Cactus Cuties - National Anthem - Texas Tech Basketball

Can I hear a big TEXAS AMEN for these genuine Cuties. It's an old Southern joke that things are indeed Bigger and Better in Texas...these little Cactus Cuties certainly prove that with their singing of the National Anthem at a Texas Tech basketball game. These little girls will GO FAR!

Wednesday Hero - Spc. Monica Lin Brown

Spc. Monica Lin Brown 19 years old from Lake Jackson, Texas 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team Army Spc. Monica Lin Brown has done something only a very few female soldiers in American history have ever done. She's been awarded the Silver Star. Brown saved the lives of fellow soldiers after a roadside bomb tore through a convoy of Humvees in the eastern Paktia province of Afghanistan in April 2007. "I did not really think about anything except for getting the guys to a safer location and getting them taken care of and getting them out of there." "We stopped the convoy. I opened up my door and grabbed my aid bag," Brown said. She started running toward the burning vehicle as insurgents opened fire. All five wounded soldiers had scrambled out. "I assessed the patients to see how bad they were. We tried to move them to a safer location because we were still receiving incoming fire," Brown said. "So we dragged them for 100 or 200 meters, got them away from the Humvee a little bit," she said. "I was in a kind of a robot-mode, did not think about much but getting the guys taken care of." For Brown, who knew all five wounded soldiers, it became a race to get them all to a safer location. Eventually, they moved the wounded some 500 yards away and treated them on site before putting them on a helicopter for evacuation. "I did not really have time to be scared," Brown said. "Running back to the vehicle, I was nervous (since) I did not know how badly the guys were injured. That was scary." The military said Brown's "bravery, unselfish actions and medical aid rendered under fire saved the lives of her comrades and represents the finest traditions of heroism in combat." These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero. We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

VOTE For My Puppy Scooter - Bissell Pet Contest

We all need a little act of random kindness in our day to keep our spirits high. Today, I am asking all of my readers for a little help. I recently purchased a Bissell vacuum cleaner and a Bissell Spot Bot carpet cleaner. Bissell is having a contest for dogs. They are looking for cute dogs to use in their advertising of their cleaning products. OF COURSE I think my puppy is the cutest, so I submitted his photo. If Scooter wins, HE doesn't get a thing, but Bissell will donate $10,000 to Scooter's favorite pet charity. PLEASE CLICK THIS LINK and give Scooter a vote BEFORE MARCH 18TH. Help Scooter support the Reno SPCA. We thank you in advance

Wednesday Hero - Sgt. Steve Morin, Jr.

Sgt. Steve Morin Jr. 34 years old from Arlington, Texas 111th Engineer Battalion, 36th Infantry Division, Texas Army National Guard September 28, 2005 From the time he finished high school, Sgt. Steve Morin Jr. made serving in the military his career. "He always stood up for what he thought was right," Gwendolyn Michelle Morin, his wife, said. "He was a fighter. He would never give up." "He had called me to let me know what he was going to do that day," she said. He expected to be able to call her more often because of the missions he was being assigned. Sometimes they would go 11 or 12 days between calls. Morin enlisted in the Navy after graduating high school in his hometown of Brownfield, Texas at 17. By 34, Morin had devoted 14 years to the Navy, served in the National Guard for two and planned to attend Officers Candidate School. Morin was still in the Navy when he met his wife. At the time, the two were working for a photo company; he was Santa Claus and she was an elf, she said. Both were attending Texas Tech University. "It was funny because we always kept running into each other. He would hang outside my classes and wait for me with a Diet Coke," recalled Gwendolyn. "He knew how to make me really happy." Sgt. Morin died when an IED went off, overturning the vehicle he was riding in near Umm Qasr, Iraq. "He's very strong willed, very determined. Humorous, a clown, but he was also very disciplined and very passionate about what he believed in," Gwendolyn Morin said. "He always wanted to serve his country." These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero. We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

New Evidence In Brianna Denison (Dennison) Case - TWO Pairs of Panties Were Found

