News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
Honor Flight Philadelphia is raffling two tickets to the Dec. 14 game between the Eagles and Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field.
Yes, that is the game Honor Flight was lucky enough to get for this year’s raffle.
The tickets are $3 each or two for $5.
For information call Cathy at 610-613-3865 or email her here.
Honor Flight Philadelphia gives veterans an all-expense paid trip to the memorials in Washington followed by a banquet.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 10-20-14
More significant than the debates or documents of the Synod of Bishops that just concluded was the act with which it concluded. Yesterday, Oct. 19, at the Vatican, Pope Francis again declared in an official way the holiness of one of his predecessors: he beatified Pope Paul VI, the Pope who brought the Second Vatican Council to its conclusion and also issued the encyclical Humanae Vitae (July 25, 1968) — a document preceded and followed by no small controversy, and sometimes called “the birth control encyclical.”
Humanae Vitae does not identify the key problem of our day in the realm of sex or birth or “the pill,” but rather in the myth that we can be God. Pope Paul writes at the beginning of the document, “But the most remarkable development of all is to be seen in man’s stupendous progress in the domination and rational organization of the forces of nature to the point that he is endeavoring to extend this control over every aspect of his own life — over his body, over his mind and emotions, over his social life, and even over the laws that regulate the transmission of life” (n.2).
The Pope here is painting a wider vision of the problem. We think everything belongs to us, but the reality is that we belong to God. “Humanae Vitae” means “Of human life.” Human life came from God, belongs to God, and goes back to God. “You are not your own,” St. Paul declares. “You have been bought, and at a price” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Sex and having children are aspects of a whole cluster of realities that make up our lives and activities. We suffer from the illusion that all of these activities belong to us. “This is my life, my body, my choice.
The problem we face is not that our society is obsessed with sex. Rather, it is afraid of it– afraid of the total reality and power of what it represents, where it comes from, and where it leads. Sex properly understood requires that we acknowledge God who made it. More than that, sex can never be separated from its purpose: to insert us into this immense, powerful movement of life and love that started when God said “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3) and culminates when the Spirit and the Bride say “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:17).
Sexual activity means so much that it is wrong to diminish its message or deny its full reality: it belongs in the context of committed love (sealed by marriage) and openness to life precisely because this is the only context great enough to hold its message and reflect the greater reality to which the gift of sexuality points us and to which it commits us.
This is a reality that is bigger than all of us. It is the self-giving which starts in the Trinity, and is revealed in a startling way on the Cross, and then challenges each of us in our daily interaction with others, with God, and with our own eternal destiny. It is so real and so big that it is scary. That’s why so many today are afraid of the full reality and meaning of sex. That’s why Pope Paul VI wrote Humanae Vitae.
And to remind the faithful of that teaching, and of the holy Pope who articulated it so well, is part of why we now call Pope Paul VI Blessed.
Rev. Pavone is the national director of Priests for Life.
HB 1816 has been passed by the Pennsylvania legislature and awaits Gov. Corbett’s expected signature, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).
The bill requires that anyone who applies to work directly in or around schools would have to provide detailed background information from all previous employers, including contact information, in order to be considered for employment. In turn, previous employers would have to provide the inquiring school entity with all requested background information regarding a former employee, explicitly pertaining to abuse allegations.
The bill also would require explicit disclosure from the applicant during the initial application process. The applicant is now required to indicate whether or not they have ever been disciplined, discharged, non-renewed, asked to resign from employment or separated from employment while allegations of such abuse or sexual misconduct were pending or under investigation.
The bill would apply to all public schools, private schools, nonpublic schools, intermediate units and area vocational-technical schools in the Commonwealth.
House Bill 1816 also would encourage teaching and learning in manufacturing and vocational fields and outlines when an assessment of basic skills would be required of an applicant for teacher certification.
The Pennsylvania House on Oct. 6 approved a resolution recognizing October as Pennsylvania Fire Prevention Month, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).
According to the National Fire Protection Association, U.S. fire departments responded to 370,000 home structure fires in 2011, resulting in 2,520 civilian deaths and nearly $7 billion in damages.
Here are some familiar tips:
• Have working smoke detectors on every level of the home that are tested monthly and kept free of dust. Batteries should be changed at least once a year.
• Never overload circuits or extension cords. Do not place cords and wires under rugs, over nails or in high traffic areas. Immediately shut off and unplug appliances that sputter, spark or emit an unusual smell. Have them professionally repaired or replaced.
• Practice an escape plan from every room in the house. Caution everyone to stay low to the floor when escaping from fire and never to open doors that are hot. Select a location where everyone can meet after escaping the house. Get out first, and then call for help.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 10-18-14
The Pennsylvania Legislature passed SB 1180, Oct. 16, putting it on Gov. Corbett’s desk for his expected signature.
Senate Bill 1180 creates a statewide database of certain prescription medication records says State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).
The database — maintained by the Pennsylvania Department of Health — would collect Pennsylvanian ’ prescription records for substances on Schedules II-V of the federal Controlled Substances Act. These medications include OxyContin, Tylenol with codeine and Valium.
Medical practitioners and pharmacists would have access to this database. Patients would be able to obtain prescription records at no charge once a year.
