Florida Voters Elected An Egg Head For Governor

"FLORIDIANS STARTING TO UNDERSTAND THEIR NEW GOVERNOR IS A GRIFTER"

By Jason Linkins, HP Mar. 30, 2011

According to Wikipedia, a Grifter is: "A confidence trick or confidence game (also known as a bunko, con, flim flam, gaffle, grift, hustle, scam, scheme, swindle or bamboozle) is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. The victim is known as the mark, the trickster is called a confidence man, con man, confidence trickster, grifter, or con artist, and any accomplices are known as plants." [I like "con man"best.]--E.B

That's not all, of course! Rick Scott's plan to privatize as much of the public school system as he possible can is, in the words of Stephanie Mencimer, a "fraud magnet:"

As soon as the state starts handing families $5500 a year, it's virtually assured that enterprising thieves will devise various schemes to help them part with those funds, including by starting "independent" for-profit virtual schools, charter schools, and other predatory "educational" institutions. While the idea of privatizing the education system may seem like a big money saver, and no one really loves school bureaucracies, putting that much taxpayer money out there without adequate oversight (i.e. bureaucracy) is a formula for disaster.

It's not just a hypothetical harm, as charter schools in many states have demonstrated. Charter schools get paid by the number of kids they enroll, and they are free from much of the bureaucracy Republicans like to bash so much. All that money mixed with all that freedom hasn't produced much in the way of an education boost: Charter schools perform no better and often much worse than traditional ones. But they have produced a bumper crop of fraudsters.

In recent years, the US Department of Education's Office of the Inspector General has been raising red flags about charter school fraud and embezzlement, a problem that is increasing. In March, the OIG wrote that it had opened more than 40 charter school criminal investigations that resulted in the convictions of 15 charter school officials, with 24 cases still pending. Most of the cases involved charter school operators and employees who falsely increased enrollment figures and used the extra money to bankroll lavish lifestyles. They often engaged in testing and grade-fixing antics to ensure the money kept rolling in. At the time the report was released, prosecutors had recovered more than $4 million stolen by charter school employees and operators since 2005.

Learn more about the grifter, con man, bag egg here...

Why Maine's Gov. Le Page Can't Erase History...

By Robert Reich, HP, Mar. 24, 2011

... "One panel shows my predecessor at the U.S. Department of Labor, Frances Perkins, who was buried in Newcastle, Maine.

The LePage administration is also renaming conference rooms that had carried the names of historic leaders of American labor, as well as former Secretary Perkins.

The governor's spokesman explains that the mural and the conference-room names were "not in keeping with the department's pro-business goals,"explained Gov. LePage’s spokesperson.

Are we still in America? Reich asks.

"Frances Perkins was the first woman cabinet member in American history. She was also one of the most accomplished cabinet members in history."

"She and her boss, Franklin D. Roosevelt, came to office at a time when average working people needed help -- and Perkins and Roosevelt were determined to give it to them. Together, they created Social Security, unemployment insurance, the right of workers to unionize, the minimum wage, and the forty-hour workweek."

"Big business and Wall Street thought Perkins and Roosevelt were not in keeping with pro-business goals. So they and their Republican puppets in Congress and in the states retaliated with a political assault on the New Deal."

"Roosevelt did not flinch. In a speech in October 1936 he condemned ‘business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering."’

Big business and Wall Street, Roosevelt said,

"...had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me -- and I welcome their hatred."

Fast forward 75 years.

"Big business and Wall Street have emerged from the Great Recession with their pockets bulging. Profits and bonuses are as high as they were before the downturn. And they're spending like mad on lobbying and politics. After the Supreme Court's disgraceful Citizens United decision, there are no limits."

"Pro-business goals are breaking out all over. Governors across America are slashing corporate taxes as they slash state budgets. House and Senate Republicans are intent on deregulating, privatizing, and cutting spending and taxes so their corporate and Wall Street patrons will do even better."

"That's why the current Republican assault on workers -- on their right to form unions, on unemployment insurance and Social Security, on public employees, and even (courtesy of Governor LePage) on our common memory -- is so despicable."

"By the way, Maine's Governor LePage may be curious to know that the building housing the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington is named the "Frances Perkins Building." He can find her portrait hanging prominently inside. Also portraits and murals of great leaders of American labor."

"A short walk across the mall will bring Governor LePage to an imposing memorial to Franklin D. Roosevelt, should the Governor wish to visit."

"Governor, you might be able to erase some of Maine's memory, but you'll have a hard time erasing the nation's memory, even if it's not in keeping with your pro-business goals."–Robert Reich.

Learn more here...