Pleasee God use each of us regular people for Your works ... Thx Nana and Marge R!

Oldie but so good!

 

This is not new, but such a great story.      Psalm 55:22 --- you really need to read this 'Friends are God's way of taking care of us.' This was written by a Metro Denver Hospice Physician: I was driving home from a meeting this evening about 5, stuck in traffic on Colorado Blvd., and the car started to choke and splutter and die - I barely managed to coast , cursing, into a gas station, glad only that I would not be blocking traffic and would have a somewhat warm spot to wait for the tow truck. It wouldn't even turn over. Before I could make the call, I saw a woman walking out of the quickie mart building, and it looked like she slipped on some ice and fell into a gas pump, so I got out to see if she was okay When I got there, it looked more like she had been overcome by sobs than that she had fallen; she was a young woman who looked really haggard with dark circles under her eyes. She dropped something as I helped her up, and I picked it up to give it to her. It was a nickel.   At that moment, everything came into focus for me: the crying woman, the ancient Suburban crammed full of stuff with 3 kids in the back (1 in a car seat), and the gas pump reading $4.95.   I asked her if she was okay and if she needed help, and she just kept saying 'I don't want my kids to see me crying! ,' so we stood on the other side of the pump from her car. She said she was driving to  California  and that things were very hard for her right now. So I asked, 'And you were praying?' That made her back away from me a little, but I assured her I was not a crazy person and said, 'He heard you, and He sent me.'   I took out my card and swiped it through the card reader on the pump so she could fill up her car completely, and while it was fueling, walked to the next door McDonald's and bought 2 big bags of food, some gift certificates for more, and a big cup of coffee. She gave the food to the kids in the car, who attacked it like wolves, and we stood by the pump eating fries and talking a little.   She told me her name, and that she lived in Kansas City . Her boyfriend left 2 months ago and she had not been able to make ends meet. She knew she wouldn't have money to pay rent Jan. 1, and finally, in desperation, had called her parents, with whom she had not spoken in about 5 years. They lived in California and said she could come live with them and try to get on her feet there.   So she packed up everything she owned in the car. She told the kids they were going to California for Christmas, but not that they were going to live there. I gave her my gloves, a little hug and said a quick prayer with her for safety on the road. As I was walking over to my car, she said, 'So, are you like an angel or something?'   This definitely made me cry. I said, 'Sweetie, at this time of year angels are really busy, so sometimes God uses regular people.'   It was so incredible to be a part of someone else's miracle. And of course, you guessed it, when I got in my car it started right away and got me home with no problem. I'll put it in the shop tomorrow to check, but I suspect the mechanic won't find anything wrong.   Sometimes the angels fly close enough to you that you can hear the flutter of their wings...   Psalms 55:22 ' Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.' My instructions were to pick four people that I wanted God to bless, especially for the months left in 2014, and I picked you. I really never pass these things on, but what the heck, can't hurt!! Jeannie Please pass this to four people you want to be blessed and a copy back to me.. Here is the prayer: 'Father, I ask You to bless my children, grandchildren, friends, relatives and email buddies reading this right now. Show them a new revelation of your love and power.Holy Spirit, I ask You to minister to their spirit this very moment. Where there is pain, give them Your peace and mercy. Where there is self doubt, release a renewed confidence through Your grace, In Jesus' precious name. Amen.' I know I picked more than four -- you can, too.

 

Random Thoughts as we age ... Thx Nana and Marge R!

Random thoughts as we age --

The biggest lie I tell myself is .."I don't need to write that down, I'll remember it."   Wouldn't it be great if we could put ourselves in the dryer for ten minutes; come out wrinkle-free and three sizes smaller!   Last year I joined a support group for procrastinators. We haven't met yet!   I don't drop things, I do random gravity checks!   I don't need anger management. I need people to stop pissing me off!   Old age is coming at a really bad time!   Lord grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can & the friends to post my bail when I finally snap!   I don't have gray hair. I have "wisdom highlights" . I'm just very wise.   My people skills are just fine. It's my tolerance to idiots that needs work.   Teach your daughter how to shoot, because a restraining order is just a piece of paper.   If God wanted me to touch my toes, he would've put them on my knees.   The kids text me "plz" which is shorter than please. I text back "no"  which is shorter than "yes".   I'm going to retire and live off of my savings. Not sure what I'll do that second week?   Even duct tape can't fix stupid ... but it can muffle the sound!   Why do I have to press one for English when you're just gonna transfer me to someone I can't understand anyway?   Of course I talk to myself, sometimes I need expert advice.   Oops! Did I roll my eyes out loud?   At my age "Getting lucky" means walking into a room and remembering what I came in there for.   Chocolate comes from cocoa which is a tree ... that makes it a plant which means ... chocolate is Salad!

