(In No Particular Order)

1.  Facts are facts, and many people simply aren't interested in them

I run into this every day of my personal and professional life.  The world is full of people who think they know something.  Truth is ... they don't.  It doesn't matter how many facts, sources, pieces of evidence, or sound logic you give them ... they simply (often openly) refuse to accept the truth.  Their reasons vary, and are many, but most seem to simply be unwilling to educate themselves for no other reason than that they can't come to terms with the fact that they've been wrong.

2.  When you're wrong, make a mistake, and have it proven to you ... own up to it

We are all wrong at some point in our daily lives.  Non of us are always right, or mistake free.  I can understand holding out owning up to being wrong if no one can prove it, but if the facts are presented to you it is time to let it go.  Just admitting you made a mistake, or that you were incorrect, removes countless obstacles to your day.  People will respect you more, take you far more seriously, and be more willing to listen to what you have to say if you will just admit when you are wrong.

3.  If you aren't wrong ... don't you dare apologize ... to anyone ... ever

This one gets me so bent out of shape that I can barely contain myself.  Usually this happens in a relationship with the man apologizing to his woman simply to keep the peace.  Even though he may be right, and she may be wrong.  It is a symptom of the destruction of our society by feminism.  This is also known to happen in social settings to keep the peace.  The mantra that you should throw your silly pride aside to make someone else happy, or avoid conflict, is ludicrous.  If you're right ... stick to your guns.  If someone else has a problem with it ... to hell with them.  It is important to only take this stance when you are right.  People will respect you more, and you will be challenged over arbitrary nonsense far less.

4.  Friends are vastly overrated.

Don't get me wrong.  Friends are a nice accessory to have, but they are hardly necessary.  Usually, friends will lead to trouble.  You've all heard the adage that throughout your entire life you will only have a handful of true friends.  Take that to heart, because it is true.  Keep in perspective that throughout your entire life you can only expect to have about 5 true friends.  Everyone else is expendable, and/or likely will have a negative impact on your life at some point.   Be friendly or social if you desire, but keep everyone at arms length.  True friendship will surprise you one day when you finally realize that you have a true friend that you weren't looking for.

5.  It can ALWAYS be worse

It doesn't matter what the situation is ... it can always be worse.  Be thankful it isn't.  There is literally no situation in the world that can't be made worse ... so try to make the best of it, and improve your situation.

6.  If you violate your own personal code of honor ... it will haunt you forever

We all have it ... a personally customized code of honor that we try to live by.  It's something inside of all of us, but is completely unique to ourselves and does not apply to anyone else.  It's how we choose to live our life ... our own ethical and moral rulebook.  We set rules for actions for ourselves, and we will all violate our own code of ethics throughout our lives.  Sometimes it will be a minor bending of our own rules, and other times we will flat our dishonor ourselves.  Choose your actions wisely.  When you look back on your life you WILL remember those dishonors, and it will not feel good.

7.  Always find a way to do what makes you happy ... don't settle

We all have obligations, and we should never abandon them.  However, we should never settle.  Never settle on a mate, career, car, house, lifestyle, or whatever else if it doesn't make you completely happy.  We are all guilty of this at some point in our lives.  The problem is that most of us never correct the situation, and therefore don't live completely fulfilled.  The old saying 'do something you love, and you'll never work a day in your life' is indescribably true.  I'm someone who has worked many jobs to pay the bills that I hated, but I found a career where I  actually don't look forward to vacation time.  What an amazing feeling!  If you can't get to the point of doing what makes you happy right now ... that's ok.  Keep doing what you need to do, but don't stop working towards happiness.  One day the opportunity will present itself, and if you're smart you will reap the rewards.

8.  Morality is nothing more than someone's personal opinion

This drives me nuts.  Morals are nothing more than your personal beliefs, and they do not apply to anyone else.  We all have our own morals (see number 6).  Sometimes we share some of those morals with others ... sometimes we don't.  None of us have the same morals as anyone else.  There is always a variation of morality from person to person, and that is to be respected ... not attacked.  I'm not talking about societal morals, of course.  Society has certain morals that are shared by all reasonable citizens.  Things such as murder, rape, and robbery of the innocent are shared by sane, logical people.  That isn't the morality I'm speaking about.  Frequently, people will say someone else's actions are 'immoral.'  Really?  To whom?  If we can just accept this blatant fact the world will be a far better place.

