Duck Dynasty: Is This The Way To Run A Business?

Kay, Phillip, Willie, Si, Jase and Korie Robertson stars of Duck Dynasty.

 

The Season 3 finale of Duck Dynasty, which featured their trip to Hawaii attracted an amazing 9.6 million viewers. It was the most watched program in the history of the A&E cable network. An even bigger shock was that it had a higher rating than American Idol in the key 18-49 demographic.

When a program about a family making duck calls has a higher rating, than the ratings blockbuster American Idol there has to be some real concern right now by American Idol producers.

Phil Robertson who started the Duck Commander business of making duck calls, that captured the same sound as actual ducks was starting quarterback at Louisiana Tech in Ruston, Louisiana. The second string quarterback was a guy named Terry Bradshaw, who went on to fame as the quarterback, of the Pittsburgh Steelers and would win Super Bowls for the Steelers. Robertson said Terry went after the bucks, while he went after the ducks, but Phil went after the bucks too and is worth $5 million today.

His wife Kay is also worth $5 million according to Celebrity Net Worth website, but since all the wives are shown with the same worth as their husbands among the Robertson sons it could mean they are both worth the same $5 million and not $10 million total.

The website lists the wives with the same worth, so will just quote the worth of the sons.

Alan Robertson is the oldest of the Robertson sons and can be easily identified since he is the unbearded Robertson and doesn’t seem to belong with the others.

 

Oldest son Alan Robertson has never been seen on the show to my knowledge and is a senior pastor of a West Monroe, Louisiana church. His net worth is $3 million, so he still shares in the wealth with the rest of the family.

Willie is the CEO of the company and is worth $10 million, while his brother Jase is worth $4 million and younger brother Jeptha is worth $8 million.

Their Uncle Si is worth $2 million and although he is married don’t think his wife has ever been shown.

The duck call company Duck Commander is based in West Monroe, Louisiana where we lived in 1974 and 1975 before moving across the Ouachita River to Monroe, while working for the local Monroe Morning World newspaper.

 

Phil Chose Right Son For CEO

Phil was smart to designate Willie as CEO, since he is the only son that seems to have a modicum of ability to run the company. His brother Jase  and uncle Si are apt to leave work without notice, to go duck hunting or do whatever they want, with no regard for how it affects the business.

One of the programs this morning showed Willie trying to get the brothers and other workers to wear uniforms. They all decided to wear the uniforms, except Jase who refused to wear the new uniforms and rallied the others to go on strike. So they left the room where they make duck calls, to go outside and made signs to picket Duck Commander.

Meanwhile Kay Robertson, who is selling boudin from a truck passes by and puts a stop to the nonsense, by serving the brothers and co-workers boudin and managed to convince the strikers to leave the picket line and return to work.

 

Si Wakes Up In The Woods

On another program this morning Si and other workers had a hankering for donuts and descended on the donut shop and proceeded to have a contest to see who could eat the most donuts. Si won the contest and used his winnings to buy some tickets for a drawing for a camper.

By the time they returned to work Si later found out he had won the drawing, when the camper was delivered to Duck Commander headquarters. Si decided to cook something in his new camper and later fell asleep in the camper. The other workers were not happy campers, when Si was sleeping and they needed him to make reeds for the duck calls.

So Jase hooked up the camper to a truck and hauled the camper with Si sleeping on the bed to the woods. They left Si sleeping in the camper and drove off. It was a funny sight to see Si open the camper door and find out he was in the middle of nowhere in the woods.

 

Willie Gets No Respect

Willie gets absolutely no respect from his brothers and their co-workers. Willie is so serious about getting the work done, while the brothers would rather goof off, than actually make any duck calls. Work comes to a standstill often, when the guys are not in the mood to work.

It is a miracle any work is ever done in the duck call shop, with this group of characters. They are sometimes more intent on exacting revenge on Willie for his latest show of force, to increase their productivity.

Willie has a camera installed in the duck call room, so he can witness for himself how little work is being done. Jase, who is not happy with this development has one of the other workers steal the monitor for the camera out of Willie’s office, then give Willie a taste of his own medicine. The guys are watching Willie line up his shot in his office, with golf putter and then Jase says something over the speaker about Willie needed to adjust his grip. Willie puts away his putting green and golf club and goes to duck call room to demand the monitor is returned.

Jase and Willie argue about the camera being in the duck call room, then work out a compromise and Willie is given his monitor back.

Willie has a quandary in that he can’t fire family members, so he has to tolerate their antics in the duck call room. If any of these guys were working for another company they would have been fired years ago, but they have the job security of working for the family business.

This is no way to run a business, but their business is picking up since the show has become so popular. These guys especially Jase and Si may be a train wreck, but they are keeping millions of us entertained.

Latest news is that family is asking for more money to film Season 4, but they are dealing from a position of strength as A&E is not going to battle with them over salary, since they will probably raise advertising rates to recoup the money and make even more money in the long run. Latest word is that Season 4 filming will start soon and that we will see those episodes later this year.

 

 

 

American Idol: Nobody Going Home

Angie Miller and Kree Harrison were Top 2 in American Idol results show in which nobody went home to get the show on schedule after judges didn’t use their save.

 

Kree Harrison had to be shocked to be in the Top 2 with Angie Miller, on the Thursday night results show on American Idol. The judges had roundly criticized her performances on Wednesday night, but evidently the judges couldn’t sway the voters into not voting for her.

It was a shock to see Candace Glover in the Bottom 2, since she had some of the best feedback from the judges on Wednesday night. Amber Holcomb also was in the Bottom 2, but that wasn’t too surprising since there was some criticism of her decision to sing MacArthur Park on Wednesday’s show.

Ryan Seacrest teased the audience by saying “And going home is no one” and then explaining the show was expecting the judges to use their save, but when they didn’t the show needed an extra week to finish on the original schedule.

According to my calculations there should be three more weeks, with the final three revealed next week, then the final two the following week and finale the third week. None of this is official so is only conjecture at this point.

Lee DeWyze, the Season 10 winner, who is probably the least recognizable winner among the 11 winners so far sang a song from his new album.

Angie Miller seems to be favorite to win American Idol.

The favorite to win Season 12 of American Idol seems to be Angie Miller, unless she falters in the remaining shows. She needs to follow the advice of the judges and Jimmy Iovine and sing while playing the piano, which seems to be the niche she needs to be in to become the next American Idol.

However, with the votes from yesterday and those cast next week anything can happen, so it is crucial for each of the remaining four contestants, to make good song choices and to perform them as flawlessly as possible.

American Idol has lost almost 5.5 million viewers since the premiere show in January. I think many fans have gone over to The Voice and don’t care to watch American Idol the next two nights. A Big Bang Theory rerun topped American Idol last week, which shows how far the ratings have tumbled this season.

Only 12.46 million viewers tuned in to the Wednesday performance show, but no results are available yet for last night’s show.

Lizard Lick Towing’s Ron and Amy Shirley Worth Combined $5 Million

Ron and Amy Shirley who star in Lizard Lick Towing reality show on TruTV.

Ron and Amy Shirley know that each renewal of Lizard Lick Towing means they can deposit huge amounts of money in their bank account.

They are both worth a total of $5 million, with Celebrity Net Worth showing they both have net worths of $2.5 million each.

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/business-executives/ron-shirley-net-worth/

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/business-executives/amy-shirley-net-worth/

One of the articles says that the Shirleys recreate some of the their encounters, when repossessing cars, so that tells me they are using actors in the wild scenes seen on the show. I don’t mind that the show is fake, as long as the producers don’t try to fool the fans, into thinking that the action scenes are real.

Bobby Brantley in his cool shades.

Bobby Brantley once stated that some of the scenes were staged. The last I knew Bobby Brantley was married to his fourth wife Anita, so it surprised me that the show had a storyline, that showed Bobby dating a local girl on the show, which infuriated Amy, since Amy had a long and bad history with the girl. Anyone that knows if Bobby is still married is welcome to comment.

It doesn’t really matter to me that it is fake, since it is an entertaining show. I have seen scenes where Ron and Bobby have been shot at during a repossession. A person being shot at in real life would have called the police, but even with all the fights at repossession sites and in the office police are seldom called.

They are inviting trouble in the office leaving stuff that can be thrown around. That office lobby should not have anything that is not nailed down, since if it is not then it will be destroyed.

Ron and Amy Shirley may not be earning Kardashian type money, for their reality show but most of us wouldn’t mind having $5 million in our bank accounts

It is another reason that Ron and Amy are probably on pins and needles, till they get their renewal notices for the next season.

Wikipedia says that Ron and Amy were going to be in Wife Swap. Just thinking about them being on the show makes me laugh. However it didn’t pan out, but it may have turned out for the best as Lizard Lick Towing was first seen on All Worked Up, before TruTV offered a deal to Ron and Amy, to have their own show and they hopped on the money train that would make them both millionaires.

I assume there will be new shows, if it is renewed next summer or fall.

The main thing is that Lizard Lick Towing is a fun show to watch, whether it is fake or not.

 

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George Beverly Shea Dies At 104

George Beverly Shea 1909-2013

George Beverly Shea has died in Montreat, North Carolina after a brief illness at the age of 104. He was born on February 1, 1909 in Winchester, Ontario, Canada.

Shea is best known for being a soloist with the Billy Graham crusade from 1947 till almost 60 years later when Graham was no longer physically able to stand and preach.

George Beverly Shea shown with Billy Graham at a crusade.

His recording career lasted from 1951 till his death and he recorded 70 albums during his recording career. I can still remember hearing him sing How Great Thou Art and It Took A Miracle and many other songs during the televised crusades.

He was an accomplished musician playing the violin, piano and organ.

Shea was married a combined 70 years to his first wife Erma Scharfe who died in 1976 and his second wife whom he married in 1985 and survived him upon his death.

George Beverly Shea may be gone, but he will never be forgotten by the many of us who saw him sing so many times over the years, with the Billy Graham crusade. His music will live on for years to come.

Duck Dynasty Stars Holding Out For $200,000 An Episode

The stars of Duck Dynasty are holding out for more money before starting filming on Season 4.

Duck Dynasty attracted over 8 million viewers in their Season 3 premiere, which makes it the most watched show on the A&E cable network. The ratings for last week showed only Walking Dead and The Bible with a higher rating than the show about the Robinson clan from Louisiana.

Phil Robertson who created the Duck Commander duck call played football at La. Tech and started ahead of Terry Bradshaw who went on to win several Super Bowls and was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Robertson turned down a chance to go to the pros, because it interfered with duck season.

This article from ABC News tells more about the Robertson family and how they created a duck call business, with sales in the millions.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/redneck-millionaires-built-duck-dynasty-duck-call-business/story?id=15961955#.UVTzqjYo6M9

The Robertson family is holding out for $200,000 an episode of the reality show. A&E is currently filming about 15 episodes a season, which would mean A&E would have to pay the Robertson family $3 million a season.

A&E is caught in a bad place. They surely don’t want to pay the family $3 million a season, but on the other hand they don’t want to lose their most watched television program. The Robertson family is in a win-win situation, since even if they get $100,000 an episode they will make $1.5 million. There were two complete seasons filmed last year, so the Robertson family would make $6 million if they get the $200,000 episode that they want and $3 million if they get $100,000 an episode.

The show is a show that the family can watch, in that they don’t have any profanity on the shows and the family was angered by A&E inserting bleeps in the earlier seasons, so it would look like the family was using bad language.

I had never seen a Duck Dynasty show before this week and can see why the show is so popular. Best of all it is filmed in West Monroe, Louisiana, where we lived from 1974-1976.

It is almost a given, that A&E and the Robertson family will work out an agreement, on their pay per episode in Season 4, since A&E doesn’t want to lose this gold mine of a show.

19 Kids and Counting Returned Last Night With Asia Special

19 Kids and Counting plus two parents and a grandmother plus wife of Josh and two babies.

 

19 Kids and Counting returned last night on TLC as the family traveled to Asia in the first of three episodes of specials featuring their trip. The regular episodes of  the show will return on April 2.

Jim Bob and Michelle, the parents of the 19 children were married on July 21, 1984 and  took birth control the first four years of their marriage, then went off the pill and Michelle miscarried. They then they let God decide how many children they would have. Jim Bob only had a sister while growing up, while Michelle had five sisters and a brother.

Their first child Josh was born on March 3, 1988 and their last child Josie was born on December 10, 2009. Michelle lost the next baby, when its heart stopped beating during the pregnancy.

Michelle and her family appeared on the Today show on November 8, 2011 and a month exactly later the family announced the baby had died. This episode was one of the most dramatic shows in the series, as the series showed Jim Bob and Michelle being told the baby had no heartbeat.

It was particularly emotional, when the children were told that the baby had died. Then the funeral was extremely emotional seeing such a small casket for the baby.

The Duggar family lives in Tontitown, Arkansas a city of only 2,460 people but has grown 161 percent since 2000, when the population was only 942 people.

The cost and logistics of raising 19 kids has to be very expensive and they have to be very organized to make sure all the kids follow a routine, to make sure everything that needs to be done is accomplished. Jim Bob is a real estate agent and investor, so he must be doing very well to provide for such a large family. TLC is also probably paying the family something for them being on the show.

Their 25-year-old son Josh and his wife presently have two children of their own named a girl Mackynzie and a son Michael. The couple is expecting their third child in June.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Couple Adopts 3 Year-Old, Return to TLC on April 30

Dr. Jennifer Arnold and Bill Klein who star in the Little Couple series on TLC are adopting a three year-old child from China.

Dr. Jennifer Arnold had problems conceiving a baby on her own and then they tried having a surrogate mother for their child. That didn’t work either when the surrogate mother suffered a miscarriage. Now Dr. Arnold and her husband Bill Klein have adopted a three year-old boy from China named William.

The parents who star on TLC’s Little Couple series had wanted a child with dwarfism and this child is a dwarf like them.

The show was last seen on May 15, 2012 and will be returning for a sixth season, almost a year later when they return to TLC, for a new season on April 30.

Little Couple has been one of the most drama-free reality shows, since Jen and Bill get along so well. They have to be the most likeable reality stars on television today.

They both apparently make a very good living as Dr. Arnold is a doctor working as a neonatologist at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas. Bill owns a sales, training  and telecommunication business.

When the new season starts on April 30 we should see some shows about the adoption process and how they are settling into their new home in Houston, plus they have a pet shop in Houston.

