We the People - The Temple of Liberty

 

There are points in the course of time in which a noble direction has been shifted enough to warrant measures of redirection. Those points where a strong foundation has had built upon it a weakened frame. The foundations - the core values - are sturdy and enduring. The framework that has been erected around and upon this foundation has been, from time and neglect, found in need of repair.

The framework, that "our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that 'all men are created equal'" is as enduring as the word of our creator. The instinctual ideals of liberty and freedom in their framework of a government that is of the people by the people for the people, shall not perish from the earth, is stronger than ever.

In order for this framework to have upon it a building of majesty and beauty that is profitable for all people must , from time to time, be renovated and repaired. The open floor plan of freedom has had walls of intrusion laid upon the foundations of liberty and justice for all, causing a separation of the people from the government. The rooms of government are now locked and hidden from the people whose fathers and mothers gave their last full measure of devotion to protect the openness of this liberty.

We the people are the builders and maintainers of the temple of liberty that is this great nation. The great commission of the protection of the tangible daily execution of freedom has been passed from generation to generation in this land of liberty. This noble task is inherent in those of us living here today. It is therefore, our duty to restore the government by the people of the people and for the people for this generation and generations to come.

In order for us to maintain a nation maturing in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all people are created equal, we must maintain a government that is of the people by the people for the people. It is of the people in our fellow citizens being the servants of the public good. By the people as we elect and place the people we believe hold fast to the actual execution of liberty and justice for all. It is for the people in the written precepts - the law and the rules and regulations - that are in accordance with and protecting of the individual liberty of all people. This republic can only stand of the people by the people and for the people.

The time has come to remove the walls of secrecy and deceit that have degraded this temple of liberty. It is time for a war of knowledge and reason to remove the corporate interests that have taken this government of the people away from the people. We must be strong and abhor the notion of convenience that begets a false security in the loss of liberty. We must actively seek those citizens that are dedicated to the preservation of a government that is of the people by the people for the people. These people will marginalized and demonized by the media that is owned by the same corporate builders of the walls of deceit. We must not let our decisions be made for us as this is the greatest loss in the constant battle for independence. It is time to eschew the material media ensnarement, the bread of circuses of our time, for the interaction with our fellow citizens to rebuild and restore the temple of liberty.

James T. Garrett

Special OK Legislative Session

 

 

Gov. Mary Fallin announced  special legislative session will begin Sept. 3, 2014. Fallin’s executive order designating the session limits it to lawsuit reforms enacted in House Bill 1603, an omnibus package enacted in 2009 with bipartisan support. The Oklahoma Supreme Court in June ruled the legislation violated a state constitutional “single-subject” rule.

Nearly every state legislator with a prison in their district has signed onto a petition calling for corrections funding to be addressed if a special session is called, according to state Rep. Gus Blackwell.

As of Aug. 5, the state corrections system is at 97.7 percent capacity, or has filled 25,348 or the 25,946 state and contract beds available. There are 1,672 inmates in county jail that are awaiting transfer to the state corrections system, with a typical wait time of approximately 8 to 10 months. As of July 1, 61.68 percent of the correctional officer positions are filled.

According to the Department of Corrections, there is approximately $7 million remaining in the revolving funds referenced by Governor Mary Fallin when she rejected a supplemental appropriations request of the agency. Nearly $5 million in the revolving funds cannot be used by the agency unless they receive specific authorization from the Oklahoma Legislature, which they have yet to receive.

“Public safety is the number one legitimate core function of government,” Blackwell, R-Laverne. “It’s essential that we make sure that the officers and staff of the Department of Corrections are able to perform their jobs in an atmosphere of safety and that the citizens of Oklahoma are kept safe from the danger inherent in overcrowded prisons. The continued low number of officers coupled with the high incarceration rates is producing a situation that is conducive to extremely problematic scenarios in the DOC facilities.

In response to Governor Mary Fallin’s call for a special legislative session to revisit tort reform in Oklahoma, Senate Democratic Leader Sean Burrage stated “If the governor believes that tort reform is such a pressing issue that she must call a special session, then surely the safety and protection of DOC employees ought to also be on the agenda."

“The Democrats in the State Senate believe that a special session to revisit this issue is a waste of both time and taxpayer dollars,” said Burrage, D-Claremore. “At a cost of $30,000 per day, we are looking at spending close to $250,000 to fix a problem.”

“But, if this is a done deal, let’s make this special session worth the time and the cost and handle the critical issue of the December 31 cutoff date on Insure Oklahoma. If the Governor and the legislature stand idle on this issue, 30,000 hard working Oklahomans who have access to health care through Insure Oklahoma will lose that coverage as they ring in the New Year.

