The average American spends on Christmas shopping $786.
Month: November 2017
William Lawrence Omnibit 11-23-17
Tom Turkey Explained — No Miranda, Benjamin Franklin didn’t make “tom” the appellation for male turkey to get back at Thomas Jefferson for winning the debate about what should be our national bird.
“Tom” has long been a word for male of the species i.e. tom cat.
It’s a good story though.
Tom Turkey Explained — William Lawrence Omnibit 11-23-17
Joe American, Thanksgiving And God
My father-in-law passed away peacefully in his sleep last week. He was 92 and the original American piece of work. He had children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. He never wanted much, just his own way.
Joseph, was a product of the end of the first world war. He was second generation Italian on one side, and on another had an ancestor that fought in the Civil War. Being a history and genealogy junkie, I liked to feed him tidbits of research on his background. Tidbits that helped strengthened his belief in his family’s foundation and confident in its accomplishments. He thought that it was so great that there existed an historical map of his lifetime through these tidbits, a picture of the ship from the 1800s where parts of his family had come back and forth from Italy, the census from 1910, and his Navy discharge papers that were long lost after his service in the South Pacific in WWII.
He was a small handsome Italian guy, blonde with blue eyes; just a regular Joe.
His history was very important to him. It helped him know that he didn’t arrive on this earth alone. He talked always of his city of Philadelphia, where he was born and raised and where he raised his own. He talked of how such and such a thing ended up where, who built it and who tore it down.
He was brought to this place by the grace of God through his ancestors from places which were not nearly as prosperous as the one they were headed for. America. Relatives worked all means of dirty, skilled and semi-skilled jobs. He was so proud of them.
In recent years we have been reprimanded, warned not to be haughty over the success of the American dream and the infrastructure built by average Americans that built the strongest economy in the world. We were told, “No, you didn’t build that”.
The American dream has almost NOTHING to do with money or entitlement. It is uniquely American in that any average Joe, who keeps his shoulder to the wheel, and has the drive, can provide a nice living for his family and extended family. A family history did NOTHING to hold him back. Because his grandfather was a shoemaker, it didn’t mean he couldn’t be an electrician or a plumber or a doctor or whatever it took to thrive given his determination and abilities. Class has nothing to do with anything in America. Only those who wish to hold on to power or wealth and try to keep you poor and dependent will tell you that it does.
Petty Officer Joe American was buried with full ceremony and honors for his rank, with taps and a shot gun salute and the entire nine yards of military tribute. His rank not given due to his lineage or royalty as would have been true in Europe. It was earned. He was an American, a classic product of the blessed and noble American experiment wrought from the European Enlightenment.
On this Thanksgiving Day, thank God first of course, but then also thank Joe and all of his fellow veterans and family who gave us what we have and shame on those who seek to diminish it.
Joe American, Thanksgiving And God
William Lawrence Sr. Omnibit 11-22-17
The immediate predecessors of John F. Kennedy (Dwight Eisenhower) and Abraham Lincoln (James Buchanan) retired to Pennsylvania.
William Lawrence Sr. Omnibit 11-22-17
JPCD Job Seeker Workshop Dec. 5
JPCD Job Seeker Workshop Dec. 5 — Rhonda Watson, of Joseph’s People Central Delco (JPCD), will prove that a slowdown of companies who hire during the holidays is a myth. Job seekers could miss a golden opportunity if they wait until after the first of the year. The program is 7 – 8:30 pm, Tuesday, Dec. 5, at Media Presbyterian Church’s Hassler Chapel, 30 E. Baltimore Pike, Ave., Media. The chapel can be accessed from the Baltimore Avenue side, to the left of the main door, or around back on East Franklin Street. Enter the back door and go up the stairs.
This workshop will help job seekers build a search strategy by answering the following questions: Who can you reach out to? What networking events can you attend? What opportunities can you follow up on? How can you polish your resume and online brand?
Having a proactive approach to securing interviews through the holidays can make a big difference. Come share your job search strategies and network while tasting holiday treats. All are welcome, without regard to religious affiliation.
