Jeb Bush: 'For the record, Neil Bush is not involved in the FCAT business. Stop spreading rumors.'

[seafan]

My, my.


All of this festering exposure of Jeb Bush's railroading of the Florida Legislature to pass his *education agenda* along with the cesspool of his other devious plans is really getting him rattled, let alone keeping him up at night..



Via Jeb Bush on Twitter on April 13, 2010:

# @LISABURKEAGVILL for the record, Neil Bush is not involved in the FCAT business. Stop spreading rumors. 3:39 AM Apr 13th via web in reply to LISABURKEAGVILL

Now, that one is a real whopper.




The article below is from an archived illustration from the Herald Tribune newspaper (FL) as it appeared on October 28, 2002:



Monday October 28, 2002

Herald-Tribune

via AP


Bush brother tries to sell FCAT software in Florida

A software company run by Neil Bush, a younger brother of Gov. Jeb Bush, hopes to sell a program to Florida schools that students would use to prepare for the test that is key to the governor's education policy.

Texas-based Ignite Inc. makes software being used in a pilot program at an Orlando-area middle school to help students prepare for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, which the governor has championed as a yardstick for school performance.

Ocoee Middle School, which has received millions of dollars in state grants to study ways of lowering costs, is using the software for free.

But a company spokeswoman said Saturday that Ignite soon hopes to sell its early American history course to other Florida schools, at a cost of $30 a year per student.
Ignite spokeswoman Louise Thacker denied the company had an unfair advantage because its founder and CEO, Neil Bush, is a brother of Florida's governor.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Education said Friday that Ignite officials had not approached the state about its product. Mike Eason, formerly the top technology official for the department, is a member of an Ignite advisory board.

Katie Muniz, a spokeswoman for Jeb Bush, said the governor has never talked with his brother about the business.

Gov. Bush's use of the FCAT complies with a law supported by another brother - President George W. Bush. The president's "Leave No Child Behind" law forces states to use testing as a measuring stick for schools.

Gov. Bush's education agenda has been criticized by Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill McBride, who has attacked the governor for his reliance on the FCAT to grade schools.

Ryan Banfill, spokesman for the state Democratic Party, called Ignite's marketing campaign in the state problematic, saying that is creates a strange appearance. "I don't know where the money's going to come from for this," Banfill said. "These districts are hard pressed to pay for chalk, let alone to put money in the pocket of the Bush family."

Neil Bush gained notoriety as director of the Silverado Savings & Loan in Colorado, whose failure cost taxpayers $1 billion and led to a grand jury investigation during the term of his father, President George H. W. Bush. Neil Bush was never charged.

Just to make sure everyone knows the score:



From Pam Spaulding on January 8, 2005:

.....

Neil Bush founded Ignite Incorporated, a software company that helps students prepare to take comprehensive tests required under the No Child Left Behind act. A phone call to Ignite's toll free number (1.866.464.4648, ext 113) with a search for a company directory by name for Neil Bush gets his extension, so it's still his baby with the dough rolling in.

Here's a little more info on Neil's profiteering down in Florida: Governor's Brother Marketing School Software (FlaNews.com):

Some politicians are questioning whether Governor Jeb Bush's brother Neil is trying to use the FCAT to make a buck. Neil Bush founded a company that provides software to help students take standardized tests. Critics say it doesn't look right for Neil Bush to be marketing his software to Florida schools.

Ignite, Incorporated makes computer software to help children prepare for standardized tests like florida's FCAT. Students at an Orlando-area middle school are using the software as part of a pilot program. Founder Neil Bush is the brother of Governor Jeb and President George Bush.

The arrangements is raising eyebrows at the state Democratic Party. Spokesman Ryan Banfill says having one brother selling something to help students on a test spearheaded by another brother and sanctioned by the president doesn't look good. "We think that there's an appearance of impropriety here," Banfill said. "We think that in the name of all that's good and ethical, that maybe Neil Bush should step back and not try to make money off of Florida's FCAT."

Care to retract that sniping, outright fabrication, Jeb?