This couple has been through a lot in recent seasons, when they hoped Jen would be able to conceive a baby on her own. When that didn’t work they went the surrogacy route and that also failed, so it will be good to see them with their new adopted child in Season 6.

http://www.parents.com/blogs/parents-news-now/2013/03/13/celebrities/tvs-the-little-couple-adopts-baby-boy/

Undercover Boss of O’Neil Clothing Offered Weed, Checkers Boss Closes Store On the Spot

Jesus, an employee at O’Neill makes a bad impression on Undercover Boss Toby Bost of O’Neill Clothing by telling him he knows where to get some good weed and asks the boss if he ever thought about opening a pot dispensary.

Toby Bost the CEO of O’Neills Clothing was shocked when he encountered an employee named Jesus in one of his stores. Jesus didn’t win any points by saying the clothes were clothes a five-year old would wear. He won even fewer points by telling his boss, who was disguised as Frederick that he knew where to score some weed. Jesus even went so far as to ask Frederick if he ever thought about opening a pot dispensary. He also revealed he took drugs before going to work to make it through the workday. Bost said in a film snippet that he was worried that Jesus might offer other employees or customers some weed. Surprisingly he didn’t fire him on the spot, but I wouldn’t have blamed him if he had.

Toby Bost left, is shown by employee Jorge how to make a T-shirt at the print shop.

 

Bost then meets the polar opposite of Jesus at the print shop. Jorge loves his job and is patient with Frederick as he shows him to make T-shirts. However, Jorge has a sad back story as he talks to Frederick on a break. He asks Frederick if his children are healthy, then tells about his child having a rare disease and telling about how the child is being fed by a tube.

Won’t go into details about the other employees he encounters, since these were the two most interesting employees to me.

Jesus, Jorge and the other employees featured on the program are sent to meet with someone about how Frederick did on the job. They are really there to meet Toby Bost the CEO of O’Neill Clothing, who reveals his true identity to them. It was not a fun meeting for Jesus, as Bost tells him how disappointed he was in his behavior at the store and mentioned that about the weed and pot dispensary. Jesus asks if he is fired, but Bost says he is not fired but will have to undergo a training program to learn how to treat customers and fellow workers with respect. Jesus thanks Bost for the second chance and at the end of the show it is mentioned that he may even stop smoking.

The meeting with Jorge went much better as Bost thanked him for his company loyalty and then offered a large sum of money to help with the medical expenses of Jorge’s sick child. This is when the show really connects with the audience, when you see someone who did their job the right way be rewarded.

 

 

Rick Silva CEO of Checkers and Rallys fast food restaurants appeared as Alex Garcia, who had a pharmacy go out of business in Philadlelphia. trying to find work in the fast food business.

Rick Silva the CEO of Checkers and Rallys  fast food restaurants went undercover as Alex Garcia in an episode of Undercover Boss. He learned that almost none of the staff had been trained for their jobs. He took particular interest in a worker named Todd who worked hard, but was constantly being hounded by the general manager. Todd needed the job to help support his mom and was trying to go to culinary school to be a chef.

The behavior of the general manager upset Alex enough to talk to him in the parking lot, about how he treated his employees. The general manager named Stevens said he had to yell at them, for them to pay any attention to him. Alex finds out during the conversation that Stevens was thrust into the general manager’s position after completing only three weeks of the six weeks training course. He reveals to Stevens that he is the CEO of Checkers, so he lost his secret identity as Alex to correct the situation.

Alex then apologized to Stevens for not providing more training before he was promoted to the general manager position. Alex tells Stevens that he is closing down the store immediately. He then reassures the employees that they still have their jobs and apologizes to them for not making sure they had been trained properly. He then tells the employees that he is going to have several general managers in the store next day, to train the employees and to get the restaurant back on track.

When Todd goes to meet the boss after Alex has returned to being Rick Silva again he is not shocked since he already knew Alex was really Rick the CEO. Silva tells Todd how much he appreciated him as a worker then tells him he is giving him $15,000 to go to culinary school and to help his mother.

 

These two episodes of Undercover Boss made me realize how good this show is. It shows how CEO’s don’t have a clue, as to what is happening at their stores and how inept they are at doing the work of the employees. It also shows how CEO’s can be compassionate, when they learn about their employees struggling to pay their bills.

This show is reality television at its best. There is more real emotion in the last 15 or 20 minutes of this show, when the CEO’s reveal themselves and help their workers financially, than most reality shows have in an hour.

This article tells more about the Checkers episode and has photos of the show:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2104085/Rallys-Checkers-CEO-Rick-Silva-shuts-restaurant-Undercover-Boss-episode.html

 

 

Magazine Ads From the Past

These ads will bring a lot of memories to the old-timers among us and will let the younger generation know about the days, when you could buy a Coca-Cola for 5 cents and a pack of gum for 5 cents.

A combination radio-smoker which provided smokers with a place for their cigarettes, cigars, pipes and tobacco, while listening to their favorite radio programs on this $49.95 radio.

This is the precursor of the Sony Walkman for only $7.95, before shipping and federal tax.

Not many restaurants today feature a seven course dinner for $1.75.

Cigar smokers today are not likely to find this two cigars for 5 cents special.

 

A one pound bag of Bazooka Bubble Gum will set you back $7.99 today after inflation kicked in.

 

 

You could look up and down every aisle of every grocery store in the United States and not find these prices. Two boxes of Wheaties probably cost at least 25 cents nowadays and two pounds of coffee has probably doubled to 50 cents.

 

Barber shop prices of the 1900′s on the left. No date given for the prices on the right.

 

Barber shop prices over a 100 years later. The shave and a haircut of the 1900′s cost a total of 60 cents. That same shave and haircut today costs $33.00.

 

Do We Really Need Women in Combat?

American women soldiers could find themselves in combat situations, as early as May as the services have until then, to implement plans for using them in combat.

I may be in the minority, but am not in favor of having women in combat, especially when a husband and wife are both in a combat situation. I hate to think of kids growing up without a mother, because they died on a battle field.

Now that the Pentagon has approved using women in combat there is concern about their safety. However, there may be some cases in which a woman would react better, in a combat situation than some men. I still can’t condone a woman having her life in jeopardy.

A Los Angeles Times poll shows that those polled favored women in combat, with 66 percent favoring women in combat, while only 26 percent were against it. The following article says there was little difference in how the men and women voted in the poll.

Those 65 or older that were polled favored women in combat by 52 percent, with 36 percent being opposed. Those younger than 50 favored women in combat with 72 percent in favor of women in combat.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-poll-women-military-combat-20130129,0,6439618.story

After reading the poll results it places me squarely in the minority. My post has nothing to do, with whether women or men make better soldiers. I just don’t like the idea of mothers and daughters being in combat situation. It is bad enough to lose a father or brother in combat, but I don’t want to think about losing my mother, if she was still alive or one of my three sisters on the field of combat. I am particularly worried about women, who become prisoners of war and subject to the mercy of their captors.

Readers are welcome to agree or disagree with me, since this is my opinion only and not those of anyone else.

Memories of a Lifetime: 2011-2013

2011 – We were living in Sulphur, Louisiana, a city of about 20,000 at the start of 2011. We were living on Live Oak Street in Sulphur and we found a home church in Calvary Baptist Church on Lewis Street. We were impressed by the pastor Rev. W.D. Darnell, who lived what he preached and only used the King James Version of the Holy Bible. We made many friends, among the members of the church. Rhonda was very involved with the activities at the church and I often sang special music on Sunday and Wednesday nights. Rhonda and me sang duets a couple of times and she sang On The Wings Of A Dove with another lady one time.

Rhonda liked living in Sulphur, since she had a sister and her mom living there. We lived close to the neighborhood, where my daughter and family had lived before moving to Groves, Texas.

I would return to working as a caregiver again in November of 2011. I worked with a disabled man with diabetes and lost the job at the end of the year, when his family changed to another caregiving company.

An international news story was when an earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan took 15,840 lives.

President Obama announces the death of Osama bin Laden on May 1.

Casey Anthony was acquitted of the murder of her daughter Calee Marie Anthony, in a controversial verdict by the jury.

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Computers dies on October 5 of cancer.

House were renting at $955 a month in 2011.

A gallon of gas cost $2.89.

Movie tickets were selling for $8.20.

 

2012 – I worked as a crossing guard at a school in Sulphur for a few weeks, toward the end of the school year. It was interesting work and enjoyed the job. The job could turn out to be the last job I will ever work, since I haven’t worked since becoming sick a couple of months later.

We moved to DeRidder, Louisiana in July and are living in a trailer, that is about halfway between Merryville, Louisiana and DeRidder. We are living in the country and liking it so far.

Knew something was wrong when I began vomiting up blood and lost about 35 pounds in less than two months during the summer. Found out in October in Houston VA Hospital, that I had duodenal cancer. It was a very disease to diagnose, since it mimics acid reflux and duodenal ulcers. It is very rare disease with only two percent of gastrointestinal diseases being duodenal cancer.

Surgeons in Houston performed a resection surgery on Oct. 16 to remove a blockage, which was cancerous and was successful. However I found out in November, that duodenal cancer has a history of returning and has a relatively low survival rate.

Chemotherapy started at the VA hospital in Pineville, Louisiana on Dec.13 and have had three chemo IV’s since that date, with five more to go. Have finished six of a 24 week program of chemotherapy. It seems like the side effects have been worse with each chemo IV. Had difficulty walking in a straight line after the last IV and sort of lurch from side to side.

2012 was a life changing year for us, with us being evicted, moving to a new city and finding out that I had cancer and had surgery a few days later. Spent a total of 32 days in hospital in Houston.

July 20 would be the first of two mass shootings in the United States, when a gunman killed 12 and injured 58 in an Aurora, Colorado theater.

December 14 would bring the second mass shootings of 2012, when a man kills 20 children at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, along with six adults, before killing himself.

A gallon of gas would rise to $3.89 during 2012. It is about 64 cents a gallon cheaper now in 2013.

House rent average goes over the $1,000 mark for the first time, as it rose to $1,045 a month.

A pound of bacon which was $2.96 in 2008 had risen to $4.48 in 2012.

 

2013 – This year should be a very interesting year, as the chemotherapy continues through May and it will be interesting to learn the results of the bloodwork after the last week of chemotherapy. May 21 will be another important date for us as we return to Houston for another C-scan, which will show if the cancer is completely gone or has returned.

We don’t know what this year holds, but we plan to remain positive, even if the news is bad and I don’t plan on being negative, regardless of what happens in 2013.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memories of a Lifetime: 1996-2000

1996 – The Smith family sold the Town Talk to Central Newspapers for $62 million

The minimum wage was raised to $5.15, which was an improvement over the $1.40 minimum wage of 1966, when I was hired by the Town Talk.

March 13, 1996 – A gunman killed a teacher and 16 five and six-year-old children in Dunblane Scotland, which was eerily similar to the Sandy Hook tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut 16 years later in 2012.

Bomb explodes during 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

Ebay starts their auction website 17 years ago.

Gas cost $1.22 a gallon, which is about $2 a gallon cheaper than the $3.25 gasoline of today. A driver could save about $40 a fill-up in 1996 compared to 2013 prices, for a 20 gallon purchase.

Bread cost $1.15 a loaf.

1997 – Was chosen to be song leader at College Drive Baptist Church in Pineville, Louisiana and would remain in that position, till we moved to Tennessee in 2007.  I want to thank Rev. Charles Harrell and Paul Bonnette for letting me lead the singing during those years. I also want to thank Mrs. Frances Faulk for being the pianist most of those years. She had played for Governor Jimmie Davis for many years.

One of the major stories of 1997 was when Princess Diana was killed in a car accident 16 years ago. Mother Theresa also died in 1997 at the age of 87.

Microsoft became the most valuable company in the world and was valued at $261 billion.

Woolworth closes their last discount stores in 1997.

A gallon of gasoline remained steady holding at the $1.22 price of 1996. A pound of hamburger meat cost $1.38. Average rent climbed to $576 and a movie ticket cost $4.59.

 

1998 – Had a very short marriage in 1998 to a con artist, who left town with my credit cards and checkbook and our marriage license, plus ran my phone bill up to over $1,000 making calls to her boyfriend in Florida. The less said about her the better. Found out she had disappeared when I returned from family reunion in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and found the huge telephone bill waiting for me in the mailbox.

Think this was the summer that was so hot, that temperatures over 100 were common that summer. After not using the air conditioner since May of 1992, I was forced to plug-in the air conditioner, because of the extreme heat.

A gallon of gasoline dropped to $1.15 a drop of seven cents from the 1997 price.

Grocery Prices of 1998:

Loaf of bread – $1.26

Pound of bacon – $2.53

Pound of hamburger meat – $1.40

Dozen eggs – 88 cents

Average rent skyrocketed to $619 a month.

Grandson Matthew ready to travel to All Star game while playing for Ward 10 in Tioga a few years ago.

 

1999 – My first grandson Matthew Geisel was born on February 19, 1999 at Rapides Hospital in Alexandria, Louisiana to my daughter Debbie and son-in-law George. Matthew will be 14 next month and has done well in sports at the middle school in Groves, Texas and has played baseball in the Little League and Babe Ruth League. This will be his 11th season of youth baseball and he hopes to make the Port Neches – Groves high school team in 2014.  He has played football, basketball and track while in middle school. He played quarterback for the Groves Middle School 8th grade team. Matthew had runs of 18 and 50 yards in the game and totaled over 100 yards in the game. He played linebacker on defense and scooped up a fumble, while returning it to the end zone for a touchdown. Groves won the game 8-0 due to his fumble TD return.

Met my future wife Rhonda on the internet in 1999 and we would be married in 2000.

Lance Armstrong won his first Tour de France. We will never know if he could have won without steroids, because steroids were an integral part of his training regimen.

Two boys 17 and 18 kill 15 in the Columbine school shooting in 1999.

Mattel’s Barbie Doll turns 40.

MySpace, Napster and Bluetooth came into existence in 1999 and all are 14 years old now.

Average rent continues to skyrocket to $645 after topping out at $619 in 1998.

The cost of a gallon rises seven cents as it  returns to the $1.22 price of 1996 and 1997.