JPCD is a joint program of Media Presbyterian Church and St. Laurence Church in Upper Darby that provides networking opportunities, guidance and emotional support to job seekers and career changers. For more information, send a message through the LinkedIn group “Joseph’s People of Central Delaware County – Free Job Search Group” in the LinkedIn directory. To join, send a request and an email will be generated confirming membership. Another option is to visit www.josephspeople.org or email contactus@josephspeople.org.
JPCD Job Seeker Workshop Dec. 5
William Lawrence Sr. Omnibit 11-21-17
Beethoven and Mozart wrote glass armonica music. Unlike bifocals, though, this invention by Benjamin Franklin did not have staying power.
William Lawrence Sr. Omnibit 11-21-17
Slavic Christmas Food Sale At HMB
Slavic Christmas Food Sale At HMB — Holy Myrrh-Bearers Eastern Catholic Church is having a Slavic Christmas Food Sale. Deadline for orders is Dec. 3 and pickup will be at the church, 900 Fairview Road, Swarthmore, Pa. 19081.
For sale are kielbasi, $10 for four links or $12 for a ring; meatless borscht for $8 per quart; ushki (mushroom dumplings), 8 per dozen; kutia, (boiled wheat, poppy seed, raisons and honey), $5 per half pint; mushroom gravy, $5 per pint; pierogies (potaot/cheese) $8 per dozen; and delicious pastry rolls at $15 per loaf with varieties being poppy seed, poppy seed-raison, walnut and apricot.
To order or for information call 610-544-1215 or email HBMChurc@verizon.net.
Slavic Christmas Food Sale At HMB
Franken Rose Photo Illustrates Establishment Corruption
Franken Rose Photo Illustrates Establishment Corruption
These two buddies enjoying a joke (about women?) perfectly illustrate a big reason for this nation’s problems. A society can’t survive if it is based on lies.
Sen. Al Franken and newly unemployed commentator Charlie Rose for years have been setting social mores and controlling the information we have been receiving much of which was out-and-out falsehood. Matthew Shepard was murdered because he was gay? George W. Bush was a racist? Women make 77 cents on the dollar compared to men? Donald Trump colluded with the Russians?
Etc. etc. etc.
All were repeated as truths by the crowd to which these guys belonged and all were lies. One of Shepard’s murderers, it turns out, was a fellow drug dealer and occasional lover. Homophobia had nothing to do with it. Bush, of course, was governor when James Byrd’s murderers received the death penalty. And women make the same amount as men for the same job, workload and skill level.
And while there is no reason to think President Trump colluded with the Russians there is plenty of reason to think his cool-crowd-connected opponent did.
Of course, unless you get your info from alternative sources such as talk radio or independent websites, you are not going to know this.
And now it turns out that Franken and Rose and whole lot of others were self-centered pigs who were laughing up their sleeves at the truth for the last four decades.
Well, it paid well.
Franken Rose Photo Illustrates Establishment Corruption
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 11-20-17
The Tang Dynasty abolished the death penalty way back in 747 A.D. It didn’t take. They restored it 12 years later.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 11-20-17
Charles Manson Dies 45 Years Late
Charles Manson Dies 45 Years Late — Charles Manson is dead and it’s 45 years too late.
I was eight years old in the summer of 1969 when the Manson cult killed nine innocent people. It horrified me and I’d put my fingers in my ears when the story was reported on the radio.
But as my understanding of the world then came from TV shows where the bad guys would be caught and justice done, I had faith that would happen.
And they did catch the bad guys.
Justice, though, was never done.
Manson and three of his followers — others would be convicted of other murders — were found guilty in 1971 and received the death penalty. The Supreme Court, however, bizarrely ruled the next year that the death penalty as it existed was unconstitutional and commuted all death sentences to life in prison.
And so Manson live to an old age with the cool crowd calling him a hero. Rolling Stone magazine, which hopefully soon goes the way of Manson, portrayed him as a visionary and expressed sympathy for him. Hippie underground newspapers named him Man of the Year. Chic radical Bernadine Dohrn expressed awe and admiration. Ms. Dohrn and her rapey husband Bill Ayers would go on to become Barack Obama’s mentors.
Pop singers adopt his name and his image can still be found on t-shirts.
I really am a fan of Pope Francis but he is dead wrong on the death penalty. The world — and America — would be exponentially better off if that piece of human debris kept his date with the gas chamber 45 years ago.
