News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 7-14-15
Bastille Day did not became a national holiday in France until 1880. The oldest military parade in Europe is held in Paris on it. France’s national bird is a chicken. Really.
By Delilah Rumburg
At the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, we hope that, one day soon, we’ll be an organization whose services are no longer needed.
It seems odd to say, but when your work each day is centered around preventing sexual violence and helping those who have survived sexual assaults, you strive to reach a point where you can put yourself out of business by eliminating rape and abuse from the culture in which we live.
While we certainly have not reached that point— in the United States, according to Centers for Disease Control data from 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey , 25 percent of men and 63 percent of women experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime.
We have come a long way toward that goal in the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape’s history.
As the oldest rape crisis coalition in the country, PCAR is a leader both in the Commonwealth and throughout the nation, assuring communities have access to quality victim services, resources to help prevent sexual violence and advocating for public policies that protect victim rights, fund services and promote community safety.
This year, we’re celebrating these accomplishments as a part of our 40th anniversary observance.
From an initial office with fewer than five full-time staff, PCAR helped to unite local rape crisis centers in the state during the mid-1970s including what is now the YWCA Harrisburg.
Right from its inception, PCAR was a staunch advocate for sexual violence-related legislative changes. Much needed changes.
To provide some context as to how far sexual violence-related laws have come, consider this:
When PCAR first organized, rape laws were based on English Common Law which viewed women as men’s property. Rape laws essentially were designed to protect the rights of husbands and fathers, not victims.
Through its history, PCAR has advocated for important legislation that provided protections and services to victims of sexual violence, held offenders accountable and enhanced community safety.
From protocols for the examination of rape victims in the emergency room—a process that became a national standard—to the first law in the nation to provide absolute privilege to confidential communications between sexual assault counselors and victims—just to mention a few.
We, at PCAR, led the way.
That continues today, both in public policy advocacy and as a valuable resource for training and technical assistance to the network of 50 rape crisis centers throughout the Commonwealth and nationally.
Our coalition launched the Vision of Hope Fund in 2005 to support the prevention of child sexual abuse.
The Fund, through its Vision of Hope Gala & Auction has raised more than $1 million and funded projects such as Internet Safety Training for Parents and Mandated Reporter Training.
Fifteen years ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognized our leadership abilities when it selected PCAR to found the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) in 2000.
Both PCAR and NSVRC are located in Enola. The national resource center collects and disseminates a wide range of resources on sexual violence including statistics, research, position statements, statutes, training curricula, prevention strategies and program information.
With these resources, the NSVRC assists coalitions and advocates, and collaborates with others interested in understanding and eliminating sexual violence.
In 2014, the NFL selected NSVRC to distribute funds to support access to sexual assault hotlines across the country – 49 states and five U.S. Territories received assistance from the NFL.
Since then, we have forged an exciting multi-year partnership with the NFL to invest in strategies to prevent and respond to sexual violence. With their help, NSVRC will administer grants to support services to victims and families, expand access to effective prevention programs and enhance the nation’s understanding of sexual assault, and most importantly, how it can be prevented.
Our work is far from complete, but our coalition and national resource center strive each day to create a world free from sexual violence.
Together, we can end sexual violence.
Delilah Rumburg is the President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape.
Courtesy of Tom C. 
Snopes gives this a mixed grade noting that the source is not the Lost Angeles Times. Most of it actually comes from testimony before Congress in 2005.
It’s mostly accurate in other words.
It should be noted that this has been around the web since 2006 and things have not gotten better.
From the L.A. Times.
1. 40% of all workers in L.A. County ( L.A. County has 10.2 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card.
2. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
3. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.
4. Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by taxpayers.
5. Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.
7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.
8. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.
9. 21 radio stations in L.A. are Spanish speaking.
10. In L.A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3.9 million speak Spanish. (There are 10.2 million people in L.A. County.)
(All 10 of the above facts were published in the Los Angeles Times)
Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops, but 29% are on welfare. Over 70% of the United States ‘annual population growth (and over 90% of California, Florida, and New York ) results from immigration. 29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 7-13-15
Camels have three eyelids.
By Leo Knepper
After vetoing the budget because the legislature refused to raise taxes on Pennsylvanians, Governor Wolf has unleashed the attack dogs.
Leading the pack is America Works, USA. This “dark money” group is affiliated with the Democratic Governors Association (DGA). Although America Works does not disclose its donors, the DGA does. Four out of the Top Five donors to the DGA are government unions. According to OpenSecrets.org, the top four unions contributed over $13 million to the DGA in 2014 alone.
