A friend emailed this to me and I liked it so much it made me want to share it with you…

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study and told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and how much he loved him.

He handed him a beautifully wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with his name embossed in gold.

Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, “With all your money you give me a Bible?”

He stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible behind.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old.

He thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day.

But before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to him. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.

When he arrived at his father’s house, sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father’s important documents and saw the Bible, new, just as he had left it years ago.

With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. His father had carefully underlined a verse, Matt 7:11, “And if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father which is in Heaven, give to those who ask Him?”

As he read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer’s name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words – “paid in full.”

This is a four-part expose’ looking at a number of scandals involving Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat, Nevada.

Playing the role of “aggrieved grandfather,” Senator Harry Reid is promising to reimburse his campaign the full sum he paid out. Nevada political reporter Jon Ralston discovered Reid’s campaign paid out an additional $14,000 to Ryan Elisabeth Reid’s jewelry company for “holiday gifts” for staff and campaign donors.

“My granddaughter has been the target of harassing phone calls, strangers tracking her down and knocking on her door and negative, unwanted attention on the internet,” complained Reid. “This has gone too far and it needs to stop now. I deeply regret any role I had in creating this situation but now, as a grandparent, I say enough is enough.”

Originally, the total was thought to be approximately $17,000.

This is the same sort of situation former Reid financier Harvey Whittmore is facing jail time over. Whittemore is convicted of contributing more than $100,000 illegally to Reid’s campaign in 2007.

He became the target of an FBI probe for making “conduit contributions”: indirect payments in which an individual asks a friend or family member to make a donation in return for reimbursement. Whittemore used his wife, sister, five children, and some spouses of those children in the scheme.

During open testimony, Whittimore says he was approached by Reid, who asked him to raise $150,000, and that “he studied the law and decided that he could legally take out a loan, distribute the funds as gifts, and ask the recipients to support Reid’s campaign.

This isn’t the first ‘scandal ridden’ dealings Reid and Whittmore ventured into. In the 1990s, Whittemore came across the site for Coyote Springs and recognized it’s potential.

It is 5 miles wide and stretches 13 miles along the east side of U.S. 93 between parallel mountain ranges. Equally important, the site was in private hands , rare in a state where the federal government owns 87% of the land.

Nothing remotely as large and well-located might come on the market again. There was just one catch: for all its possibilities, the land had serious obstacles to development that only the federal government could remove.

First, Congress had created a mile-wide power line corridor covering 10,500 acres and running the length of the property close to the highway. No power lines had been built, but development inside the corridor seemed to be precluded.

A second problem was that ancient stream beds and washes crisscrossed the site. Though dry most of the year, as part of the valley’s ecosystem they could not be bulldozed or otherwise altered without federal permits.

In addition, while the private owner controlled all 42,842 acres, the federal government had retained title to almost a third of those acres to maintain a preserve for the desert tortoise, Nevada’s state reptile, which is shielded by the Endangered Species Act.

The tortoise’s habitat was concentrated in a wedge-shaped area in the middle of the site. Here too, development seemed to be prohibited.

But it was the exigencies of national security that put Coyote Springs in play. In 1988, Congress turned the land over to defense contractor Aerojet-General Corp. to test rockets.

The southern third of the land is in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, and the rest is in Lincoln County. The rocket range was never created and the land remained essentially untouched until 1998, when Whittemore paid Aerojet-General at least $15 million for title to the privately owned portion of the site and for the rights under a rent-free government lease of the tortoise habitat.

Soon afterward, Whittemore reduced his financial exposure by selling the rights to 7,500 acre-feet of groundwater and a well to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for $25 million. But he retained other water rights at Coyote Springs and has agreements with Lincoln County and its private water company partner to buy more for the development.

Almost immediately, Whittemore began to push for the title to, and unrestricted use of, the tortoise habitat in the middle of the site. He argued that moving the tortoise preserve to the eastern edge of the site, where it would abut federal land, would help the desert tortoise and remove an impediment to his project.

In 1999, regional officials of the Interior Department refused, saying that only Congress could approve moving the preserve. Over the next five years, Whittemore bombarded the government with proposals.

Finally, in 2004, the Bureau of Land Management agreed to give him title to nearly 10,000 acres of tortoise land in the middle of his site in exchange for equal acreage along the fringes. They called the swap a “minor” boundary adjustment.

No federal appraisal was made to determine whether the land the government got was equal in value to the land it gave up, and some public land experts say the exchange may have been illegal.

“The law clearly wouldn’t allow a ‘boundary adjustment’ of 10,000 acres,” said Janine Blaeloch of the Western Lands Project, a group that advocates for public lands. “Congress drew the map of the leased lands. Congress would have to change it.”

The bureau said it agreed to the land swap because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said moving the preserve would be good for the tortoise. Neither Sen. Reid nor Leif Reid played a role in getting the tortoise preserve relocated, Whittemore said.

In 2002, Reid went to work on removing the power line corridor. First, he and others in Nevada’s congressional delegation tucked an obscurely worded provision into a huge land bill to benefit a wide range of interests in Clark County.