9.  An emotional reaction to an event is usually the wrong course of action

This is epidemic in government.  There are countless examples I can draw from to illustrate this point, but I'll use recess.  We all grew up playing with certain playground equipment, and games at school.  Stuff that has been fun for all children throughout centuries.  That is ... until our hypersensitive collective erupted into emotional hysteria. 

Dodgeball is a game that is enjoyed by the vast majority of children, and has been played for decades with no issue.  Let's say a boy gets pelted in the face and gets a bloody nose.  In previous generations the boy would have shrugged off the great hit by his opponent, and waited for his turn to get revenge.  Now, the pansy, feminized, overly litigious society creates a breeding ground for hypersensitive overreaction.  The boy now cries, gets PTSD, has to seek psychological help for the rest of his life, he goes on psychotropic drugs, the parents sue the school, the PE teacher gets fired for child brutality, the community of pansy single mothers who raised pansy boys without the benefit of fatherly reason organizes a petition demanding the banning of dodgeball to prevent future child abuse, the school ends all dodgeball activity, they follow by banning all sports and games involving balls and 'aggressive behavior', a politician vows to protect children from 'bullies' and introduces legislation that bans all school activities that may be seen as aggressive behavior. 

Since no games are able to be played at school anymore recess is all but eradicated, the boy who originally got hit in the face playing dodgeball is now on medication that alters his mindset, since there is no physical outlet at school for him anymore he goes crazy, brings a gun to school, shoots several students and faculty, new legislation is introduced attempting to ban firearms as a result of the shooting, the victims families sue gun manufacturers, they win the lawsuit, new legislation is introduced restricting the profits of gun manufacturers, gun companies attempt to hide their money in off shore accounts, new legislation is introduced seeking power to go after off shore accounts, it is discovered the boy who shot everyone was the victim of cyber-bullying because another student (who was not shot) called him a dork 8 months before the shooting, new legislation is introduced seeking prison time for cyber-bullying, the boys single mom sues the other boy's family for calling her son a dork, she then sues Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter ... just because, all parties involved in this scenario now file a class action lawsuit against God for allowing all of this to happen ... all because of one little boy getting hit in the face during a game of dodgeball.  Sound familiar?

Rushing to pass legislation because of a minor, or isolated incident leads to hell.  Calm down, think it through, use logic, and we'll all be fine.

10.  Do not, under any circumstance, live your life afraid

A coward dies a thousand deaths.  We are frequently told to not react to another person being a jerk.  We're told we shouldn't risk provoking someone like that.  You might escalate the situation.  After all, what if they have a gun? 

What if they do? 

Am I supposed to live my life being bullied and afraid of some jerk who deserves nothing short of an ass kicking?  Screw that!  If someone is deserving of an ass chewing ... give it to them.  Just don't cross the line, and don't put any bystanders at risk.  We used to teach our children to stand up to bullies, but now we don't even ask ourselves to stand up to them ... let alone our kids. 

I'm also offended at the utterly juvenile assertion that to confront such a bully is 'stupid.'  How many times have we heard that rubbish on daytime court TV?  Stupid?  No, stupid is living your life being bullied by an ass who doesn't even deserve to draw breath.  Stupid is allowing others who may be weaker than you to be bullied by this idiot in the future because you chose not to act.  Now I have rules for this sort of thing.  I am far more aggressive when I'm alone.  I'm more passive when I have others with me.  There is no need to expose them to any ugliness against their will. 

Do not be afraid to be a jerk if it's warranted.  Most people are jerks because they are mad about something.  To be a jerk is to tell others you are mad.  If they deserve your anger ... let them know.  Perhaps they didn't realize how much of a jerk they were being.  You might just help them realize how ridiculous their behavior is, and make them think twice before acting like that again.  Is there a risk it might get violent?  Sure, but it's rare.  Just be prepared to protect yourself if necessary.

Today I had the desire to start having children.  Why?  Because I discovered that I wouldn't be alone in being a good father.

My wife and I went to Red Robin today to get a bite to eat after discovering that the Joey's by our house is not open yet.  As is always the case, Red Robin had a packed house with tons of kids of all ages enjoying a Sunday meal with their families.  Surprisingly, the noise of children didn't irritate me as much as it usually does in restaurants  Perhaps it was just that I was happy my wife was back in town.  That, or I'm coming down with some dire illness.

About halfway through our meal a boy that was 5-6 years old, sitting in the corner booth, projected his voice beyond the loud obnoxious levels of the other children.  You could tell it was forced, and the boy was attempting to make a scene to get his parents to cave in on something.  You know the yell I'm talking about.  That angry, frustrated, spiteful scream that the child strains to get out. 