America Works, USA has targeted a number of Representatives and Senators including Senator Scott Wagner. He has been an outspoken critic of the Governor’s tax and spend policies. Wagner has also been a vocal supporter of pension reform and ending the practice of using tax dollars to collect union dues. The mailer (which you can see here and here) accuses Wagner and others of having the wrong priorities. Considering that the government unions filling the DGA’s coffers survive off of tax dollars, it’s easy to understand why they think more spending and higher taxes is the right way to go. However, the taxpayers of Pennsylvania know otherwise.
The attempted intimidation doesn’t end there. Other CAP members, including Representatives Jason Ortitay and Aaron Kaufer have had union members showing up at their office demanding that they vote for higher taxes. Their encounters have been largely civil. However, the same cannot be said for Senator John Eichelberger. Eichelberger has had to call the police to report the intimidation tactics undertaken by members of the teachers’ union who want him to reverse his position on pension reform.
Despite the strong arm tactics of the Governor and his union allies, it looks like Republicans in both chambers are standing their ground. This willingness is a welcome departure from what happened during the Rendell years. Despite controlling the Senate for Rendell’s entire tenure and the House for a portion of it, the Republican caucus went along with a massive expansion of government spending.
Because of CAP and other conservative organizations, we don’t see that same complicity today. For the first time since Republican Governor Raymond Shafer caved and gave government employees, our employees, the right to strike, we see the General Assembly standing firm. The political environment has changed because the “sleeping giant” of Pennsylvania taxpayers is finally rousing from its slumber.
Mr. Knepper is with Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania
The Panama Canal expansion in 2016 may shift 10 percent of oceanic container traffic from East Asia to East Coast ports according to C. H. Robinson. 
The expansion will permanently affect the competitive balance between the coasts according to the logistics provider.
“Goods shipped from East Asia through West Coast ports are currently transported by rail and truck as far east as the Ohio River Valley,” says the company website. “The canal’s expansion will permit big, efficient “post-Panamax” container ships—which have two to three times the capacity of current vessels—to reach the East Coast. Those ports will then become more cost competitive because it is cheaper to move cargo by water than over land. West Coast ports, however, will remain the destination of choice for shippers who need to use the fastest routes possible.”
The East Coast ports most likely to benefit will be the New York-New Jersey complex, Norfolk, Savannah and Charleston.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 7-11-15
Chimpanzees eat children, it has been reported. The animals apparently get drunk off of alcohol snatched from rural brewing operations and mistake the children for the red colobus monkey that is one of their favorite meals.
The Delaware County Daily Times, today, July 11, included in the AP story regarding the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Capitol grounds the twistedly disingenuous and curious claim that the flag “had been defended by white Republican leaders until last month as a symbol of Southern pride.”
Of course, the article omitted any reference to the party that raised the flag nor did it bother to note the party to which Gov. Nikki Haley belonged.
So here is some history. The flag was raised in 1962 over the State Capitol in Columbia by Gov. Ernest Hollings, a liberal Democrat, to defend segregation and Jim Crow. Hollings would go on to become a U.S. senator and would serve in the Senate until 2005. He was a friend and supporter of Bill and Hillary Clinton and the progressive big government agenda.
In 1996, conservative Republican Gov. David Beasley made a strong push to remove the flag. He failed to win re-election in 1998 because of it. The die-hard sons of the Confederacy pointedly stayed home while the progressives and their tools in the Black establishment supported his opponent, Jim Hodges, who said he would keep the flag where it was.
Hodges, after much national pressure, agreed to remove the flag from the Capitol dome in 2000 to a monument on the State House grounds.
And there it flew until yesterday when it was removed for good in response to the June 17 Charlestown shootings. The removal was demanded by Gov. Haley, a Republican, and without outside pressure. It was overwhelmingly approved by the overwhelmingly Republican legislature.
The hate from and the lies told by the old media about those whose politics differ from the reporters, photographers, editors and newsreaders are poisoning this country.
An old utility pole makes for an interesting and delightful planter that is sure to be the talk of the neighborhood — especially if you can find one with the hand holds.
To make one, first find a utility pole. This is much more difficult than it sounds. While utility poles are quite common — one may be as close as your sidewalk — cutting one down is very illegal and doing so could result in arrest, fines, restitution, and possibly even a jail sentence.
That’s assuming you survive the electric shock.
A good way to acquire one is wait for a major storm and have it fall on your classic car. 
Then wait for the emergency crew to turn off the power to it, cut it up and leave it as they have no room for it on their truck. Pick an appropriate sized piece, dig a hole a foot or so deep, put the pole in it, hang some begonias on the hand holds and voila you’re the envy of the community.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 7-10-15
The first successful appendectomy was performed in Iowa in 1885.