Grocery Prices of 1999:

Pound of bacon – $2.59

Ground coffee – $3.41 a pound

Loaf of bread – $1.49

Dozen eggs – 89 cents

 

2000 – Married Rhonda on February 18, 2000 in College Drive Baptist Church by Rev. W.E.Efferson. We will have been married for 13 years on our anniversary in February. We would live on Burns Street in Pineville till we moved to Gibbons Street the following year.

Lifespan in United States in 2000 is 77.5 years.

President Bush would win the 2000 Presidential election, due to few hanging chads here and there. Democratic candidate Sen. Albert Gore polled 543,000 more popular votes, but lost the election by five electoral votes.

2000 was the year that dot-com bubble burst, as tech speculators lost thousands of dollars on companies that went bust.

Y2K starts with no serious problems.

Barrel of crude  oil tops $30 a barrel, while a gallon of gas rises to $1.26 a four cent increase, over the 1999 price.

Average rent prices escalated to $675 a year. Average rent had been $619 in 1998 and $645 in 1999, so prices had increased  $56 a month in two years time.

Grocery Prices of 2000:

Pound of bacon – $2.97

Ground coffee – $3.44 a pound.

Loaf of bread – $1.72

Dozen eggs – 89 cents

 

 

Recollections of General Robert E. Lee Review

I recently downloaded the Kindle book Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee, written by his son Captain Robert E. Lee. The Kindle edition is free and readers can start reading the 504 page book a minute, after it is purchased for free. The book is in the public domain, which is why it is free at Amazon.com.

General Lee was born on January 19, 1807 in Stratford Hall, Virginia. He graduated second in his class from West Point in 1829. He married Mary Custis the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington in 1831. He later would be he appointed Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1852.

General Robert E. Lee 1807-1870

Lee loved to communicate through letters and this book includes the text of many letters, that he wrote to his wife, sons and daughters and others he had contact with during his life. He wrote often even during the Civil War years of 1861-1865. When he wrote home he would ask his relatives to send socks for the Confederate troops, many of whom had neither shoes or socks. It had to be a real hardship for Confederate troops, to not have shoes and socks and even blankets during the winter months of the Civil War. He writes in 1862 about the death of his daughter, Anne Carter Lee who died of typhoid fever at the age of 23.

You could feel the compassion for his troops as he pleaded in his letters, for his relatives to send socks for the troops. He wrote about the death of General Stonewall Jackson and how he would be missed by the Confederate Army. He writes in one letter about how outnumbered the Confederate troops were before surrendering to General Ulyssses Grant at Appomatox.  By surrendering Lee prevented the deaths of thousands of Confederate troops, who would have surely died at the hands of the Federal Army, who vastly outnumbered them.

His letters after the war relate how he was offered the presidency of Washington University, which was named Washington and Lee University in later years. His leadership was instrumental in making Washington University, one of the leading collegiate institutions of the south. His wife Mary who suffered from rheumatism often went to places with healing springs and these trips separated her from General Lee, who was living in Lexington, Virginia as the president of Washington University.

He often wrote his sons  after the war and gave them advice, about how to be a successful farmer. He gave them money to help them acquire what they needed for their farms. He even told his son Robert Jr. that Robert needed to find a wife so he could settle down on a farm.

After reading these letters, a reader can tell how much family meant to General Lee and his concern for the welfare of his wife, sons and daughters and the confederate troops, who had served in the Confederate Army under his leadership.  It is evident too how much his faith in God mattered to him.

Sadly, Lee only lived five years after the Civil War ended and died on October 12, 1870 in Lexington, Virginia at the age of 63 of heart disease.  He is buried at Lee Chapel on the campus of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.

General Lee may have been a great general for the Confederate Army, but this book, doesn’t dwell on that as much, as it does on his character which is exemplified in his letters. Numerous books have been written about Lee, but due to his untimely death he was unable to write the memoirs of his life.

The entire book can be heard since there is an option to hear a reader read the book aloud. This book may not be a book Civil War buffs may want to read, since it is more about Robert E. Lee the person, rather than being about Robert E. Lee the Confederate general, but it is still a book worth reading.

Olsen Twins No Show For 25th Full House Anniversary Party

The cast of Full House celebrated their 25th anniversary last weekend, but two of the best known stars of the show decided to not attend the festivities. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen who owe their fame to playing Michelle Tanner on Full House, for some reason didn’t want to spend time, with the rest of the cast.

The Olsen twins more than likely have profited more from being on the show, than any of the other cast members. I doubt if the other members of the cast can match the earning power of the Olsen twins.

They earn $158,333.33 a day, $19,791.66 an hour, $329.86 a minute and $5.49 a minute. I logged in at this website that counts their earnings 10 minutes ago and they have earned another $3,000 in those 10 minutes.

http://www.salary-money.com/the-olsen-twins-salary-38000000.php

Full House made them a household name. Without that name the Olsen twins would never have been able to create their fashion empire and their profiting from the use of their name on various other products.

It wouldn’t have hurt them to show up for the anniversary celebration, but apparently they are too busy making money to associate with their cast mates. This may not even be the case, but their failure to show up cause their fans to question why they didn’t show up.

Full House is the kind of show, that people love or hate. There is no middle ground with this show. I have known people who hated Full House with a passion and others that loved the show, so it was a divisive show.

The following article shows that the cast mates who did show up for the anniversary party had a great time.

I could understand the Olsen twins not showing up if this was a television special, but it seems to just have been a party where the cast wanted to renew acquaintances with the other cast mates.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20632459,00.html

Aneta Corsaut, Better Known As Helen Crump On Andy Griffith Show

Aneta Corsaut seen portraying teacher Helen Crump on the Andy Griffith Show from 1963-1968.

 

Aneta Corsaut was born November 3, 1933 in Hutchinson, Kansas. She would be best known for being Opie’s teacher, Helen Trump on the Andy Griffith Show. Aneta was also Andy’s girlfriend while on the show.

Aneta Corsaut and Steve McQueen in her movie debut with Steve McQueen in The Blob in 1958.

 

Aneta Corsaut was first seen by movie audiences in her movie debut, in 1958 when she portrayed Jane Martin in The Blob, which was also the movie debut for Steve McQueen.

She was mostly a free-lance actress after being seen in The Blob, until she assumed the role of Helen Trump on the Andy Griffith Show in 1963. She stayed with the show till the last episode and appeared in 66 episodes. She married Andy Taylor on the first episode of Mayberry RFD in 1968.

Aneta returned to free lancing after leaving the Andy Griffith Show and was seen in Days of Our Lives as Blanche Dailey in 1984. She would later appear in Matlock in three different roles, with her most important role being her portrayal of Judge Cynthia Justin. She made her last appearance as an actress in a May 1992 episode.

She died three years later on November 6, 1995 in Studio City, California of cancer at the age of 62.

It has been 17 years since she passed away, but Andy Griffith fans will continue to remember her for years to come.

 

 

 

 

 

Andy Griffith Before and After Andy Griffith Show

The late Andy Griffith in a scene from No Time For Sergeants.

 

The first time I heard of Andy Griffith was when he appeared in the movie No Time For Sergeants. He played Will Stockdale a mountain boy, who is drafted into the U.S. Army. He had already played the part in the Broadway play by the same name three years, before the 1958 movie was released.

The funniest scene of the movie to me was when he was named PLO (Permanent Latrine Orderly). He rigged the toilet seats to stand up all at once, which shocked the inspecting officer to say the least. However, this scene of him being tested by a corporal for manual dexterity may be even funnier. Don Knotts plays the corporal, who is utterly frustrated by the way Andy’s character Will Stockdale puts the two links together. Don Knotts appears at about the 1:15 mark.

I hadn’t even known Andy Griffith had appeared in A Face in the Crowd in 1957, in a dramatic role unlike the Andy Griffith I had known in No Time For Sergeants and on the Andy Griffith show.

Andy received top billing in the movie portraying an Arkansas hobo Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes who becomes rich overnight. This is a scene from A Face In The Crowd:

Made Television Debut On U.S. Steel Hour

Andy had made his television debut on the U.S. Steel Hour when he played Will Stockdale on television. He played the role on Broadway, on television and in the movies, which probably has not been done very often, by any actor in the same role.

He also made the movie Onionhead in 1958, so it was a very busy year for him.

Danny Thomas Show Role As Sheriff

Andy got a big break when he appeared on a Danny Thomas episode in 1960, where Danny is given a ticket, by a small-town sheriff.  Andy is perplexed when he finds out that Andy is not only the sheriff, but also the justice of the peace.

The Danny Thomas episode led to the formation of the Andy Griffith show which was shown that same year, on the CBS television network.  249 episodes later the Andy Griffith show would complete its run.

He appeared on Mayberry RFD for two years, then had two series fail in short order, when Headmaster lasted 13 episodes in 1970, followed by the New Andy Griffith show which lasted only 10 episodes. He didn’t return to another series until 1979 when Salvage One only last 19 episodes. He had appeared in three series since leaving Mayberry RFD, but only 42 shows were made of those three series combined.

Seven years later Andy tried again for a hit series and he struck gold with Matlock which ran from 1986-1995. He appeared in various television series and movies till he made his last acting appearance in Play the Game in 2009 at the age of 83.

Andy non only was an actor, but recorded gospel songs. This is Andy singing How Great Thou Art:

I looked at Andy Griffith and saw a role model, for the right way to live life.

My wife and daughter surprised me in 2006, when we went to Mt. Airy, N.C. to see Andy’s boyhood home. I didn’t know we were going to stay there that night and it was the surprise of my life, when I found out we were actually spending the night there. Hampton Inn rents out the home to tourists and it was something I will never forget. I even played baseball with my grandson in Andy’s backyard.

The late Andy Griffith’s boyhood home in Mt. Airy, NC.

Andy had also made some comedy records early in his career. I had the record that has him giving his impression of seeing his first football game. He said in his monologue that 5 or 6 convicts were running up and down the field blowing whistles.  The game was played in a cow pasture and Andy concludes saying that the object of the game must be to keep from being knocked down or stepping in something.

The only remaining actors still alive from Andy Griffith are Jim “Gomer Pyle” Nabors and Betty “Thelma Lou” Lynn.

I was 15 when the first Andy Griffith show was televised in 1960 and was 23 when the last show aired, so have been watching Andy Griffith during the first eight original years and in 44 years of re-runs.

Andy, Thanks for the memories and RIP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Off the Beaten Path Music Websites: Passions of Patchy

Passions of Patchy may be off the beaten path, compared to mega music sites like Pandora and Spotify, but that in no way means the content is not as good. There may not be as much musical content as the afore named sites, but this is not just a musical site.

Before you even scroll down to the music icons, there is a CLICKS icon for links, which take you to some very interesting sites, including a link to make your own license plate, then emailing it to someone, that is just one of many links.

The CHUCKLES icon provides a plethora of jokes like this:

I am not offended by all the blonde jokes, because I am not dumb and I am not blonde – Dolly Parton

You see a lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a smart woman with a dumb guy. – Erica Jong

Six year old Del says the best way to have someone to fall in love with you is to tell them you own a bunch of candy stores.

The section is broken down to 27 categories. Caution: It is addictive and time-consuming, once you start reading the jokes.

TOUCH SOMEONE -This  is the first of the music sections and includes Bette Midler’s Wind Beneath My Wings and the REM classic Everybody Hurts. Rock Around the Clock seems to be out-of-place on this page, but it really doesn’t matter when you can hear Johnny Mathis sing his standard Misty.

The bottom row of icons is where you find most of the music on the page in jukebox format with list of songs to choose from.

BLUES IN MY EYE JUKE JOINT – This page consists of three jukeboxes consisting of songs like I’ve Been Loving You Too Long sung by the late and great Etta James which reminds us again of how great of a singer she was. The jukebox also includes current singers like Susan Tedeschi, singing  It Hurt So Bad.  Jonny Lang has his clothes in his matchbox and is heard singing Matchbox, a driving blues number that really jumps. There is an option at the bottom of each jukebox to play all the songs in jukebox. A lot of the songs may not be recognizable, due to them being sung and played by some of the blues pioneers of the past.

LOST IN THE 50′S AND DOO-WOP – Having grown up during this era, this is my favorite music on the entire website. The Lost in the 50′s page has six jukeboxes, filled with the songs, that baby boomers like me grew up with.

Some of favorites from the jukeboxes:

I Heard It Through the Grapevine – Marvin Gaye

Locomotion – Little Eva

Harbor Lights – The Platters

Shotgun – Jr. Walker and the All-Stars

Hurt – Timi Yuro…..one of the most emotion packed songs ever.

Lost in the 50′s…..this song takes me back to the 50′s, like no other song can do.

You next will find the DOO WOP jukebox on the bottom row of the Lost in the 50′s page. When you go to the Doo Wop page, there will be three speakers holding the doo wop music including songs like:

Blue Velvet – Clovers….This is nothing like the Bobby Vinton version as it gets the full doo wop treatment.

A Thousand Miles Away – Heartbeats….Doo wop music at its best.

Earth Angel – Penguins….A classic doo wop song that will live on forever, as long as there is music.

In The Still of the Night – Five Satins….This song was so well-known that it was included, as part of Ronnie Milsap’s song Lost in the 50′s.

SATIN SMOOTHIES -  Is   next as you return to the home page where you find two jukeboxes, where you can find the songs my parents grew up with, plus some we remember as teenagers. These songs were the chart-toppers, before Bill Haley and the Comets and Elvis Presley changed music forever in the middle 50′s.

These are just a few of those songs:

Old Cape Cod – Patti Page….You will be very fortunate, if you can find a song like this being recorded today.

Unforgettable – Nat King Cole….This has to be the best of Nat King Cole’s hits that has become a standard.

In The Mood – Glenn Miller Orchestra…. When you think of the big band era, this is one of the first songs, that come to mind and it sad we lost Glenn Miller during the war.

Lazy River – Mills Brothers….This was one of the premier groups of this era, who epitomized the music of the era.

SUNRISE GOSPEL – This page has only one jukeboxes but will bring back memories, to those of us who grew up in church in the 40′s, 50′s and 60′s, plus some more recent songs. The artists are not listed, but that sounds a lot like Dolly Parton on Farther Along.

Some of my favorites from this page:

Beyond the Sunset….song written by a blind person after a group of people were viewing a sunset together and thus the title of the song, since the blind writer said they looked beyond the sunset. The reading that goes with this song makes it even more special.

Family Bible….Willie Nelson wrote this song, but sold the rights to it for only $50 to Claude Gray, the country music singer.

