Friday Hound Blogging

We're coming to you today from the David and Goliath Department here in the marbled halls of IM Central. DAG is a division of the My Lawyer Is Bigger Than Your Lawyer Company, a wholly owned subsidy of Don't Make Me Open A Can OF DMCA On Your Scrawny Buttocks, LLC.

It seems a few weeks ago the animal rights wackos at Grey2K published a video titled The Secret Lives Of Greyhound Puppies which was a compilation of photographs taken by the overlords at greyhound farms in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and West Virginia.

Now, you would think that a series of photographs of the product by the producers would be how shall we say this politely...sanitized so that any of the less than seemly aspects of breeding, training and abandoning innocent living creatures for profit would be avoided. So they shouldn't have a problem when their photos get wider play, right?

Wrong.

Yesterday, The Secret Life of Greyhound Puppies was temporarily removed from YouTube after greyhound breeder Wendy Brotherton filed a false copyright complaint.

It seems the thing that frosted overlord Brotherton off was that Grey2K had rented a theater and was charging $15 a person to come and see the video, then distributing the money to various animal rights wackos around the country so they could develop and train animals rights Ninja teams to raid the breeding facilities and take the overlords' sons and daughters hostages until we're all forced to eat Tofu three times a day and everyone has to wear natural fibers all the time.

OK, we may be speculating a little bit there, but it's not unusual for the overlords to react badly when word of what they do gets out, because it's usually bad.

So, overlord Brotherton went all Death Star on planet Huggiepuppy, the video went down, the wackos slunk back to their lattes and the world moved on. End of story, right?

Mmm...Not quite.

On Christmas morning, greyhound advocates won a major victory when the Secret Life of Greyhound Puppies was restored by YouTube.

 Victory for the rebel alliance! The force is with us! And...er...um...so are the lawyers. Dang! If this keeps up we may have to throw out our book of lawyer jokes, huh TK?

TK is perfect little boy. His beautiful black coat is very soft and shiny. He loves to lay his head on your lap and get petted. TK also loves to play with squeaky toys, sniff around outside and make friends with the neighbors. He is  very playful but will then lie down like other greyhounds. He has not tried to jump on furniture or counter surf. He is a very fast learner, housebroken and knows how to go up and down the stairs. Also, he doesn't mind the crate. He likes dogs his own size but not small dogs or cats. TK  loves to go for walks but needs a little work because he“prances” as he walks.  For more information about this dog, and other rescued racing greyhounds looking for homes, go here. If you don't know about the plight of racing greyhounds go here.

Tradition Alert! As this is the last hound we are going to feature in 2012, we remind you of an Ironicus Maximus tradition because we're still sober enough to remember it ourselves. In this tradition we take the last skinny dog of the year and follow him from kennel to kouch. See how we played with the letter K? That's more subtle Ironicus Maximus humor right there. Funny too. Did you know K is the funniest letter in the alphabet?

Trust us. We know about these things.

Gives A Whole New Meaning To I Want To Fill Your Cavity

Well, here's an interesting little bit of 21st century Americana.

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled on Friday that employers in the state can legally fire workers they find too attractive. In a unanimous decision, the court held that a dentist did not violate the state’s civil rights act when he terminated a female dental assistant whom his wife considered a threat to their marriage.

OK, couple of things. First of all, if this guy is such a wimp he'd cold fire someone just because his wife told him too after the girl had worked there ten years he doesn't strike us as the swashbuckling sweep 'em off their feet ladies man his wife seems to think he is. And second, what makes his wife think he even had a chance with her? We mean, all he did was send her an e-mail asking her how often she had an orgasm.

Dude. You work a foot from this girl all day long and you had to send her a e-mail? What's next? A note in her locker? Like we said, more Aqualung than Brad Pitt.

Knight argued that Nelson was terminated not because of her gender — all the employees of his practice are women — but because of the way their relationship had developed and the threat it posed to his marriage. Despite Nelson being 21 years younger than him, married, and 'not interested in a relationship,' Knight believed it would be too hard not to start an affair with her.

E-mail mash notes is a relationship now? Hey Boner Boy, it's called self control. Get some. 

He also once allegedly remarked about her infrequent sex life by saying, 'that's like having a Lamborghini in the garage and never driving it.'