Here's more information about this whole corrupt educational scam run by the Bush Family, for the record.


It's time a major investigation gets underway to unearth and link all of the corrupt ties and profiteering that enriches the Bush Family with regard to educational policy, Texas schoolbook writers, Neil Bush's educational software companies, standardized educational testing companies, and the relentless push by these people to destroy public education with privatization and an intrusive religious agenda.




This reeking, festering abscess needs to be opened and flushed.

[JuniperLea]

1. Jeb needs to stop spreading false rumors about his bro...

Honestly, some people~!

[chaplainM]

2. Don't forget the Bushes generosity

Their "donation" for Katrina relief was...Ignite software.

[Bluebear]

3. EXACTLY.

[goclark]

15. What a piece of crap their entire family is ~

Even Laura was/is an enabler IMO

They have been pushing that NCLB mess forever.

It is no good!

[Rex]

4. As long as some families stay above the law, there is no law.

I wonder if the Bush Crime Family will EVER be brought to justice? I doubt it.

[philly_bob]

5. Barbara Bush's relief effort for Katrina victims was FCAT educational items...

if I recall correctly.

[seafan]

6. It was for COW, or Curriculum on Wheels, Neil's handiwork.

From within the last link in the OP:



Former first lady's donation aids son; Katrina funds earmarked to pay for Neil Bush's software program, March 23, 2006

.....

The trip to Fleming Middle School is intended to showcase Bush's commitment to education for both Houston-area and New Orleans evacuee students, according to a press release issued Wednesday by Ignite.
Fleming, which has more than 170 New Orleans students, was one of eight area schools chosen by the Harris County Department of Education to receive a donated COW, or Curriculum on Wheels, multimedia program after Hurricane Katrina.

Neil Bush founded Austin-based Ignite Learning, which produces the COW program, in 1999.

Becker said she wasn't at liberty to divulge how much money the Bush family gave to the hurricane funds, but said the "rest of their donation was not earmarked for anything." ..... Regarding the fact that Bush's earmarked donation also benefited her son's company, Becker said, "Mrs. Bush is obviously an enthusiastic supporter of her son. She is genuinely supportive of his program," and has received many letters from educators who support it. Bush "honestly felt this would be a great way to help the (evacuee) students."

Barbara and Neil Bush presented the donated programs to Houston-area schools this winter.

.....

There are 40 Ignite programs being used in the Houston area, and 15 in the Houston school district, said Ken Leonard, president of Ignite.
Information about the effectiveness of the program, through district-generated reports, was not readily available Wednesday, according to an HISD spokeswoman.
Two years ago, the school district raised eyebrows when it expanded the program by relying heavily on private donations.

In February 2004, the Houston school board unanimously agreed to accept $115,000 in charitable donations from businesses and individuals who insisted the money be spent on Ignite. The money covered half the bill for the software, which cost $10,000 per school.
The deal raised conflict of interest concerns because Neil Bush and company officials helped solicit the donations for the HISD Foundation, a philanthropic group that raises money for the district.

HISD school principals decide for themselves whether to spend their budgeted money on Ignite.

Leonard said that in the past six to eight months, the company has hired national sales representatives across the country — in Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada — in hopes of expanding beyond Texas. Currently, about 80 percent of the company's customers are from Texas.

Last year, Neil Bush reportedly toured former Soviet Union countries promoting Ignite with Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky.
According to the Times of London, Berezovsky, a former Kremlin insider now living in Britain, is wanted on criminal charges in Moscow accusing him of seeking to stage a coup against President Vladimir Putin.

.....

Aren't Neil's friends nice...


And it worked out very well for him.



(bold type added)

[madfloridian]

7. lol ...recommended.

Jeb Jeb Jeb...we all know better than that.

[donheld]

8. I jeb says it, I believe the opposite.

[peace frog]

21. Exactly

How can you tell when a Bush is lying? His/her lips are moving.

[Canuckistanian]

9. Whenever a Bush says to stop doing something

That's when you start investigating.