Because of that deadline, this is something we literally cannot wait until 2014 to address. The Republican leadership here at the Capitol clearly has its priorities wrong if they believe that addressing lawsuit reform in a special session is more important than finding a solution to providing access to healthcare for these hard working Oklahomans.”

Fallin didn’t extend her legislative call explicitly to health care. Many legislators had hoped she would so the looming demise of Insure Oklahoma could be addressed but majority Republicans likely have the votes to move a dozen or more bills through the pipeline three weeks from now.

Fallin’s Executive Order 2013-30 specified that “any legislative should be drafted in such a way to ensure that Article 5, Section 57 of the Oklahoma Constitution, or any other Constitutional provision, is not violated.”

Twelve-month gross receipts to the Oklahoma treasury are at an all-time high

Twelve-month gross receipts to the Oklahoma treasury are at an all-time high, having surpassed in July the previous record high set in December 2008, State Treasurer Ken Miller announced today at a State Capitol news conference.

Gross receipts for the past 12 months total $11.3 billion and are $12.6 million, or 0.1 percent, above the previous record high, Miller said.

“By at least this one measure, Oklahoma has regained and moved past the ground it lost during the Great Recession,” Miller said. “The revenue recovery – from peak to peak – took four years and seven months.”

Twelve-month gross receipts hit a trough in February 2010 of $9.4 billion. Since then, collections have grown by more than $1.9 billion or 21 percent, Miller said.

Gross receipts in July were strong, totaling almost $924 million, up by $69 million or more than 8 percent from July of last year. All major revenue categories are up with the biggest increases coming from gross production and motor vehicle tax collections.

Tax officials say motor vehicle collections, up by 11 percent, and sales tax collections, up by 4.2 percent, were impacted by recovery from the May tornadoes, with rises reported in the retail construction materials and auto sales sectors.

Monthly receipts from oil and natural gas severance taxes are higher than collections from the prior year for a third consecutive month, following more than a year of negative reports. 

This week’s Baker Hughes report showed 168 development wells underway in Oklahoma, with 149 for oil and 19 for natural gas. Of those, 152 are horizontal and 13 are deeper than 15,000 feet.

Oklahoma’s employment picture remains better than the national average. June state unemployment was set at 5.1 percent, compared to the U.S. rate of 7.6 percent for the same month.

Looking forward

Miller said that while national economic growth has been underwhelming during the first half of the year, there are signs of an improving economy ahead.

“Broad economic indicators such as home construction, capital stock and investment, and inflation-adjusted income, are pointing toward increased growth, but threats remain,” he said.

“Second quarter growth was slightly impacted by federal spending reductions, especially military spending cuts, but the economy was strong enough to push past this fiscal drag,” Miller said. “Accelerated growth is expected for the remainder of the year, but a continued budget impasse in Washington could lead to a government shutdown and potential disruption of the economy.”

July collections

Receipts for July set gross collections at $923.85 million, up $68.88 million or 8.1 percent from July 2012.

Gross income tax collections, a combination of personal and corporate income taxes, generated $270.73 million, an increase of $23.39 million or 9.5 percent from the previous July.

Personal income tax collections for the month are $258 million, up $23.26 million or 9.9 percent from the prior year. Corporate collections are $12.73 million, up by $132,000 or 1 percent. The state’s top income tax rate was reduced from 5.5 percent to 5.25 percent in January 2012.

Sales tax collections, including remittances on behalf of cities and counties, total $369.22 million in July. That is $14.78 million or 4.2 percent higher than July 2012.

Gross production taxes on oil and natural gas generated $69.45 million in July, an increase of $11.13 million or 19.1 percent from last July. Compared to June reports, gross production collections are up by $1.6 million or 2.4 percent.

Motor vehicle taxes produced $64.33 million, up by $6.37 million or 11 percent from the prior year.

Other collections, consisting of about 60 different sources including taxes on fuel, tobacco, horse race gambling and alcoholic beverages, produced $150.11 million during the month. That is $13.21 million or 9.6 percent more than last July.

Twelve-month collections

Between August 2012 and July 2013, gross revenue totals $11.3 billion. That is $299.81 million or 2.7 percent higher than collections for the previous 12-month period.

Gross income taxes generated $4.15 billion for the period, reflecting an increase of $268.97 million or 6.9 percent from the prior 12 months.