Precious Memories….sang this at funeral once for a lady who attended our church. What a great thought to think of the precious memories, even though the loved one is gone.

TWO STEPPIN’ JUKE BOX - Last but not least, Patchy’s Passion includes three jukeboxes for country music fans.

The list includes:

Don’t Rock the Jukebox – Alan Jackson….This song really rocks out and tells the story of a man, who is too sad over his breakup with his girlfriend and doesn’t want to hear the Rolling Stones  on the jukebox, but wants to hear George Jones instead.

He Stopped Loving Her Today – George Jones….This song has been chosen as the best country music song ever, on many lists of Top 100 songs.

Sweet Dreams – Patsy Cline…. also recorded  by Tommy McLain of Pineville, Louisiana, who attended my high school in the 60′s. His recording of Sweet Dreams outsold Don Gibson, the writer  of the song and the immortal Patsy Cline. His version went to No.15 on the Billboard chart.

For the Good Times – Ray Price….Has it really been 42 years since Ray Price recorded this country classic? It is true and also it is true that Ray Price is still actively singing at the age of 86. The 2010′s started his eighth decade of being active in country music.

Passions of Patchy was created on March 17, 2000, which she dedicated to her mom Candy, who was dying of cancer. This page tells  about the last months of her mother’s life. If this doesn’t make your eyes tear up, then it may be time to have your pulse checked:

http://dapatchy.com/gospel/journal.html

You could spend hours at this website listening to the music and going to some of the links at the website.

Most of all though it is all about the music.

To go back in time to hear some of the music from the past that we never became tired of:

http://dapatchy.com/

Timothy Poe of America’s Got Talent Has Warrant For His Arrest

The trail of lies and deception continues to grow as Timothy Poe’s back story on America’s Got Talent is questioned., since his emotional appearance on America’s Got Talent last week.

Poe had stated on last week’s show, that he had been injured in Afghanistan by a grenade. After that story has been refuted by the Minnesota National Guard, with whom he was serving at the time, it appears the only time Poe isn’t lying is when his lips aren’t moving.

Now the latest news is that Poe has an outstanding warrant for his arrest, in a case in which he is charged with assault, against a family member in 2002.

http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/06/09/060912-news-singer-fibs-1-2-zzfpvzz/

Almost everything that Poe stated in his back story for America’s Got Talent has turned out to be a lie. The most flagrant lie to me is that he fell on a grenade, to save the lives of his buddies. You would think some of his friends would remember this happening. If he had indeed fell on a grenade, then he would have visible injuries, resulting from the grenade exploding. If you take Poe’s word, the grenade only caused his stuttering, which his ex-wife questions if it is real.

The only thing real about his appearance on America’s Got Talent was when he sang If Tomorrow Never Comes, the Garth Brooks hit. Everything he said on the show has been refuted.

Last I knew the United States does not award medals for an ear infection, while being in Afghanistan for only one month. It is a slap in the face of every veteran, who was in a combat zone during a war, for him to declare himself a war hero, when he did nothing to merit him being a war hero of any sort. For him use the photo of another veteran, tells me that Poe has no shame, by representing another soldier as himself.

It is amazing that Poe could keep a straight face, while telling lie after lie. He said he had only started singing recently, which has been denied by those, who knew he has been singing  in bands for many years.

It is safe to say that the only time Poe wasn’t lying on America’s Got Talent was when his lips weren’t moving.

The panel of judges on the show fell for his story, which is logical for them to do, since if you can’t trust a serviceman, then who can you trust. Apparently Poe is one that never should have been trusted.

The following article reports that Poe may have already been eliminated from the show. The judges will look with more jaundiced eyes at the other contestants, who have back stories, since they were told so many apparent lies by Poe.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/06/08/agt-contestant-timothy-poe-getting-boot-source-says/

Surely Poe didn’t think he could get away with his myriad of lies. He has found out that the old Sir Walter Scott’s quote, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive” still rings true today, as he been caught in his web of lies.

 

 

Cajun Justice: Latest Cajun Reality Show

 Louisiana has recently been the subject of many television reality shows. The latest is Cajun Justice which can be seen at 9PM CDT and 10PM EDT on Thursdays on the A&E television network.

The Cajuns have their own brand of frontier justice, as can be seen on these shows. This clip is an example of how out of hand things get in Cajun country:

definition-of-cajun-justice-20275390?pfilter=ALL%20VIDEOS#20275390

Sheriff Vernon Bourgeois is the sheriff for Terrebonne Parish. The following page has a short biography of Sheriff Bourgeois and his ten deputies.

http://www.aetv.com/cajun-justice/meet-deputies/keith-bergeron/

Cajun Justice was originally going to be named Cajun Blue, but guess any name with the word Cajun in the title is more likely to attract viewers.

There are presently eight television reality shows, that have been filmed in Louisiana. Four of the shows are being filmed above Alexandria and one is filmed in Alexandria and the other three are being filmed south of Alexandria.

This page tells more about the shows and a map depicts, where the different shows are being filmed:

http://www.louisiana-destinations.com/louisiana-reality-tv-shows.htm

Josh Ledet Sounded Even Better Live (Now With Video of Concert)

Josh Ledet

It was just yesterday that I learned Josh Ledet would be appearing, in Heritage Square in Sulphur, Louisiana. We got there early about 1:20 PM, before the 2PM concert. We live only about a mile-and-a-half from Heritage Square, so it took about three minutes to arrive at the venue.

Jason Ledet, the brother of Josh was the host of the show and introduced all the acts and thanked the sponsors and workers, who did an amazing job, considering they only had two days to set up for the concert.

A lady sang Amazing Grace, then a couple of country singers sang a couple of songs each. The lady had a French sounding name so won’t attempt to guess at the spelling. She returned after the country singers sang and sang the Loretta Lynn classic You Ain’t Woman Enough To Take My Man.

Then a fourth singer sang six songs, while playing the acoustic guitar, with none of the songs being recognizable to me and the crowd seemed to be uneasy, since most of the crowd was in the extreme heat and wanted to see Josh. Then a surprise guest Chase Slaughter of X-Factor sang a song acapella.

After all acts left the stage, it was time for Josh to make his entrance and he rewarded his fans, with his stirring rendition, of When A Man Loves A Woman. Almost everyone was on their feet, from the first note of the first song, till he left the stage. Josh called out to some family and friends, that he recognized.  He also sang It’s A Man’s World, Ain’t Too Proud to Beg and I Wish a song that really rocked the house and sounded even better than this version on American Idol.

Josh also sang Ready For Love. If you have a chance to hear Josh Ledet take it, because you will never forget the experience. He commands the stage well and has as much stage presence, as anyone since Elvis Presley. You could feel the electricity in the air when the took the stage.

This video shows Josh singing at the concert at Heritage Square in Sulphur, Louisiana. The video starts off with still photos, but it switches to video, when Josh begins to sing. Somehow this writer was captured on this video shot, since if I had known I would have absconded from the scene. I am the prematurely gray man wearing a Calvary Baptist T-shirt, not having a clue I was being filmed. The best part of the video is when Josh sings I Wish, which was a hit for Stevie Wonder. The video doesn’t come close to the sound of actually being there:

He came out early because of the extreme heat. Free bottles of water were being handed out to the fans, to keep them hydrated. My wife drank three or four bottles of water by herself and was feeling sick, when the crowd closed in to see Josh.  We were just outside the covered part of the arena, so  there was no escaping the heat, unless leaving the seat, to stand under the trees.

We left after Josh finished the first half of the show and went to his motor home behind the stage. I was badly sunburned by then, so we decided to leave before my wife got sicker or I got more sunburned, than I already was.

The main thing is that we got to see and hear Josh Ledet in person. I will be shocked if he is not a bigger star, than the American Idol Phillip Phillips or runner-up Jessica Sanchez.

Best of all, the concert, food and water were free, with McDonalds furnishing free hamburgers.

Josh Ledet will be returning to Louisiana later this summer, when the American Idol tour stops in Lafayette, Louisiana and appears at the Cajundome. The seats won’t be cheap, but if you got the money you will definitely get your money’s worth.

Lizard Lick Towing Averages 2.5 Million This Season

TruTV network’s Lizard Lick Towing drew the largest audience in the 18-34 age demographics, in the first quarter of 2012. The show featuring Ron and Amy Shirley and their co-worker Bobby Brantley average 2.5 million fans per show this last quarter.

Only Hardcore Pawn, which average 3.2 million fans a show, attracted more fans per show than Lizard Lick Towing among TruTV shows in the first quarter.

Lizard Lick Towing fans will be glad to know that there will be new episodes of the show returning on June 11.

Big Juicy Coming To Clayton, Louisiana

Big Juicy will be appearing at Clayton Park in Clayton, Louisiana on May 5 at 10:00 AM, then will be appearing as part of All Star Pro Wrestling’s Last Man Standing match.  Big Juicy will partner up with Hank Wiley better known as Pretty Boy George against Giant Kamala, Jr. and his manager Jounger Jean.

It is two months away but Big Juicy is looking forward to the new season starting June 11, making these comments about the return of the show:

TO ALL OF THE LICK NATION!!!! WE WILL BE BACK IN A COUPLE OF MONTHS SO BE PATIENT, GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT AND TRUST US, THIS NEXT SEASON OF LIZARD LICK TOWING IS GOING TO BE CRAZIER THAN A THREE EYED DOG IN A HUBCAP FACTORY!!!!!

Lizard Lick Trivia: Bobby Brantley started working at Lizard Lick Towing after Ron had repossessed his truck.

To stay up to date with what is going on with Ron, Amy and Bobby you can go to the website to see if they are appearing in your area:

http://www.lizardlicktowing.com/

There are a lot of towing shows on television, but none of them are as much fun as Lizard Lick Towing. Ron, Amy, Bobby and Big Juicy like to have fun, but they take care of business when someone tries to cross them.

This is a list of all the episodes from Season 1 and Season 2 of Lizard Lick Towing:

http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/lizard-lick-towing/episodes-season-1/328821

Lizard Lick’s Bobby Brantley’s Facebook Page Best Source For News

I am often asked questions about Bobby Brantley of Lizard Lick Towing television show. It is best to go to his Facebook page and ask him questions directly. I am not sure if he will respond, but I am almost positive he reads any questions by his fans.

Just go to Facebook.com and type Bobby Brantley in the search box and you will see his fan page pop up in the menu. When you click on it you should see his wall with comments by his fans.

The menu on the left has Photos, where you will get to see hundreds of photos of Bobby and his wife and his fans at different events that Bobby has appeared at.

On the left will be another menu that includes Events which tells where Bobby will be appearing in the near future. The Info folder on left will give more information about his Facebook page and shows links to other Lizard Lick related pages including under the Likes heading the link to Big Juicy’s fan page in the fourth line.

Hope Bobby’s fans find more information and photos about Bobby than they dreamed of at Facebook.com

World of Kardashians Crumbling?

The Kardashian family franchise may be showing signs of crumbling in the last few months. First of all there was the backlash, after Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from NBA player Kris Humphries. There are questions now if their wedding was genuine or a made for television sham that had nothing to do with reality.

Kourtney Kardashian is having a second baby born out-of-wedlock with Scott Dissick the father. That only shows a weakening of family values in American society, when a family with one child out-of-wedlock has another one on the way. Apparently Kourtney is still waiting for Dissick to prove his worth as a father for the children, but to me that should have been decided long ago. Of course Ryan Seacrest who produces Keeping Up With the Kardashians wants this kind of tension between Kourtney and Scott to continue, since drama drives ratings and the more drama the better for the E network.

 

Khloe and Lamar Move To Dallas

The relationship of Lamar Odom and his wife Khloe is being tested by the trade, that sent Odom to the Dallas Mavericks from the Los Angeles Lakers. Odom has not played well since joining the Mavericks and it could be that he is still incensed over being traded, so is not the player he was with the Lakers. He is too good of a player, to suddenly become a terrible player.

Odom is earning over $8 million this season and will continue to be paid his salary. The situation can’t be helped by the filming of Khloe and Lamar. All the drama during the filming may make for good television, but it can’t be good for the relationship or for Odom’s basketball career.

The situation became even worse last week when Odom was demoted to the developmental team but in the last 22 minutes that move has been rescinded. The same player who was voted the best sixth man in NBA last year is having a season to forget.

 A quick look at Odom’s percentage numbers this season compared to last season show badly he is playing this year. His field goal percentage has dropped from .530 last season to .357 this season. His free throw percentage fell from .675 to .577 and his scoring has almost been cut in half from 14.4 points per game last season to only 7.7 points per game this season.

 

Back To Lawsuit

Meanwhile back to the lawsuit, it raises the question, of if celebrities who endorse products should be financially liable, if that product is not as advertised. Assuming that the Kardashians actually used QuickTrim, they should have some idea of whether it is a good product or not. If they knew it was not as advertised and continued to endorse it, then they may be liable. However, it may be impossible to prove in a courtroom, that they knowingly endorsed a less than effective product, while knowing that product was not worthy of their endorsement.

One positive outcome from the suit is that it may warn celebrities, to really check out the products they are endorsing and not just assume they are as advertised.

This situation is reminiscent of when Pat Boone appeared in commercials touting Acne-Statin which was supposed to clear up skin blemishes. This Wikipedia entry tells about what happened to Boone, when it was proved that Acne-Statin was not what it was cracked up to be:

In 1978, Boone became the first target in the Federal Trade Commission‘s crackdown on false claim product endorsements by celebrities. He had appeared with his daughter Debby in a commercial to claim that all four of his daughters had found a preparation named Acne-Statin a “real help” in keeping their skin clear. The FTC filed a complaint against the manufacturer, contending that the product did not really keep skin free of blemishes. Boone eventually signed a consent order in which he promised not only to stop appearing in the ads but to pay about 2.5% of any money that the FTC or the courts might eventually order the manufacturer to refund to consumers. Boone said, through a lawyer, that his daughters actually did use Acne-Statin, and that he was “dismayed to learn that the product’s efficacy had not been scientifically established as he believed.”^[14

^{It will be interesting to follow the class action suit against the Kardashians, to see if they have to make restitution or whether they can emerge from the lawsuit, without having to pay anyone.}

There are plans for even more Kardashian spin-off shows on the E channel. It is surprising that people still watch these shows knowing there is very little reality involved in the so-called reality shows. Ryan Seacrest is getting richer and is making all the Kardashians richer from these shows. 