In modern times the parent usually follows that scream with "ok take it ... now stop screaming."  This new age patheticism that has become the norm in parenting would never have been stood for a few decades ago.  You know, when parents were parents and kids were kids ... not the other way around.

As the child hit the climax of his scream the entire restaurant jumped, twitched, and became instantly annoyed at the child.  All of this happened in a fraction of a second, but that short time felt like an eternity.  Suddenly we were all rescued from the agony of hearing a child in the midst of a well orchestrated tantrum by the only sound that could silence the boy's scream ... his father's voice.  "No, stop it!" he yelled.  The father's voice was loud, direct, and clearly intimidating.  Those three words delivered exquisitely, and timely, immediately silenced the boy, and put an end to the tantrum.

Wow, I was so impressed that a parent would have the courage to actually act as a parent in public these days ... truly inspiring. 

Then it happened.  "That was WAY out of line!" a woman behind me yelled.  "That was just uncalled for." she continued.  Then I heard a couple of women who work for Red Robin say similar things from the kitchen area.  Next I heard other women around me criticizing the father's direct, and successful, action.  They were not being quiet.  They wanted the father to hear their disapproval.  I could not contain myself, "hell no, that's a good father right there!" I said.  "That's how you get control of your kid." 

I had challenged the hags, and they retreated to whispers. 

The woman who originally protested the father's actions behind me suddenly found herself having to explain to her male companion what had happened.  I turned my ear and listened to the conversation.  He missed the whole thing, and couldn't understand why she was so angry.  As she explained it to him she tried to lead him to how horrible and out of line this father was for daring to confront his bratty kid.  However, her companion didn't understand what the fuss was about.  She continued to press that it was wrong to raise your voice to a child.  Not wanting to get into an argument with her ... this punk coward of a man found a way to concede so he could avoid what he undoubtedly felt was a unimportant conversation.  See people, this is one of those extremely important talks you shouldn't avoid.  If they have kids ... there will be issues.

I continued to boast in defense of the father loudly, but half disguised as merely a conversation with my wife.  I did this until I was the only one willing to discuss the matter any further ... I had won.  I had defended the good guys against modern feminist weakness. 

If more fathers, or mothers for that matter, cared as much about their kids as this man does we would have a much better world.  Instead, weak men dominated by even weaker women let their children get away with anything they want.  Next thing you know we have sissy kids who run around unattended in public annoying everyone.  As time goes on these sissy kids grow up, mate with other sissy kids, and we have a whole specie of uber sissy pansies on our hands.  We call them neo-hippies, or liberals for short.

In closing I would like to point out that not one man in that restaurant complained about the father's actions, but not one spoke up either.  Inside of 1 minute the boy and the father were laughing and playing while enjoying their family time on a Sunday afternoon.  Clearly there was no harm or animosity.  An entire restaurant full of people continued to enjoy their lunch, the father and son enjoyed great family bonding time, and I shared the experience with all of you.  All because one father chose to behave as a father should, and disciplined his child with three little words.

Nevadans are well aware that we made a big mistake in voting for Gov. Gibbons in the Republican primary election.  We are now paying the price to our inexplicable rejection of Bob Beers.  We've been stuck with an embattled governor who has been accused of everything under the sun.  While most of these accusations are erroneous ... there is real criticism of Gov. Gibbons by conservatives.

He has supported tax increases on the people of Nevada while at the same time telling us he'd support no such thing.  He didn't even have the courage to oppose/support the room tax.  That allowed him to proclaim that he never supported an increase in Nevada taxes.  It's a lie ... but most Nevadans don't know that it was the Governor who wanted to borrow money from the joint investment fund, and that Nevada law requires a property tax increase (with interest) to repay that loan.  Please note that this fund is essentially an interest accruing savings account.  Local governments are allowed to withdraw their funds without penalty at any time to pay any budget shortfalls.  Humboldt County was so afraid of the Governor's maneuver that they withdrew all of the money they had in the fund.

Conservatives have grown so tired of Gov. Gibbons that they have started seeking a replacement in the next primary.  Let's face it ... Gibbons has no chance in hell of winning the next election, and if the GOP loses the executive branch of the state the Democrats will be able to redraw the electoral districts.  From that point on ... you can forget about any GOP victory in the near future.

