Welcome

Welcome to my blog http://www.skegley.blogspot.com/ . CAVEAT LECTOR- Let the reader beware. This is a Christian Conservative blog. It is not meant to offend anyone. Please feel free to ignore this blog, but also feel free to browse and comment on my posts! You may also scroll down to respond to any post.

For Christian American readers of this blog:


I wish to incite all Christians to rise up and take back the United States of America with all of God's manifold blessings. We want the free allowance of the Bible and prayers allowed again in schools, halls of justice, and all governing bodies. We don't seek a theocracy until Jesus returns to earth because all men are weak and power corrupts the very best of them.
We want to be a kinder and gentler people without slavery or condescension to any.

The world seems to be in a time of discontent among the populace. Christians should not fear. God is Love, shown best through Jesus Christ. God is still in control. All Glory to our Creator and to our God!


A favorite quote from my good friend, Jack Plymale, which I appreciate:

"Wars are planned by old men,in council rooms apart. They plan for greater armament, they map the battle chart, but: where sightless eyes stare out, beyond life's vanished joys, I've noticed,somehow, all the dead and mamed are hardly more than boys(Grantland Rice per our mutual friend, Sarah Rapp)."

Thanks Jack!

I must admit that I do not check authenticity of my posts. If anyone can tell me of a non-biased arbitrator, I will attempt to do so more regularly. I know of no such arbitrator for the internet.











Sunday, December 23, 2012

o's vacation cost taxpayers's $4 million Why worry!

Report: Obama’s Christmas Vacation Likely to Top $4 million

Sunday, 23 Dec 2012 09:09 AM
By Paul Scicchitano
More ways to share...
 
While President Barack Obama and his family spend Christmas in Hawaii for the fifth straight year, federal and local taxpayers are likely to be left with a holiday bill that tops $4 million for the first family’s security and travel expenses to the exclusive retreat known for its turquoise waters and rolling surf, according to a published report.

Air Force One touched down in Honolulu minutes after midnight local time on Saturday. The first family departed the plane and traveled quickly to their vacation home in the beach town of Kailua, a scenic, sleepy resort on the east side of Oahu. The Obamas pay for their own accommodations, while taxpayers shoulder the costs of security and travel.

Though it is not clear how long the Obamas planned to stay in Hawaii about 12 miles from downtown Honolulu, the Hawaii Reporter estimated that the trip could cost taxpayers more than $4 million based on the nine-hour flying time to and from Washington and the high-priced resort accommodations for White House staff, Navy Seals, Coast Guard, and the Secret Service.

The publication estimates that each leg of the nine-hour flight alone will cost taxpayers $1,635,813 for a round trip total of $3,271,622.

“While many residents welcome the first family, others are disheartened by the restrictions put on air, water, and road travel while the president and family are in town, especially because it is the holiday season and many families on vacation want to use their boats or surf and paddle in the welcoming ocean waves fronting the Kailua homes,” the publication reports. “In addition, the president's caravan of at least 22 vehicles including an ambulance can easily overwhelm the community that typically has single lane streets.”

The publication also reports that federal and local taxpayers are likely to foot the bill for the following additional estimated expenses:
  • The president’s staff typically stay at one of Hawaii’s oldest and most elegant hotels, the Moana Surfrider. A conservative estimate with rooms at $270 (excluding a 9.25 percent Transient Accommodation Tax and a 4.712 percent General Excise Tax on each bill, meals, Internet charges and other charges) adds up to more than $129,600 in hotel bills for some two dozen staff.
  • A USAF C-17 cargo aircraft that transports presidential limos, helicopters and other support equipment to Hawaii is estimated to cost $258,000, not including crew accommodations.
  • Secret Service, Coast Guard and Navy Seals are housed in beachfront or canal front properties near the president at a cost last year of about $200 per bedroom per day, or $21,600 per average home for at least seven homes.
  • The president’s advance security costs about $176,400.
  • Local police historically rack up $250,000 in overtime during presidential visits, which is paid by Oahu taxpayers.
  • A city ambulance generally costs about $10,000 to provide round the clock coverage.
  • The presidential security detail typically rents an entire floor of an office building in Kailua, but estimates were not available for this expense.
  • In addition, taxpayers pay for security upgrades and additional phone lines to private homes, including bullet proof glass and new security systems.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

BENGHAZI, NEVER HEARD OF IT!


Could it be that George Soros told little o to worry about the election not the ambassador and that trite stuff the Commander in Chief is supposed to take care of?  Both  guys has no conscious for the people of anywhere. 
 
YOU MAY FIND THE  ATTACHED INTERESTING.
 

 


Sent: 12/23/2012 4:33:09 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: Running Out The Clock.......................
 

Running out the clock on Benghazi

By Wes Pruden
There’s no mystery about why Hillary Clinton spends so much time on airplanes to dreary places that everybody else avoids like the plague (or the stomach flu). The climate anywhere is better than in the comfortable ineptitude of Foggy Bottom.
The report of an independent panel inquiring into what happened in Benghazi, and why, blames the State Department bureaucracy, essentially for not having a clue about what was going on in Libya. A panel of diplomats would never say anything like that, but the message written between the lines is plain and clear.
The panel blames intelligence officers – i.e., the CIA – for relying too much on “specific warnings” of imminent attacks, waiting for the details of the enemy’s game plan, and ignoring what should have been telegraphed from the seat of their pants. Everyone in Libya knew that the militias were all over the eastern part of the country, having already shot up a British diplomat’s motorcade and set off a bomb outside the American mission in Benghazi. The evil-doers were looking for evil to do. The Americans were the obvious targets.
A lot of people at Foggy Bottom were apparently busy with morning and afternoon siestas. The panel specifically blames the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Bureau and the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau for failing to pay attention to what was going on around them:  Systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels with two bureaus [resulting in security] that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place."
Well, duh. Anyone reading the newspapers or watching television, despite the mainstream media’s determination not to go after the story, knew that much. The panelists did not address the politics of the disaster, or why President Obama and his administration have worked so hard to avoid talking about their bungling and ineptitude and subsequent attempt to cover it all up with self-righteous blather.
Forgotten in all this is the obscure and infamous home-made video that nobody saw, mocking the prophet Mohammed. Mr. Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Susan Rice, the ambassador to the United Nations, all got on television as often as they could to blame the video for the attack on the consulate in Benghazi. You might have thought the video was about to ignite World War III. Nobody in the administration wants to talk about those lies and evasions now.
The latest evasion is what happened to Mrs. Clinton’s emphatic assertion, after the row raised by the many skeptics willing to believe their own eyes and ears, that “I take responsibility.” She did not explain what she meant. But taking responsibility requires more than just saying she takes responsibility. Susan Rice was then chosen to walk the plank that Hillary had so cleverly avoided. Having women available to take the heat is a tempting prerogative for this president. When Mitt Romney brought up Benghazi in the familiar timid and ham-handed way in the second presidential debate, Candy Crowley, the moderator, ran the usual media interference for Mr. Obama.
Mrs. Clinton, who no doubt has answers to more questions than anyone else -- since she is paid to run the State Department -- then disappeared. She had more important things to do in Lower Slobbovia. When she returned to redeem a promise to testify before Congress about how the Benghazi debacle happened, she fell ill with the belly bug, no doubt acquired in Lower Slobbovia, a common malady of diplomats suddenly on the spot. Then she fell and got up with a knot on her head. It’s not clear just when Hillary fell, whether before or after the belly bug bit. (We wish her a full and speedy recovery, by the way. Belly bugs are no fun and taking a lick on the head isn’t, either.)
She says she can’t wait to reschedule an appearance in January before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. But by then, with a little luck, we’ll be talking about her successor, probably Sen. John Kerry, the famous Vietnam "war hero", Francophile and keen windsurfer.
Delay and obfuscation have marked the Obama administration’s reaction to the Benghazi debacle since the slain ambassador, Chris Stevens, first begged for the help that never arrived. Four Americans, including the ambassador, paid for the timidity and ineptitude with their lives.

The president and his minions were desperate to run out the clock in October, struggling to stumble across the goal line. Now Hillary is desperate to stall, even it means an occasional bump on the head, until her successor takes over. The public may never get the promised explanation. Until then, we’re entitled to think the worst. We’ll probably be right.

Pray if you want to ... Thanks Tom & Carolyn L.!


     
Pray if  you want to!
   
CBS and  Katie Couric et al must be in a panic and  rushing to reassure the White House that this is  not network policy.


 
Folks,  this is the year that we RE-TAKE AMERICA &  CANADA  *********  Get  Ready *********

Keep  this going around the  globe.
Read it  and forward every time you receive  it...
We can't  give up on this issue.

Andy Rooney  and  Prayer

Andy  Rooney says:

I don't believe in Santa  Claus, but I'm not going to sue somebody for  singing a Ho-Ho-Ho song in  December.
I don't  agree with Darwin , but I didn't go out and hire  a lawyer when my high school teacher taught his  theory  of evolution. 

Life, liberty or your pursuit of  happiness will not be endangered in any  way because  someone says a 30-second prayer before a  football game.

So what's  the big deal?

It's not  like somebody is up there reading the entire  Book of Acts. They're just talking to a God they  believe in and asking him to grant safety to the  players on the field and the fans going home  from the game.

But it's a Christian  prayer, some will argue.

Yes, and this is  the United States of America , and Canada ,  countries founded on Christian  principles. According  to our very own phone book, Christian churches  outnumber all others better than  200-to-1.
So what  would you expect --
Somebody  chanting Hare  Krishna?