Maybe the Kardashian family will be more cognizant of the fans that buy the products they endorse and make more of an effort to insure that those products do what the Kardashians say they will do.

Their world may not be crumbling, but there are signs of cracks in the foundation.

 

 

 

Bill Gaither Homecoming Shows Rejuvenated, Started Careers

Bill and Gloria Gaither will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary and the 21st anniversary of the homecoming series this year.

 

Bill and Gloria Gaither who celebrate their 50th anniversary this year, will also have birthdays next month with Gloria having her 70th birthday on March 4 and Bill observing his 76th birthday on March 28.

 

They were part of the Bill Gaither Trio and they collaborated on writing many well-known songs, in both the contemporary and southern gospel genres including He Touched Me, Because He Lives, The King is Coming and too many other songs to mention them all.

 

Bill and 17 other singers have sung with the Gaither Vocal Band over the years. It was after a Gaither Vocal Band recording session in 1991 that some of the southern gospel greats, who had been recording an album got together to sing as a group and  it was recorded on a video camera.

 

 

Videos Released Yearly Since 1991

 

It would be the first of many homecoming videos, with some being homecoming reunions and some being concerts across the country and also abroad. There were at least two videos released every year starting in 1992.

 

The concerts were very successful as Pollstar which reported more ticket sales for the homecoming concerts, than for such well-known singers as Elton John, Fleetwood Mac and Rod Stewart.

 

 

Southern Gospel, Contemporary Singers Benefited

 

One of the benefits of the video series was that singers like Howard and Vestal Goodman, Jake Hess, J.D. Sumner, Cathedral Quartet, James Blackwood and Ben and Brock Speer, became known to a whole new generation of fans and the exposure had to help in record sales and concert bookings.

 

However, Gaither didn’t just feature the southern gospel greats of the past. He also started the careers of many contemporary singers and groups who were seen in the videos.

 

 

Gospel Greats Dying Over The Years

 

As the years went by homecoming fans begin to notice singers in past videos missing, since they had passed on. This list is of some of the more prominent singers and musicians who have died since the video series started in alphabetical order by first name.

 

Anthony Burger – Died on February 22, 2006 at the age of 44. He was playing “Hear My Song, Lord” on a Gaither cruise, when he collapsed and died 45 minutes later after CPR efforts failed.

 

Bob Cain – Died on August 30, 2000 at the age of 61. Appeared in 10 of the Gaither videos.

 

Brock Speer – Died on May 29, 1999 at the age of 78. I can still remember on one video, that it was announced that Brock Speer had died and the rest of the Speer Family sang together knowing that Brock had just died. It was a very emotional moment to say the least.

 

Danny Gaither – Died April 6, 2001 at the age of 62 dying of lymphoma cancer. He had battled the disease for five years and I will never forget him visiting during a filming and the singers singing When God Is So Near. I think that was his last appearance on the video series before his death. Bill Gaither later paid tribute to his brother, as it showed Danny over the years, as O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go.

 

Doris Akers – Died July 26, 1995 of spinal cancer at the age of 72. She was most well-known for writing Sweet, Sweet, Spirit.

 

Eva Mae LeFevre – Died on May 18, 2009 at the age of 91. She was part of the LeFevres who started the Gospel Singing Caravan in the 60′s televised on Sunday mornings.

 

George Younce – Died April 11, 2005 at the age of 75. He had both heart trouble and was undergoing kidney dialysis. He is remembered for his Should You Go First recitation which he recited, while Beyond the Sunset was being played.

 

Glen Payne – Died on October 15, 1999 at the age of 72 from cancer. I will never forget him singing from a hospital bed in a television hook-up as he appeared at the 1999 National Quartet Convention. He sang I Won’t Have To Cross Jordan Alone and he would die the next month, but he touched a lot of hearts that night he sang from the hospital.

 

Hovie Lister – Died December 28, 2001 at the age of 75. He formed the Statesman Quartet in 1948 and his enthusiastic style of singing and playing the piano was a big part of the success of the quartet.

 

Howard Goodman – Died November 30, 2002 at the age of 81. I can still see him playing Lifeboat on Gospel Singing Jubilee as he pounded the keyboard and raising his hands high in the air before hitting the keys.

 

J.D. Sumner – Died November 16, 1998 at the age of 73 three days before his 74th birthday. He had one of the lowest bass voices in southern gospel history, if not the lowest and once hit a note so low it was two notes lower than the last key on the keyboard. He was with the Blackwood Brothers and sang with Elvis Presley in concerts as part of J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet.  He was also a songwriter having written the southern gospel classic The Old Country Church.

 

Jack Toney – Died April 15, 2004 at the age of 73 after a massive heart attack. He was a member of the Statesman Quartet.

 

Jake Hess – Died January 4, 2004 at the age of 76. He had many health problems over the years, but appeared on 38 of the Gaither videos. He was not only known for being a member of the Statesman Quartet, but also for forming the Imperials who backed Elvis Presley on his concert tours. He was a big part of the success of the Gaither videos.

 

James Blackwood – Died February 3, 2002 at the age of 82 from a stroke. He sang with Blackwood Brothers for many years. The highlight of his Gaither video appearances to me, was when he sang the second verse ofSheltered in the Arms of God.Saw James sing many times in person over the years and his vocals will never be forgotten.

 

Jessy Dixon – Died December 26, 2011 at the age of 73 after battling cancer for two years. He appeared in 45 Gaither videos, which was more than any other one performer, except for Bill Gaither himself. My favorite song to hear him sing was Wait Till You See My Brand New Home. His energetic and soulful singing was the reason he was asked to appear on so many of the videos, because he had a likeability factor, that was off the charts.

 

Rex Nelon – Died on January 24, 2000 at the age of 68,  while on tour with the Gaither homecoming series. He appeared in the videos as a member of the Nelons, for whom he sang bass and was also the emcee.

 

Roger Bennett – Died on March 17, 2007 at the age of 48 from leukemia. He had leukemia for the last 12 years of his life and the cancer treatments caused him to have some different forms of cancer. He is best known for being the pianist for the Cathedrals. Then he sang as lead singer during the farewell tour of the Cathedrals, following the death of Glen Payne.

 

Rosie Rozell – Died February 28, 1995 at the age of 56. He only appeared in the Gaither videos in 1995, the same year he died, but he was such a major part of southern gospel music, that he needed to be included in this list. He will never be forgotten for his rendition of Oh What A Savior while singing with the Statesman.

 

Vestal Goodman - Died December 27, 2003 at the age of 74 from influenza. Her husband Howard had preceded her in death by only 13 months having died in November of 2002.  Vestal was a favorite of the homecoming fans and she was as good on her last homecoming video as she was on her first.  Who can forget seeing Vestal holding her trademark handkerchief, while singing with so much emotion? Surprisingly she appeared in 38 homecoming videos but her husband Howard only appeared in 17. I remember well the many times they sat together on the front row, but apparently didn’t notice there were so many videos, in which Howard never made an appearance.

 

Wally Varner – Died on December 28, 2004 from myelofibrosis at the age of 78. He didn’t appear in many of the videos, but he made a lasting impression on the other homecoming friends and the viewers when he played Goodbye World Goodbye, a song tailor-made to showcase his keyboard wizardry and that is exactly what he did.

 

The list of singers appearing in the Gaither videos at the Wikipedia website  is not all-inclusive as I notice that Jimmy Jones who died in 2006 is not included in the list. I can recall him reciting a poem in one of the videos, but not sure what the name of it was.

 

There are other names not on the list like Jay Parrack who sang with Gold City on at least one video, in which he sang In Time, On Time, Everytime.

 

The Gaither homecoming video series has been a source of spiritual encouragement for those who are shut-in. They can watch one of the videos and forget for an hour-and-a-half that they are shut-ins while enjoying the videos.

 

This list shows which singers have appeared in at least 30 of the Gaither homecoming videos:

 

Ben Speer 35

David Phelps 30

Gaither Vocal Band 53

Guy Penrod 37

The Isaacs 37

Ivan Parker 31

Jake Hess 38

Jeff and Sheri Easter 30

Jessy Dixon 45

Joy Gardner 40

Mark Lowry 35

Reggie Smith 30

Stephen Hill 30

Terry Blackwood 31

Vestal Goodman 38

Wesley Pritchard 36

 

Southern gospel fans, artists, promoters, record companies all owe a debt of gratitude to Bill Gaither. I can testify that I personally have been touched by the videos. Then the videos have caused me to buy the albums of the singers shown on the videos  and see the concerts of the singers shown on the videos.

 

This has been a tremendous undertaking on the part of Bill Gaither and his associates. I am sure it isn’t easy to choose who will appear on a particular video. Some well-known artists and groups have never been in the videos. I have never seen the Dixie Echoes in one of the videos. I would have thought they would be shown on at least one of the videos, knowing they are a huge part of the heritage of southern gospel’s earlier days.

 

It has to be a challenge for Bill Gaither to work in new singers, as the older singers are dying. Ben Speer is one of the few of the old-timers remaining.

 

The main thing is to say to Bill Gaither….Thanks for the memories and keep the memories coming in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

North Dakota Oil Boom: Slumlords Forcing Seniors Out Of Residences

Lois Sinnes, 82 was planning on living out the rest of her life, in the same community she grew up in. However, due to the oil boom in North Dakota, she was forced to move out by a greedy slumlord, who tripled her rent.

Sinnes is now living 230 miles away, after her landlord almost tripled, her $700 a month rent. What kind of person would force an 82-year-old woman, to leave the community she grew up in? A person who is a greedy, money-loving scumbag, who lets the mighty dollar rule his or her life, ignoring the effect it has on those, who can’t afford the exorbitant rent being charged. This landlord even had the nerve, to charge a $2,000 security deposit, to clients already living in the apartments.

There could still be a happy ending for Sennes, since she owns mineral rights, in the area and could sell those rights to drillers. She says she will return one way or the other, since she will be buried in town next to her husband. For right now, she is living in a town 230 miles away and doesn’t know what the future holds.

Some two bedroom apartments, in the area, are being rented for $2,000 a month. An ordinary mobile home is on the market for $149,500.  There is not nearly enough housing, for the influx of oil workers, so some workers are living in their cars and tents.

Compassionate Landlord

Mayo Miller 80, is fortunate that her landlord hasn’t raised her rent. She is paying $550 a month and delivers her rent check in person to thank her landlord, who is showing that there are some compassionate landlords left in the area.

It is good to know that money is not what drives her landlord. Otherwise, her landlord would be gouging the renters, like the slumlords who couldn’t care any less than they do, about the seniors being forced to leave their residences. Her landlord who realizes, not everyone is getting rich off the oil boom, could be charging Miller $3,000 a month for the apartment, but is doing the right thing, by letting her stay in her apartment.

Oil Boom Providing Jobs

The oil boom is providing jobs to thousands of workers, who are moving into the area. That is the main positive of the oil boom. However there is a huge negative, in that the oil boom encourages price gouging, knowing that the oil workers are being well-paid. Their gouging is not hurting the oil workers, once they get a few paychecks in the bank, but the people living on fixed incomes are seeing their dreams, of living their golden years peacefully,  in their hometown, being shattered by unscrupulous landlords.

To Gouge Or Not To Gouge?

Decisions are being made everyday, in the oil patch area. Landlords are having to decide, whether to do the right thing or join the crowd and start gouging their tenants, to inflate their bank accounts.

Senior Citizens Making Tough Decisions

The senior citizens and other tenants are having to make life-changing decisions, like finding a place to live, in another city or state, knowing their lives will not end the way they planned. Instead they are the victims of an oil boom, that creates job, but also creates victims of that oil boom.

Some of these landlords may later regret driving these senior citizens, from their residences, but it won’t make things any better, for the residents who are now living hundreds of miles away, from the hometown that they grew up in.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45292504/ns/local_news-clarksburg_wv/t/oil-boom-raises-rents-nd-pushes-seniors-out/

 

 

 

 

Duggars to Change Name of Show: 20 Kids and Counting

There should be a name change in the future for 19 Kids and Counting as Michelle Duggar and her husband Jim Bob Duggar, announced on Today show, that they are expecting a 20th child in April. Jim Bob said they didn’t want to stop at an uneven number.

It is surprising that they would want another baby, after the problems experienced last time, for both mother Michelle and daughter Josie as detailed in this paragraph from the article at msnbc.com.

Michelle Duggar’s last pregnancy was fraught with danger. She suffered from gall-bladder problems as well as preeclampsia. In order to save her life, doctors delivered daughter Josie three and a half months prematurely – she weighed only one pound, six ounces at birth, and endured a series of health emergencies, including a perforated bowel. Josie eventually went home with the rest of the Duggar family, and is now a healthy toddler who will celebrate her second birthday in December.

It is hard to believe that they would take the chance  of  losing the mother or baby again, after what happened last time.

http://moms.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/07/8684372-20-kids-and-counting-michelle-duggar-announces-shes-pregnant-again

X-Factor: Josh Krajcik Warned to Stop Drinking, Smoking, Rachel Crack Baby

X-Factor Updates

 

 Josh Krajcik one of the 11 finalists remaining on X-Factor, has been told by his doctor, to stop drinking and smoking if he wants to have a chance of winning X-Factor. 

http://www.tmz.com/2011/11/08/josh-krajcik-x-factor-smoking-drinking-doctor/

 

Rachel Crow’s adoptive mother Barbara Crow has related to the New York Post that Rachel of X-Factor, was born a crack baby.  She lived in a crack house and suffered abuse. It was good to know that she was taken out of that environment, then overcame that to have a chance of winning a $5 million recording contract on X-Factor.

http://www.hollywoodlife.com/2011/11/08/x-factor-rachel-crow-crack-baby/

Prohibition: Died At the Age of 13 in 1933

The pledge signed by many children and adults to abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages.

 

Frances Willard died on February 17, 1898, which was 22 years before the 18th amendment, also known as the Volstead Act went into effect in 1920.

She had a firsthand knowledge of the effects of alcohol, when her brother became an alcoholic in the 1860′s. Willard would be one of the founders of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in 1874 and then became the president of the worldwide WCTU in 1888.

While concentrating mostly on her fight against the use of alcohol, Willard also became active in the fight against the international drug trading.

