to food bank (already wrote carriage town--salvation next)
etsy.com/artfire.com/supermarkethg.com
for under eyes yellow for bluish but green for red or pink
chapped lips =- honey forfew seconds then petroleum jelly for 10-15. wipe off w/cotton swab in warm water
sore throat = salt water 1/2 tsp in cup water
bad breath = parsley
stomach cramps = chamomile tea
hobby farms nov-dec 2011:
beets = A, B1 2 and 6, C, calcium and magnesium
non alcoholic fruit drink = 1 c sugar, 1 cup water, 1 cup juice like cherry blueberry or grape. head to boil, cool completely. combine sugar syrup w/juice mix and chill. put about 2 tbsp syrup w/ 1 cup water or soda. add ice
wrapping ideas = www.furoshiki.com/ www.eco.artware.com/ www.warmbiscuit.com
kill bacteria, molds, flea and dust mite eggs : www.verilux.com for cleanwave furniture and bed vac
for dog hair = www.groomingtoolsandsupplies.com
from birds and bloom jan 2012:
garden railroads = largescaleonline.com/btcomm.com/trains/
gardentrains.org/en/Clubs.aspx
gardenrailways.com
Michigan Farm News jan 30,2012
good news: "The evidence in the environmental impact statement shows RR (roundup ready) sugar beets pose no significant environmental impact, and animal and plant health inspection service indicates that its preference is to fully deregulate the crop, reaffirming its previous findings." p 3
again guest opinion is russ harding from the mackinac center--what a bunch of shit. title: congress mandates the impossible. "It is not surprising that mistrust of the government is running high and polls show congressional approval is in single digits when the political class abandons common sense and logic and adopts environmental ideology. cellulosic biofuels may someday be able to compete in the marketplace, but it will be due to technical innovation and not unrealistic federal mandates." p2 based on fines paid last year for motor oil suppliers who didn't meet specs.
tax reform in michigan: pa 38-pa 45 of 2011 repealed the mi business tax and replaced it with a 6% corporate tax that only applies to "C corporations". the reforms will save ag business filers $11 million in business tax/yr. farm bureau supported the proposal as a step toward streamlining state gov and bringing state spending in line w/revenue. p 2. no surprise there.
GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan — Your local charter school is most likely not really locally operated.
Most are for-profit companies based in far-off locales, operating behind-the-scenes and calling the shots on everything from teacher pay to school policy to pencil purchases.
View full sizeHere's a look at the operators behind Genesee County's charter schools.
One local charter school here operates as a freestanding charter with completely local control.
The other nine are being run by seven different companies, called education management organizations. All but one are operating as a for-profit entity. Combined these businesses run more than 400 schools in communities as close as Oakland County and Saginaw and as far-flung as California and Dubai.
None of those seven operators are based in Genesee County, five are based in Michigan and the others in Minnesota and New York.
Companies like these are often criticized for taking taxpayer dollars earmarked for Michigan classrooms and padding a secret profit margin. To others, they're bringing free-market style competition to public education and improving K-12 schools for all.
For or against charters, one thing is for certain: There is simply less disclosure from these public schools that operate as businesses.
For example, Joe DiBenedetto, spokesman for National Heritage Academies -- a Grand Rapids-based company operating Burton Glen Academy, Linden Charter Academy and 69 other schools across nine states -- said it is the company's position to not discuss its profit margin or pay scales for administrators and teachers.
"We are accountable to our authorizer, school board and parents and if we fail to meet expectations, the school can be closed and parents can vote with their feet by enrolling elsewhere," DiBenedetto said.
Meanwhile, in nearby Grand Blanc, the principals’ – and all employees’ -- salaries, work cell phone bills and even copy paper expenses are all a matter of public record. Want to know? Just ask.
Advocates of traditional public schools say it’s unfair that charter operators aren't subject to the same transparency requirements as other public schools.
And, the system makes it difficult, at best, to measure how many tax dollars are going to the classroom and how many go to the companies’ profitable bottom lines,” said GISD spokesman Jerry Johnson.
"It establishes a different standard that does not allow for comparability," Johnson said. "It does not allow for an apples-to-apples comparison of the real costs of operating a school and whether that business model is the most efficient one."
When comparing financial costs among charters, it's likely that fewer details on spending are available, said Michael Van Beek, education policy director for The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank that advocates for free-market policy and supports charter expansion. The organization also surveys the state's public schools collecting information on school finances and spending.
"Because many of (the charters) use a private company to operate the day-to-day operations of the school ... what you get in their reports to the government is you don't get as many details," Van Beek said. "You get lump sums on how they spent on some things, but you don't get those details."
Some of this discrepancy between the two could start to change. Included in the recent legislation lifting the cap on charter school expansion are provisions meant to bring more transparency to charters.
For example, charters will soon need to make available to the public lists of teachers and administrators along with their salaries, professional certificates and evidence of criminal background checks; copies of any management or service contracts; health and safety reports; and communications with management regarding financial audits, among other material.
DiBenedetto added that National Heritage Academies schools receive less money than traditional public schools and take on up-front costs, including deficits, in a school's early years.
Charter advocates also point out that all data on student performance and standardized testing is reported just the same as with any other public school.
Still, most Genesee County's public schools outperform the county's charters on standardized testing. All but one of the county's charters fell below the county average on the state's top-to-bottom ranking.
“That's a concerning statistic, regardless, but what we're trying to do is create opportunities for growth and improvements," said Melissa Cook, director of marketing for Leona Group, which Operates Northridge Academy in Flint.
Cook said most of the company's 58 schools are in areas with the greatest need, mostly urban areas with high poverty rates and low-performing local schools. Students often enter their charter school testing several years below their grade level.