Scale Model of US Government ... Thx Ramey H!

  This was on display at Cotton Ginning Days in Dallas, NC on October 11,
2014. It is tagged as a "Scale Model of the US Government". It is powered
by a 1920's vintage hit & miss engine, & doesn't do anything except make
noise & lots of lost motions & is costly to run.  Check out the 1:36 min
video at the site below:

<http://www.youtube.com/v/XTAULdznHug&autoplay=1&autohide=1&showinfo=0>
Amazing Scale Model - USA Government

  skegley.blogspot.com

Texas Goodbye ... Thx Ramey H!

TEXAS GOODBYE

This is why America will remain strong.  We take care of our own as well as others who may not deserve taking care of. I just wanted to share with you all that out of a horrible tragedy we were blessed by so many people. Chris Kyle was Derek's teammate through 10 years of training and battle.  They both suffer/suffered from PTSD to some extent and took great care of each other because of it. 2006 in Ramadi was horrible for young men that never had any more aggressive physical contact with another human than on a Texas football field. They lost many friends.  Chris became the armed services number #1 sniper of all time.  Not something he was happy about, other than the fact that in so doing, he saved a lot of American lives. Three years ago, his wife Taya asked him to leave the SEAL teams as he had a huge bounty on his head by Al Qaeda.  He did and wrote the book "The American Sniper."  100% of the proceeds from the book went to two of the SEAL families who had lost their sons in Iraq . That was the kind of guy Chris was.  He formed a company in Dallas to train military, police and I think firemen as far as protecting themselves in difficult situations.  He also formed a foundation to work with military people suffering from PTSD.  Chris was a giver not a taker. He, along with a friend and neighbor, Chad Littlefield, were murdered trying to help a young man that had served six months in Iraq and claimed to have PTSD.  Now I need to tell you about all of the blessings. Southwest Airlines flew in any SEAL and their family from any airport they flew into free of charge. The employees donated buddy passes and one lady worked for four days without much of a break to see that it happened. Volunteers were at both airports in Dallas to drive them to the hotel. The Marriott Hotel reduced their rates to $45 a night and cleared the hotel for only SEALs and family. The Midlothian, TX Police Department paid the $45 a night for each room.  I would guess there were about 200 people staying at the hotel, 100 of them were SEALs.  Two large buses were chartered (an unknown donor paid the bill) to transport people to the different events and they also had a few rental cars (donated).  The police and secret service were on duty 24 hours during the stay at our hotel. At the Kyle house, the Texas DPS parked a large motor home in front to block the view from reporters. It remained there the entire five days for the SEALs to congregate in and all to use the restroom so as not to have to go in the house.  Taya, their two small children and both sets of parents were staying in the home. Only a hand full of SEALs went into the home as they had different duties and meetings were held sometimes on a hourly basis.  It was a huge coordination of many different events and security.  Derek was assigned to be a Pall Bearer, to escort Chris' body when it was transferred from the Midlothian Funeral Home to the Arlington Funeral Home, and to be with Taya.  A tough job. Taya seldom came out of her bedroom.  The house was full with people from the church and other family members that would come each day to help.  I spent one morning in a bedroom with Chris' mom and the next morning with Chad Littlefield's parents (the other man murdered with Chris).  A tough job. George W Bush and his wife Laura met and talked to everyone on the Seal Team one on one.  They went behind closed doors with Taya for quite a while.  They had prayer with us all.  You can tell when people were sincere and caring. Nolan Ryan sent his cooking team, a huge grill and lots of steaks, chicken and hamburgers.  They set up in the front yard and fed people all day long including the 200 SEALs and their families.  The next day a local BBQ restaurant set up a buffet in front of the house and fed all once again.  Food was plentiful and all were taken care of.  The family's church kept those inside the house well fed. Jerry Jones, the man everyone loves to hate, was a rock star.  He made sure that we all were taken care of.  His wife and he were just making sure everyone was taken care of....Class... He donated the use of Cowboy Stadium for the services as it was determined that so many wanted to attend.  The charter buses transported us to the stadium on Monday at 10:30 am.  Every car, bus, motorcycle was searched with bomb dogs and police.  I am not sure if kooks were making threats trying to make a name for themselves or if so many SEALs in one place was a security risk, I don't know. We  willingly obliged.  No purses went into the stadium! We were taken to The Legends room high up and a large buffet was available.  That was for about 300 people.  We were growing. A Medal of Honor recipient was there, lots of secret service and police and Sarah Palin and her husband.  She looked nice, this was a very formal military service. The service started at 1:00 pm and when we were escorted onto the field I was shocked.  We heard that about 10,000 people had come to attend also.  They were seated in the stadium seats behind us. It was a beautiful and emotional service. The Bagpipe and drum corps were wonderful and the Texas A&M men's choir stood through the entire service and sang right at the end.  We were all in tears. The next day was the 200-mile procession from Midlothian , TX to Austin for burial.  It was a cold, drizzly, windy day, but the people were out.  We had dozens of police motorcycles riders, freedom riders, five chartered buses and lots of cars.  You had to have a pass to be in the procession and still it was huge.  Two helicopters circled the procession with snipers sitting out the side door for protection.  It was the longest funeral procession ever in the state of Texas.  People were everywhere. The entire route was shut down ahead of us, the people were lined up on the side of the road the entire way.  Firemen were down on one knee, police officers were holding their hats over their hearts, children waving flags, veterans saluting as we went by.  Every bridge had fire trucks with large flags displayed from their tall ladders, people all along the entire 200 miles were standing in the cold weather.  It was so heartwarming. Taya rode in the hearse with Chris' body so Derek rode the route with us.  I was so grateful to have that time with him. The service was at Texas National Cemetery. Very few are buried there and you have to apply to get in. It is like people from the Civil War, Medal of Honor winners, a few from the Alamo and all the historical people of Texas.  It was a nice service and the Freedom Riders surrounded the outside of the entire cemetery to keep the crazy church people from Kansas that protest at military funerals away from us. Each SEAL put his Trident (metal SEAL badge) on the top of Chris' casket, one at a time.  A lot hit it in with one blow.  Derek was the only one to take four taps to put his in and it was almost like he was caressing it as he did it.  Another tearful moment. After the service Governor Rick Perry and his wife, Anita, invited us to the governor's mansion.  She stood at the door,  greeted each of us individually, and gave each of the SEALs a coin of Texas.  She was a sincere, compassionate, and gracious hostess. We were able to tour the ground floor and then went into the garden for beverages and BBQ.  So many of the Seal team guys said that after they get out they are moving to Texas.  They remarked that they had never felt so much love and hospitality.  The charter buses then took the guys to the airport to catch their returning  flights.  Derek just now called and after a 20 hours flight he is back in his spot, in a dangerous land on the other side of the world, protecting America. We just wanted to share with you, the events of a quite emotional, but blessed week. Punch-line: To this day, no one in the White House has ever acknowledged Chris Kyle. However, the President can call some sport person and congratulate him on announcing to the world that he is gay???  What the is happening to our society, our honor and our pride?? Please, keep this moving!

