MFB fights cookie-cutter ed --'what we've done w/the mi merit curriculum, said jeremy glaspie, tuscola country inter school dis agriscience teacher, is to take a cookie cutter and make every kid look the same. we can't do that. kids need options. college prep, in my opinion does a great job of bringing you through a book and enabling you to answer questions on a test. but we're talking about real-world applications and critical thinking. glaspie said he believes career and tech training is the only ed system that presently puts both the mind and the hand into figuring things out in real work applications. the best ex is a math problem where the student has to figure out how much chemical to put in a field. he said. they need math to figure that out, and that's a real world application that kids need. with those skills, there are jobs waiting for you, and they're not dead end jobs. the contrary argument is that hands-on training as part of tech schooling is dumbing down society, the opposite is true, glaspie said.' (state got rid of many tech classes when the switch to college ready appeared, what great job does chemical application have? the dumbing down w/hands on is false--is he making it up as he goes?
p 10 article "food labeling defeat was a mini tax revolt analyst says"
about the washington state ballot initiative defeat that would have required labeling of food w/genetically engineered ingredients
'the mandate would have imposed a tax on a perfectly safe technology that some activists object to on purely philosophical grounds, said gregory conko CEI's executive director and an expert on biotechnology regulation. the world's most respected scientific bodies, including the national academies of science, the american medical asso, the am asso for the advancement of science and the science academies of dozens of other countries have concluded bio-engineered foods are at least as safe as -- and often safer than -- foods produced w/more conventional methods.
Competitive Enterprise Institute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitive_Enterprise_Institute
Wikipedia
Competitive Enterprise Institute - SourceWatch
www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Competitive_Enterprise_Institute
May 15, 2012 - The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is a advocacy group based in Washington DC with long ties to tobacco disinformation campaigns.- mediamatters.org/.../competitive-enterprise...
Media Matters for AmericaThe Daily Caller got its information from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a partly industry-funded free-market think tank obsessed with the idea that ...
What The Media Should Know About The Competitive Enterprise ...
mediamatters.org/blog/.../194155
Media Matters for AmericaMay 20, 2013 - As the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) prepares to release its annual report on the cost of regulations, the media should be aware of the ...
- school gardens help = DIG,PLANT,GROW curriculum Organic gardening.com/curriculum
- NRDC newsletter -- Out of canada, tar sands waste is now chicago's problem
- 'a new front in the battle against tar sands oil has opened up in sourtheast chicago. oil giant bp has been dumping mountains of petroleum coke, or petcoke--a coal like waste product from oil and tar sands refining -- at a storage terminal owned by the koch brothers on the banks of the calumet river. with bp planning to ramp up the processing of tar sands at its nearby refinery in whiting, in, a staggering 6000 tons of petcoke will soon be headed toward chicago's southeast side every single day.(winter 2014 issue)
- Michigan Farm News jan 30 2014 p 10 "food labeling defeat was a mini tax revolt" analyst says. the competitive enterprise institute's ceo said voters rejected the labeling because of the cost for this unnecessary requirement. "labeling advocates say consumers have a right to know what's in their food. but genetic engineering is not a thing that is in their food. it is merely a technique used to breed better crops."
- Michigan Farm News Jan 15 2014 p4 +10 Antibiotics rules leave farmers feeling bullied the article says new rules don't do much to help prevent antibiotics from becoming ineffective and since there is no reliable research rules really do no good "...it seems that the FDA's action to provide guidance to farmers who have been using medicated feed for years-during times of high risk for disease such as winter's increased proclivity to foster respiratory infections -- is like taking a flyswatter to a wasp nest. "there is no way that these fda steps will ever influence the level of antimicrobial bugs in people. they are not related" (hog producer from cass county/chair of livestock and poultry advisory committee for farm bureau)
- Public Citizen jan/feb 2014 p 16:
- US chamber tries to weaken anti-bribery law. "the us chamber's 5 suggested changes to the fcpa (foreign corrupt practices act of 1977) call for adding a compliance defense; limiting a company's liability for prior actions of a company it has acquired; adding a 'willfulness' requirement for corporate criminal liability; limiting a company's liability for acts of a subsidiary; and narrowing the definition of a 'foreign official' under the state (which could make it easier for a company to sidestep the law by bribing someone who doesn't fit that definition)."
