Showtime: Evil or Stupid?

June 5, 2014 by PJTV

So many scandals in Obama’s years as President. So was he evil or was he just stupid? He portrays himself as ignorant or stupid for each of these. He finds the news from the media, not from his administration. But which is worse? What ever happened to the ‘Buck Stops Here’ motto? Find out more in this Afterburner with Bill Whittle.

corruption, criminal, cronyism, Democrats, elitism, ethics, extremism, foreign affairs, gitmo, government, hypocrisy, ideology, indoctrination, islam, left wing, liberalism, military, news media, pandering, philosophy, political correctness, president, propaganda, protests, public policy, scandal, terrorism, tragedy, video

Florida’s new school choice law likely to spark others

June 23, 2014 by Mary C. Tillotson

Parents of certain special-needs students in Florida will be able to customize their children’s education, thanks to a law signed by Gov. Rick Scott on Friday.

The law allows certain parents access to Personalized Learning Scholarship Accounts, modeled on Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts. Parents receive an allotted sum in their education savings account, which they can use for private school tuition, educational therapy, private tutoring, or other educational expenses. The money rolls over year to year and can be saved for college.

Florida is the second state to have an ESA law, after Arizona, which passed its law in 2011 and has expanded it every year. To qualify, Florida students must have an Individualized Education Plan or be diagnosed with Down syndrome, autism, Spina bifida, or certain other disabilities.

Current estimates project 1,800 students served in the ESA program’s first year, with about $10,000 in scholarship money for each, East said. Students receive 90 percent of what the state would have spent on their education if they remained in public schools.

Economists have noted that ESAs can encourage education providers, like private schools and tutors, to innovate and find ways to provide the same services for lower costs. Parents may want their child to attend a private school and receive extra tutoring in math, for example. While vouchers cover the cost of tuition, ESA money is more flexible: it can pay for tuition and tutoring, but only if there’s enough ESA money for both. If two schools provide the same quality education, the school with a lower tuition would leave parents with more ESA money to spend on tutors.

School choice proponents hope Florida’s new law will prompt other states to consider ESAs. At least seven states considered similar measures this year.

read full article: Florida’s new school choice law likely to spark others

children, conservative, education, freedom, funding, ideology, public policy, right wing

Are food regulations helping or hurting our kids?

1M kids stop school lunch due to Michelle Obama’s food standards
February 27, 2014 By Stephen Dinan

The federal government’s changes to school lunch menus have been disastrous, causing problems for cafeterias trying to comply with the rules and leaving the menu so expensive or unpalatable that more than 1 million students have stopped buying lunch, according to a government audit released Thursday.

One school district told federal investigators that it had to add unhealthy pudding and potato chips to its menu to meet the government’s minimum calorie requirements. Other school districts removed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from their elementary school menus.

Five of the eight school districts surveyed by the Government Accountability Office, the official watchdog for Congress, said they believed students were going hungry because of smaller entree portions demanded by the rules.

Cafeterias regularly reported finding fruits and vegetables, which they are required to serve, ending up in trash cans. Although no studies have been completed, the government has found an increase in what it calls plate waste in some districts.

Despite the hiccups, school food authorities said they generally support the nutritional changes and think the menus are moving in the right direction.

continue to full article

School food regulations causing problems
June 24, 2014 by Dothan First

The Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act took affect two years ago. The new act is aimed at healthier lunches to help have healthier students.

“Probably the biggest concern is childhood obesity and the increase in early onset diabetes in children, or type two diabetes that we’re seeing in children became a concern and so the meal pattern again had not been updated and so they wanted to see some changes to hopefully combat those two areas,” said Child Nutrition Program Director Tonya Greer.

But has it really helped all that much? The guidelines and rules are so strict many school systems are having trouble keeping up with each year’s new changes and Dothan City Schools is one of them.

“It’s been challenging. There’s only so many things kids will eat and there’s only so many things in those different sub groups that are financially, I guess, viable for a school to serve, because the reimbursement is still limited in terms of what you can spend on food costs,” said Greer.

The new implementation includes having 100 percent whole grain foods as well as a certain amount of fruits and vegetables each day. The vegetables are even broken down into sub categories depending on their color and vitamin content.

Many of the students are also having trouble getting acquainted with the new tastes.

“If we’ve made the move of at least 50 percent of the offerings being whole grain, you know, is it really beneficial to the child to serve them all whole grains and watch them throw it away. As opposed to giving them some whole grain and some refined grained and watching them consumes it,” said Greer.

With only a few days before the new guidelines take effect there’s not much the schools can do.

continue to full article

bureaucracy, children, education, government, health, ideology, left wing, liberalism, nanny state, public policy, regulation, socialism, tragedy, unintended consequences

Lies, Damned Lies, and the IRS

International Liberty

When I wrote recently that the IRS was corrupt, venal, and despicable, I didn’t realize that I was bending over backwards to be overly nice.

Every new revelation in the scandal shows that the agency is beyond salvage.

Writing for Real Clear Markets, Diana Furchtgott-Roth of the Manhattan Institute is appropriately skeptical of the IRS.

Coincidentally, Lerner’s computer crashed 10 days after Congress expressed concern about possible targeting of conservative groups. Emails between January 2009 and April 2011 were lost. Her computer is not available for examination, because it has already been recycled by the IRS. In a further coincidence, or not, a backup tape of agency emails made by the IRS was erased after 6 months. …As Georgia Republican Rep. Doug Collins said, the story sounds more and more implausible.

Diana then explains why this matters, using Obamacare as an example of why we should worry about a…

View original post 960 more words