Accidental Blogger

Conservatives like to admonish others (especially those who are financially strapped) to stand on their own two feet, even when the feet are wobbly.  Governmental assistance for education, health care, disaster relief etc. is looked down upon as handouts and quotas. Yet some of the most powerful and privileged in their class think nothing of manipulating the system to benefit their own. The rich feed at the public trough with a natural sense of entitlement but grumble when the needy come knocking at the door and ask to be bailed out of dire straits.

Nearly five months ago, I wrote about Barbara Bush’s novel plan of financially enriching her good for nothing son, Neil Bush who has failed at several business ventures, including some that were less than above board.  Nothing wrong with a parent helping a child. Except, Mrs. Bush’s family assistance scheme  came disguised as charitable donation to victims of Katrina!  The convoluted plan for funneling  money to her own son through the Houston Independent School District (HISD) smacks of money laundering. Today it was reported in the Houston Chronicle that the Bush family deal using Houston school kids with learning disablities as a front, is even shadier than originally thought. It also involves peddling educational material of questionable value and Neil Bush stands to receive money from the school district over and above what his mother and her friends are donating to the fund. Please read the whole report and you will see why it is not a surprise that the other good for nothing Bush brother is blithely wrecking the world.  The apple (rotten ones included) doesn’t fall far from the tree. 

Neil’s deal
HISD’s decision to buy more educational software from the son of a former president raises red flags. The Houston Independent School District board has authorized spending up to $200,000 for educational software and projectors sold by a company founded by Neil Bush, the son of former President George and Barbara Bush. It’s a waste of tax dollars that doesn’t pass the smell test.

Ignite Learning is an Austin-based venture that markets learning programs tailored for children with short attention spans. Its reliance on jingles, cartoons and other snippets seems more likely to reinforce that limitation than to nourish intellect and learning.

Neil Bush started the business in 1999 with millions of dollars from Middle Eastern and Asian business and political figures connected to the Bush family. The business has not made money and has required repeated cash infusions from his parents. Taiwanese interests that had given Neil a job consulting for a semiconductor manufacturer provided $2 million; $3 million came from Saudi interests.

The youngest Bush brother has led a checkered career notable for his involvement in the failure of Colorado’s Silvarado S&L in the ’80s. Since then he has worked as a consultant, mostly for interests having or seeking connections with his family.

HISD’s participation in the Ignite program began with the donation of private funds raised by Bush associates and donated to the philanthropic HISD Foundation. Those donations paid only half the software’s initial cost; the school district provided the rest.

Critics complain that the Ignite computers and software are of questionable value, the contract was not competitively bid and the program was not adequately evaluated. Visitors to Ignite Learning’s Web site will tend to agree. The samples on display barely scrape the surface of the subject. Tariffs, for instance, are represented as a monster created by a mad scientist. The taxation of imports is never mentioned.

An eighth-grade student is quoted as saying how much he prefers looking at cartoons and singing songs to being taught by a teacher. Quelle surprise. The company claims its product makes connections between program content and students’ lives. Isn’t that the job of the teacher, who is actually acquainted with the students’ lives?

HISD cannot take money from Bush family interests, then spend public dollars on a program benefiting Neil Bush and avoid a conflict of interest.

Barbara Bush violated district policy when she used her visit to Fleming Middle School last spring to promote the Ignite program. She also attracted publicity when she earmarked part of her contribution to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort to be spent on purchases of Neil’s software.

In the interest of "fair and balanced," here is a link and a short excerpt from Neil Bush’s rejoinder to the above article, published in today’s edition of the Houston Chronicle’s Letters to The Editor section.  Mr. Bush provides no satisfactory answer to clear the air regarding his own past or the shady financial deal between the HISD and his benefactors, including his mother. He does defend his mother’s honor with appropriate generic outrage. He also does not respond substantively to the merits of the Ignite! educational software that his company sells – except with some vague references to using music and animation to promote better learning. He energetically extols the virtues of an Ignite! device called "Curriculum On Wheels,"  whose unfortunate acronym is "COW"!

"The Chronicle’s Aug. 15 editorial ("Neil’s deal") demonstrated ignorance about my company, of deeply rooted problems with educational instruction in public schools and of the Houston Independent School District’s policies and procedures.

Ignite! believes the teacher is at the epicenter of classroom instruction. And yet, teachers, who often work with more than 100 kids a day with different learning styles, cultural backgrounds, and levels of academic achievement, are the poorest equipped professionals in our modern economy. Ignite! has developed more than 5,000 media pieces over the past four years that comprehensively cover the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills test standards, and we have put that curriculum into an easy to use device we call "Curriculum on Wheels" [COW]. ….

Finally, the personal attacks and repeated misrepresentations about my past are troubling and show the editorial board’s political bias. I’m in a high-profile family, and low blows come with the territory. But the Chronicle crossed the line by attacking my mother. Barbara Bush has spent a lot of her time while serving as first lady and since retirement raising millions of dollars and unselfishly supporting various education initiatives. Her literacy efforts are the cornerstone of this heroic effort, but she’s done a lot more. Putting a negative spin on her good will is offensive and serves to discourage community support of innovative approaches to public education."

NEIL BUSH founder and chairman, Ignite! Learning, Houston