on Wheels. Lots of school districts, including Palm Beach County's, have bought the COWs using No Child Left Behind money. The tab in Palm Beach: $46,000, of which $38,400 was from the federal government.
More from Opinion
Editorials, letters, columns and Don Wright cartoons
Share This Story
digg
del.icio.us
Fark
Newsvine
reddit
Technorati
Facebook
MoreWhat are these?
A COW is a projector on wheels that has software loaded onto a hard drive. Press a button and it "teaches" students social studies or science or math. Well, maybe it does. The nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington says no study ever has demonstrated, to NCLB standards, that the COWs work.
The experience in Palm Beach County wasn't good. Spokesman Nat Harrington said that after trying a few units, "it wasn't something that we wanted to invest in."
So, the citizens organization has asked the federal Department of Education's inspector general to investigate whether political considerations are behind the COW sales. COWs are sold by a company called Ignite! Learning, which is run by none other than Neil Bush, President Bush's younger brother. U.S. taxpayers are familiar with Neil Bush, since they paid roughly $1.6 billion to bail out Silverado Savings & Loan, which failed in the 1980s. Neil Bush was a board member.
Neil Bush does not have a background in education. But he figures that since his brother has made the NCLB a sacred cow, he might as well treat it as a cash cow. The inspector general needs to look into the issue. Otherwise, Neil Bush will keep running this scheme until the cows come home.

Snip

Yet another example of how G.W. Bush's policies benifit friends and family. We are fast becoming a bannana republic under these people.

No comments: