Musings of a Twisted Mind|Here you will find thoughts on current events, sports, politics, court system, theology, and other things.

There will be no tax after all. An agreement between Non-Profits and the city averts it. The University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, and unexpectedly, Hallmark have agreed to increase their voluntary payments to the city.

For some reason it doesn’t seem very voluntary to me.

No word on if Pittsburgh Theological Seminary or the other not mentioned schools have avoided having to pay. With PTS only have about 300 students they certainly couldn’t afford much compared to the other schools.

Today the traffic was absolutely horrible. 40 minutes after leaving the seminary I wasn’t even out of Pittsburgh. I was sitting at a redlight on route 28 which usually takes 10 minutes to get through after pulling out of the seminary parking lot. What usually takes 1 hr and ten minutes took 1 hour and 50 minutes.

A while ago I was told by a PCA pastor that I am not fit to be a member of the PCA because I’m not conservative enough. So after much soul searching and prayer I have concluded they are right. This past Sunday I moved out of the PCA and I feel excited.

In addition, after talking to my new church, I am probably moving into the M.Div program at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary if they approve my transfer into the program. The seminary that has the 2nd largest theological library in the United States behind only Princeton Theological Seminary. Pittsburgh Theological Seminary is a wonderful seminary and I highly recommend it to anyone wishing to study.

I received an email from the President of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary today informing the Seminary community about the current attempt by the mayor to blackmail the schools into paying the city $5 million dollars plus trying to get them to help them get $10 million more. With the ultimatum to promise $5 million or else within three days, all ten schools told the Mayor to take a hike.

Pittsburgh
Seminary Community,

In the spirit of keeping the campus community fully informed on the tuition tax issue, I write to provide you with some facts related to recent
public comments on the topic.

Yesterday Mayor Ravenstahl threatened to go forward with his unprecedented plan to tax our students if area universities do not
agree—within three days–to his demand for an annual payment of $5 million. Of course, a tax on the universities of this sort is just another form
of tax on our students.  Pittsburgh area university presidents believe that both kinds of taxes are illegal.  They are certainly both bad for Pittsburgh Seminary and for Pittsburgh.

The number of $5 million is not related to anything having to do with Pittsburgh universities.  Like the proposed 1% tax on our students, it is not related to any city services provided to us or to our students.  Instead, it is an amount needed to help with an underfunded pension plan.

In his statements to the media, the mayor described the $5 million as a “compromise” amount, saying that Pittsburgh nonprofits had earlier agreed to commit $6 million to the city each year.  No such agreement ever existed. Temporary, large-scale assistance to the city by the nonprofit sector was undertaken through the establishment of a Public Service Fund in 2005. Section 3 of the agreement that established the Fund is very clear about the limited time frame of the 2005-2007 commitment made by the nonprofit sector.  It states, “The contributions to the fund are not
precedential and do not indicate any intention on the part of the contributors to provide support for the city after the term of this agreement. The City shall not use the fact that the contributing charitable organizations have voluntarily determined to support the City in its time of financial crisis as evidence that contributing charitable organizations can or should support the city under other circumstances or as a basis to argue for taxation of or to assess contributing organizations during or after the term of this Agreement.”

Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education (PCHE) has recently had numerous productive discussions with members of City Council regarding this issue. Several Council members see merit in developing a collaborative group to address the city’s financial problems, involving representatives from the government, nonprofit and corporate sectors.  But Mayor Ravenstahl has been unwilling to engage in dialogue seeking alternative solutions to taxing students or universities. Therefore, the PCHE institutions have unanimously rejected his ultimatum.

Please be assured that Pittsburgh Seminary, along with our fellow PCHE institutions, will remain strong advocates for Pittsburgh, and will continue in our role as key drivers of the re-emerging vitality of this great city.  And we will be vigorous in protecting our students.  Thank you for the important role you play and the many contributions you make to our Seminary and the city that has been our home for 215 years.

Please note also below a link to a video for YouTube put together by students at Chatham
University. You will find it interesting.

http://animoto.com/play/90mBzeRetGiDSjW9O00TUQ

Thanks for your encouragement and support.

William J. Carl III

President

So education is going to be discouraged the same way that cigarettes and alcohol is by passing a tuition tax. Its nice that people actually trying to improve themselves are going to be discouraged. Why would we want people to make more then minimum wage, right? Apparently a high school diploma is enough in today’s Pittsburgh economy.

On top of that these nonprofits are filling up to much space in Pittsburgh. How dare they buy up properties and then have them not be taxed because they are nonprofits. How dare they give people jobs to pay the outrageous $52 right to work in the city tax.

We here in Beaver County would like to point out to the nonprofits and schools in Pittsburgh of the vast amounts of land that sits undeveloped within Beaver COunty along the new interstate 376 corridor. There would no $52 a year robbing of your employees wallets. (It will be closer to $20 wink wink) And no mayor trying to get into your bank accounts either to find his $15 million.

And if my school was to move it would cut my commute in half. Win win for all.

Come on there’s history for it. Geneva moved from Ohio to Beaver Falls.

Writing papers for school really takes a lot of time.

That is all.

Link

Here’s what we need because the students haven’t been cookie cuttered enough in our public schools.

A coalition of statewide organizations today announced support for a new proposal for high school exit tests, or Keystone Exams.

The Coalition of Effective and Responsible Testing calls its proposal Keystone Exams 2.0.

The plan calls for the state Department of Education to create a system of end-of-course final exams for high school students that would not count for more than 20 percent of a student’s final grade. A local assessment option also would be possible. Students would not be required to pass the exam to graduate.

State officials had proposed graduation competency exams that students would have to pass to graduate.

Last month, the Pennsylvania School Boards Association and the state Department of Education reached an agreement on the controversial issue. Its plan called for Keystone Exams to be optional and for school districts to be able to use an array of means to determine competency for graduation.

So on Tuesdays, I work in the lab from 9-10AM
Then I have Church History 3 from 10-11:15
11:30-1:30 I’m back in the lab.
Then I have Creation from 1:45-4:15
From 4:30 to 6:30 I am in the lab.
From 6:30-9:00 I have Prison Epistles.

Long day…

I work at the seminary where I goto school in the computer lab. I have to help the students with the problems they face. Sometimes the lab assistant works with students that don’t know how to use Word’s basic functions. Luckily I haven’t had to do that yet. I might snap at them if they don’t understand the basics.

Tuesday I had to do something that I never did before. Get something off of a MAC and onto a PC. So rather than even hesitating I dived right in. I got the mac onto the wireless network and emailed the file to the students campus email and they logged into their email on the pc and it was there.

So its the first MAC I’ve ever touched.

Do I need shots?

Teachers are complaining about the ridiculous rule that no student can earn less then 50% on a test or assignment. They say its grade inflation. And it most certainly is. It is ridiculous that this was even considered to be a good idea.