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If the flight attendant were ever to become incapacitated on a flight, well, I could give those safety instructions I think. I'd be able to step right up and take over! I know the routine by heart, I've heard it so many times over the years.
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Plastic money. Yep, a credit card - great convenience. But it could also be a great trap, right? I mean, just ask any of the millions of Americans who have credit card bills that are chasing them every month. Now, some people decide to take radical action to bring this spending part of their lives under control. They've actually cut up their credit cards! And for many people, that has represented a genuine turning point in their personal finances. They've finally declared their independence from this slave master called Credit. Yes, they've changed, but unfortunately, there's still one problem.
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Well, the President of the United States - let's see, he's got wars to manage, a wild economy to handle. You know what? Every Thanksgiving he steps up to one of the most decisive responsibilities of his office. He pardons a turkey; well, actually, two turkeys. This is really serious business. Actually they even have a backup turkey (this is the truth) just in case Turkey #1 isn't able to serve as, well, what one writer called the ungobbled gobbler.
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It had been an awful spring for tornadoes - record-setting in many ways. Again and again, our news coverage then was filled with those all-too-familiar images of a city or a neighborhood leveled and the death toll rising. One of them hit pretty close to where we are. It hit in Joplin, Missouri.
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Nobody ever said college guys are going to win the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. Right? I mean, entering many of their dorm rooms is only for the very brave, and those with a strong stomach. Where is Mom when you really need her?
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Some couples' wedding vows get tested sooner; some get tested later. My friends had theirs tested right away. When they went to Mexico for their honeymoon, they promptly picked up some Spanish speaking bug down there, and they got very, very sick in the middle of what was supposed to be their very romantic honeymoon. I think it was commonly called Montezuma's Revenge or something like that.
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Tony was one of the best-liked teachers in our local school - at least he had our kid's vote. As he and I were working together on a project at our house, I was really surprised to learn about his background. I never would have guessed it. See, he grew up in a very tough neighborhood in our area. It was sharply divided into these ethnic pockets. Well, actually, into ethnic gangs. And Tony, by his own admission, was a fighter. Most of the guys in his neighborhood were. And then, five of his good friends died violently in two months time - five friends in two months; one of them his very best friend. Two of his friends are now serving prison terms - two of the survivors that is.
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Like most countries, America has some holidays that are pretty meaningful. We've got the Fourth of July to celebrate our independence. We've got Veterans' Day and Memorial Day, and those are great times to remember all those who've fought for our freedom. We celebrate the birthdays of some great Americans like Lincoln and Washington and Martin Luther King. And then there's one oddball day on your calendar though - Groundhog Day.
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First we hear the stories of the disasters. Then we hear the stories of the people affected by those disasters. Especially the heroes. Some years ago, there were these horrific floods that swept through Queensland, Australia, carrying away loved ones, and houses, cars, and communities. But there's one story from that tragedy that I'm not going to forget. It's about a 13-year-old boy named Jordan - from a town called Toowoomba.
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Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and honestly, this is a true story. Friends of ours have a big dog. And their neighbor threatened them about that dog. She had this white fluffy rabbit and a rabbit hutch in her backyard. And she said, "I'll tell you, if that dog ever hurts that rabbit of mine, I'll sue you for everything you're worth."