Classy dude. Bet that made your wife feel real special. What's she, a minivan? Let's have a look at this guy:

Oh yeah. A 53 year old bald teenager off getting ink. You're getting older man, happens to all of us. Deal. Don't take it out of some girl who had the misfortune to be born  almost 30 years after you. By the way, when you designated Melissa as the office hottie you probably irredeemably ticked off the other women in the place and you've confirmed your wife's suspicion that you're a horn dog, so happy the rest of your career and marriage man!

Much as we disagree with judicially sponsored bro's before ho's we have to say that dirty old men do have the same rights as everyone else under the law and that includes the right to have a big old steaming hunk of civil suit dropped on his front porch, not to mention the invisible hand of the market coming upside his head...oops looks like that's already happening.

In Which Ironicus Fully Endorses A Romney Position

Frequent reader(s) of this blog wish the Mayans had been right...erm...we mean may recall that during the erstwhile seventh grade shin kicking contest commonly referred to as the 2012 presidential election, we here in the marbled halls of IM Central  often took issue with positions and policies put forth by the Mittbot. At least those he held long enough for us to read about.

Well, we realize the hand of time has writ and fate has had her say, but when we ran across this we felt it only fair to come forward and add our support in the interests of being fair and balanced and to avoid the impression that we called our support too early. In your FACE Karl!

Mitt Romney didn't really want to win, his son Tagg Romney claims in a recent interview. "He wanted to be president less than anyone I've met in my life," Romney told the Boston Globe. "And it looks like the American people felt the same way," He added.

"If he could have found someone else to take his place . . . he would have been ecstatic to step aside." OK we may have to give this one to Mitty because at least he kept Newt out of the race. And Perry. And Santorum. And Bachmann. That's got to be worth something.

 

The oldest Romney son said his father is a "private person" who wanted to help put the country back on its feet, but hated the limelight that came with presidential politics. When a reporter pointed out that Romney had spent two presidential election cycles seeking the nomination and campaigning, Tagg replied, "I said he was a private person, not a smart one."

Tagg Romney told the newspaper that he and his mother Ann had to convince Mitt Romney to run for the presidency. Apparently Mrs. Romney was under the mistaken impression that there was a horse boarding facility on the White House grounds. Tagg said he just wanted his father out of the house. "You don't know how hard it is to be around him all the time," Tagg said. "Every once in a while he'd offer to buy us out of the family. And if he offers you a seat at the table? He's not inviting you to dinner. Guy's a 24/7 mergers and acquisitions walking talking nightmare, know what I mean?"

Actually we don't. And we'd prefer to keep it that way. Thanks anyway Tagg. Oh, and have yourself a very leveraged Christmas,

Friday Hound Blogging

Well, here we are again looking at the north end of a south bound year, and as we enter this season of peace and comity we'd like to take this time to wish one and all a pleasant time celebrating whatever occasion it is you wish to celebrate. We say that being conscientious objectors to the war on Christmas even given our catholic upbringing. Quite frankly, as long as there's rum in the eggnog and vodka in the punch you could call it Commodified Young Men Concussing Themselves In The Interests Of Corporate Bowl Sponsors Day and we'd be right there with you cheering your toast.

And it seems we aren't alone when it comes to lubricating our merriment with adult beverages.

Officials stood down Whanganui greyhound commentator Brian Martin after five races on Friday night, ruling he wasn't sober enough to do the job properly.

Now, in Mr. Martin's defense we have to ask how could one participate in the ritualized cruelty that is greyhound racing day after day and not be a little drunk?  OK a lot drunk. We mean, come on. You sit up there in that booth night after night and watch those dogs run their hearts out and you know two thirds of them probably won't see their next birthday. That's got to do something to a man.

Steward Mike Austin became concerned about Martin when he struggled to mention more than a couple of dogs in some of his early calls, in contrast to his usual garbled and inaccurate descriptions. "Then when he started calling the names of dogs that had been injured or killed in previous races we knew something was up," Austin said.

By the fifth race only the sound of snoring was coming over the PA system so after discussions with co-chief steward Ross Neal, Martin was replaced for the last seven races by Trackside's Mark Rosanowski. Unfortunately Mr. Rosanowski doesn't speak English so the remaining races were called in Polish, but the four people in the stands didn't seem to notice.

