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The Business of Not Lobbying
,----[ Quote ]
| This is outrageous.
|
| National Journalâs Under the Influence blog
| has a piece up on a new lobbying shop whose
| selling point appears to be that they can
| provide some services lobbying firms would
| provide, but without the reporting
| requirements.
|
| Citing what its founders call a
| âvolatile climate for lobbyists,â K
| Street Research opened shop today in
| hopes of helping clients with policy
| and research needs while lowering their
| lobbying disclosure numbers.
|
| First, âpolicy and researchâ are incredibly
| vague descriptions.
|
| Second, the lobbying disclosure act was
| designed to require disclosure of this sort
| of research. See 2 USC 1607 (7):
|
| (7) Lobbying activities
| The term âlobbying activitiesâ means
| lobbying contacts and efforts in
| support of such contacts, including
| preparation and planning activities,
| research and other background work that
| is intended, at the time it is
| performed, for use in contacts, and
| coordination with the lobbying
| activities of others.
|
| [...]
|
| They should also succeed in drawing
| attention to the need to update the
| Lobbying Disclosure Act, since this
| business is apparently based on the
| benefits of skirting it.
`----
http://blog.sunlightfoundation.com/2010/01/04/the-business-of-not-lobbying/
Gates' lobby group, the Gates Foundation, continues to buy the education system:
The problem with transparency at DPS
,----[ Quote ]
| A representative of the Gates Foundation is
| in town today to meet with the new board
| members. Why is this significant? Well,
| the district and the teachers have been
| working together to submit a grant to the
| Gates Foundation to fund a new teacher
| evaluation system.
|
| [...]
|
| Soâweâre having meetings with the program
| officer of the Gates Foundation today. I
| requested joining a meeting in which two
| other board members were in attendance, but
| the Superintendentâs staff told me that
| they wanted to avoid having to post a
| meeting notice and record the briefing
| (three board members present triggers
| âSunshineâ laws because it constitutes an
| official meeting). I asked why this had to
| be behind closed doors. I stated that the
| public has a right to know not only the
| bad, but also the good.
`----
http://andreamerida.com/2010/01/the-problem-with-transparency-at-dps/
Recent:
PTA grant by the Gates Foundation
,----[ Quote ]
| Amerika needs national learning objectives and
| this grant will allow the PTA to oppose
| teachers who don't like it.
`----
http://gateskeepers.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2009/12/30/4415987.html
National PTA gets $1 million from Gates Foundation
,----[ Quote ]
| The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is giving
| the National PTA $1 million to teach parents
| about education reform.
|
| The three-year outreach program would focus
| first on an effort to create national learning
| objectives. Right now, most states have their
| own set of education standards. But the states
| are working together to create a new list of
| learning objectives they can all agree on.
`----
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010396512_apwaptaeducationreform.html
PPS and the philanthro-capitalists
,----[ Quote ]
| The free market approach to enrollment and
| funding is a demonstrable failure in
| Portland, when measured by access to
| educational opportunity. Unless the
| district is willing to significantly reduce
| opportunity for the white middle class,
| thereâs no way they can pay for equity of
| opportunity without balancing enrollment,
| that is, by curtailing school choice. This
| is a significant element of the high school
| plan. With it, the district appears to be
| forging a path independent of current
| trends pushed by Gates, at least for high
| schools.
|
| But the district appears unwilling to apply
| the same lesson to middle grades.
|
| Sara Allanâs contention that itâs not the
| structure of the school that matters, but
| what goes on in the classroom, also closely
| parrots the current line being sold by
| Phillips, now head of education for the
| Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
|
| Phillips was the keynote speaker at the
| Council of The Great City Schools
| conference held in Portland last month,
| attended by Allan and quite a few of her
| administrative colleagues. In her speech,
| Phillips promoted merit pay for teachers,
| the latest policy thrust of Gates.
|
| While superintendent in Portland, Philips
| was responsible for both the transition to
| K-8 schools and the âsmall schoolsâ
| initiative, funded largely by the Gates
| foundation, which dismantled every
| comprehensive high school in Portland
| serving majority non-white students, and
| split them into rigid âacademies.â These
| academies forced students to choose a
| narrow field of study as freshmen, and
| didnât allow students to take electives
| offered in other academies in the same
| building.
|
| [...]
|
| Gatesâ quiet partner
|
| The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has
| grown to be the dominant voice in the
| national education dialogue, heavily
| influencing the federal education policy of
| both George W. Bush and Barack Obama. But
| even as PPS appears to be taking a non-
| Gates path on high schools, the district
| continues to be enamored with Gatesâ
| biggest private-sector education policy
| ally: Eli Broadâs education foundation.