Personal income tax collections total $3.52 billion, up by $189.47 million or 5.7 percent from the August 2011 to July 2012 period. Corporate collections are $629.03 million for the period, an increase of $79.5 million or 14.5 percent over the previous period.

Sales taxes for the period generated $4.22 billion, an increase of $157.69 million or 3.9 percent from the prior 12-months.

Oil and gas gross production tax collections brought in $726.2 million during the 12 months, down by $125.99 million or 14.8 percent from the previous period.

Motor vehicle collections total $682.47 million for the period. This is a decrease of $10.94 million or 1.6 percent from the trailing fiscal year.

Other sources generated $1.52 billion, up $10.08 million or 0.7 percent from the previous 12 months.

Ethical Violations and Retaliation: How to Get Promoted at the Bureau of Indian Affairs

From Cause of Action

According to a Department of the Interior, Office of the Inspector General (DOI OIG) report  and numerous complaints filed by Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) employees, Jeanette Hanna, the former Regional Director of the Eastern Oklahoma Regional Office of the BIA, mismanaged tribal trust funds, abused her authority, retaliated against employees, steered contracts, and had an inappropriate relationship with a government contractor that created a conflict of interest.  The DOI OIG report reveals that there were at least 17 formal complaints, 2 separate DOI OIG investigations, and 4 different reviews by the BIA and the DOI Office of Policy, Management and Budget (PMB) of Hanna’s behavior between 2005 and 2011.  Just how badly must a federal employee behave before getting fired?

In November 2009, the BIA placed Hanna on detail in Washington, DC, while the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs (AS-IA) reviewed her alleged ethical violations.  Hanna remained on detail for more than 500 days longer than allowed by agency rules.  However, no action was ultimately taken by the AS-IA, so the DOI OIG initiated an investigation in August 2011 after receiving information that BIA officials failed to act on the complaints against Hanna.

During the AS-IA’s formal review of the complaints against Hanna, investigators interviewed BIA employees who were “physically shaking” because they were so afraid Hanna might retaliate against them.  As the AS-IA discovered, Hanna had previously installed 40 “extra” security cameras with live feeds she used to monitor employees in her regional office, and the initial AS-IA report confirmed that Hanna engaged in retaliation and harassment of employees.  However, this report appears to have been ignored by higher ups at the AS-IA, who dismissed the findings as “minor personnel issues” and just so happen to be friends with Hanna.

Hanna not only fostered a hostile work environment.  The DOI OIG’s report ultimately found that the failure of the BIA and AS-IA to ensure Hanna followed agency spending procedures cost the government nearly $200,000.  After reviewing travel vouchers from Hanna’s detail filed by the AS-IA (to whom she had been assigned even though it was the AS-IA investigating her), investigators found an almost complete failure to comply with tax laws and agency regulations.  In sum, Hanna was reimbursed over $130,000 in travel costs, as she often traveled between Oklahoma and DC, with her $117-a-night hotel room sitting empty for weeks for at a time.  Perhaps even more outrageous, Hanna decided she required an agency-provided SUV for the over-two-year detail in DC “because of the snow,” as she later explained to investigators.

Following the DOI OIG’s referral, the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the District of Columbia declined to prosecute this case.  While the USAO might have determined that the evidence did not warrant a criminal prosecution (even though Hanna still owes significant back taxes on her travel reimbursements), it is disturbing that such blatant disregard for agency regulations and federal law has warranted no punishment for Hanna.

To read the full story, see CoA’s investigation analysis here.

May Data Show Steady Growth in Oklahoma

Oklahoma’s economy continued to exhibit steady growth during May, State Treasurer Ken Miller said today as he released the monthly gross receipts to the treasury report.

For the first time in 18 months, gross production tax collections exceeded the same month of prior year, climbing to $63.89 million in May. That is $790,000 or 1.2 percent above May of last year. Starting almost two years ago, gross production collections began to drop, hitting a trough in August 2012. Since then, collections have trended upwards.

Total collections for the month of $883.8 million reflected growth of 2.9 percent over May of last year. That compares to an average growth rate of 2.3 percent during the past 12 months.

Twelve-month collections now total $11.247 billion and are only about $36 million below Oklahoma’s peak 12-month collections of $11.283 billion set in December 2008.

“Oklahoma’s economy continues to show improvement,” Miller said. “The increase in gross production collections is most encouraging. Crossing the monthly collections threshold this month is heartening as we have been observing general growth during the past several months.”

Income tax and sales tax collections rose during the month, up by 4.6 percent and 3.8 percent respectively from May of last year. Motor vehicle collections were below prior year collections by 5.2 percent.