Re: ID Theft, Photo ID required on cc cards, written bty an attorney ... Thx Jean and Marge R!

Dear Webby
1. Do not sign  the back of your credit cards. Instead, put 'PHOTO ID REQUIRED.' 

2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts,  DO  NOT
put the complete  account number on the 'For' line. Instead, just put the  last
four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone
who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing
channels won't have access to it.

3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a
PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use
your work address. Never  have your  SS# printed on your checks. (DUH!)
You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have It printed, anyone can get it.

4. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine.
Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you
had in your wallet and all of the account numbers
and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. 
I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or
abroad. We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on
us in stealing a Name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.
In case your luggage is lost, take another list in your carry
on bag, especially if you are abroad and need immediate access to
those numbers.

Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have firsthand knowledge because
my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieves ordered
an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit
card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer,
received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record
information online, and more. 

But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens
to you or someone you know:

5. We have been told we should  cancel our  credit cards immediately. But
the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you
know whom to call.. Keep those where you can find them.

6. File a  police report immediately in the jurisdiction
where your credit cards, etc.., were stolen. This proves to credit
providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward
an investigation (if there ever is one).
But here's what is perhaps  most important of all: (I never even thought to do this.) 

7. Call the  3 national credit reporting organizations  immediately
to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud
line number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that
called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my
name. 

The alert means any company that checks your credit knows
your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by
phone to authorize new credit.

By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after
the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of
all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases,
none of which I knew about before placing the alert.
Since then, no additional damage has been done, and
the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone
turned it in). It seems to have stopped them
dead in their tracks..

Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact
about your wallet, if it has been stolen:

1.) Equifax:  1-800-525-6285  1-800-525-6285  
2.) Experian (formerly TRW):  1-888-397-3742  1-888-397-3742 
3.) Trans Union :  1-800-680 7289  1-800-680 7289 
4.) Social Security Administration (fraud line):
1-800-269-0271  1-800-269-0271

Jean

Coach Cal's radio call-in show 6PM on WLAP Lexington Mondays

Coach Cal's radio show is always entertaining for us crazy Cat Fans.  I particularly enjoyed Randall of Fairdale callikng in and reminding Cal of a comment he made a few years ago.  He met with the team before the seasion and asked ecah player to say how many points he averaged in High School.  He had numbers like 32, 33, 37, etc.  They totaled the individual scoring and you told them:  You realize we won't average 175 points a game.    Great eye-opening for high school starts coming into college.