If I went to a football game in  Jerusalem ,
I would  expect to hear a Jewish  prayer.
 
If  I went to a soccer game  in Baghdad,
I would  expect to hear a Muslim prayer.

If I  went to a ping pong match in China  ,
I would  expect to hear someone pray to  Buddha.
 And I  wouldn't be offended. It  wouldn't bother me one bit.

When in Rome  .....

But what about the atheists? Is  another argument.

What about  them?

Nobody is  asking them to be baptized.  We're not  going to pass the collection plate. Just humor  us for 30 seconds.  If that's asking too  much, bring a Walkman or a pair of ear  plugs.  Go to the bathroom.  Visit the  concession stand.  Call your lawyer! Or,  just exercise their right to leave this  country!

Unfortunately, one or two will  call their lawyer.
One or two  will tell thousands what they can and cannot  do.  I don't  think a short prayer at a football game is going  to shake the world's  foundations.

Christians are just sick and  tired of turning the other cheek while our  courts strip us of all our  rights.
Our  parents and grandparents taught us to pray  before eating, to pray before we go to  sleep.
Our Bible  tells us to pray without  ceasing.
Now a  handful of people and their lawyers are telling  us to cease praying.

God,  help us.  And if that last sentence offends  you, well, just sue me.

The silent  majority has been silent too long.  It's  time we tell that one or two who scream loud  enough to be heard that the vast majority  doesn't care what they want!

  It is  time that the majority  rules!

    It's time we tell them, "You don't have to pray;  you don't have to say the Pledge of Allegiance;  you don't have to believe in God or attend  services that honor  Him.
That  is your right, and we will honor your  right;
But  by golly,
You  are no longer going to take our rights  away.
   We are fighting back, and  
we  WILL WIN!"

God  bless us one and all...Especially those who  denounce Him,  God bless America and Canada , despite all our  faults, we are still the greatest nations of  all.
God  bless our service men who
Are  fighting to protect our right to pray and  worship God.
 Let's  make 2013 the  year the silent majority is heard and we put God  back as the foundation of our families and  institutions. And our military forces come home  from all the wars.

Keep looking  up.
   

If you agree with  this, please pass it on.
If not delete  it.
 
  

 
BUT  REMEMBER SHOULD YOU DELETE  IT,
that's  one reason why this world is in the mess we're  in now.
WE  JUST SIT  BACK & LET IT  HAPPEN!!

Thanks Rita P. and Lyle S.!

Merry Christmas, Santa

Dear Santa,
 

I don't want much for Christmas,
I just want the person reading this to be happy.
 

Friends are the fruit cake of life -
some nutty, some soaked in alcohol, some sweet -
but mix them together and they're my friends. 

Merry Christmas !!!!

Dear God ... Thanks Dr. H.!

Dear GOD......................................
 
 
This about sums it up . . . .  

Tsgt William Kaufman ... Thanks Ken U. and Marge R.!

“I Have a Story to Tell”

Tsgt William Kaufman

Having just gotten back from the most memorable trip of my 32 year military career, I was told to tell my, well, OUR
th
story. Was only 15 days but was filled with a life time of memories. I got a call on Oct. 29 that people were needed to
th
go to NYC to assist in the cleanup and recovery from Superstorm Sandy. As always, the 107 never has a problem
getting volunteers and, as always, I’m one of them.

We left Niagara on Oct. 30 , flew into Newburgh, NY and then bussed to Camp Smith in Peekskill which was used
as a staging area for the task force. Camp Smith lost power and there wasn’t much to do but stand around and wait for
the call that we were heading out. The first day we waited all day and finally around 2100 were told to call it a night and
nd
try to get some sleep. The 2 day was about the same thing but, at about 2130, we were told to be ready to roll in two
hours. So now it’s either try to take a nap or stay up. About 10 minutes later, the word came down again to be ready to
roll in 20 minutes. We were packed, and I mean packed, into a bus, luggage and all, and driven an hour and a half into
nd
NYC. All the way down I’m seeing lights and thinking “okay this isn’t so bad.” Finally as we crossed over 42 street in
Manhattan and the world went totally black, no lights, nothing, pitch black.

th

We arrived at the Lexington Armory around
0030 and were told to grab some floor as we
would have a busy day tomorrow. Well, we
no sooner put our heads down and were told
to get up. We had a mission and what a
mission it was. We had to walk about 10
blocks to Bellevue Hospital. There were
probably 100 ambulances out front which
pretty much told us we were in for a long
night. When we got inside, we met the unit
that was there from the day and were told
we were going to help evacuate patients that
didn’t get out before the storm hit. There
was no power but only lights from a
generator. Okay, start at the top, 18 floors
up, and bring them down on a stretcher. A
daunting task to say the least especially at
54 years old but it’s amazing how the
adrenaline kicks in and those 18 floors
disappear quickly.

