Saint Nicholas (played by Alex Shegda) made at guest appearance at the inaugural Slavic Christmas Luncheon at Holy Myrrh-Bearers Easter Rite Catholic Church.
Holy Myrrh-Bearer’s Inaugural Slavic Christmas luncheon, today, Dec. 6, was a massive hit for a sellout crowd.
On the menu were kielbasa and sauerkraut, pierogies, ham, old-school halushki, and delicious halupki courtesy of Chef Bob Long.
There was oodles of homemade dessert, a myriad of door-prizes, a skit by the young ladies of the parish and a visit by Saint Nicholas himself played by Alex Shegda.
The event was a bargain at $15.
The Mass preceding the meal was celebrated by Bishop John Bura. The pastor is Father John Ciurpita.
The church schedule will be changed started next weekend with the addition of a Saturday Mass in English at 5 p.m. with the moving of the Sunday service in Ukrainian and English to 10 a.m.
Holy Myrrh-Bearers, an Eastern Rite church, opened in April at the church, 900 Fairview Road,Swarthmore (Ridley Township). It is at site of the former Leiper Presbyterian Church which was founded in 1819 and closed in 2012. Presidents Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison and James Buchanan worshiped at Leiper Presbyterian at the invitation of Leiper family members.
The historic Leiper churchyard remains at the church.
Who was Wimund? He was bishop of Isle of Skye back in 12th century. When he wasn’t performing his ecclesiastic duties he was a pirate. He was eventually captured after which he was blinded and castrated. He spent the rest of his life at the monastery of Byland Abbey.
Paul Ryan Budget Cuts is an email that has been circulating since 2012 when the Wisconsin Congressman was the GOP’s vice presidential nominee.
It explains how $2.5 trillion could be shaved off the federal budget over 10 years. The reasoning is based on H.R. 408 of 2011 and is basically correct. It should be noted though that Ryan, who is now Speaker of the House, was just a among the co-sponsors of the bill.
It should further be noted that the National Debt is now at $18.8 trillion which is about $3 trillion more than when Obama was running for his second term and $7 trillion more than when he took office.
Thank you American idiots everywhere for voting for this guy and for Democrats in general.
Here is the email Paul Ryan Budget Cuts with a hat tip to Judy McGrane:
PAUL RYAN’S PROPOSED BUDGET CUTS
A List of Republican Budget Cuts
Notice S.S. And the military are NOT on this list.
Read to the end.
* Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy — $445 million annual savings.
* Save America ‘s Treasures Program — $25 million annual savings.
* International Fund for Ireland — $17 million annual savings.
* Legal Services Corporation — $420 million annual savings.
* National Endowment for the Arts — $167.5 million annual savings.
* National Endowment for the Humanities — $167.5 million annual savings.
* Hope VI Program — $250 million annual savings.
* Amtrak Subsidies — $1.565 billion annual savings.
* Eliminate duplicating education programs — H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon , and eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.
* U.S. Trade Development Agency — $55 million annual savings.
* Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy — $20 million annual savings.
* Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding — $47 million annual savings.
* John C. Stennis Center Subsidy — $430,000 annual savings.
* Community Development Fund — $4.5 billion annual savings.
* Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid — $24 million annual savings.
* Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half — $7.5 billion annual savings
* Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20% — $600 million annual savings.
* Essential Air Service — $150 million annual savings.
* Technology Innovation Program — $70 million annual savings.
*Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program — $125 million annual savings..
* Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization — $530 million annual savings.
* Beach Replenishment — $95 million annual savings.
* New Starts Transit — $2 billion annual savings.
* Exchange Programs for Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts — $9 million annual savings
* Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants — $2.5 billion annual savings.
* Title X Family Planning — $318 million annual savings.
* Appalachian Regional Commission — $76 million annual savings.
* Economic Development Administration — $293 million annual savings.
* Programs under the National and Community Services Act — $1.15 billion annual savings.
* Applied Research at Department of Energy — $1.27 billion annual savings.
* Freedom CAR and Fuel Partnership — $200 million annual savings..
* Energy Star Program — $52 million annual savings.
*Economic Assistance to Egypt — $250 million annually.
* U.S. Agency for International Development — $1.39 billion annual savings.
* General Assistance to District of Columbia — $210 million annual savings.
* Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority — $150 million annual savings.
*Presidential Campaign Fund — $775 million savings over ten years.
* No funding for federal office space acquisition — $864 million annual savings.
* End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services.
* Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act — More than $1 billion annually.
* IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget — $1.8 billion savings over ten years.
*Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees — $1 billion total savings. * Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees — $1.2 billion savings over ten years.
* Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of — $15 billion total savings.
*Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress. * Eliminate Mohair Subsidies — $1 million annual savings.
*Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — $12.5 million annual savings. * Eliminate Market Access Program — $200 million annual savings.
* USDA Sugar Program — $14 million annual savings.
* Subsidy to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) — $93 million annual savings.
* Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program — $56.2 million annual savings.
*Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs — $900 million savings.
* Ready to Learn TV Program — $27 million savings..
* HUD Ph.D. Program.
* Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act.
*TOTAL SAVINGS: $2.5 Trillion over Ten Years
Loves humanity hates humans is the punchline to an old joke about a fill-in-the-blank liberal i.e. progressive.
It concerns how those with that particular set of politics shriek for justice for the fashionably oppressed group of the moment but when it comes time to help a needy individual they are either not around or exhibit an unexpected cruelty.
Dr. Marsha Levine shows that tale is less of a joke and more an anthropological observation.
Dr. Levin is a retired Cambridge academic who lives in England and is considered an expert on horses. Shachar Rabinovich is a 13-year-old Israeli who had a question about horses so she e-mailed her.