The provision shifted the power corridor off Whittemore’s land and onto federal land along the west side of U.S. 93. The land west of the highway had been earmarked for “wilderness study,” but a separate section of the bill reclassified the land to allow power lines.

As drafted, the bill would have done Whittemore a large financial favor: It required him to pay nothing for getting the power corridor moved to the west side of the highway, even though it increased the value of his 10,500 acres on the east side by clearing it for development. The giveaway prompted questions from the Bureau of Land Management and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

With the legislative clock running out, Reid and his Nevada colleagues backed off, removing from the bill the provision moving the power line corridor. But another provision, one that reclassified the status of the land on the west side so that it eventually could accommodate a power line corridor, survived, and President Bush signed the bill in November 2002.

The battle over keeping the Klamath River wild has been an ongoing battle, fought for nearly a century as California Proposition 11 was on the November 4, 1924 ballot as an initiated state statute. The ballot reads in part:

“Klamath River Fish and Game District. Initiative measures Creates Klamath River Fish and Game District consisting of Klamath River and waters thereof following its meanderings from confluence of Klamath and Shasta Rivers in Siskiyou County to mouth of Klamath River in Del Norte County. Prohibits the construction or maintenance of any dam or other artificial obstruction in waters of said district, prescribes penalties therefor (sic), and declares any such artificial obstruction to be a nuisance.”

The argument for the measure was penned by J. A. Ager, Chairman, Board of Supervisors, Siskiyou County and Frank M. Newbert, President Fish and Game Commission of California. The argument against the bill was written by R.J Wade, Secretary, Eureka Chamber of Commerce and Fred M. Kay, County Clerk, Humboldt County.

The measure was approved.

“As we begin debate on this aid and sanctions package, I also hope that Republicans who stopped action on this legislation prior to the break have considered how their obstruction affects United States’ national security as well as the people of Ukraine,” says Reid. “Since a few Republicans blocked these important sanctions last work period, Russian lawmakers voted to annex Crimea and Russian forces have taken over Ukrainian military bases.”

Reid’s charge comes despite widespread support among Republicans and Democrats in Congress for providing Ukraine with much-needed economic assistance and hitting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government with sanctions. Meanwhile, Senate aides note the House passed different legislation, meaning the Senate bill could not have become law before recess anyhow.

He adds, “It’s impossible to know whether events would have unfolded differently if the United States had responded to Russian aggression with a strong, unified voice. When a few extremist Republicans blocked action on this robust bill reported with strong, bipartisan support by the Foreign Relations Committee, it sent a dangerous message to Russian leaders.”

His comments came just a few hours before senators voted 78 to 17 to proceed with debate on a $1 billion aid package to the new Ukrainian government. All the votes in opposition came from Republicans, most of who are concerned that the package includes changes to how the U.S. provides money for the International Monetary Fund.

Reid announced the only way to provide Ukraine with economic assistance quickly was to remove the IMF provision from a Senate aid package, which he did. However, it doesn’t stop Russia from collecting around $3 million off the top from the U.S. aid package because of a previous agreement between Ukraine and Russia made in late December 2013.

If anything, Reid should be blaming the Obama Administration for the invasion of the Crimea. Remember the February 7th leaked conversation between Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt?

In that tapped telephone call Nuland is quoted, “…fuck the EU.”

Furthermore in the same call, Nuland and Pyatt discussed who they wanted to promote and prevent from entering the Ukrainian government, which is evidence the U.S. government had been meddling in Ukrainian internal affairs before the take-over. They also talked about getting the United Nations involved in the Ukrainian mess.

Reid’s partisan attacks and lies are getting old and worn out — jus’ like his hold on the Senate.

Former President Jimmy Carter thinks the National Security Agency’s is reading his email. In an interview with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, Carter says he has found away around the snooping, though.

“And when I want to communicate with a foreign leader privately,” admits Carter, “I type or write the letter myself, put it in the post office, and mail it.”

“Old fashioned snail mail?” Mitchell laughs.

“Yeah, because I believe if I send an email, it will be monitored,” Carter answered.

The former Commander-in-Chief never feinted indignity and Mitchell never followed up on his comment.

“Just the facts, ma’am,” are one the most popular words ever spoken in the 1950 through the early 70’s TV crime drama known as, “Dragnet.” The show was created and produced by Jack Webb, who starred as stoic Sergeant Joe Friday.

Over the years, “Just the facts,” has been parodied and used in various forms of entertainment and through this the words have somehow lost their meaning. Dictionary.com defines fact as: something that actually exists; reality; truth.

Most of us rely of facts throughout our day, expecting them in news articles we read, or news stories we see or hear. We also have the same expectation when it comes to what our school aged children are being taught.

Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case and parents, grandparents and guardians and such must ever be on guard about what is being shoveled into the noggins of our little children. Then when something incorrect is discovered – it MUST be brought to the attention of others and not jus’ the authorities.

Finally, pictures are truly worth a thousand words – if not more…

That was discovered in a Texas high school text book last year and has since been corrected. More recently an observant Illinois father found this in his seventh grade son’s workbook:

How the Second amendment of the U.S. Constitution actually reads: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

Remember, you can trust, but must also verify. A source of information might be considered reliable, but you should perform additional research to verify that such information is correct.