[troubledamerican]

10. Spreading rumors about socialism, death panels, raising taxes, Muslim takeovers...

All in a day's work for the Bush Crime Family

[lumberjack_jeff]

11. Sounds like Bob Beaudelang.

"so stop saying that!"

[Cobalt-60]

12. the Bush Leeches never stop sucking

For people who claim to dislike taxes they have an endless appetite for them.
This clan of scavengers makes old boss Tweed look honest.

[ensho]

13. both of them are criminals, along with poppie

nt

[lib2DaBone]

14. As John Stewart recently told the Tea Baggers....

".. Hey Jeb... go F_ _ _ Yourself"

[Dinger]

16. duncan loves that shit,

so does Obama, or so it appears.

[drmeow]

17. My first reaction to this was

"I am not a crook" which was considered a pretty stupid thing for Nixon to say, not because he was a crook but because by saying "I am not a crook" he put into people's minds the question about whether he was a crook or not. For anyone who was not thinking about it, saying "Neil Bush is not involved in the FCAT business" would immediately make them wonder about exactly that.

[elehhhhna]

18. "the FCAT business" says it all. it's a profit opportunity. period

[JDPriestly]

19. "Is" is the operative word.

Neil Bush is not involved in the FCAT business.

Neil Bush is credited for founding IGNITE, the FCAT company with which his name is associated. Maybe he ended (or they ended) that affiliation.

After all, CREW investigated them during the Bush administration.

The Associated Press did a follow up article on the Department of Education's investigation of federal spending on Neil Bush's Ignite! Learning. The New York Times first reported on the investigation in yesterday's paper.

That investigation provides a backdrop to the launch of our new website, governmentdocs.org. As noted below, CREW is previewing that site at 11 a.m today. Browse, search and review all the documents CREW has received from the Department of Education relating to contacts between three Education offices and specified individuals, products or entities associated with Ignite! Learning. The documents can be found here.

http://www.citizensforethics.org/taxonomy/term/1087

[jeremyfive]

20. Jeb Continues to Harm Florida, Even Today

This keeps him up nights? Why? Is Katherine Harris to busy fighting soepenas to pitch the woo?

[lib2DaBone]

24. +1 Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush.. a bad reality show on TV...

..."who will be voted off the Island this week"?

[Ikonoklast]

26. I wonder what Spunk and Moxie are up to lately?

They've been missing in action since Michelle 'Crazy Eyes' Bachmann took over Harris' spot as loony congressperson.

[texastoast]

22. K&R n/t

[Demeter]

23. Lying is OK if You're a Bush

It's de rigueur, in fact.

[cachukis]

25. Making Money off the FCAT is involvement, Jeb.

From Project Censored

# 12 Bush Profiteers Collect Billions From No Child Left Behind

(Excerpt)

Kress, former president of the Dallas School Board, began “A Draft Position for George W. Bush on K-12 Education” as early as 1999. Working successfully with then-Governor Bush in Texas for years, the Democrat bolstered bipartisan support behind the compassionate marketing promise to “leave no child behind” through the adoption of high state standards measuring school performance. Signed into law in early 2002, NCLB dramatically extended the federal role in public education, mandating annual testing of children in Grades 3 to 8, providing tutoring for children in persistently failing schools, and setting a twelve-year timetable for closing chronic gaps in student achievement. Having then crafted the legislation, Kress transitioned from public servant to corporate lobbyist, guiding clients to the troth of federal funds. By 2005 he had made upwards of $4 million from lobbying contracts.

While the Business Roundtable maintains that the high-stakes tests administered nationwide hold schools accountable to “Adequate Yearly Progress,” NCLB has instead benefited the testing industry in the amount of between $1.9 and $5.3 billion a year. NCLB requires states to produce “interpretive, descriptive, and diagnostic reports,” all of which are provided at a price by members of the industry. Among these are the top four or five players in the textbook market, including the Big Three—McGraw-Hill, Houghton-Mifflin, and Harcourt General—who have, since the passage of NCLB, come to dominate the testing market. Identified by Wall Street analysts in the wake of the 2000 election as “Bush stocks,” all three represent owners like Harold McGraw III, who has longstanding ties to the Bush administration and the lobbying efforts of Sandy Kress.