Dr. Levin, who is Jewish but of the self-loathing kind, told her she would only answer her questions about horses “when there is peace and justice for Palestinians in Palestine . . .You might be a child, but if you are old enough to write to me, you are old enough to learn about Israeli history and how it has impacted on the lives of Palestinian people,”
Well, that’s sure telling her Dr. Levin. But we do kind of wonder why you haven’t left your nice comfortable retired-academic environs and move to the West Bank or Gaza to assist this “oppressed” peaceful (LOL) people.
If it’s a language thing maybe you can just move to San Bernardino.
Ever hear of Franz Mesmer? He was the Austrian physician who in the 1700s became a pioneer in the practice of hypnotism. H “mesmerized” a number of his patients, which was frowned upon by his medical colleagues who considered him a fraud. He probably was.
While schools beg for funds, Wolf’s favorites continue to roll in the dough.
Wolf spends. A study by Pennsylvania legislators released yesterday, Dec. 3, has revealed that Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration spent $30.4 billion in state and federal money from July 1 through Oct. 31, despite the last budget authorization ending on June 30.
About $2.7 billion came from waivers, which is unspent money from prior budgets that a governor can request to use by notifying the House and Senate appropriations committees and then obtaining the funds from the Department of Treasury.
More than 77 percent of the administration requests did not disclose the actual dollar amount sought and is characterized as the “governor’s private surplus funds.”
Money that was disclosed included:
• $1,275 paid by the Department of Health to a catering company;
• $600,000 for subscriptions to publications for state agencies;
• $500,000 in membership dues for Wolf administration employees;
“During a budget impasse, spending should be kept to a bare minimum,” said State Rep. Russ Diamond (R-102). “We’ve done so in the legislature, out of respect to the people of this Commonwealth.”
Diamond noted that domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, other social service agencies, and schools were grasping at straws to make cutbacks, obtain expensive loans, and even contemplating closing their doors..
The Pennsylvania Legislature passed a $30.179 billion budget on June 30 which was vetoed by Wolf. The budget was a 3.6 increase over the previous year.
Wolf also has vetoed a stopgap budget that would have funded these schools and service agencies until other matters get resolved.
Wolf is insisting on a massive tax increase and is unwilling to compromise on issues which would slow the massive growth in the the state’s public spending such as pension reform and ending the prevailing wage mandate.
In the NFL rule book is an offense called “a palpably unfair act” in which an illegal action an indisputably deprived a team of a score. It’s entirely up to the referees as to when such a vile thing occurs. The penalty has never been called in NFL.
He played 60 minute games and died five weeks before his 90th birthday.
Fixing football.
Jamil Smith has an article in the New Republic concerning the film Concussion scheduled to be released Christmas Day. He used it to reflect on the importance of football to America.
Concussion is based on the book based on the 2009 GQ expose Game Brain, which details the brain damage suffered by NFL players and how it has led to suicides and other early deaths.
Game Brain was inspired by a paper that pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu published in the journal Neurosurgery concerning Hall-of-Fame Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster. Webster died on Sept. 24, 2002 of a heart attack at the age of 50. He was living in his truck and often confused, angry and deranged.
Omalu, who performed an autopsy on Webster’s brain, found the veteran of 16 years had “chronic traumatic encephalopathy” which is brought on by repetitive head trauma.
Other long-time veterans also died early including Eagles safety Andre Waters who committed suicide in 2006 at age 44. Omalu described Waters brain as that of an octogenarian Alzheimer’s patient.
Smith, however, like many of us, still can’t bring himself to hate the game although it has become pretty easy to hate those who profit from it at the professional AND college level.
“Abandoning football won’t fix the sport—Americans need it so that, one day, we might learn to see ourselves for who we truly are,” Smith says.
With a little less greed, we might be able to have our cake and eat it too.
Eagles great Chuck Bednarik died last March five weeks before his 90th birthday. While family members said he suffered dementia for which they blamed football, having it in one’s 80s is not the same as having it at 50 or 44.
Bednarik played 13 season with the Eagles retiring in 1962. Like Webster, he played center but he also played linebacker. He was called the last of the 60-minute men.
So let us consider some of the differences between Bednarik’s and Webster’s careers. Bednarik, who retired in 1962, played mostly a 12-game season. Webster, who started in 1974, played a 14-game season for his first four then played the rest with a 16-game schedule. That’s 25 percent more bangs to the head in games Webster got during his career, and don’t forget the bangs received during four more weeks of practices.
Cutting back to a 12-game schedule would sure save a lot of wear and tear on players. Of course, that would wear and tear the profits as well so we can’t have that.
You don’t need to sacrifice profits, however, with a little imagination. Cut the season to eight regular season games then start a second eight-game season with different teams and players in January. Global warming is happening right? Have the champions of the different season play each other on July 4. The money would just roll in.
But that requires imagination and the willingness to think outside the box which is something clearly beyond Roger Goodell’s skill set.
How about ending the platoon system? This is something that Bednarik actually advocated. Bednarik weighed 233 pounds in his playing days. Webster weighed 255. Their opponents had the same proportional weight differences. A bigger mass and the same acceleration means more force. More force means more damage.
Ending the platoon system would mean lighter players. A 300 pound man cannot effectively play 60 minutes of uninterrupted football.
Then there are of course drugs. Not the illegal ones like steroids but painkillers distributed by team doctors. Suppose a rule is passed that restricts all painkillers to be over-the-counter medicines used in accordance with the directions on the label? We strongly suspect that would mean more players sitting out when they should. Again, creating fewer tragedies and maybe saving football.