Her life came to an end at the age of 58 due to being an influenza victim. However, she had laid the groundwork for both the 18th amendment, which would prohibit the use of alcohol in the United States and the 19th Amendment which also was known as the Women’s Suffrage amendment.

Prohibition Becomes Law

Congress passed the Volstead Act (18th Amendment) on October 28, 1919, over-riding the veto of President Woodrow Wilson. 36 of the 50 states had ratified the 18th Amendment and went into effect on January 17, 1920.

While prohibition was a good idea, it was almost impossible to enforce with 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasies, in New York City in 1925. A speakeasy could be closed in one location, then would pop up in another location, within days of last place being closed.

The amendment was not only not being obeyed, but the U.S. government lost millions of dollars in tax revenue, while the bootleggers were keeping all the money for themselves and the speakeasy owners and patrons also avoided paying any tax.

Al Capone's power was at its heights during Prohibition with him drawing $60 million in alcohol sales in 1927 and bribing politicians with his profits to keep his machine going.

Organized crime saw that Prohibition would be a huge moneymaker for them and would deliver the alcohol and take payments, upon delivery of that alcohol, unless other arrangements had been made, prior to the delivery.

Gangsters like Al Capone saw a chance to take their cut from the illicit alcohol sales. Capone raked in $60 million in alcohol sales in 1927.

Prohibition Turns Citizens Into Criminals

The same citizens that patronize legal bars, now flocked to speakeasies to drink their alcohol, which turned them into criminals. The magnitude of lawbreakers was too much for law enforcement to contend with. Women started drinking in larger numbers, than ever before.

These speakeasy patrons from the Prohibition era don't look too concerned about being raided by law enforcement officials.

We have seen videos of the Roaring 20′s, showing women dancing the Charleston and other dance of that era. Problem is that almost all of those women were violating the 18th amendment, but in the PBS series Prohibition, by Ken Burns, these women didn’t seem to be worried about being caught by law enforcement agencies.

Why Prohibition Didn’t Work

The main reason is that Americans who wanted to drink, found ways to purchase alcohol, whether it be from an individual selling from their home, from a speakeasy where alcohol was readily available and some resorted to making their own alcohol through the moonshining process.

Moonshine stills being destroyed by law enforcement officials.

The failure to prevent organized crime, from becoming involved in sale of bootleg alcohol, may have been one of the major reasons, that bootlegging operations were so successful, despite the bootleggers, sometimes only being neighbors supplying moonshine to their neighbors in rural America.

Joseph Kennedy, the father of President John F. Kennedy and the patriarch of the Kennedy family, has been rumored for years to have gotten rich in the bootlegging industry. Frank Costello of the Mafia even testified that Joseph and him had been partners in the bootlegging industry. However, no concrete evidence of Kennedy being involved in bootlegging, has never been made public.

Law enforcement officials could only pick and choose which speakeasies to close and what moonshine stills to destroy, but the problem was that there were thousands of criminals, violating the 18th amendment and there was not enough jails and prisons, to house all the violators.

Prohibition ended when it was evident that there were millions of Americans, who were going willing to risk, although not a serious risk in most cases, going to jail, rather than stop drinking.

75 Bible References Regarding Drinking

The 75 Bible references from the Signal Press in Evanston, Illinois clearly show that God’s laws prohibit drinking. Here are just a few of them from the tract:

1) Genesis 9:20-26 – Noah became drunk; the result was immorality and family trouble.

3) Leviticus 10:9-11 – God commanded priests not to drink so that they could tell the difference between the holy and the unholy.

6) Deuteronomy 29:5-6 – God gave no grape juice to Israel nor did they have intoxicating drink in the wilderness.

10) 1 Samuel 25:32-38 – Nabal died after a drunken spree.

11) 2 Samuel 11:13 – By getting Uriah drunk, David hoped to cover his sin.

12) 2 Samuel 13:28-29 – Amnon was drunk when he was killed.

13) 1 Kings 16:8-10 – The king was drinking himself into drunkenness when he was assassinated

14) 1 Kings 20:12-21 – Ben-Hadad and 32 other kings were drinking when they were attacked and defeated by the Israelites.

17) Proverbs 4:17 – Alcoholic drink is called the wine of violence.

18) Proverbs 20:1 – Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging.

20) Proverbs 23:21 – Drunkenness causes poverty.

21) Proverbs 23:29-30 – Drinking causes woe, sorrow, fighting, babbling, wounds without cause and red eyes.

22) Proverbs 23:31 – God instructs not to look at intoxicating drinks.

23) Proverbs 23:32 – Alcoholic drinks bite like a serpent, sting like an adder.

24) Proverbs 23:33 – Alcohol causes the drinker to have strange and adulterous thoughts, produces wilfulness, and prevents reformation.

There are too many to list them all, but the entire list can be found at:

http://www.scionofzion.com/drinking.htm

 

 

 

Funny Tombstone Inscriptions and Photos

This tombstone leaves a message for one of the survivors saying  they really

were sick and that they would still be alive if  someone had listened to them.

Merv Griffin had a sense of humor saying on his tombstone that he

will not be right back after the message.

Mel Blanc was the voice of Porky Pig and ended cartoons

with the “That’s all folks” that is on his tombstone.

Something tells me that Houtz loved motorcycles.

Tombstones are not usually thought of in a humorous way, but the tombstones pictured above were meant by the loved ones that passed away, to leave their survivors with a smile on their face.

Has TLC’s Extreme Couponing Show Created a Monster?

An Extreme Couponer shown with folder in store and dumpster diving for coupons with her family in an episode of Extreme Couponing showing on TLC network.

When Extreme Couponing first aired on the TLC cable network, my first thought was that this is going to cause problems, down the road for all couponers.

That has become a reality as some stores take measures to make it tougher to use large amounts of coupons. Smaller grocery stores can’t afford to have their cashiers tied up, with one customer for two hours or more. One episode of Extreme Couponing showed a couponer, who spent eight hours in a store, between shopping and checking out.

Dumpster-Diving For Coupons

One of the major problems for extreme couponers is finding the coupons. They have made dumpster-diving an art form, bringing their kids with them, to dig through garbage, which is not healthy to start off with.

There is little mention made of how much the extreme couponers spend, to find the coupons online and print them out. All we see at the end of the show is the original total and the total after coupons.

Other coupon users have opened newspaper racks, only to pay for one paper and steal many more, so they can have more coupons at less cost.

Shelves Stocked With Food, Supplies

It seems to me that some of the couponers are only using coupons, to stock up on stuff they may never need. One couponer on Extreme Couponer said they had some stuff they didn’t even use.

When a couponer on the show “buys” 300 toothbrushes for free, it makes me wonder if he will ever use 300 toothbrushes in his lifetime.

Veteran Couponers Not Happy Campers

The veteran couponers can’t be too happy, about the increased attention on couponers, since if the TLC show attracts negative attention on them, it could greatly reduce their profits, if coupon use is restricted.

The manufacturers could make it much tougher on coupon users, if they reduce the value of their coupons and try to make it impossible for couponers to find free food and supplies.

Not Always Welcome

Couponers are not always welcome to shop at grocery stores, when they have to use several shopping carts  and tie up the checkout lane, for hours at a time. Cashiers are the ones that have it the worst, first having to total the prices of the products, then add up all the coupons to find the total price.

Grocery stores often have to come up with solutions, when the cash register stops functioning after the register reaches its limit on how many items it can handle.

This article gives even more information on how the  Extreme Couponing has inspired many new couponers to try their hand at saving money.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44493132/ns/business-retail/t/extreme-couponing-sparks-backlash/

 

 

 

 

 

Wife’s Story Of Almost Dying in March of 2010

Note: The following story tells about how my wife was at death’s door, at University of Tennessee Hospital during a week in which she had a total colectomy, which involved removing her entire large intestines and colon.

The surgery was on a Monday and she was scheduled to go home that Friday. Then everything went wrong and instead of going home on March 5, she almost went to her heavenly home. I will let Rhonda pick up the story from here. Her Facebook page includes some photos with her story under Notes.

My Hospital Stay

by Rhonda Miller-Hindsman Godfrey on Monday, July 26, 2010 at 10:45pm

On March 1, 2010 I went into the hospital to have surgery. I was having a total Colectomy due to medical issues. Went under anesthesia and had the surgery. Came to and everything was fine the doctor put me on a fast track and had me eating solid foods that evening. Thursday morning he came in and said he was sending me home friday morning. Later on that evening things went out of control for me. I had started feeling bad, my body and face felt hot. Called the nurses station for them to bring me some ice chips. No one came. I get up walk down the hall and up to the Nurses Station to get me some ice and something cold to drink. Hoping this was going to make me feel better. Only to have someone tell me that I could not get any and that they would have to check with my nurse. This upset me as I wasn’t feeling well anyway. I informed them in a not so polite way that I was being released in the morning and I wanted some ice right now. The lady gave me about 2 or 3 bites of ice in a cup, then she asked did I need her to carry it back to my room for me. I just laughed at her and said Hell no I will have this gone before I even get around the corner. If I would have known that was going to be the last time I would have anything to drink I would have taken my time with it. So I get back to my room and I am upset I remember talking to Andrew and telling him not to bring Justin up there since I was going to be going Home tomorrow. If I would have known what was going to happen next I would have begged him to come and be with me. I was all alone in my room not wanting to watch tv or be bothered with any noise. My friend Brenda called and we were talking and I remember crying to her telling her I just didn’t feel good. That I was unable to get anyone to bring me any Ice and I was hot. At this time I am starting to panic feeling all alone and no one there to help me. I felt completely helpless, alone, afraid, and terrified. My emotions were going everywhere. What I did not know at the time or do not remember Brenda telling me she was going to call the Nurses station and talk to my nurse. The next thing I know is the phone rings and Brenda says is the (Nurse walks in) nurse there? I said yes she just walked in.

 

The Nurse started asking me all kinds of questions. She was a very kind older lady. She was watching me I explained to her that I did not feel right. I was having chest pains and was having a hard time breathing. The nurse said she would be right back. The next thing I know is all the lights in my room are on and there is a room full of doctors or interns in my room checking me out listening to my chest and stomach. Then they order chest x-rays, and a echo cardiogram. Nothing unusual there. So they send me down for a cat scan. Back to the room. During this time my family had been called in because they did not know if I was going to make it through the night. Terror set in for me because every time they would put me on the small tank of oxygen I would have an even harder time breathing. I did not know at the time what day this was or what time it was.

 

My surgeon was called in he was going to have to do emergency surgery on me but for what no one knows. I had turned septic my body started shutting down. One organ at a time. I felt like they were trying to kill me and I was going to die. I just wanted the pain and the terror to go away. I was completely scared to death. I was alone in this area waiting to be taken into surgery. The doctor sent my husband Andrew in to see me one last time. I remember telling Andrew I love you too, but can you leave now so they can go ahead and operate on me now. Then the next thing I know Andrew and Justin are coming back in to see me. I told Justin I love you and don’t you cry or worry because momma will be right back out. Little did I know what was to come.

 

So this is the last moments I remember before I went in to have surgery. I kept asking the nurse if I could have a sip of water or a wet rag for my mouth it was so dry. When you are gasping for air your mouth tends to feel like you have paste in your mouth and you can’t get rid of it no matter how hard you try you can’t even form saliva. I kept asking this nurse all kinds of questions. Her answer was always the same not right now as soon as the doctor says you can. So here I am fighting for every breath I am taking and not knowing anything that is going on. No one had answers. All I knew was that they were going to open me up to see what was going on. So after about 5 people were brought in and then taken back for surgery they came after me. They removed the oxygen mask from me and replaced it with another one. I could not breathe. I was begging them to please just let me breathe. I felt like someone was sitting on my chest pushing all the air out of me and not letting any of it back in. I was told that I had started convulsing. But to me I thought I was fighting to stay alive but was unable to move it felt like I was paralyzed.

 

Hello I am here, Andrew, why do you keep yelling at me? What Danna, Donna, and Robbie are here where I can’t see them. Andrew where is Justin. Justin says Momma I am here I love you momma. I love you to Justin. Then I hear a lot of talking but I can’t make out who or what they are saying. There are these shadows and I can’t make out the faces. There is a light around them but it is hazy. I could hear my husband and Justin as plain as day but others I could not understand. I would find out later that I was in a coma.

 

While in this coma I had actually thought that Andrew and Justin were ignoring me and I did not understand why Justin would be telling me to open my eyes and tell him I love him. I kept yelling at the top of my lungs that I was awake and that I did love them and for them to not leave me. I kept trying to grab their hands and hold onto them but I was unable to move. I did not understand at the time what was going on and I was very scared.

 

Then on March 11, 2010 I heard a nurse say today is your son’s birthday and he just wants you to open your eyes. So I opened my eyes and the next few hours felt like seconds everything seem to go so fast for me. They were removing the tubes and the main lines that they had on me then they were making me get up and out of the bed. My feet and legs were huge and I just could not believe how swollen I was and that it was March 11 then everyone started telling me I had been in a coma and that my sisters had come to be there with me and that I was not expected to live. This was a lot more than I could handle and then the Doctor told me about the ileostomy bag and the drainage holes. Then the next day is when they hit me with the other medical conditions that came up after the surgery. They are as follows: cirrhosis of liver, diabetes, bone degenerative disease, nerve damage, neuropathy, PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and that there were 5 masses found in the piece of the colon that was sent off and they were cancerous.

 

So now that I no longer drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes I have all of these other things to live with. This has been a very long journey for me and it is not over on September 30, 2010 I will be seeing my surgeon and discussing the next surgery that I am going to be going through on October 18, 2010 and what will be done and what will happen after that. I am so looking forward to getting closer to having this bag removed and back to my old self as much as I can be that is. We may actually be looking at 2 or 3 more surgeries so I will find out more on September 30,2010. I am praying for some very good results from the Doctor and some encouraging results from my test.

 

Now there is one thing I have not written about at this time and I am just waiting for the right time and the right way to tell that part of my story. This part of the story is about when I was in that Coma and what I remember going on at that time I am working on that in a separate note article. So now I am going to share this with you and I am adding the photos that my sister and them took of me while in that coma. I am not ashamed of any of this I went through it I lived through it and I am here to testify about it.