Other Kress clients, including Ignite! Learning, a company headed by Neil Bush, and K12 Inc., a for-profit enterprise owned by Bill Bennett, tailored themselves to vie for NCLB dollars.


Under NCLB, as school districts receive federal funding they are required by law to hold 20 percent of those funds aside, anticipating that its schools will fail to meet its Annual Yearly Progress formula. When that “failure” is certified by test scores, the district is required to use those set-aside federal funds to pay supplemental education service (SES) providers. Ignite! has placed products in forty US school districts, and K12 offers a menu of services “as an option to traditional brick-and-mortar schools,” including computer-based “virtual academies,” that have qualified for over $4 million in federal grants. Under NCLB, supplemental educational services, whose results are being increasingly challenged, reap $2 billion annually.


http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/12-bush-profiteers-collect-billions-from-no-child-left-behind/

[benld74]

27. LOL festering abscess? How about Festering Abcess Achievment Tests(FCAT)?

[sabrina 1]

28. Neil Bush's 'educational' software was peddled in NOLA

after Katrina also. Interesting that he suddenly got into 'education' when his brother was running for president, claiming he would be the 'Education President' with his disastrous NCLB program. Written by businessmen, it had a built-in guarantee that Neil and another prominent Republican profiteer, Bill Bennet who also produced an 'educational program' would make money from NCLB.

From what I've read, 20% of funds for NCLB would be withheld until schools passed the 'test' of living 'up to' the standards set in the law.

Those who didn't, could spend that 20% on alternative programs, such as Neil Bush's 'Ignite' software program. What a deal. And especially when you had inside info on all this before became law. Something the Bush Boys seem to be good at.

But back to NOLA and Neil Bush and his mom, Babs:

Former first lady's donation aids son

Katrina funds earmarked to pay for Neil Bush's software program

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.

And how effective is this program?

There are 40 Ignite programs being used in the Houston area, and 15 in the Houston school district, said Ken Leonard, president of Ignite.

Information about the effectiveness of the program, through district-generated reports, was not readily available Wednesday, according to an HISD spokeswoman.

'Disaster Capitalists'. Those Bushes are very good at managing their own finances, they've feeding at the public trough for decades. Too bad they didn't manage the country's finances with the same dedication.

Jeb and his brothers, sons, daughters, cousins are a liability to this country. Aside from the criminality involved in their careers, we simply can't afford to keep them in the style they have grown accustomed to.

[seafan]

33. Jeb Bush took over as Governor of FL in January, 1999. Neil Bush then founded Ignite in 1999.

It's called "striking while the iron is hot."


See how nicely this works?


1. W. cooks up No Child Left Behind.

2. Jeb forces the FCAT into public schools in Florida.

3. Neil hawks software to *help pass* the FCAT.


Then, the bucks just miraculously start flowing the Bushes' way.




And the real obscenity is, every year, Ma and Poppy Bush, with Jeb Crow tagging along, traipse down to Southwest Florida's glitzy resorts or over to FOX, to proclaim their *love of education*.


These people cloak themselves in hypocritical piety, only to abuse the concept of education to feed the family greed.





February 12, 2010:




Photo by GREG KAHN

Former President George H.W. Bush, center greets author James Bradley, right, while former Fla. Governor Jeb Bush, far right, speaks with author Brad Meltzer, far left, after a news conference during the 10th Annual Celebration of Reading, at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa in Bonita Springs on Feb. 12, 2010. Every year the fundraiser benefits the Family Literacy Initiative, which funds reading programs around the state. Greg Kahn/Staff



Photo by GREG KAHN

Former President George H.W. Bush takes questions from the media during the 10th Annual Celebration of Reading, at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa in Bonita Springs on Feb. 12, 2010. Every year the fundraiser benefits the Family Literacy Initiative, which funds reading programs around the state. Greg Kahn/Staff