"He was certainly impaired and I believe he went without any dissent." Neal said Austin's report did not declare Martin to be drunk, but said he was obviously unfit for calling. "Most of the people around here are drunk. Shoot, I'm a little buzzed myself right now," Neal said. "It's the kind of crowd we attract. But being so drunk you can't even talk, well spectators maybe, but employees have a higher standard to live up to."

Good for you  Mr. Neal. Got to have standards, right Jax?

Jax Ireland is a very sweet and affectionate girl. She loves to be around and meet new people. Jax prefers dogs her own size. She is interested in cats but would be okay living with them and could learn not to play with them. Jax would do well in a home with a working family or with someone who is home with her. She  would do well with older, well-behaved children.  For more information about this dog, and other rescued racing greyhounds looking for homes, go here. If you don't know about the plight of racing greyhounds go here.

Dear Mr. President

You said the other day that we need to do something about a culture that glorifies guns and violence if we're ever going to quit shooting the stuffing out of one another.

Check this out: Some of the soldiers who are fighting now were in second grade when the war(s) started. Want to talk about a culture that glorifies guns and violence? There you go.

Have a nice day.

Your friend,

Ironicus

PS: Also, too, robot bombs blowing up babies.

Still Making Their Own Reality

You know, one thing you can say about republicans, well one thing other than most of them are batspit insane, is that they can multitask. Just when you'd think all of their energies would be taken up saying stupid things* about the Newtown massacre, they manage to still have time for some of the golden oldies, like Obama's birthplace.

The latest battle for the movement that believes Barack Obama is ineligible to be President was fought Monday at the state’s Electoral College vote, where a trio of Republican electors — including state GOP chair Tom Morrissey — once again raised concerns that Obama’s birth certificate is a fake during the electoral college vote. 

Well of course he did. And what better place to do it than during the electoral College vote, which as we all know, is Mitt's last hope.

Morrissey, the leader of the Republican Party in Arizona and a former president of the Committee to mainstream the Ku Klux Klan, tried to present his concerns over Obama’s eligibility as something other than birtherism. “My issue isn’t whether he was born here,” he said in Phoenix Monday. “I have questions [about Obama’s longform birth certificate] because, you know, I just don't believe they issue those in Kenya."

Morrissey said he had “a sacred trust as an elector” to raise questions about Obama’s legitimacy on the day electors officially voted. When asked if he's ever felt the need to raise those questions with any other president, Morrissey replied that he hadn't, but felt he would not hesitate to call into question the legitimacy of "any black man." Morrissey hastened to add that his concerns were not based on race because he would do the same for "those browns too. You never know how they got into this country."

Another of the electors who raised concerns, Gila County GOP chair Don Ascoli, who said he’s used to being on the losing end of the birth certificate fight, the fluoridation fight, the alien abduction fight and the gremlins in the duct work fight. But even if he’s going down, he’s going down swinging no matter what the cost to his party or his state’s reputation.“Yeah, some people are going to say, ‘Oh, those stupid Arizonans, there they go again,’” Ascoli said in an interview. “But, you know, I’d rather be right than popular. Of course right now I'm neither one of those, although I've still got the 'stupid' part going for me.”

Ascoli accepts that public skepticism over Obama’s birth certificate is waning, even in GOP circles. But he blames that on a media that’s “in the tank” for Obama. "You take people who can read and write like that? They're gonna naturally be drawn to a person like Obama what with him using complete sentences and talking without yelling and stuff." He said. "That's why I only watch Fox news."

“I know this, I share the actual beliefs of many of the white people who voted for Romney,” Ascoli said. “If you were to take a poll of Republicans in the state of Arizona, the majority would say they question the legitimacy of Black Hussein Obama. That’s my belief. I’ve never taken that poll, but I believe the majority would say that". When it was pointed out that believing things in the absence of facts was one of the reasons republicans are in the fix they are in today, Ascoli disagreed. "Facts are overrated. Too many people had the facts this election and look how that turned out."

*We certainly didn't mean t imply that republicans weren't saying a lot of stupid things about the Newtown massacre. Our favorite? Kids should be trained to rush the gunman.

If They Were Selling Apples Instead Of Education We'd Be Long Gone

OK, we're going to say this as simply as we can: When a charter school moves into the area all the children in that area become commodities. Sounds harsh we know, but there it is. Now we're willing to believe that at least some of the charter school advocates had good intentions and sincerely believed that turning our educational institutions into for profit corporations would improve them because capitalism! You know, it leads to more choice and just look how that has improved our lives when it comes to things like buying cars, or refrigerators, or toasters, or toothpaste.