 

There is one thing I do want to say that if you ever have a loved one or even someone you know that is in a Coma talk to them don’t be afraid of them because if you talk to them then they do not feel alone. I don’t care if you do nothing but read a card or book or newspaper or even the directions on the equipment around them. Just hearing your voice is soothing and let them talk to you about it in there on time. Do not push the person to try to remember everything that happened it will overwhelm them and throw them into a psychotic break. Take it easy and slow and be there and just try to understand. One thing I can honestly say is that unless you have went through the exact same thing as that person then you do not know and you cannot understand what it does to that person. So be patient and understand that they are being harder on themselves you don’t have to be any harder on them.

 

I can honestly say that me and my immediate family (Husband Andrew, & Son Justin) have been through the wringer. If we would have let this take over us and not be there for each other than we would not be together right now. This has been tough and I have had a lot of breakdowns and would blame everyone for not understanding. The nightmares and day terrors were the worse. But I felt like no one and I mean no one not even my doctors could understand or even explain to me what was going on with me.

 

So I am going to sign off for now.

Thank you for reading this and trying to understand my ramblings.

Rhonda

 

 

9/11 Remembered 10 Years Later

A second plane prepares to hit the south tower of the World Trade Center while the north tower is already in flames from being hit earlier.

Ten years have passed since Americans felt the impact of terrorism in a way never experienced before. Most of us can recall where we were and what we were doing that Tuesday morning of September 11, 2001.

I had called the mechanic about the progress being made on our car, when he told me to turn on the television and it would stay on the rest of the day. Little did I know how many Americans would lose their lives that day at the hand of  terrorists.

Five Hijackers Board  Flight 11 

The day started in Boston with Mohamed Atta and al-Omari boarding American Airlines Flight 11 at 7:35 AM travelling from Boston to Los Angeles. Five minutes later three more hijackers board the plane. The flight leaves Logan International Airport at 7:59 AM. The first evidence of a hijacking being in progress, was when orders to climb to 35,000 feet were ignored.

Betty Ong, a flight attendant on Flight 11 informs American Airlines that a hijacking is in progress at 8:19 AM. At 8:26 Flight 11 makes a 100 degree turn and is now travelling on a path to New York City.

Three More Planes Boarded By Hijackers

While Flight 11 was en route to New York City, hijackers boarded three more planes. United Airlines Flight 175 departs from Boston and is also originally headed for Los Angeles leaving at 8:14 AM with five hijackers aboard the flight.  Six minutes later a third plane, American Airlines Flight 77 would leave Dulles International Airport in Washington for Los Angeles at 8:20 AM with five hijackers aboard.

At 8:42 AM the fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93  would depart from Newark International Airport with a original destination of San Francisco, with four hijackers aboard.

Flight 11 Hits North Tower

Two F-15′s were scrambled from Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts to intercept Flight 11, but seconds later at 8:46 the plane hit the north tower at 446 MPH and loaded with fuel since it was headed to Los Angeles.

The impact of the plane and the burning fuel knocked three stairwells out, leaving those in the floors above hopelessly trapped with no way out.

As many as 250 or as few as 100 people jumped to their deaths, rather than being caught in the fiery inferno inside the burning building.

CNN is the first national network to break the story on the plane hitting the World Trade Center at 8:49 AM. Carol Lin the CNN anchor made this announcement:

This just in. You are looking at obviously a very disturbing live shot there. That is the World Trade Center, and we have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. CNN Centerright now is just beginning to work on this story, obviously calling our sources and trying to figure out exactly what happened, but clearly something relatively devastating happening this morning there on the south end of the island of Manhattan. That is once again, a picture of one of the towers of the World Trade Center.

President Bush is appraised of the situation while visiting Emma E. Booker Elementary School, in Sarasota, Florida at 8:55 AM. This was before the second tower had been hit. He was probably told of the other flights still in the air that were being hijacked. However, presidential advisor Karl Rove told the president that the airplane was a small twin engine aircraft.

Calls like this which was made at 9:00 AM would be one of many, made by passengers to their loved ones that day:

9:00: Lee Hanson receives a second call from his son Peter, aboard Flight 175: “It’s getting bad, Dad. A stewardess was stabbed. They seem to have knives and Mace. They said they have a bomb. It’s getting very bad on the plane. Passengers are throwing up and getting sick. The plane is making jerky movements. I don’t think the pilot is flying the plane. I think we are going down. I think they intend to go to Chicago or someplace and fly into a building. Don’t worry, Dad. If it happens, it’ll be very fast. My God, my God.” The call ends abruptly, as Lee Hanson hears a woman scream.^[6]

At 9:02 Flight 175 hits the south tower at a speed of 590 miles per hour. The plane’s impact caused parts of the plane to fall to the ground, as many as six blocks away.

The president enters a classroom to read The Pet Goat, when Chief of Staff, Andrew Card informs him of a second building being hit at 9:05.

Osama bin Laden is mentioned as a probable suspect in a CBS News report at 9:17 AM. At 9:26 AM all civilian planes are forbidden to take off by the FAA.

Hijackers Take Over Flight 93

Flight controllers in Cleveland hear the Flight 93 cockpit being taken over by hijackers at 9:28. The tower supervisor at Reagan International Airport discloses to the Secret Service at the White House that a plane is heading their way and is not talking to the tower at 9:33 AM. A minute later the tower would call the Secret Service again, to inform them that the plane was now headed to the airport.

At 9:37 AM Flight 77 crashes into the western side of the Pentagon building killing 64 passengers and 125 Pentagon personnel.

Three of the hijacked planes had hit their targets from 8:46 when the first plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center to the Pentagon building being hit at 9:37.

Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania after passengers fought with hijackers.

Attention Focuses On Flight 93

With Flight 93 being the only one of the hijacked planes still in the air, its flight path was being watched closely. The gravity of the situation is shown by the White House and Capitol building being evacuated at 9:43 AM.

The following intelligence was gathered that made it almost a certainty that Osama bin Laden was behind the attacks:

9:52: The National Security Agency intercepts a phone call between a known associate of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and someone in the Republic of Georgia, announcing that he had heard “good news”, and that another target was still to be hit.^[17]

President Boards Air Force One

President George Bush leaves Sarasota-Bradenton Airport for an undisclosed location. With the uncertainty of not knowing what other attacks may be planned, it may have been best for the president to be in the air when his plane took off at 9:57 AM. Two minutes later at 9:59 AM the south tower collapses in New York City.

Meanwhile, the passenger revolt began on Flight 93 at 9:59 AM. The passengers now knew that their plane was going to be the next plane used to hit a building, so decided to rush the cockpit and gain control of the plane.

Flight 93 would crash at 10:03 apparently because of the fighting in the cockpit, between the passengers and hijackers. The flight crashed 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

We may never know for sure, what the target of Flight 93 was but it probably would have been either the Capitol building or the White House.

People fleeing from the collapse of one of the Twin Towers in New York City.

The north Tower collapsed at 10:28 AM 29 minutes after the south tower collapsed, even though the north tower had been hit 18 minutes, before the south tower had been hit.

The president arrives at Barksdale Air Force in Shreveport, Louisiana at 1:04 PM. He says in a statement, that the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for the attacks.

President Bush lands at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska at 2:50 PM  and departs at 4:36 PM.

At 5:30 PM a third building the 7 World Trade Center would collapse. It was a 47 story structure.

The president lands at the White House at 6:54 PM.

The aftermath of 9/11

United States citizens were in a state of shock after the events of September 9, 2011. Churches noticed a surge in attendance immediately. Senior Pastor Ed Young of Fellowship Church in Dallas, Texas has this to say about the increased attendance:

“After 9/11 we had 20-some odd thousand people show up,” said Senior Pastor Ed Young. “The largest crowd in the history of Fellowship Church and when I walked on stage I looked around and said, ‘Where have you guys been? It takes something like this for you to show up to church?’”

But the pews were soon a bit roomier.

“I was disappointed somewhat that more didn’t stick because we dropped to 16 or 17 thousand the next weekend and then the weekend after that to about 14,500,” he said.

Young goes on further to say:

Young attributes the initial attendance spike to human nature. “I think when we are riddled with fear, when things fall apart around us especially when we are struck at the heart of who we are, people suddenly respond and they’re turning to God and asking those deep questions in an even deeper way,” he said.

“When things are going bad we want to turn to God and want to get right with him and we want to attend to church,” Young said. “When things level out we tend to forget the most important things and drift away.”

Survivors covered with dust walk away from the scene of 9/11 destruction.

Many Heroes on 9/11

There are no words to express thanks to the New York Fire Department and Police Department sufficiently for those that gave their lives that day trying to save others.

While others were rushing to safety down the stairs of the Twin Tower buildings, they were rushing up the stairs facing almost certain death. They may not have known it at the time, since the buildings were not expected to collapse.

Still they climbed up stairwell after stairwell to do what they could to save lives. Many personnel in the FDNY and NYPD died on 9/11 putting others ahead of their own personal safety, while jeopardizing their own lives.

Then after the buildings fell, the fire personnel began the slow agonizing process, of trying to find survivors, under the rubble of the World Trade Center.

Flight 93 Heroes

The passengers on Flight 93 who fought with the hijackers will always be regarded as heroes, since they may have died, but succeeded in preventing the plane from hitting the Capitol or White House, which were likely the next target of the hijackers.

They already knew what had happened with the other hijacked planes hitting buildings in New York City and Washington, D.C. They gave their lives knowing the odds were against them, but still made a charge at the cockpit to force the hijackers to lose control of the plane and crash.

Casualties of 9/11

2,606 died in World Trade Center connected deaths and 125 more died at the Pentagon crash site. 246 passengers died on the hijacked planes for a total of 2,977 deaths on 9/11. This is not an accurate count since we may never know how many died at the World Trade Center.

The New York Fire Department lost 341 personnel and 2 paramedics. The New York Police Department lost 23 officers on 9/11.

Thoughts on 9/11

When I think of 9/11 I think of those people jumping to a certain death, the families and friends that knew their loved ones were in the building and wondering if they would ever see them again. I think of fire personnel running up the stairs with many pounds of equipment as they saw those fleeing to safety coming down the stairs.

I think of the friends and families talking to their loved ones on the ill-fated flights that would lead to their deaths. The ones in the buildings and planes telling their loved ones that they loved them one last time.

I think of the ones that called in sick or were late to work that day at the World Trade Center and the ones who might have been called in to work on their day off.

I think of how many more lives would have been lost if the planes had hit in the middle of the buildings instead of toward the top, which would have sealed off 40 or 50 floors, preventing any chance to escape.

I think of those fleeing the scene when the buildings begin to collapse, looking back at huge clouds of billowing smoke. I think of the eerie scene after the buildings collapsed turning that part of downtown to into a dusty scene one thinks of in a disaster movie.

I think of those who suddenly turned to God in fear of what might be next, then think of those who returned back to their lives of making God second place in their hearts, once they thought they were safe again.

Osama bin Laden Won’t Be Around For 10th Memorial of 9/11

Thankfully, Osama bin Laden won’t be around to gloat 10 years after 9/11. He is the main reason 9/11 happened so I had no sympathy for him when he met a violent death himself, but even that can’t bring back the fathers, mothers, daughters and sons who were killed on September 11, 2001.

God bless America!!!

Lizard Lick Towing Returns Monday, August 22 at 9:30 PM

Bobby Brantley, Amy Shirley and Ron Shirley return for another season starting August 22, 2011 at 9:30 PM on TruTV.

 

The gang from Lizard Lick Towing will start their second season next Monday at 9:30 PM on TruTV. We can expect more of the drama we saw last season, when Ron and Bobby pulled into yards to repossess vehicles, boats or whatever they were trying to repossess at the time.

There are a lot of repossession shows on television today, but to me the best is still Lizard Lick Towing, We have been seeing Ron and Bobby in action on All Worked Up, since Lizard Lick Towing completed their last season.

Now they return with their own 30 minute show. We can expect to see Big Juicy in the office to protect Bobby when he is outnumbered or even if he isn’t outnumbered. I thought she was actually part of the staff, but she isn’t shown as a member of the staff at the Lizard Lick Towing website. However, the website does show there are a lot more members of the staff than are shown on television.

http://lizardlicktowing.com/

 

Ron seems to find the humor in any situation. He will even throw out some of his humorous sayings in the middle of a fight. One thing about Ron and Bobby, they almost always get their vehicle or whatever they are picking up and if they don’t it is because they are dodging bullets and even the best repo men are no match for bullets headed in their direction.

Even former basketball player Charles Barkley is a fan of Lizard Lick Towing, since he has mentioned the show before.

Welcome back Ron, Bobby and Amy for another exciting season !!!

 

Matt McDonald of Big Brother 9 Writes From Prison: July 27 and August 10 Blogs

Matthew McDonald of Big Brother 9 has posted two more blogs, with both of them focusing on his addictions. The first one was published July 27,2011 and he describes in detail how a drug addict thinks. Maybe some reader contemplating using drugs, will change their mind after reading his account of what it is like to depend on drugs.

The language is vulgar, but that can be expected from someone in prison. The blog is aptly named How Addiction Took Over My Life. 

The first blog is so long that he added a Part Two on August 10, 2011. Since he was selling oxycodone pills, he had plenty around the house and made it easy to get high on them.

49,170 visits have been made to his blog, since it started in May of this year. The two posts in this article are the 10th and 11th posts by Matthew.

If you want to go back to May and read his first blog to these two blogs, just go to the May archives.

These links will take you to the last two posts made by McDonald:

HOW ADDICTION TOOK OVER MY LIFE PART ONE AND PART TWO:

http://mattymcdonald.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/how-addiction-took-over-my-life/  http://mattymcdonald.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/how-addiction-took-over-my-life-part-2/

 

 

Predictions Made in 1950

 

The February 1950 edition of Popular Mechanics featured predictions of what products we would be using in the future.

 

Popular Mechanics magazine looked into the future and made some predictions on what life would be like in the year 2000. The writer of the article was Waldemar Kaempffert, science editor of the New York Times.

 

He predicts that the highways would be double-decked with the top deck for fast non-stop traffic, while the lower deck would be for shops alongside the highway.

 

One prediction that never materialized was the rockets that were to have flown from New York to San Francisco in two hours. A eight room house would only cost $5,000. We all know that never materialized either. Houses would not be built with wood, brick or stone in 2000, since the cost would be prohibitive, but instead built with metals and plastic.

 

Razors will be a thing of the past according to the writer, since a chemical solution will remove beards. Gillette, Schick and other razor companies are glad that prediction never came to fruition.