CONTACT: Friday Thorn, friday_thorn@prwatch.org(Madison, WI) - The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) released a new report today, "EXPOSED: America's Highest Paid Government Workers."
The report shows that, contrary to misinformation spread by some politicians and pundits, America’s highest paid "government" workers are not your local teachers, nurses, or sanitation workers. Rather, they are corporate executives who sign lucrative contracts to take over public services and then pay themselves and other executives eye-popping salaries.This report by CMD highlights just six of these "government" workers who, between them, raked in more than $100 million from taxpayers in personal compensation during the past few years alone."Given these astronomical salaries, and evidence of higher prices, poor service, and at times outright malfeasance, taxpayers have every right to be concerned about how their outsourced dollars are spent," said Lisa Graves, Executive Director of CMD.These top executives include:- George Zoley, America’s highest paid "corrections officer" and CEO of private prison giant GEO Group. Zoley made $22 million in compensation between 2008 and 2012. CMD estimates that GEO Group makes 86 percent of its revenue from the taxpayers. GEO Group writes language into private prison contracts that forces taxpayers to keep prisons full or else pay for empty beds. GEO Group has faced hundreds of lawsuits over prisoner deaths, assaults, excessive force, and more, which have led to secret court settlements.
- David Steiner, president and CEO of Waste Management, is America’s highest paid "sanitation worker." Steiner made a whopping $45 million in compensation from 2006 to 2012. Waste Management's makes about 50 percent of its revenue from U.S. taxpayers, says Goldman Sachs.
- Ron Packard of K12 Inc. is America’s highest paid "teacher." Packard made more than $19 million in compensation between 2009 and 2013, despite the alarming fact that only 28 percent of K12 Inc. cyber schools met state standards in 2010-2011, compared to 52 percent of public schools. CMD estimates that K12 Inc. makes 86 percent of its revenue from the taxpayers.
- Jeffry Sterba, president and CEO of American Water Works Company, is America’s highest paid "water worker." Sterba has made $8.3 million in the three years he has been top executive. American Water is the largest for-profit provider of water and wastewater services in the United States. CMD estimates that American Water makes approximately 89 percent of its revenue from taxpayers.
- Richard Montoni, CEO of Maximus, is America’s highest paid "caseworker." Maximus is a for-profit firm that handles government services for poor and vulnerable residents. Montoni made more than $16 million between 2008 and 2012. In 2013, Maximus landed in hot water for improper billing in Wisconsin. In 2007, Maximus paid $30 million to settle a U.S. Department of Justice criminal investigation into fraudulent billing.
- Nicholas Moore is America’s highest paid "road worker." As managing director and CEO of the Australian infrastructure firm Macquarie, Moore made $8.8 million in compensation in fiscal year 2013. As a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Macquarie has pushed for privatization of public services across the board. It has long-term contracts to run Chicago's Skyway, Indiana's Toll Road, and the Dulles Greenway in Virginia.
These and other “government workers” who head big firms that take over public assets or contract for services make billions off of taxpayers, but are not accountable to taxpayers for their enormous salaries being subsidized at public expense. The report also contains information on shareholder lawsuits, criminal investigations, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sanctions, court settlements, and more.Find out more at OutsourcingAmericaExposed.org, and follow the conversation on Twitter at#OutsourcingAmerica.- this is a great site to see who is getting $ from companiesProPublicaHas your doctor gotten speaking money from drug companies? Explore the 2012 release of Dollars for Docs: http://propub.ca/1mQBuPCProPublica