Cal said this team would have to average around 250 a game at the individuals' averages.  Great eys-openers for all of us crazies!

SamKat  aka Sam Kegley

Staten Island - Garner ... Thanks Judi C!

It turns out that almost everything bleated out by the race-mongers and the low-information media about the Eric Garner tragedy has turned out to be wrong.

Eric Garner, a 43-year-old father of six, is dead. This is a tragedy, regardless of the circumstances. We rightly mourn with his wife and children. They will never see their husband and father again, and that should break everyone's heart.

When we witness a gut-rending tragedy like this, we want to know who is responsible. Who is to blame for depriving this family of its husband and father? As the facts emerge, it becomes increasingly clear that, as tragic as this situation is, in the end the culpability for Eric Garner's death rests with Eric Garner.

To put it as simply as possible, if Mr. Garner had not broken the law and then resisted arrest, he would be alive today.

While protesters are trying to make this about race, it must be noted that the police showed up in response to complaints from black business owners. The arrest was ordered by a black officer, and the arrest itself was supervised by a black officer, a female sergeant.

A crackdown on the sale of illegal, untaxed cigarettes - called "loosies" since they are sold in singles rather than in packs - had been ordered just days before Garner's arrest by the highest ranking black police officer in the NYPD, Philip Banks.

So a black officer ordered the crackdown, black business owners called for the arrest, a black officer ordered the arrest, and a black officer supervised the arrest itself. It's also worth noting that the 23-member grand jury which refused to indict the arresting officer included nine non-white members. Ask yourself how many of those facts you have heard from any member of the race-obsessed, low-information media.

Garner had been arrested 31 times, and eight of those had been for selling loosies. His rap sheet goes back decades and includes arrests for assault and grand larceny.

At the time of his death, Garner was out on bail after being charged with multiple offenses, including illegal sale of cigarettes, marijuana possession, false impersonation and driving without a license.

So he certainly knew the law, knew he was in violation, and knew doing it again would likely lead to his arrest, a drill he'd been through dozens of times before.

There were 228,000 misdemeanor arrests in New York City in 2013, the last year for which figures are available. All of them put together led to precisely zero deaths.

Garner, all six-foot, three inches and 350 pounds of him, clearly resisted arrest, swatting away the arresting officer's hands while loudly exclaiming, "Don't touch me!" After he was taken to the ground, he growled, "This ends here!" That could be taken any number of ways, but in the heat of the moment it certainly could be read reasonably as a declaration that he was going to fight arrest until he was subdued by compelling force.

The patrolman who wrestled Garner to the ground, Daniel Pantaleo, did it by the book, using a takedown maneuver every policeman is taught at the academy. He did not, in fact, use a chokehold, which is defined by the NYPD as "any pressure to the throat or windpipe, which may prevent or hinder breathing or reduce intake of air." Now Garner was clearly able to breathe, since that's the only way he could repeatedly say, "I can't breathe."

The autopsy explicitly declares that there was no injury to Garner's windpipe or to his neck bones. This was a wrestler's headlock, not a chokehold. (As a sidenote, chokeholds, while contrary to police policy, are not in fact illegal in the state of New York when an officer uses one to restrain a resisting subject. They are not even illegal in New York City, at the insistence of liberal mayor Bill DeBlasio.) Patrolman Pantaleo was not indicted for the simple reason that he did nothing wrong.

Garner's death likely should be attributed to the fact that he himself suffered from severe asthma, something the arresting officers had no reason to know. According to Garner's friends, his asthma was severe enough that he was forced to quit his job as horticulturist for the city. He wheezed when he talked and could not walk so much as a city block without having to stop to rest. Garner "couldn't breathe" because of his asthma, not because of a chokehold.

In addition, he suffered from heart disease, advanced diabetes, hypertension, obesity and sleep apnea. Contrary to public perception, he did not die on site, nor did he die of asphyxiation. He suffered cardiac arrest in the ambulance and was declared dead about an hour later at the hospital.

So it turns out that almost everything bleated out by the race-mongers and the low-information media has turned out to be wrong. As the wisest man who ever lived wrote 3,000 years ago, "The one who states his case first seems right until the other comes and examines him" (Proverbs 18:17).

Eric Garner and Michael Brown both fought the law, and the law won. In the end, they have no one to blame but themselves.

New York Post columnist Bob McMcanus concluded his column on Eric Garner this way:

"There are many New Yorkers - politicians, activists, trial lawyers, all the usual suspects - who will now seek to profit from a tragedy that wouldn't have happened had Eric Garner made a different decision.

"He was a victim of himself. It's just that simple."