School Shooting Abortion Connection

School Shooting Abortion Connection — A few hours ago a demented person shot numerous people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. and as of yet we don’t know how many dead or what set this person off.

Before the usual suspects start blaming the gun rather than the human being who pulled the trigger, we’d like to run this column originally published Oct. 2, 2015 after the killings at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore.

Culture matters. People are guided by the music they hear, the movies they watch and pronouncements of social leaders, who for several decades have been saying the taking of life was just an individual choice that we may not judge.

There have been 24 U.S. school shootings by our count of the list at Wikipedia involving five or more injuries or deaths since Anthony F. Barbaro shot passersby at random from a window at Olean (N.Y.) High School in 1974 killing three and wounding 11.

School Shooting Abortion Connection
Chris Harper-Mercer

There had been school massacres before, notably the University of Texas shootings by Charles Whitman in 1966 and the bizarre Bath School disaster in 1927 in which a demonic school official spent months planting bombs in the building to maximize tragedy, but otherwise the violence was targeted and personal.

That, of course, has  changed.

Yesterday (Oct. 1), an anti-Christian named Chris Harper-Mercer murdered nine — or 11 depending on the source — students at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., and wounded several others. Before the killing Harper-Mercer asked his victims their religion. Those who said “Christian” he shot in the head. Those who said otherwise he shot in the leg.

So what has caused this change in society? Was it access to guns? Access to guns were arguably easier before 1974 especially for youths. Barbaro was on his school’s rifle team.

So no, it is not access to guns.

What has changed, though, is our culture.

Our respect for life has disappeared.

We tell young men that protecting the innocent is no longer something they should aspire to do.

We have powerful people in government, media and academia shrug their shoulder at revelations of the weak and helpless being harvested for body parts. It’s worse than that actually. The actively defend the organization that does such monstrous things, and insist it be rewarded with public money.

We have state officials protecting mass murder if it is politically fashionable.

It isn’t a coincidence that the school shooting epidemic didn’t start until after our Supreme Court declared abortion to be a “right”.

We start holding once again that the existence of God is an axiom, and that we have individual rights granted by our Creator, and that the rest of us have an obligation to protect the rights of others, especially those that can’t defend themselves, the epidemic will end.

If we continue the path we are now on, things are going to get a lot worse.

School Shooting Abortion Connection

Mango Visiting Andy’s Diner

Mango Visiting Andy’s Diner — Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul Mango will hold a meet and greet 9-10 a.m., tomorrow, Feb. 15 at Andy’s Diner, 505 W Ridge Pike, Conshohocken, Pennsylvania 19428.

Information about Mango can be found here.

Mango Visiting Andy’s Diner

Mango Visiting Andy's Diner

 

Pennsylvania Already Spends More Than Most States, Gov.

Pennsylvania Already Spends More Than Most States, Gov.

By Leo Knepper

Pennsylvania Already Spends More Than Most States, Gov.
The governor of special interests

Last week, Governor Wolf presented his budget proposal to the General Assembly. He primarily recycled talking points from his first three budgets and added an Eagles hat to demonstrate how “in touch” he is with people. The three key points from Gov. Wolf’s proposals are more spending on education, more taxes on natural gas, and a higher minimum wage. None of these ideas are new, nor are any of them sound ideas.

On the issue of education spending, Pennsylvania currently spends more on education than 41 other states. More money is not going to help students in failing schools. A quick look at the 50 worst performing school districts illustrates this point. Many of the schools on the list spend more per student than the cost of tuition at a college or trade school. The worst performing school district, Wilkinsburg Borough, spends over $30,000 per pupil. However, only fifteen percent of their students are proficient in math, and twenty-six percent are proficient in reading. On top of poor performance in math and reading, less than half of Wilkinsburg’s students graduate. More money is not the solution for our education system’s failings, but considering the hundreds of thousands of dollars Governor Wolf stands to receive from the state teachers’ union in his upcoming election, we shouldn’t be surprised that he wants more money instead of increased accountability for schools.

In his budget address, Wolf repeated the lie that natural gas companies aren’t paying their “fair share” and he advocated for raising their taxes. He stated that Pennsylvania was the only state not collecting an extraction tax, but the Governor failed to mention that we are the only state to levy an impact fee. In 2017, the natural gas companies paid over $200 million into Pennsylvania’s coffers due to our impact fee. Natural gas companies are also subject to the Commonwealth’s corporate net income tax, which happens to be the second highest in the country. On top of that, the Treasury gets a cut of any royalties paid to individuals by the gas companies. At what point will Governor Wolf be satisfied that natural gas companies are paying their fair share?

The final item trotted out by the Governor was an increase in the minimum wage. If Governor Wolf wants to make it harder for lower-skilled workers to find employment, setting an artificially high wage floor will undoubtedly make that happen. Minimum wage increases enacted by other states and localities have resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs and Pennsylvania would not be exempt from that trend. Instead of declaring that employers should pay a certain amount and be surprised that people lose their jobs, Governor Wolf should take a lesson from President Trump and make it less expensive for business.

Thanks to tax changes at the federal level, at least thirty-three major corporations have announced higher wages, bonuses, and increased employee benefits. Keep in mind those are just major corporations. How many small and medium-sized businesses can now afford to reinvest in their employees or expand their businesses? If Governor Wolf wants to help Pennsylvania’s workers, he should be focused on the regulations that drive up costs in the Commonwealth and the tax policies that make us uncompetitive.

There is no doubt that Pennsylvanians face struggles, but Governor Wolf’s solutions represent a continuation of the same policies that have failed for the last fifty years. Higher taxes and more spending has predictably failed to improve the Commonwealth. It’s unfortunate that the Governor intends to keep going down the same road.

Pennsylvania Already Spends More Than Most States, Gov.