State Chamber Reveals Education Mission – Corporate interests over State

OK-SAFE, Inc. – The following post from The McCarville Report is reminiscent of OK-SAFE’s report on the state Chamber of Commerce’s objectives regarding the OK Legislature.  (See OK-SAFE post entitled State Chamber Admits Running Campaigns – Thinks Tax Cuts Don’t Matter. )  

TMR Exclusive: Document Reveals State Chamber’s Education Mission, Angers Some

The McCarville Report Exclusive

A grant application from the Oklahoma State Chamber has found its way into the hands of some state lawmakers who are unhappy with its tone and mission.

The state chamber plans to school legislators on education at a proposed “academy” and promises to deliver “50%” of the Oklahoma Legislature on education objectives important to out-of-state foundations.

Part I

The state chamber wants dollars for a proposed non-profit from the Bill Gates Foundation, the Walton Foundation and the Kaiser Foundation.

Some insiders say the controversial document threatens to divide Republicans next year on the education issue.

Rural lawmakers fear the proposals will strip their schools of funding while some “far right” conservatives fear the proposal brings more federal control of Oklahoma education.

Link to full TMR article here.

High Density Population Warehousing – Randy Bright article

OK-SAFE, Inc. – Last week church architect Randy Bright sent us a link to an article about Michael Wolf’s Architecture of Density photography.

Featured are images of massive high rise “neighborhoods” from an article entitled Dizzying Pics of Hong Kong’s Massive High-Rise Neighborhoods. 

This is no way to live.

(Hong Kong high risers photo by Michael Wolf)

Is anyone else reminded of computer chips on a circuit board? Both are capable of massive storage.

(Computer chip images)

Danger Lurks When World Populations are Warehoused –

by Randy Bright, from the Tulsa Beacon, Sept. 5, 2013.

A couple of weeks ago I ran across an article entitled Dizzying Pics of Hong Kong’s Massive High Rise Neighborhoods.  It is worth the time to Google the title and see it.

Photographer Michael Wolf has taken a number of photographs of these massive high rises, which from a distance appear colorful and even a bit beautiful.

But one look at the close-ups of these residential beasts reveals something reminiscent of 19th century slums; thousands of identical, tiny living units that reveal the same squalor that you will find anywhere where people are living in highly dense neighborhoods.  Some units have air conditioners, others do not, probably meaning that the building itself is not adequately air conditioned, or maybe not at all.  Some have laundry hanging out of their windows.

I sent this article with its photographs to a colleague with a comment about the inhumanity of forcing people to live in these kinds of conditions, but this is where the more extreme land planners believe that humankind should be warehoused.

Not all planners ascribe to that kind of density, of course, but they do see some degree of density as the answer to mankind’s problems, environmental or otherwise.

Randy Bright’s entire 9/5/13 article will appear online next week at tulsabeacon.com.  For pdf version click on the OK-SAFE website here.

Insure Oklahoma to continue for another year. Changes include using federal exchange

OK-SAFE, Inc. – OK Governor Fallin today issued a press release announcing the extension of the Insure Oklahoma program for working, low-income Oklahomans.

The Insure Oklahoma program was set to expire at the end of this year. The one-year extension continues the program through 2014 and includes directing some low-income Oklahomans to use the federal insurance exchange (known as the  federal Health Insurance Marketplace.)

To meet the mandates of the (Un)Affordable Care Act, this Health Insurance Marketplace is supposed to be up and running by October 1, 2013.  There is some doubt, however, as to whether the federal system will actually be ready to go by then.  (Really?)

Click here for Governor Fallin’s Sept. 6th press release on the Insure Oklahoma extension.

 

Highlights of the changes are below:

“Though the Insure Oklahoma program was set to expire December 31, 2013, the federal government has approved a request for a one year extension with certain modifications which are outlined below. For more information, please visit www.insureoklahoma.org or call 1-888-365-3742.

·         Agreement extends Insure Oklahoma through December 31, 2014

·         No changes in Insure Oklahoma through December 31, 2013

·         No changes in Insure Oklahoma ESI plan through December 31, 2014

·         Changes in Insure Oklahoma IP plan, effective January 1, 2014

o   To qualify, income must be at or below 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Level ($23,550 annually for a family of four). This is a change from the current qualification level of at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level ($47,100 annually for a family of four). There are currently about 5,300 individuals who are at or below 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Level enrolled in the Insure Oklahoma IP.

o   IP members will have the following co-payments for services

§  Pharmacy: $4 generic prescriptions and $8 brand prescriptions (decrease from $5 and $10, respectively)

§  Inpatient Hospital Services: $50 per stay (no change)

§  Outpatient Services and Physician Visits: $4 per visit (decrease from $10 – $25 range)

§  Emergency Room Services: $30 per visit (no change)

o   Those individuals above 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Level qualify for the federal Health Insurance Marketplace and related advance premium tax credits, which will be offered to individuals and families earning up to 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. There are currently about 8,000 individuals in this category currently enrolled in the Insure Oklahoma IP.”