|
| [...]
|
| âStudent performance,â entirely measured by
| standardized test scores, correlates highly
| to poverty. Broadâs scheme would almost
| certainly assure that teachers in poor and
| minority communities would make less than
| their colleagues in wealthier schools, only
| worsening the achievement gap. This puts
| the lie to Broadâs (and Gatesâ) stated
| mission of closing that gap.
|
| [...]
|
| âStudent performance,â entirely measured by
| standardized test scores, correlates highly
| to poverty. Broadâs scheme would almost
| certainly assure that teachers in poor and
| minority communities would make less than
| their colleagues in wealthier schools, only
| worsening the achievement gap. This puts
| the lie to Broadâs (and Gatesâ) stated
| mission of closing that gap.
`----
http://ppsequity.org/2009/11/30/pps-and-the-philanthro-capitalists/
Related:
Dark cloud over good works of Gates Found
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gatesx07jan07,0,6827615.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Gates Foundation Revokes Pledge to Review Portfolio
,----[ Quote ]
| ...the Gates Foundation took down their public statement on this
| and replaced it with a significantly altered version which seems to
| say that investing responsibly would just be too complex for them
| and that they need to focus on their core mission: 'There are
| dozens of factors that could be considered, almost all of which
| are outside the foundation's areas of expertise. The issues
| involved are quite complex...
`----
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/12/1756212&from=rss
Gates Foundationâs Influence Criticized
,----[ Quote ]
| The chief of malaria for the World Health Organization has complained that
| the growing dominance of malaria research by the Bill and Melinda Gates
| Foundation risks stifling a diversity of views among scientists and wiping
| out the world health agencyâs policy-making function.
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/16/science/16malaria.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation- Truth Revealed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttq0IdULfjg
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation- Truth Revealed Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVlnqnMHQ1c
Gates in charge of education?
,----[ Quote ]
| Since when was this country's educational system run by Bill
| Gates and his foundation? When exactly did he and those he's
| hired become the top educational experts in the country?
|
| As far as I can tell this (like much else) has to do with who
| has enough money to boss other people around. There are
| supposed to be other values in a democracy.
|
| And the irony of the man who was sued by the federal
| government for a monopoly now endorsing competition in public
| education hasn't escaped me, either.
`----
http://who-cester.blogspot.com/2009/12/gates-in-charge-of-education.html
Gates Foundation cash wields influence
,----[ Quote ]
| The Gates Foundation is offering up to
| $250,000 apiece to states that want to apply
| for $5 billion in federal grants to help
| reform our nation's school systems.
|
| [...]
|
| The Associated Press story noted that there is
| a joke going around that says the real
| secretary of education is Bill Gates. To us,
| that's no joke.
`----
http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20091028/OPINION/910280304/Gates-Foundation-cash-wields-influence
Editorial: School reform the Gates way
,----[ Quote ]
| The Gates approach may be radical, but in
| Memphis and beyond the circumstances call for
| a non-traditional approach and as much
| innovation as the system can muster.
`----
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/oct/27/editorial-school-reform-the-gates-way/
Gates in charge of education?
,----[ Quote ]
| Since when was this country's educational system run by Bill
| Gates and his foundation? When exactly did he and those he's
| hired become the top educational experts in the country?
|
| As far as I can tell this (like much else) has to do with who
| has enough money to boss other people around. There are
| supposed to be other values in a democracy.
|
| And the irony of the man who was sued by the federal
| government for a monopoly now endorsing competition in public
| education hasn't escaped me, either.
`----
http://who-cester.blogspot.com/2009/12/gates-in-charge-of-education.html
Gates Foundation cash wields influence
,----[ Quote ]
| The Gates Foundation is offering up to
| $250,000 apiece to states that want to apply
| for $5 billion in federal grants to help
| reform our nation's school systems.
|
| [...]
|
| The Associated Press story noted that there is
| a joke going around that says the real
| secretary of education is Bill Gates. To us,
| that's no joke.
`----
http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20091028/OPINION/910280304/Gates-Foundation-cash-wields-influence
Editorial: School reform the Gates way
,----[ Quote ]
| The Gates approach may be radical, but in
| Memphis and beyond the circumstances call for
| a non-traditional approach and as much
| innovation as the system can muster.
`----
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/oct/27/editorial-school-reform-the-gates-way/
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