Let's set aside for a moment  that this is a classic example of the logical fallacy called false equivalence for a whole lot of reasons, not the least of which is that while a toaster is created to be sold for a profit, a child is not, and just look at what inflicting "choice" on students has gotten them.

In a word, nada. Or more recently, and more specifically in Wisconsin, the word would be zilch. (pdf)

But that is not to say "choice" hasn't been good for some folks. Take Michelle Rhee for example who parlayed some rather questionable test score improvements while Chancellor of Washington DC schools into a sweet sweet gig as Head School Improver at studentsfirst.org, an organization that is working "with parents, teachers, administrators, and citizens across the country to ensure great teachers, access to great schools, and effective use of public dollars." And what could be a more "effective" use of public dollars than to give them to people like Michelle Rhee?

Now we come to the great lesson about success in a capitalistic economic system which is...get in the middle. If you can burrow in and set up shop between the producers and the consumers, and convince both that you need to be there your ship has come in and it's a luxury liner. Of course we don't mean to imply that all those who occupy middles in our system are leeches draining off scarce dollars from communities for private gain. Take the transportation system for instance that gets a farmer's crops from his field to consumers. Pretty important. But a charter school that sets up in a neighborhood and diverts money to a sometimes distant and disconnected corporate headquarters? Not so helpful.

The "choice" advocates would tell us that our farmer is motivated to produce the best crops he can because if his product were to show up on the shelves spoiled, or be substandard in some way we would buy some other farmer's apples who had better quality control. Yet the product we've been served by the charter movement is, at best, indistinguishable from the product it purports to improve upon, and it's more expensive.

So how do they manage to keep parents buying a substandard product in a system that's supposed to improve everything by giving consumers more "choice?" Two ways: have a great marketing department, and don't take kids with educational challenges.

Sort of like if that farmer with the bad apples made sure they were extra shiny.

Friday Hound Blogging

Frequent reader(s) of this blog recall those days when potential seemed limitless and the Lidless Eye of disappointment had yet to spy them...erm...we mean recall the name Tom Taylor head overlord at Tucson Deathcamp for Greyhounds.Tom has been a guest on this blog many times over the years and each time he visited he brought with him that special brand of clueless cruelty and heartless disdain for the pain and suffering he inflicted on hundreds, perhaps thousands of innocent living creatures that are marks of true distinction in the Tower of Barad-dûr, where only the uppermost levels of overlord society are allowed.

When last we met he had retreated to his Mordor on East 36th street after having been defeated in the Battle of Steroid Plains by the forces of Gondor, Tucson and the wizard Kozachik. Ever defiant, Tom sent a cry through the land that the sons of Mordor would rise again. In fact only the sons because...um..no ladies allowed.

Several moons have traversed the heavens since then and we thought we'd peer over the Fence of Shadow and see how things were going.

Like the US military poster of old, Tucson Greyhound Park (TGP) is looking for “a few good men.” Actually, they’re looking for male greyhounds in large enough quantity (minus the females) to keep the South Arizona track in operation.

Apparently the market for Orcs has dried up considerably since the Battle of the Morannon.

Despite the testimony of numerous veterinarians well-versed on that subject and on the sport of greyhound racing itself, the City of Tucson passed an ordinance banning the use of steroids on racing females, traditionally and universally administered in the sport to prevent them from coming in season. The City of South Tucson had passed a similar ordinance in 2008.

And by "numerous"  they mean Dr. Joe Robinson (Wally's College of Veterinary Medicine and Truck Driving School class of '95) who, it should be pointed out, did not help his case when he tried to inject Councilwoman Regina Romero during the hearing.

The emotion-charged issue—intensely pushed by critics of racing and the track—resulted in TGP General Manager Taylor actually receiving death threats and alot (sic) of hate mail, the Arizona Daily Star reported.

Yeah, well to be fair, Tom was only threatened. Missy was actually killed.

Taylor says a lack of racers could threaten live racing at the track. “If we can’t get enough dogs to run year-round, we’d have to consider the options of running a 100-day meet,” he says, pointing out that this scenario would be unrealistic to most kennel operators. The only other options open to TGP, Taylor said, would be to look at closing the track altogether, or to seek permission to run a simulcast operation without live racing.

