March 15, 2018
By Doug Stanglin
Oklahoma City — A revenue package (click here) to pay for a 12.7 percent teacher pay raise failed on the Senate floor by a narrow margin late Wednesday.
The measure’s failure came after a bill to give teachers the raise passed the Senate floor by a 35-11 vote. Because it was not a revenue bill, it did not require a supermajority.
The revenue-raising measure considered by the Senate late Wednesday needed 36 votes — a supermajority — to pass. It had 34 votes in support, with 12 votes opposing in the 48-member Senate.
Revenue-raising measures must originate in the House. The Senate amended a House bill in an attempt to provide revenue for the teacher pay raise.
The revenue package included a $1 per pack cigarette tax increase, a 6-cent hike in the gasoline and diesel tax, and an increase in the gross production tax on all wells to 4 percent from 2 percent.
That is standard to long term funding measures. Alcohol, tobacco and petroleum pays higher tax rates. That is the way it works. Oklahoma needs to pass a funding measure to take care of the kids.
The proposals were expected to have generated $450 million if put into effect.
Eight Democrats joined four Republicans in voting against the funding measure. Senate Minority Leader John Sparks did not return a phone call seeking comment. Likewise, Sen. J.J. Dossett, D-Owasso, could not be reached for comment.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Kim David, R-Porter, held the vote on the revenue-raising measure on a motion to reconsider the vote by which it failed. Therefore, it could come up again.
Oklahoma teachers and state employees have indicated that they will walk off the job April 2 if a pay raise is not forthcoming....
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Stephen Hawking was an esteemed member of the Pontifical Academy of Science.
The churches have always lead the way with science and it's discoveries. There was a time in human history when the church was the only advanced studies in the world. The Middle Ages when Popes and Priests were as powerful as kings.(click here)
...He lamented (click here) how easily well-founded scientific counsel is “disregarded” and how politics tends to obey technology and finance instead.
The proof of that, he said, is the way countries are still “distracted” or delayed in applying international agreements on the environment as well as the “continuous wars of dominance masquerading as noble declarations that cause increasingly serious harm to the environment and the moral and cultural wealth of peoples.”
Pope Francis told the scientists that it was up to them to “build a cultural model to tackle the crisis of climate change and its social consequences so that enormous productive capacities are not reserved only to the few.”
To do that, he said, the scientists would have to be free of political, economic and ideological interests, too.
Because scientists have been able to study and demonstrate many crises facing the planet, the Pope called on them to be leaders in proposing solutions to the many problems, such as water, energy and food security....
Science and the churches have been linked for millennia. The church believes in the intellect of the human mind and its brilliant discoveries. "The soul" is not an empty ghost to earn its status for heaven. "The soul" is a result of the good and decent work accumulated during life's journey. Sciences are not empty souls, they hold the human experience dearly to their professions.
...In medieval Europe, (click here) the church and the state were closely linked. It was the duty of every political authority -- king, queen, prince or city councilman -- to support, sustain and nurture the church. With notable exceptions, the church reinforced the political authority of the states, and the states reinforced the authority of the church. French churchman Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet tutored Louis XIV's son in the principles of royal absolutism: "God establishes kings as his ministers, and reigns through them over the people. ... [K]ings are sacred because of their office; they are the representatives of the divine majesty."...
The right wing of the USA hold God as an icon to power. God does not grant power, God grants grace.
The USA political right wing has a faux face. They are fictitious. If anyone wants to read real fiction I suggest, "A Canticle for Leibowitz." It is a post-apocalyptic fiction whereby Utah monks rebuild faith out of a fallout shelter.
What faith would arm children? The USA has fought against "child soldiers" since human rights became a priority. The political right wing is so warped it has leaders that only know greed and how to obtain it at any cost.
The USA political right wing are nothing more than greed merchants. They have no conscience.
Science and the churches have been linked for millennia. The church believes in the intellect of the human mind and its brilliant discoveries. "The soul" is not an empty ghost to earn its status for heaven. "The soul" is a result of the good and decent work accumulated during life's journey. Sciences are not empty souls, they hold the human experience dearly to their professions.