The database would alert practitioners to patients who may be “doctor or pharmacy shopping” to feed an addiction, Cox said.
Law enforcement would only be able to access the database through the state Office of Attorney General if relevant to an active investigation, Cox said.
Jerry Seinfeld to priest in confessional: Well, I should tell you that I’m Jewish.
Father: That’s no sin.
Jerry: Oh good. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about Dr. Whatley. I have a suspicion that he’s converted to Judaism just for the jokes.
Father: And this offends you as a Jewish person.
Jerry: No, it offends me as a comedian.
After watching ABC’s new “black-sitcom” “Black-ish,” a Seinfeld-ism must be invoked. I was offended — not because I’m white, but because it wasn’t funny.
* * *
Is it offensive that a show openly touts race in both its title and content? Not at all. Or at least it shouldn’t be.
We’re supposed to be grown-ups. We can change the channel if something doesn’t meet out tastes.
That’s called live and let live, where people don’t have to scream in righteous protest over every single thing they dislike. But that type of tolerance is in increasingly short supply, replaced by double standards that inflame tensions and needlessly generate intense resentment between races.
Could you imagine the backlash if a network tried to air “White-ish?” Producers would get fired, actors blackballed and the network would spend countless hours issuing nauseating apologies and mandating racial-sensitivity training.
But it will never happen. Just as there will never be a White Caucus in a legislature or White Entertainment Television.
And that is where our system breaks down.
The issue isn’t the racially descriptive entity, but the increasing resentment among white Americans who, as the oddballs, are not allowed to do likewise. Their perception, not without merit, is that they have become the only race without the same rights as everyone else.
White comedians get censured for saying the same things as their black counterparts. Black politicians openly advocate the election of black mayors. Whites lose out on job opportunities and college admissions in the name of “diversity.”
Racial discrimination, in all its forms, must be battled. And that includes reverse discrimination.
But unfortunately, selective discrimination has been deemed acceptable, even trendy, in today’s America. Far from creating racial harmony, as its advocates naively believe, reverse discrimination is quickly becoming the flashpoint in the powder keg of America’s race relations.
Nowhere is that more on display than in Missouri.
First, in Ferguson, 6-foot-4, 300-pound, 18-year-old Michael Brown, who had allegedly just committed a felony, was shot after disobeying, then physically engaging a police officer.
It should have made no difference that the officer was white and the shooting victim black, since, until it was unquestionably proven otherwise, race played no part in the shooting. But that became the headline and riots and violent protests ensued, facts be damned. Black anger erupted nationwide, directed at both whites and the police.
Now, it’s Round 2, as an off-duty police officer working as a security guard shot and killed a man near St. Louis who police say engaged him in a gunfight.
Large protests were organized as people were bused in from near and far. The heart of the protests was, of course, “racism,” since the officer was white and the shooting victim black. But no one has the guts, on either side, to ask the most important question: “So what?”
Lost on the protestors, a smorgasbord that grew to include the Occupy movement, unions, gay-rights activists and those protesting the Palestinian-Israeli conflict (must have been a boring weekend for a lot of people), were the pertinent facts that A.) The victim was wearing an ankle bracelet at the time he died, a court-ordered monitoring system as a condition of bail in a gun case, and B.) The police claim that he fired several rounds at the officer and was attempting to shoot more when his gun jammed.
The deceased’s family says he was unarmed, carrying only a sandwich. So either turkey clubs have become the new gun of choice, or he was, in fact, armed when he shouldn’t have been. Whether excessive force was used and whether the shooting was even justified remain questions that will be answered only after a thorough, impartial discovery process.
That’s why God made investigations. And in this case, it will be immeasurably easier than the Ferguson shooting to determine the truth.
So, to automatically assume “race” is simply wrong.
Does anyone of sound mind really believe that, in this day and age and in light of recent events, a white officer is going to deliberately seek out and shoot a young black man “for no reason?” Not only would his freedom be in jeopardy, but his life. That’s not to say it couldn’t happen, but a long list of other possibilities must be exhausted before coming to that conclusion.
Yet, inciting and woefully inaccurate statements, from the victims being “executed” to leaders stating they were both shot from behind (medical examiners determined neither were), serve only to push race relations closer to the edge. Sooner or later, when we go over the cliff, there will be a backlash of epic proportions, which could make the riots of the 1960s look tame.
If we ever hope to eradicate racial tensions, we need strong leaders of all races to unite and demand colorblindness for America, from police to entertainment to the workplace. “Equal opportunity for all, special treatment for none” should be our motto, where race should be an afterthought.
America’s uniqueness makes it the envy of the world, where even its most downtrodden can overcome adversity to become extremely successful.
But that rise must never come because, or at the expense, of race. When it does, we all lose a part of what makes us so special, our common bond: being Americans, and ultimately, members of the only “race” that matters: The human race.
The Oct. 20 Sports Illustrated reports that in 2012-13 the U.S. Department of Education documented more than 1.2 million homeless students in the nation’s public elementary, middle and high schools.
This represents a 58 percent increase since 2008.
Department of Education defines homelessness as “the lack of a fixed, regular and adequate night-time residence.”
About 900,000 of the students “double up” residing with relatives or friends.
It can be found on page 54 in a story about homeless high school athletes.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 10-17-14