SGP Announces it Will Host Historic Twitterball

SGP Announces it Will Host Historic Twitterball

Christening a Rubber Raft

Over the past month or so I have been using the quote " they must have been christening a rubber raft again". Many of you probably haven't understood what I was talking about. So to help you out a little, I thought I would share this with you. My cable network is owned and operated by Suddenlink. They started a new ad campaign in October, 2008. Their main idea is "Easy". I won't go into further detail on this concept, as you will see it for yourself in a moment. I laugh so hard I almost fall out of my chair every time I see this. You know how you are supposed to visualize everyone in a crowd naked if you are speaking to them? Well, I don't visualize them naked(that is a nasty thought!), but I see Reid, Pelosi, Murtha, etc. in place of the little old lady. I really believe that nine out of ten times these libs have hit their head this hard. I hope you find this as hilarious as I do !

How do we reach them?

Recently my clothes dryer just decided to quit. Just like everyone else over the past month, I have been extremely busy and have not made time to fix it or have it looked at. So I drag all of the dirty clothes to the laundry mat. Usually it is pretty quiet and no one really talks to anyone else. However, tonight turned out to be a little different. I am not a big "gamer", so I don't usually play video games, but I decided to play a game tonight. While I am doing so, two young boys walk up and start watching me. They seemed to be interested in playing and with me not really caring about the game, I let them take over. I had an extra fifty cents in my pocket and give that to them as well to share. Not realizing at the time that I was missing an opportunity, I walked away and made a call on my cell. I was wrapping up my call as my clothes finished drying. I proceeded to retrieve my clothes and started folding them. As I did this the older of the two boys walked back up to me and started talking. I learned that he is 13 years old. His brother is 9, and he has a sister that is 6. He talked to me about his life and how he hated his sister. He also told me that all three of them have different fathers. He is the only one of the three that sees his dad. Apparently he doesn't see him often and it was pretty clear that he didn't feel loved. His sister's dad used to beat him until mom kicked him out. I looked around to see where mom was, and she was there with a guy. I am almost certain that he isn't much of a father figure either. So I just started talking to this young, impressionable boy. I asked him about church and if he ever goes. Naturally, his reply was no. I asked him if he loved his family and again he said no, not really. So I talked to him about God and his love. I talked to him about the importance of family. And I talked to him about being a role model to his younger siblings. He was partially receptive, but I could tell he wasn't sure if he could trust what I was saying. Even though he felt that way he was still crying out for attention and love. Reaching out to a total stranger who showed the slightest bit of kindness. This hurts my heart that there are so many kids like him out there. Wanting and craving the love of someone. Wanting someone to show them the right direction. But we fall short because we are too busy with all of the other things that we do. My question to you is this: What can we do to help these kids? I am asking myself this same question and I hope I can find an answer. I would love for you to respond to this question and look inside yourself to find what you can do as well.

Mileage-Based Revenue System

Recently I have noticed more and more talk of a mileage-based revenue system in addition to the fuel taxes we already pay at the pump. In a story on Fox News, The National Commission on Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing thinks the long-term solution to raising revenue for road construction and repair is a mileage-based revenue system. They are also urging a 50% gas tax hike in the mean time to gain lost revenue as Americans are driving less and using less fuel. I don't know which story is bigger. The fact that they want to raise taxes or the fact that they want to equip every car and truck with a device that uses global positioning satellites and transponders to record how many miles the vehicle has been driven, the type of roads and time of day. The latter is really scary to me. The government knowing where I am at all times. How Big Brother is that? It's not that I am doing anything wrong, it is just the fact that it is none of their business. In a related story, Pink Elephant Pundit writes " Think about how many people hated the Patriot Act - people do not want to give the government access to their personal information. " Tabitha's post was in response to NC seriously looking at mileage-based revenue. NC is not the only State to look at this method. Oregon and Minnesota have also considered this. Now the federal government is jumping on the bandwagon. Where will it stop? We are already taxed beyond belief, and with the new administration coming in 19 days, what are we in for?

In a side note, Adrian Moore, vice president of the Reason Foundation did say ,"commission members were initially concerned that using technology to track driving might violate drivers' privacy, but they've been assured that such a system could be designed to prevent vehicles from being "tracked in some big brotherish way."I wonder who is doing the assuring here? Care to take a guess?

Random thoughts....

As I was driving home from the parents today, I noticed a few cars with Christian or Church stickers on their cars. For the most part they were all behaving as they should, however there is always this one person that drives erratically, in and out of traffic, acting as if they really want to meet their maker earlier than anticipated. Here are my thoughts on this. If you display a Christian symbol or Church sticker on your vehicle then please drive like it. You are making a statement by displaying the decal, then you turn around and ruin it by showing everyone on the road that you could care less about others much less yourself. There are many people out there that already hate what we stand for, and what does it say about us when we drive like maniacs? We lead by example, so let's remember that and let our light shine always, even though we may have a bad day or are feeling impatient, we can drive like we have some sense and some real Direction.

Merry Christmas !

I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and stay safe in this joyous time of year !

Is there something in the water at FT. Bragg?

In a story on WRAL today the headline reads "14 Fort Bragg soldiers arrested this year in death cases". The story line is questioning whether there is a link to deployment and violence at home. Col. Ed Crandell, a psychologist at Womack Army Medical Center said,“I think that’s an important discrimination to make – between someone who premeditates and goes out and kills someone and someone who’s operating in a combat environment and using the skills that he’s developed". With that being said, what is going on at Ft. Bragg? There are programs in place to re-adjust to life outside of deployment. But is it enough? Apparently not for this year.........