Vice-President Joe Biden is calling on Congress to pass a measure to outlaw workplace discrimination against gays, saying it’s outrageous that the country is even debating the subject. He said it was time for Congress to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, known as ENDA.

Speaking to supporters of the gay advocacy group Human Rights Campaign in Los Angeles, Biden said it’s “close to barbaric” that in some states, because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, employees are fired.

Unfortunately, Biden is half a century too late with his call.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Furthermore the Equal Pay Act of 1963 protects both men and women who do substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination.

Under these laws discrimination also includes harassment because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, genetic information, or age, retaliation against an individual for filing a charge of discrimination, participating in an investigation, or opposing discriminatory practices. The law even goes as far as banning employment decisions based on stereotypes or assumptions about the abilities, traits, or performance of individuals of a certain sex, race, age, religion, or ethnic group, or individuals with disabilities, or based on myths or assumptions about an individual’s genetic information.

The fifty year old law also forbids denying employment opportunities to anyone because of marriage to, or association with, an individual of a particular race, religion, national origin, or an individual with a disability. Title VII also covers sexual harassment like direct requests for sexual favors to conditions that create a hostile work environment for persons of either gender, including same-sex harassment and pregnancy-based discrimination that covers pregnancy, childbirth, and other related medical conditions.

Laws we have — more we don’t need.

So, Mr. Vice-President Biden, please stop wasting the U.S.’s time and start working on something important like eliminating government-approved NSA spying on its citizens, the IRS’s targeting of groups, both political and religious and finally, what really happened to cause four good men to lose their lives in Benghazi.

It was October 21, 1907 that the Queen Christina, enveloped in a thick fog, struck the rocks on Point St. George reef near Crescent City, California. The vessel set sail on the 19th, bound for Portland, Oregon, with a load of wheat.

Her crew made it safely to shore. However, the Queen Christina refused to sink immediately.

Instead she withstood massive battering’s from storm after storm, before finally splitting mid bow and sinking in January 1909. At the time she ran aground, she was considered one of the largest freighters on the Pacific coast.

A question that comes up regularly in film trivia quizzes is to name The Magnificent Seven. It’s easy to start with: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson and Robert Vaughn.

Harder still is naming number six, Horst Buchholz. But what about number seven, the man who portrayed Harry Luck?

“Actor Brad Dexter, who rode with Yul Brynner as one of ‘The Magnificent Seven’ and became pal to Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra, has died at the age of 85,” reads an Associated Press story dated Dec. 13th, 2002. “Born Boris Milanovich in Goldfield, Nev. Dexter made guest appearances on the 1950s TV shows ‘Zane Gray Theater,’ ‘Death Valley Days’ and ‘Wagon Train.’ ”

Dexter died in relative obscurity, and nearly every website lists his given name as Boris Milanovich. Furthermore most Nevadans don’t know he is a native Nevada son.

The actor, who adopted the stage name Brad Dexter at the suggestion of director John Huston, was actually born Boris Michel Soso April 9th, 1917, in Goldfield. He moved to Los Angeles in 1920 with his family according to the U.S. Census.

Soso was the Belmont High School president of his 1935 graduating class. After high school, he enlisted in the military and then later when he appeared in Moss Hart’s “Winged Victory” in 1943, he was known as Barry Mitchell.

Following other roles, including the film “Heldorado” (1946) with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, he got his big break when Huston cast him in “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950) with Monroe. The year 1952, found Dexter, Jane Russell and Vincent Price at the Las Vegas gala première of the Howard Hughes film, “The Las Vegas Story.”

A year later, Dexter married popular singer Peggy Lee. However, the couple divorced after 10 months.

Dexter then co-starred in “The Magnificent Seven” with Yule Brynner (1960).  He played gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel in “The George Raft Story” (1961), and then teamed up with Brynner again in “Taras Bulba” (1962).

In 1965, Sinatra and Dexter co-starred in “None But the Brave” and “Von Ryan’s Express.” The two parted company during Dexter’s debut as a movie producer in London with “The Naked Runner” (1967).

Dexter’s career continued into the 1970s, having produced “Little Fauss and Big Halsy” (1970) starring Robert Redford, “Lady Sings the Blues” (1972) starring Diana Ross and  Warren Beatty’s “Shampoo” (1975) and “The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover” (1977). His last screen role was in “Secret Ingredient” (1990), ending a career spanning some 50 years and 40 movies.

An article saying the “Westboro Asks Public Not to Picket Phelps Funeral” is just satire published by the Daily Current website. Unfortunately many people believe this is true and the piece has gone viral over the Internet.

In the end, there isn’t going to be a funeral for Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps, the church confirms.  The church heavily picketed U.S. soldiers who died and other events.

Even if there were to be a funeral, picketing or protest the service would be a mistake. It would instead be the best time to practice what Jesus Christ says in Luke 6:13 (NIV): “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.”

Picketing a funeral is neither kind, nor Christ-like. And as we all know — two wrongs don’t make a right.