Photo by GREG KAHN

Former First Lady Barbara Bush jokes with her husband and former President George H.W. Bush during the 10th Annual Celebration of Reading, at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa in Bonita Springs on Feb. 12, 2010. Every year the fundraiser benefits the Family Literacy Initiative, which funds reading programs around the state. Greg Kahn/Staff



Photo by GREG KAHN

Former First Lady, Barbara Bush, center, former President George H.W. Bush, right, and former governor Jeb Bush, left, enter the room for a news conference during the 10th Annual Celebration of Reading, at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa in Bonita Springs on Feb. 12, 2010. Every year the fundraiser benefits the Family Literacy Initiative, which funds reading programs around the state. Greg Kahn/Staff





We're not looking at the best of America.

[sabrina 1]

34. Great post.

Sickening, isn't it? I mean you have a convicted felon profiting from inside information. And not a single member of the media dares to cover what this family has been up to for decades now.

Also, airc, at the height of the 9/11 ME scare, Neil was traveling around the ME, the Far East and China, getting investors for his 'educational' program. Questions have been raised about why someone in China would have any interest in our Public School education. But I think the answer if fairly obvious. NCLB turned the Educational System in the U.S. into a big business opportunity under Bush, and Neil, as you pointed out, was in on the ground floor with something for them to invest in.

I meant to point out earlier also, that when Babs donated that money, with the condition that Neilums' program be purchased, she not only was trying to cash in for him, she herself got a tax break for her donation.

It's amazing how clever they are at managing family finances to get the maximum profits, yet Bush oversaw the complete collapse of the U.S. economy.

Neil got lots of investors from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, even from the Bin Laden Construction Co. Yet, not a whisper about these people involving all these countries in the U.S. public school system funds.

Great photos, thanks for the post. The whole thing is just criminal and I am afraid there will be more Bushes in power in the future. I wouldn't be surprised if they're getting one of the twins ready to run for office.

[seafan]

35. Know your BFEE: Neil Bush (A classic from Octafish)

A classic from DU's own Octafish, from 2006.



And a couple more for Jeb to snipe about; it's surely a shame that his murky secrets are methodically being exposed. Not.



Dubai funds Neil Bush's company, from 2006



George W. Bush (NCLB) laundered to Jeb's! Florida ----> Neil's *educational software* for sale....., from 2007




This family just preys on the good people of America.

[sabrina 1]

36. Thank you. I'm speecless. I mean I knew a lot about

the Bush crime family, but that thread is unbelievable, the worldwide connections, to the Russian mob, and the Chinese and Saudi Arabia. And of course their connections to the Rev. Moon. These people must be machines to be able to keep up with all their nefarious dealings.

But most disturbing is the fact that questionable characters from Russia to China to Saudi Arabia are involved in tracking the educational progress of American students. This gives me the creeps for some reason. It seems like a breach of trust, or worse.

I have bookmarked the thread as there is so much to absorb there alone, and I'm sure it's only the tip of the iceberg. But why have they been able to get away with it? Are they so powerful, that no one can stop them? And what's with Clinton attaching himself to this crime syndicate?

It's as if there has been a coup and this country is simply a bank for the elites, not just of this country, but of thugs from around the globe, brought here by the Bush family.

Thanks for directing me to Octofish's excellent thread. I try not to mis his postings as they are always filled with excellent information, but I had missed that one. It needs to be distributed as far and wide as possible since the media will never cover any of this.

One link in the thread that every American should read, was the one to the memo from the CIA to their assets in the media, telling them how to diminish the effect of people who questioned the Warren Commission. Scary stuff, as I recognize some of those tactics from internet forums. Regarding topics like 'stolen elections' and '9/11'. And I saw them implemented on blogs claiming to be 'progressive'. I wondered who might be behind those tactics as I knew no real progressive would try to silence questions about these super important events. Now, I think I know.

[OnyxCollie]

29. Kick.

[myrna minx]

30. Thanks for kicking this - I missed it yesterday.

:hi:

[OnyxCollie]

31. I missed it, too.

Kick again.

[Enthusiast]

32. No character to be found

anywhere in the Bush clan.