OK, if you don't have any dogs to race, that would be a "threat" to live racing. We get that, but live racing is a "threat" to the life and well being of the dogs who do it, so which threat do you think is the greater one C?

CTR Executive is a four year old boy who did most of his racing in Alabama once winning six races in a row and eight out of nine. He's a friendly guy who likes to run in the yard, play with toys and be petted. He gets along well with everybody, even cats. For more information about this dog, and other rescued racing greyhounds looking for homes, go here. If you don't know about the plight of racing greyhounds go here.

Michigan! Motto: Just Like Mississippi But With Fewer Letters

So today is the day the peoples' representatives in Lansing will vote to make Michigan a Right To Work state, or as one union wag put it, a right to work for less state. He may have a point. Research on right to work, while mixed on the effect it has on creating jobs and improving the economy, does agree on one consistent outcome: wages go down in right to work states.

Now, those of you who were paying attention in Civics class the day they talked about how citizens in a democratic society elect representatives who reflect and support their priorities might wonder why the good citizens of Michigan have elected a group of people determined to make them poorer.

And to you we would say silly, silly persons, have you not been paying attention lately? You still think Congress is a deliberative body, right? You probably thought The West Wing was a reality show. Allow us to purchase a clue for you, Bucko. Elections are no longer about the will of the people, haven't been for a good bit now. They're about the will of the money, specifically in this case Koch brothers' money, and more locally Devos money (that's Mister Amway to you Bub). That's why the republicans are going to push this through with no public hearings, no debate and some legislative sleight of hand that makes the law referendum proof so actual voters can't change it later. Welcome to the new Gilded Age, now get back to work at wages 380 time less than the boss makes.

All of this is presided over by our "tough nerd" governor whose motto is Relentless Positive Action. And what has been the result of this relentless positive action in the two years Snyder has been commuting from his home in Ann Arbor to Lansing because who cares about the price of gas when you're that rich? The poverty rate has risen from 13.5% to 16.8%; we have the ninth largest homeless population of all 50 states and DC; our infant mortality rate is almost 9% higher than the rest of the country; and the unemployment rate is 1.5% higher than the national average, so even if you are working, now you can look forward to less take home pay!

In Snyder's defense, he originally said he didn't want to deal with this right to work stuff because it would be so divisive, then someone said yes you do and he said yes I do because he's a principled leader like a fish is an astronaut.

Today a lot of voters are going to show up in Lansing to say to the people they elected this isn't what we elected you for and those people are going to say why do you think that matters? Michigan will then become a right to work state which won't be the end of it because the one thing democracy still has going for it is that it's all process, which means it's never done. Today the oligarchy wins, but history tells us that the general direction of a democracy over time is one that improves the lives of regular folk.

That's good news bad news though because as democracy lurches around on a general path of progress people suffer, specifically in Michigan's case because this fight is going to take all the energy, attention and will away from real problems in the state like poverty, homelessness and hunger. OK, you're right, our current legislature never cared about those problems anyway, being far more concerned with making blastocysts tax deductible. Our bad.

The good news is this may cause unions to return to their roots as social movements which is what gave them such influence in the first place and got us to the point of having things like minimum wages, 40 hour weeks and workplace safety regulations for all workers, union and non-union alike.

It is ironic though that in a state where manufacturing unions were born one of the greatest corporate overlords of all, Henry Ford, realized that while profit was the ultimate goal, you still had to pay your workers enough to buy your product if you wanted to stay in business over the long term. The Koch's and the Devos' surely get the first part of Ford's lesson, but that part about the interconnectedness of the economy...uh...not so much.

Friday Hound Blogging

You know, the holiday season is a time to put aside differences, seek out common ground and join in celebration of what brings us together. We exchange gifts, wish each other well and mostly mean it, and we resolve to somehow be better people in the coming year.

And it is in that spirit that we would like to wish good tidings to the overlords. Admittedly, we do not have a gift to give, but perhaps we can facilitate an exchange. Bo Guidry, is the senior vice president and general manager for Horseshoe and Harrah’s Council Bluffs, Iowa. Now we all know how casinos like to give away things, so we're going to call on his generosity ask that, in our stead he be Santa for the overlords. Mr. Guidry, what say you sir?

“We’re losing $9 million a year,” said Guidry. “We want to get rid of the dogs.”