"Even if you are able to improve their reading level by a full grade or two, when you're taking a state test, that is not reflected," Cook said.
Just one Genesee County charter school — Woodland Park Academy — is an independent, freestanding charter. That school operates like a school district unto itself and without a separate management company.
The Grand Blanc Township school was formerly known as Warwick Academy from its opening in 1996 until 2000, when its chartering agency, Central Michigan University didn't like the way the board and local operating company were running things. CMU ushered in changes, like replacing some board members and demanding the school change its lease arrangement, which eventually led to the firing of its director.
Center Academy in Flint also saw its share of shakeups. The charter is the only in the county run by a non-profit operator. That operator, Visions Education Development Consortium, was launched in 2007 to transition the school out of the control of a for-profit operator, said Donna Williams, chief executive officer and a founder of Visions.
Parents and the school board were not happy with student performance and school operations under Mosaica Education, Inc., which also runs Grand Blanc Academy and Richfield Public School Academy.
“The MEAP scores were very low, there was some significant behavioral problems,” Williams said.
Test scores and student behavior has improved each year since the transition, Williams added.
Williams said some charters simply brush off high-risk students — like special education or homeless students — by providing few resources for them. What all schools need, she said, is to be judged more on student growth rather than if they simply meet grade level.
"What we should be looking at is academic growth. ...We need to be sure there's an incentive in place to educate kids who have the most educational need," Williams said.
Blake Thorne covers K-12 schools and higher education for The Flint Journal. Contact him at bthorne1@mlive.com or 810-347-8194. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook.
Hightower Lowdown jan 2012:
history of stanford university summarized--very interesting. started by stanford ultimately controlled southern pacific rr and wells fargo. he built the western portion of the first transcontinental rr where he personally drove in the first golden spike. "but he secretly harbored an entirely different vision of how the econ ought to be organized. unlike his fellow robber barons, stanford didn't think america needed super-rich capitalists like himself, nor did he believe that a corporate system was good for the country, much less necessary. biographer lee altenberg says that the baron of nob hill came to believe that the industries of america should be owned and managed cooperatively. by whom? by their workers" p 2
in 1887 sen stanford said: in a condition of society and under an industrialized organization which places labor completely at the mercy of capital, the accumulations of capital will necessarily be rapid, and an unequal distribution of wealth is at once to be observed...the time has come when the laboring men can perform for themselves the office of being their own employers; the employer class is less indispensable in the modern organization of industries because the laboring men themselves possess sufficient intelligence to organize into co-operative relation and enjoy the benefits of their own labor"
stanford gave 20 million for the establishment of stanford university. he died 2 yrs later and never saw the effort to reach the multitude exist. today stanford u is an elite u far from promoting "cooperative" ventures. 40,000 for tuition--no degrees!
COOPERATIVE RESOURCES:
www.foodcoopinitiative.coop
www.greenamerica.org
www.ncb.com (finanacial and tech assistance for new and expanding coops)
www.ncba.coop
www.rurdev.usda.gov/CA-BCPrograms.html (funds several centers that work w/rural people to dev new co ops and improve existing ones)
www.usworker.coop
www.organicvalley.coop (family farm owners in 35 states)
income for 1% in 2007 was 1.4 million but in 2009 had fallen to only 957,000
chase bank's tv special on nbc--telling how community groups had received charitable contributions from chase. "the total amt of chase's magnanimous donations to the 5 groups was 2 mil--but know chase had 104 bil in revenues in the past year and showered its ceo w/23 mil in pay including a 5 mil cash bonus" p4 interesting fact and know too that the cost of the show and donations to the groups are all deductible from the corp's income taxes.
hortmag.com/article/blueberrysoilph and of course hortmag.com/kissmyaster
hortmag.com/enews
www.citizen.org info on caps on malpractice
march/april hobby farms:
***early spring = time to plant bare root fruit trees, sow seeds of cool season crops, now down cover crops, divide summer and fall blooming perennials
weather sayings=www.cmos.ca/weatherlore.html and www.wilstar.com/skywatch.htm
---red sky in morning, farmers take warning. red sky at night, farmers delight
---a ring around the sun or moon means rain or snow is coming soon
---pale moon rains; red moon blows. white moon neither rains nor snows
---when ditch and pond burn the nose, look out for rain and stormy blows
---cold is the night when the stars shine bright
---when all your corns ache and itch, the weather fair will make a switch
---a wind from the south has rain in her mouth
---a summer fog for fair, a winter fog for rain (sue weaver)
oct 2006 garden gate--to deter rabbits from tulips:
---1 tsp cayenne pepper and 1/2 tsp ivory or other mild dish soap in quart of water and spray on foliage as you see new growth. reapply after rain
putting grape hyacinths w/other bulbs helps mark where you've already planted bulbs.
putting handful of gravel in bottom of bulb hole will help keep moisture from collecting around the bulbs and deter moles and voles from digging them. grit over top of planting spot will deter squirrels
world bank must shut spigot to water profiteers="despite a track record of failure, the world bank continues to be devoted to water privatization. and the report reveals a primary, underlying reason:L coziness w/ industry. corporate acc. internat'l recently broke the story about a new partnership formed between the world bank, nestle and other water giants to advance corporate control of water country by country--and publications like the high-level industry journal OOSKAnews picked it up."
niteguard.com for little box solar for scaring night time animals
www.mypetchicken.com--can order only 3 to start
www.hoovershatchery.com
"the banty rooster attitude that goes right along w/short men"
foods for fighting flu etc from MNN:
mushrooms, strawberries, fresh garlic, salmon, tea, yogurt, dark chocolate, oysters, almonds, sweet potatoes
