Thank you! I thought I'd see if I could get some good pictures and post them, but it seems that -- on one of my cleverer days -- I decided to move the cord and pedal from the shelf in the closet to some other location. From previous inspections, I remember them looking really good, with none of the problems you've described. When I find them, I'll give them another look and maybe post pictures if I can take them well enough for them to be useful. In the mean time, I'm going to read up on how to clean and oil it - this is all new to me.
I asked someone I knew this same question and he said that if I got a shock from the machine, then it wasn't safe. Umm, yeah ... I kinda wanted to know before that point. But I can't say he was wrong!