Enter two stellar people, and conservatives, in Mayor Montandon and Sen. Heck.  Both have answered Nevada conservatives call to replace a faux conservative in Gibbons with a real one.  Someone who won't mislead us, and both of these men are straight shooters.  Nevada would be better off with either Montandon or Heck as the GOP nominee rather than Gibbons.

Today another candidate threw his hat into the ring, and this should make conservatives very nervous.  That new candidate is Reno Mayor Bob Cashell (R-Reno), and he is no conservative.  Nor is he a republican.  Cashell will be holding a fundraiser for Sen. Maj. Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) on April 15 ... tea party day.

Recently, when I interviewed Harry Reid, I asked him about Cashell.  I was curious if Reid would reciprocate fundraising efforts for Cashell and Sparks Mayor Geno Martini (R-Sparks) since those two men were both Republicans.  Reid said that he would support the two Republican candidates against a Democrat opponent.  He also said that he and Cashell go way back, are good friends, and that Cashell was likely to go back to the Democrat Party.

Uh, huh.  So we have Cashell abandoning his party to support Harry Reid, and we have Reid saying he'd support Cashell over a Democrat opponent.  However, Reid said that he fully expects Cashell to go back to the Democrat Party.  Do we really want a candidate running for the GOP ticket that has the support of Harry Reid, and that Reid believes will defect to the Democrats? 

Cashell must be stopped or we may end up with, at best, another Gibbons, or at worst another Reid.

I've just learned from a source on the inside at CCSD that the  Education Support Employees Association (ESEA) will be holding a meeting this Saturday to discuss layoffs in the district.  This is not unexpected news, and the district made public some of their plans for layoffs.  Most of those layoffs were going to be support staff.  That story was broken by Heather and I on Newsradio 840 KXNT over a month before the public had been made aware.

The ESEA is a union of the CCSD bus drivers and other support staff.  It does not include all support employees in the district, and several are being left out of the meeting this Saturday.  They will be the last to know their fate.

UPDATE:

Apparently, some of the teachers at Dooley think that the parents are not responsible enough because they didn't call the school.  Truth is I don't know if they did or not ... nor is it relevant.  A parent may contact anyone they wish about what is happening in their kid's school.  Parent's have had enough problems dealing with school administrations as of late, and they are tired of it.

This particular teacher also said that you can't trust what these kids say.  Basically, calling the children liars.  I should point out that I was never contacted by a child, and I have a copy of the assignment for all of you to view.  The teacher said that I was being unfair, but she could not respond to any of my problems with the assignment.  She kept saying that "if I knew the teacher" I would not be saying this about her.  She only provided topics to help the kids.  All of which is not my contention with the assignment.  They have begun circling the wagons.

Last night Heather and I told you about some parents who sent me a writing assignment that concerned them.  The assignment was a 5th grade science assignment at Dooley Elementary in Henderson that required a persuasive paragraph on an issue that had been studied in the class.  You can see the assignment below to view it yourself.


Notice that the assignment has a sentence just above suggested topics that notifies students that they may choose their own topic.  Following that sentence you get five "suggestions" from the teacher for the students to write about.  All five of those topic choices have an undeniable political slant.  The parents who contacted me were concerned that the teacher was openly teaching a man-made global warming agenda in class. 

Given that this is now a complete and provable myth, you can understand why the parents are concerned.  Heather and I have documented dozens of cases of global warming propaganda in US and UK schools.  This indoctrination has been shown to lead to psychological and sleep disorders in children.  In every single case that we've documented in the CCSD, the teacher has refused to provide educational material countering the global warming agenda they are teaching.  Thereby creating a biased educational environment where the teacher can preach their own ideology to a captive audience ... your kids.

When Heather and I did the topic we asked you whether or not you felt this teacher was indoctrinating her students given that she allowed the students to choose their own topic, and that her class was not required to choose one of the five topics provided.  In an hour of full phone lines, and with several teachers calling, not one of you felt that the parents were overreacting.  All of the callers were convinced that the teacher was indoctrinating her classroom with her ideology.  The callers included several teachers who have seen similar behavior in their schools, and explained the strategy employed by these predatory teachers to give themselves plausible deniability .  One such strategy these teachers pointed out was to have the option of picking your own topic on assignments instead of using teacher provided examples.  

As is always the case, many of you suggested the students write about a topic that counters what the teacher provided topics suggest.  That way we can evaluate how the teacher responds to being challenged by the student.  Yet we have numerous examples provided by listeners, and students themselves, of what happens when a student takes a stand like that.  The teacher will often ridicule the student, or at least belittle them.  Sometimes, in more extreme cases, the teacher will get the other students involved in ganging up on that particular student.  Heather and I even played audio of one such instance of that behavior during this last election.