 

There will be no dishwashers in 2000, because dishes will be thrown away after being used. Two dozen plastic plates will cost a dollar, which isn’t too far off from the prices of 2011.

 

Soup and milk will be sold as bricks, but that never happened. Fast cooking electronic stoves will thaw a frozen steak in eight seconds and will be ready to eat in two more minutes.

 

Turning sawdust and wood pulp into foods is another prediction that went wrong. One prediction that did come true is that shopping by television, which is evident by the many products for sale on QVC and the Home Shopping Network.

 

The writer goes on to say that the housewife of 2000, will wash anything in the house with a water hose since the houses and everything inside will be waterproof. A calculator-weather forecaster machine will predict the weather.

 

Hurricanes will be stopped by igniting the water with oil. Wish it was that easy to stop a hurricane. Supersonic airplanes will travel 1,000 miles an hour. I can personally attest that this never happened since it took about two hours to fly from Houston, Texas to Knoxville, Tennessee which is about 200 miles less than 1,000 miles.

 

One prediction that has come true is the prediction that flying will be very expensive because of the high cost of fuel. The writer says a trip from Chicago to Paris would cost $5,000.

 

Families in 2000 will use helicopters, parked on their rooftop to get around fast, while the family car would be used for shorter trips of less than 20 miles.

 

Tuberculosis will have been cured by 2000. As far as I know there is no cure for tuberculosis 60 years after this article was written. Cancer will not have been cured by 2000, which is sadly the case today.

 

The prices shown in the magazine are as interesting as the predictions. The magazine shows a table saw for $15.95. Doubt if you could find one today for anywhere close to that price. Another item for sale in the magazine include a 65 pound boat for $35.

 

To read the complete article:

 

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/10/05/miracles-youll-see-in-the-next-fifty-years/?Qwd=./PopularMechanics/2-1950/next_fifty_years&Qif=next_fifty_years_00.jpg&Qiv=thumbs&Qis=XL#qdig

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grandson Hits First Home Run In Texas All Star Game

My grandson Matthew hitting his first home run in a Texas Little League game in ninth year of youth baseball.

Friday, July 1, 2010 will always be a red-letter day for my grandson Matthew. He hit his first home run over the fence after playing youth baseball for nine years. Most importantly, the home run gave his team, the Groves National League All Stars, a 1-0 lead in a game in which they would defeat the Bridge City All Stars by a 3-0 score.

His home run brought back memories of the Little League game about 54 years ago when I hit a ball over the fence, only to have it caught by the center fielder who reached over the fence to catch it. That was the only time I ever hit a ball that far before or after that long out.

More Special Than Mantle, Maris Home Runs

So it made it even more special when Matthew hit his first home run. I have seen Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris hit home runs in a baseball game, in Kansas City in 1962. That was nothing, though compared to the feeling when the ball went over the fence and disappeared last Friday night.

It was the only run in the game that scored as a result of a hit and gave the Groves National League All-Stars a lead that they would not relinquish. It was also one of three hits recorded by Groves.

The home run was even more remarkable, when considering the opposing pitcher throws 75 MPH and pitched a great game to hold Groves to three runs. However, Matthew’s teammate Nathan pitched an even better game allowing four hits while throwing 44 strikes in 58 pitches according to the boxscore posted on the Bridge City website.

Matthew Started At Early Age

It is not surprising that Matthew was swinging a plastic baseball bat as soon as he learned to walk. By the age of four he was playing Wee Ball which is the step before Tee Ball in Louisiana.

He has always played with a smile on his face and just enjoys being on the baseball diamond. He has been on several All Star teams and his Tioga, Louisiana All Star team played in the state championship game one year and lost to a very good pitcher. Matthew batted 1.000 in the state championship game and only one other player even got a hit off  that pitcher.

Plays APBA Baseball Board Game Like His Grandpa Did 53 Years Earlier

When I played a full season of major league games using my APBA Baseball board game in 1959, I never thought that my grandson would be playing the same APBA game 53 years later. He keeps extensive stats for each player including assists.

The difference was that when I played the game, there were only 16 major league teams, playing a 154 game schedule. Matthew’s game has 30 teams playing a 162 game schedule.

Dreams of Being a Major Leaguer Someday

Matthew hopes to become a major league baseball player someday. I hope his dream comes true. It isn’t easy to become one of the 750 players playing in the major leagues today. However, Matthew doesn’t mind hard work and has a good work ethic. I can remember when he would want me to keep throwing him grounders and flies, even though it was hard to even see the ball with no lights in the yard.

He would stand in the yard across the street, so I could throw him long fly balls so he could get used to catching them. He has played either shortstop or third base for the last few years and pitched four innings of no-hit baseball earlier this season.

I only hope I live long enough to see Matthew achieve his dream of playing in the majors, but time may be running out for me, since I am 67 and most players don’t reach the majors till they are 21 or 22. That would make me close to 80 before he could make it.

One thing for sure is that I will never discourage him from pursuing his dream. I just hope he follows his dream to the major leagues, whether I am around to see it happen or not.

Did Nancy Grace Go Overboard After Casey Anthony Verdict?

Nancy Grace: Covered Casey Anthony trial for HLN.

It seemed like to me that Nancy Grace went overboard with her criticism of the not guilty verdict in the Casey Anthony trial.

I can understand her disappointment in knowing that Casey Anthony who probably did kill her daughter Caylee is going to walk free, maybe as early as this week.

Reasonable Doubt

However, the American justice system still specifies that a juror must not vote guilty if  there is a reasonable doubt. There was more than enough reasonable doubt to not send Casey Anthony to her death.

The prosecution erred in asking for death penalty, given the fact that there was no slam dunk evidence presented to the jury.

If the prosecution had asked for a life sentence, the jury may have even come  back with a guilty verdict.

Not Enough Evidence

The jury simply did not have enough concrete evidence to support a death penalty.

If the jury had rendered a guilty verdict and a death sentence was given and carried out, there would be no recourse, if it later became known that Ms. Anthony had not committed the crime.

Grace Went Overboard With Comments

The reaction of Nancy Grace to the verdict went way overboard in my opinion. It was like she was waging a personal vendetta against Casey Anthony.  I can understand why she would emphasize that Caylee Anthony’s killer went unpunished. The one thing both sides can agree on is that  Caylee Anthony is dead.

It didn’t take long yesterday to tire of hearing Grace call Casey tot mom. She has a name and it is Casey, not tot mom. When Graces says tot mom, it has a derogatory sound to it.

No Fingerprints Or DNA Linking Anthony

It is one thing to want justice for a murderer. However, it is another thing to want justice so much that someone like Nancy Grace would send Casey Anthony to death row, with no fingerprints or DNA linking Casey to the crime.

Grace may be correct in saying that Casey’s lies may have led to the not guilty verdict by the jury. If she had told the truth to the detectives, she would likely either be on death row now or serving a life sentence.

Lying May Have Kept Anthony Off Death Row

The Miranda law says Casey had the right to remain silent, but by lying she may receive a four-year sentence, instead of the death penalty or a life sentence.

There was an abundance of circumstantial evidence presented during the trial by the prosecution. However, you can’t send someone to their death on circumstantial evidence.

Wanted to Stay on Good Side of Grace

It was evident that the reporters and legal analysts on the program with Grace, were being careful to not get on the wrong side of Grace with their comments,

except for  Dr. Drew saying that the prosecution did not prove motive, which I don’t think Grace agreed with.

A professional reporter and legal analyst like Grace are entitled to their opinion, but yesterday we think the professionalism gave way to a personal vendetta by Grace, against Casey Anthony.

Personally, I think the jury made the correct verdict, when considering the physical evidence didn’t link Casey to the crime. If one person is sent to death row because of circumstantial evidence, it is one person too many.

Poll Questions

The following polls ask if the jury made the correct decision and if Nancy Grace went overboard with her comments after the verdict.

Gene Simmons – Shannon Tweed Relationship On The Rocks?

The Gene Simmons family with Nick Simmons, Sophie Simmons, Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed.

The first episode of Season Six of the Family Jewels reality show about Gene Simmons and his family showed Shannon Tweed walking out on Gene.

 

It is questionable if this really happened but was only a ploy to draw more viewers to the series.

 

 

Shannon Reaches Breaking Point

 

Everyone has their breaking point and apparently Shannon had hers in the first episode that aired on June 14.

 

Gene repeatedly told anyone who would listen including Shannon and his therapist, that he does not like being told what to do.

 

Shannon saw a photo of Gene posing with some girls he had brought along to a business meeting, while she and their children Nick and Sophie were waiting for Gene to show up for a family dinner.

 

 

Shannon Waiting For Sophie To Leave For College

 

It seems like that Shannon was waiting for Sophie to leave for college, to finally voice her opinions of Gene’s behavior. He says he is going to a therapist, but instead Shannon finds out he went to a movie.

 

Then he does go to the therapist to pacify Shannon, but he shows little remorse for his behavior while being questioned by the therapist. The therapist suggest that Gene bring Shannon to the next therapy session.

 

 

Shannon Walks Out of Therapy Session

 

Shannon agrees to go with Gene, but once inside the therapist’s office, Gene doesn’t seem to be serious about working out a resolution to their relationship problems and Shannon leaves in the middle of the session.

 

Gene returns home and finds Shannon has left. It will be interesting to see if Gene finally does something to heal the relationship or if he continues to look out of for No.1, with no regard for the other members of the family.

 

 

Real or Just More Hype?

 

At the end of the show, viewers can’t help but wonder if their relationship problems are real or only a way to hype the new series of Family Jewels.

 

My opinion is that it is real, because Shannon has the same tight-lipped expression she had on the show, when she has appeared on network TV shows hyping the new season.

 

Season 5 had 26 episodes. Wikipedia lists eight shows so far this season which brings the total episodes count to 123, but apparently there will be more added to the list as they are completed.

 

August 7 will be the fifth anniversary of the show.

 

 

 

Couple Forecloses on Bank

Five years ago Charlie and Maria Cardoso paid cash for a house in Spring Hill, Florida. All was going well for them until Bank of America foreclosed on the Cardoso residence. However, it turned out they had foreclosed on the wrong house instead of a house down the street.

Worst of all even after being told it was the wrong house, Bank America proceeded with the foreclosure. The following article details the nightmare the Cardosos experienced due to the negligence of Bank of America. My question is how could they foreclose on a house with no mortgage?

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/bank-of-america-forecloses-on-house-that-couple-had-paid-cash-for/1072632

However, that isn’t the end of the story. Today’s front page on the Drudge Report says the Bank of America has been foreclosed on and they are getting a taste of their own medicine.

Bank of America ignored a judge’s order to pay the legal fees of the Cardosos, so the bank was padlocked to get their attention.

For the rest of the story:

http://www.digtriad.com/news/watercooler/article/178031/176/Florida-Homeowner-Forecloses-On-Bank-Of-America

Living With a Diabetic

My wife had a total colonectomy on March 1, 2010 having her large intestines and colon removed. Her doctor told us after the surgery that he had discovered she was diabetic.

She had no idea how much diabetes would change her life. She has found out how fast blood sugar numbers can change, either upward or downward.

At first she had more problem with low blood sugar numbers which made her very weak. Now the numbers are running higher into the 300′s and 400′s. She took Metformin at first along with insulin shots but found out it made her nauseous and that she was allergic to the Metformin. Then the doctor started her on a newer and much more expensive drug Onglyza. I was surprised she was taking only a 5MG dose, which doesn’t seem like enough to help.

She was taken off the insulin shots for a while, but later her blood sugar numbers escalated so much, insulin shots were prescribed again and she was giving herself insulin shots several times a day. She is still taking the Onglyza plus the insulin shots.

Originally she was classified as a Type II diabetic, but is now very close to being a Type I diabetic. I will never forget the first time she gave herself a shot. She was terrified and didn’t think she could do it, but was alright with it after the first shot. Not that it is something she looks forward to, but she knows it has to be done to live a somewhat normal life.

The most frustrating thing about diabetes is the way blood sugar numbers go up and down, depending on what foods are eaten, how much exercise is being done and how much stress a person is under at the time.

My wife has a long history of diabetes in her family but didn’t know till she was 43 that she was diagnosed with the disease.

I have a nephew that has had diabetes from an early age and have often thought of how someone so young can cope with the stress of having the disease for the rest of their life.

You would think after all these years, there would be an alternative to insulin shots, but as far as I know there are no oral medicines on the horizon that can lower blood sugar numbers faster than insulin shots.

People without diabetes can go to a restaurant and eat what they want, not even worrying about their food choices, but diabetics have to consider the consequences of eating foods that will raise their blood sugar numbers  precipitously

Diabetics can’t just jump in the car and drive somewhere, without first stopping to bring their diabetes meter,  medicine or some candy to alleviate the situation if their numbers should suddenly fall or rise.

In the last couple of years, one of my brothers was diagnosed with diabetes in his late 60′s. So none of us have any guarantee we will live our entire life without diabetes.

Diabetes is a life changing disease, that requires following the doctor’s orders closely. Diabetics have to be careful about walking around barefoot, as a nurse working with diabetics told us at a diabetes clinic I attended with my wife, that it is important to keep the feet from anything that may infect them and walking barefooted was extremely dangerous.

My wife likes to swim, but I worry about her feet becoming infected while in the swimming pool at the local health center.

So next time you hear a family member or friend has been diagnosed with diabetes, you will know their life will never be the same again.

Some well-known people like Mary Tyler Moore have diabetes. She showed you can live with diabetes and still be successful.

While watching the Indy 500 race recently, there was a driver named Charlie Kimball that has diabetes. They were watching his blood sugar numbers during the race. Since his numbers run on the high side and would get higher during the stress of the race, he had a plan of action if an insulin shot was needed.

When he had to make a pit stop the same pit crew member that changed one of the tires, would give him an insulin shot in the thigh with a diabetic pen and he would continue the race. The worst thing about the situation is that the  pit crew member had only given a shot to an orange before, so he would have been giving a shot in the middle of the race for the very first time.

Thankfully, he didn’t need a shot during the race, but every time he does race, he has to not only contend with the other cars in the race, but also has to contend with a terrible disease.

Diabetes is a terrible disease, but it can be controlled by medicine whether oral medicine or insulin shots. There may be a cure for diabetes someday, but until then, stop and think what the diabetic you know is going through, trying to live a normal life.