Other indicators

The state’s unemployment rate continues to reflect the strength of the Oklahoma economy, Miller said. Oklahoma’s 4.9 percent April unemployment rate compares to a national rate of 7.5 percent.

April unemployment in the Oklahoma City metro was set at 4.1 percent, down from 4.7 percent in March. It is the lowest jobless rate out of the nation’s 49 largest metropolitan areas, a distinction held for the past 13 months.

The Business Conditions Index for Oklahoma remained above growth neutral for May, dipping slightly to 55.6 from April’s 59.8. The survey shows average hourly wage growth of 6.2 percent, much higher than both the U.S. and regional averages. The results indicate positive growth will continue for the next three to six months.

May collections

The revenue report for May shows gross collections at $883.8 million, up $24.91 million or 2.9 percent from May 2012.

Gross income tax collections, a combination of personal and corporate income taxes, generated $280.88 million, an increase of $12.39 million or 4.6 percent from the previous May.

Personal income tax collections for the month are $272.31 million, up $14.15 million or 5.5 percent from the prior year. Corporate collections are $8.57 million, down by $1.76 million or 17 percent.

Sales tax collections, including remittances on behalf of cities and counties, total $348.35 million in May. That is $12.81 million or 3.8 percent above May 2012.

Gross production taxes on oil and natural gas generated $63.89 million in May, an increase of $790,000 million or 1.28 percent from last May. Compared to April reports, gross production collections are up by $6.75 million or 11.8 percent.

Motor vehicle taxes produced $59.04 million, down by $3.21 million or 5.2 percent from the prior year.

Other collections, consisting of about 60 different sources including taxes on fuel, tobacco, horse race gambling and alcoholic beverages, produced $131.63 million during the month. That is $2.13 million or 1.6 percent more than last May.

Twelve-month collections
Between June 2012 and May 2013, gross revenue totals $11.247 billion. That is $252.8 million or 2.3 percent higher than collections for the previous 12-month period.

Gross income taxes generated $4.129 billion for the period, reflecting an increase of $275.45 million or 7.1 percent from the prior 12 months.

Personal income tax collections total $3.48 billion, up by $161.65 million or 4.9 percent from the June 2011 to May 2012 period. Corporate collections are $644.37 million for the period, an increase of $113.8 million or 21.4 percent over the previous period.

Sales taxes for the period generated $4.209 billion, an increase of $210.24 million or 5.3 percent from the prior 12-months.

Oil and gas gross production tax collections brought in $706.49 million during the 12 months, down by $233.46 million or 24.8 percent from the previous period.

Motor vehicle collections total $684.71 million for the period. This is a decrease of $4.08 million or 0.6 percent from the trailing 12 months.

Other sources generated $1.518 billion, up $4.65 million or 0.3 percent from the previous 12 months

Just a Thought

 

Age is a quantitative scale not a qualitative measure of a person. At 20 we are told "you are too young to do these things" then at 30 we are told "you're too old to do these things". So, according to the rules of men, we are only allowed to "live" for 8 or 9 years? That is not what life is meant to be. That is not what God has said- that is what man has tried to teach us.

The rules of mean are made to control people not liberate us. The rules of society are mostly built on prejudice and fear rather than on wisdom and love. Clearly, I am not speaking about incarcerating a thief or murderer or rapist, I am talking about the everyday rules that people have made to tell us do not touch, stay within a certain age range of people you see and activities in which you participate.

Rules are made for manipulation like pop fashion and pop- well- anything. Rules of what to wear, what to see, what to do and with whom to see them are meant to take your money and liberty at the same time.

Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—"Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. (Col 2:20-23)

New OK Laws–Criminal History for Candidates

 

Senate Bill 287 was signed into law. It says that if the candidate has ever been ultimately determined by a court of proper authority to be guilty of a misdemeanor involving embezzlement or a felony under the laws of this state or of the United States or who has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to such misdemeanor involving embezzlement or felony or who has been convicted of a crime in another state which would have been a misdemeanor involving embezzlement or a felony under the laws of this state or has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to such crime or at the time of filing the Declaration of Candidacy is named in an outstanding warrant for arrest for such an offense, in this or any other state, the candidate shall provide the following information on a form prescribed by the Secretary of the State Election Board:
1. The name of the offense;
2. The date of conviction or issuance of the outstanding warrant; and
3. The county and state of conviction or issuance of the outstanding warrant.
The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to an offense for which the candidate has received a pardon.

Keep in mind state law prohibits a person from filing for office for 15 years after such a conviction.