The smell of first room we entered hit us like a brick and I thought oh-my-god I can’t do this. But after the first one is
down you turn around and get back up as fast as possible to get the next one and on-and-on. Eight hours later we had
safely evacuated 72 patients of all conditions. Some were in a coma and there were violent ones; there were prison
and hospice wards as well. At 0930, sweating head to toe, legs burning beyond belief, we headed out exhausted, and
as we left the hospital we were greeted by probably 100 people giving us a standing ovation for what we had just done.
We were told by the hospital staff that if we not have been there, they fully expected to lose at least 100 patients if not
more.

Having been up for almost 30 hours, we headed out again after getting a few hours of sleep. This time we went to
Lower Manhattan for food and water distribution. With no means of transportation, we walked about 25 blocks to unload
trucks of food and water at apartment complexes. We estimated we walked 8-10 miles in the dark. There was water
everywhere, cars piled up that had been washed away, and people in the dark cheering for us. The people of NYC are
what made this trip so rewarding.

On the 3 night, the Army asked if we had any “fuels” people with us and, well, that’s what I do. They asked if we
could help them with a refueling mission in Brooklyn. MSgt Jordan and I were driven by Humvee to Brooklyn not really
knowing what we were getting into. As we turned the final corner, my jaw dropped and I let out a few expletives--LOL.

rd

8

There were cars and people lined up as far as I could see. The Army estimated at least 3,000 vehicles were in line
waiting all day for the 10 gallons of gas being given out by FEMA. They had a 10,000 gallon tank truck set up with two
hoses off the back. One was for cars and one for whatever containers people had. Some had stood in line for 12-13
hours. I told NYPD, first thing, that if they didn’t have an authorized fuel container, we weren’t putting gas in it. I saw
milk jugs, orange juice bottles, mop buckets, you name it. Jay and I immediately took over and got a rhythm going that
continued from about 1600 until well after 0100. I tried to make the best of the situation and do whatever I could to
make them laugh or smile after waiting so long. At around 2330, one of the pumps ran dry and I asked the NYPD how
many officers they had there. I was told about 12-15 and I said can you call more. I knew once the truck ran dry it was
going to get ugly really fast. And boy was I right. When the police told the people there was no more gas, words,
threats, the expletives started flying. Most understood but quite a few got really angry. There were still 3-500 people
waiting when the gas ran out and they got us out of there as quick as they could.

The next four days we spent around the armory unloading and distributing food and water. There were 27 tractor
trailers with over a million MRE’s to hand out to the needy. We had distribution points set up around the city where
people could go to get what they needed.

During the second week, we received a new mission and a
fresh batch of troops from Niagara. Our new mission was door-
to-door Health and Welfare Checks on people in Rockaway,
Queens which was one of the hardest hit areas. The
devastation was indescribable. Roads were covered in deep
sand, cars were washed away, and homes were filled with water
and debris. The boardwalk was completely gone.

Our job was to go door-to-door checking on people and seeing
what they needed. Again, there were high rise buildings with no
elevators. The first one was 27 stories of mostly non-English
speaking Russian and Polish immigrants. But after two weeks
of seeing no one they were very happy to have someone
checking on them. We spent the next four days doing this.
From upper class apartments to the “projects,” all together, I was
told we hit over 7,000 residences. After two weeks of no power
or hot water, trust me, they were not the best conditions to work
in. The smell was overwhelming.

I know everyone has their own story to tell but this is mine. Like I said, in 32 years of military service, I have never
done anything even close to this and I’ve been in some rough situations. What made this trip the most rewarding was
the spirit and resilience of these people that lost so much. Some are not going to see power for 2-3 months but their
attitudes are amazing. I hope something like this never happens again but if it does I hope I get the chance to do my
part again.

Thank you SCOLers for helping the victims of Sandy in Breezy Point

Bob and I traveled to Breezy Point (New York City) the weekend of November 17 th to see family and
to distribute your generous gift card and cash donations. The fire and water damage was enormous
and it affected every family in the area one way or another. We spent some time as volunteers in the
clean-up effort and talked with folks who were still in shock over the devastation. But Breezy Point
people are resilient, and the community will come back stronger than ever. Still, it was very sad to see
what they were going through, and it made us feel fortunate to be living in WNY with our cold and
snow.

Thank you so much for your generous donations, which were part of the $4,500 that was raised. With
the help of my sister we were able to distribute the donations to some 20 displaced families whose
homes were either in ruins or very heavily damaged. Your big hearts and WNY generosity
overwhelmed everyone, and they all send you a very big Thank You.

9

Thanks to everyone, Linda O’Donnell

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