...In medieval Europe, (click here) the church and the state were closely linked. It was the duty of every political authority -- king, queen, prince or city councilman -- to support, sustain and nurture the church. With notable exceptions, the church reinforced the political authority of the states, and the states reinforced the authority of the church. French churchman Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet tutored Louis XIV's son in the principles of royal absolutism: "God establishes kings as his ministers, and reigns through them over the people. ... [K]ings are sacred because of their office; they are the representatives of the divine majesty."...
The USA political right wing has a faux face. They are fictitious. If anyone wants to read real fiction I suggest, "A Canticle for Leibowitz." It is a post-apocalyptic fiction whereby Utah monks rebuild faith out of a fallout shelter.
What faith would arm children? The USA has fought against "child soldiers" since human rights became a priority. The political right wing is so warped it has leaders that only know greed and how to obtain it at any cost.
The USA political right wing are nothing more than greed merchants. They have no conscience.
If legislators believe guns on campus will end deaths is grossly wrong.
Clearly understand people that kill have no conscience and are never deterred from carrying out the murders.
Arming the public is not the answer. There will be bloodbaths in our country if Americans arm themselves to prevent school shootings.
March 15, 2018
On a day when tens of thousands of students (click here) across the county walked out of classes to protest gun violence, the sister of notorious mass killer Dylann Roof was arrested in South Carolina for carrying a knife and pepper spray on school property.
Morgan Roof, 18, a student at A.C. Flora High School in Columbia, was charged Wednesday with two counts of carrying weapons on school property and possession of marijuana, according to records at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center where she was taken.
Students at the school became alarmed Wednesday at her Snapchat post disparaging National Walkout Day, which was being held in response to a mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 dead. Roof’s post said she hoped “it’s a trap and y’all get shot” and “we know it’s fixing to be nothing but black people walkin out anyway,” authorities told local news outlets....
For those that all anyone has to do is invoke God to end all tragedy and protect American health, they could not be more wrong. The "Big Bang" theory is not a finding by atheists. The churches and especially the Catholic Church have very active programs that welcome science as a superior way of understanding God.
I have had enough of the USA Right Wing horseshit! They have no conscience, they understand only greed and they are dangerous to the USA and the global community.
One of the basic questions of science (click here) has a rather surprising answer: Who was the first scientist to put forward the Big Bang Theory? Most would presume that it was either Albert Einstein or Edwin Hubble. Instead, the correct answer is a Diocesan Priest from Belgium by the name of Monsignor Georges Lemaitre. The "popular" narrative of the day is that faith and science are irreconcilable foes that are locked in a constant battle with one another. Ignored are examples like Monsignor Lemaitre who, in his very person, represents a living example of why the popular narrative is in error. Check out this ESA video for the basics of this priest/scientist.
Arming the public is not the answer. There will be bloodbaths in our country if Americans arm themselves to prevent school shootings.
March 15, 2018
On a day when tens of thousands of students (click here) across the county walked out of classes to protest gun violence, the sister of notorious mass killer Dylann Roof was arrested in South Carolina for carrying a knife and pepper spray on school property.
Morgan Roof, 18, a student at A.C. Flora High School in Columbia, was charged Wednesday with two counts of carrying weapons on school property and possession of marijuana, according to records at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center where she was taken.
Students at the school became alarmed Wednesday at her Snapchat post disparaging National Walkout Day, which was being held in response to a mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 dead. Roof’s post said she hoped “it’s a trap and y’all get shot” and “we know it’s fixing to be nothing but black people walkin out anyway,” authorities told local news outlets....
For those that all anyone has to do is invoke God to end all tragedy and protect American health, they could not be more wrong. The "Big Bang" theory is not a finding by atheists. The churches and especially the Catholic Church have very active programs that welcome science as a superior way of understanding God.
I have had enough of the USA Right Wing horseshit! They have no conscience, they understand only greed and they are dangerous to the USA and the global community.
One of the basic questions of science (click here) has a rather surprising answer: Who was the first scientist to put forward the Big Bang Theory? Most would presume that it was either Albert Einstein or Edwin Hubble. Instead, the correct answer is a Diocesan Priest from Belgium by the name of Monsignor Georges Lemaitre. The "popular" narrative of the day is that faith and science are irreconcilable foes that are locked in a constant battle with one another. Ignored are examples like Monsignor Lemaitre who, in his very person, represents a living example of why the popular narrative is in error. Check out this ESA video for the basics of this priest/scientist.
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