Hey! Whoa, hang on there Mr. Guidry. That's pretty Grinchy of you. Where's your holiday spirit? OK, general Scroogeness aside, we would like to offer one point of clarification. It's not the dogs you want to get rid of Mr. Guidry, it's the overlords. People like dogs.

“We do 15 races a day,” Guidry said. However, the dogs mostly race before empty seats, which don’t bring in revenue.

 Leave the sarcasm to us, OK? Besides, you can't blame the empty seats on the dogs. They run just as hard and get hurt just as badly whether anyone is watching or not. Unless of course they get killed outright, but you still can't blame them for that. They don't now they're just commodities, put in harm's way so the two legged parasites back in the clubhouse can avoid honest labor.

During Tuesday’s racing as he toured the track with local lawmaker Mark Brandenburg, Guidry began counting the people in the clubhouse area that has a 1,800-patron capacity. The count didn’t take long. “There are approximately 50 people,” he said. That was 50 more than in the lower level grandstand that seats 400 or the 700-seat outdoor bench area. “Look at all the empty seats,” Brandenburg said. Actually, one seat was taken. It belonged to Lynn Reid, security officer. “A big crowd here is three or four people,” he said.

Well that's not surprising. We mean, who wants to come out for an evening's entertainment and see this?

From January 2011 through July 2012 eighteen greyhounds were euthanized at Bluffs Run.

 Not exactly the same as hitting triple cherries on the progressive slots is it?

Guidry can’t just turn off the lights, however. Approval by the Iowa Legislature is needed, and the lawmakers there have rejected proposals in the last three years to allow casinos to pay millions of dollars annually to the state for the right to shut down their dog tracks. “We have offered the state an x amount of dollars in lieu of paying purses,” Guidry said. Not only could that money go to education or roads, but the track – because of its close proximity to Interstate 29/80 – is ripe for retail development and all the jobs and tax revenue that goes with it, he said.

Hmm...shut down the track, get money for schools and roads, and develop the land providing jobs and services. Now that's a gift worth giving, huh CC?

CC is a six year old girl who never raced and has been returned because her owner could no longer care for her. She likes kids, other dogs and cats. For more information about this dog, and other rescued racing greyhounds looking for homes, go here. If you don't know about the plight of racing greyhounds go here.

Jeb Bush! Motto: I Don't Know Anything, But You're Going To Give Me A Lot Of Money Anyway

Can someone please tell us why Jeb Bush is an educational expert.  Is it because he has a BA in Latin American studies which he has never used? Or because before he went into politics he worked in a bank? We have three college degrees in fields related to teaching and learning and we've been in the classroom for our entire career. Does that qualify us to be a hedge fund manager?

Bush is trading off his experience as Florida governor to enhance his post politics career as an educational snake oil salesman. While it's true some scores did go up in Florida during his tenure, most notably fourth grade reading scores, this was also a time during the housing boom which produced a 22% increase in funding for schools, and the passage of a Constitutional amendment which limited class size in Florida schools (an amendment which Bush opposed and worked against even after its passage.)

In addition, while some scores rose, others did not. Student ACT scores, for example did not rise, high school graduation rates to this day are still lower than other similarly populated states, and "huge" numbers of high school students need remedial help in reading and math. Low income students are well behind the progress of their more wealthy peers.

We call this Potemkin Village school improvement because it is more form than substance. The specifics of Bush's "Florida Formula" are not much different than the thinly veiled reforms of most of the corporate pirates who look at education and see profit. It's a program that can be summed up in three words: test, test, test. Bush grades schools on student tests and gives more money to schools with high scores. If this seems counter intuitive it's because the rich get richer policy isn't designed to improve education, but to thin the herd, making students at poorly performing schools free floating profit centers more vulnerable to vouchers and charters.

Every marketer knows if you want to sell a product, particularly a product without a corresponding need, first you have to create that need, so in education a crisis was manufactured and since low income and minority schools are the most vulnerable (and their communities least able to fight back), they are the first target. Legislatures are encouraged to rewrite educational policies to open funding streams to for profit companies instead of local communities; parents are sold on the need to abandon their schools rather than fight for them; and educational entrepreneurs like Bush show up to take advantage of the situation with charters and online virtual schools.

The fact that the reforms don't work is immaterial.They were never designed to work in any substantive way. Designing educational reform around for profit companies is like a chef being more concerned with who made his pots and pans than the ingredients he uses.

It's a recipe for disaster and a generation of children are paying the price.