In order to get to the bottom of this situation I contacted Dooley Elementary to get a response from the school on parents having concerns over one of their teachers.  As usual, no one was available to speak with me, but I was told I would be called the next day.  I've heard this about a dozen times from individual schools, but have never received a response from the CCSD.  So I expected to be blown off again.  To my surprise, I received a call from the CCSD communications officer at 2pm the next afternoon.  This marked the first time I've personally had a response from the district.  Though I would like to point out that the fact the CCSD had to respond with a communications officers rather than the school's faculty shows exactly what type of bloated monstrosity we are dealing with.  

No doubt we got a response from the district this time around because of the growing influence Heather and I are having on Nevada educational issues.  Several local news stations, and newspapers have begun entering into information sharing partnerships with Heather and I on educational issues.  We've also been contacted by several politicians in Carson City to help provide data for debate on the floor of the legislature.  All of this coupled with Heather and I breaking several news stories about budget cuts and spending in the CCSD weeks before the news picked it up undoubtedly has put the district on notice that we have influence.  Suddenly, we start getting our calls returned.

The communications officer was pleasant, but was ineffective in his duty to protect the district's image.  He gave extraordinarily vanilla responses to the questions I had about the assignment.  He assured me that he was assured the teacher did not have an agenda, and that the teacher made it very clear to students that they could pick their own topic or argue against the teacher provided topics without reprimand.  While admitting that he could not know for sure since he wasn't in the class.  He said that this assignment was no different than those he received as a student, or the ones his daughter gets now.  Now I'm concerned about his daughter being indoctrinated too.  We've all had our fair share of biased school assignments, but the vast majority of mine were neutral in substance.  

I pressed him on that issue next.  His statements that the teacher was just providing a few sample subjects so it would be easier for the students to come up with a topic actually confirmed the criticism of the teacher on yesterday's show.  That was the point of the parent's complaints.  Rather than the teacher providing neutral topics for the students to choose from, she provided very specific ideological topics that this communications officer just admitted the students will most likely use.  After all, it's easier than coming up with your own stuff.  He said that the teacher probably could have worded the topics better, but that there was no bias in the teacher's teaching.  When I continued to press him on that by saying the teacher didn't just provide one topic that could have been misinterpreted by oversensitive parents, but that she provided five blatantly biased topics to choose from, he had no answer. 

By this time in the conversation he was beginning to sound like a sound bite being replayed on a loop, and I realized that he was starting to shut down.  Earlier in the conversation he was engaging, but he now descended into one liner talking points to be repeated often.  The call ended cordially soon after that.

Let's reexamine the five topics provided by the teacher, and where she went wrong.  


What the teacher wrote:

1) Recycling should be required by law.  

2) Solutions are needed to end the depletion of the ozone layer.

3) Saving the environment is the responsibility of all humans.

4) Everyone should "Go Green" to do their part for the environment.

5) Humans and construction companies must stop destroying the tropical rainforest. (the communications officer challenged me on this one)


What the teacher should have written:

1) Should recycling be required by law?

2) Are solutions needed to protect the ozone layer, or is the depletion of the ozone layer over-exaggerated?

3) Are all humans responsible for saving the environment?  Why?

4) Should everyone "Go Green" to do their part for the environment, and What does that Mean?

5) Are humans and construction companies destroying the tropical rainforest, or is reforestation efforts enough to offset logging?

You'll notice that every one of the teachers topics is a statement telling the kids what the issue is, and it leads the students to a conclusion.  All of mine are questions that allow the students to make up their own mind, and draw their own conclusions.  

If any of you have read any books about leadership, sales, or management you will know that one of the most effective and subtle ways of influencing people is to speak in suggestive, leading statements.  Most people are hard wired to instinctively follow leading statements ... that's why they are called leading statements.  It takes less effort than formulating your own opinion. 

This is a basic principal used in indoctrination, reeducation, and brainwashing efforts worldwide.  In high school I wrote a regionally recognized paper on brainwashing in China.  The Chinese start their brainwashing programs with leading, suggestive statements to be repeatedly hammered into the heads of the victim.  This is the same effort we are seeing in modern society, and our educational system.  In other words, if you say it enough people will start believing it.

Let me know if you think the assignment is proof the teacher is attempting to indoctrinate the students in the class.