Reno police announced Thursday that in fact the PINK PANTHER PANTIES that were found at a close proximity to Brianna Denison’s dead body DID NOT in fact hold DNA of the killer unlike the information “mistakenly” previously reported. Reno police held a press conference in which they cleared up the error and released new evidence to us. “Hold Back” evidence is a common term for evidence that can only be known to the killer, the victim, and the police. The new hold back evidence that was released was that there were in fact TWO pairs of panties found at the scene of poor Brianna Denison’s body. These panties held the DNA of the killer, Brianna Denison, AND another girl that lived in the home from which she was taken. This monster took Brianna, raped and killed her, and had underwear belonging to the other occupant of the home. The pink panther panties were found intertwined with the newly released panties. We locally have been continuously talking about this case and many who have read my blog posts have commented. I’ve been recently corresponding with a very interesting person from out of state that studies this sort of crime in the course of attaining a Masters Degree in Criminal Justice. These are the types of crimes this person studies. My latest correspondence with this person was interesting, and I feel it worth a read. Here are the theories of a person who has come to study this case and has some really intriguing thoughts on the latest news. This is published with full permission of the author. "My take on the new info is that I really, really hope they have the girl who owns the pink underwear somewhere safe--he swiped them from the house she was abducted from and made Brianna wear them. He kept her alive for at least a day or two, and he made her dress in the underwear he is collecting, but he doesn't just take ANYONE's underwear. The underwear he takes are not from a clean dresser drawer, they are from a college girls' floor in the bathroom or in her bedroom, and he knows which one he wants and he takes HER underwear. He went after the girl in Dec and then went BACK and tried to break in--he wasn't done with her yet. When he couldn't get to her, he went to the "other" area where there was someone he was obsessed with (owner of the pink underwear) and he had already been there before Jan 20th...in fact he had probably taken the pink underwear a month before he came in on Jan 20th. So, he knew they were out partying, he takes the opportunity to go for his other girl of interest and then he walks in and sees what??? Beautiful Brianna on the couch. Not what he originally came for, not the girl who owned the pink underwear, but he decided on Brianna. He came right in the front door, or whichever door shows the couch in view, he took the teddy bear because he put it over her face to keep her from screaming, put her in his "choke and drag" hold with the teddy bear over her face, and he took her outside. As for the dog, the dog didn't know him, but he knew they had a dog. He likely opened the door and the dog came running to go out for a bathroom break, and he befriended or fed the dog, walked in with the dog when the dog was done, and got Brianna. The dog went back to sleep where it previously had been sleeping. Dogs can hear the sound of the door they go out to use the bathroom and they go to it when they hear it open not necessarily to bark or protect, but just to go out. If the dog smelled a treat before getting to the door (and most dogs can), no reason to bark as instinct (food over safety) takes over. Yep, he just walks with the dog right back into the house after he feeds it. He still had the pink panties, and made Brianna wear them because he may have chose Brianna for the night, but his long-term (in the sense that he has been watching her) obsession still exists. He had no "attachment" if you will call it that, to Brianna--she was a victim of wrong place wrong time and I think he was there for someone else, someone he still wants. I think he was able to kill Brianna because she meant nothing to him in the sense that she was not his "long-term" obsession, she was an opportunity. Absolutely the only other scenario (and the one I personally favor) is that he thought Brianna was her, the owner of the pink underwear, because there lies Brianna with the other girls' teddy bear, face partially hidden by the bear, she is using it as a pillow, he takes her, gets out the door and realizes he has the wrong frickin girl. (Remember, he came in through the door, didn't even realize who he wanted was actually in the bedroom and it was a stranger on the couch). So he's got the wrong girl and that would make him angry because he wanted the girl who owned the pink panties but here he already has Brianna and can't let her go now, so he takes her and makes her wear the pink underwear and tries to "make believe" it is the girl he wanted. He keeps her alive so he can watch her, like he watches the other ones before he attacks. He watched all of them, and when he decided to attack he had simply gotten to that level of his obsession, from watching, to collecting something intimate, to taking whatever he wanted whether it be just touching them or full rape, and he will need more and more to get his "fix". It doesn't work, this fantasy in which he tries to "make" Brianna the other girl, and he is not happy about it. She is of no use to him after he tries for a day or just a bit more, and so he kills her. The black panties are something else and I still suspect they are a message to someone else, some other woman, the "original" obsession perhaps from his hometown. I also believe that he left the pink panties on/near Brianna because he abandoned that fantasy with Brianna's death. He will need new panties from 1) one of his other "obsessions" or 2)another pair from the girl who owned the pink pair--another pair because he altered their meaning to him when he put them on Brianna, he needs to start again. He won't make it much longer without attacking again and he will kill again, but not in Reno. He will go back to the small hometown he came from and go to the nearest city. He will go back home because 1) he is at least a little scared and 2) that is where it started (not the killing, but the obsessions). He will go back because he feels he may have gone too far, and if he starts over, starts from the original obsession, he can control this thing inside him once again (but he will find out he cannot--that it takes more and more to get the fix even if he tries to start completely over). He is from a small little town where people don't lock their doors at night and everyone trusts their neighbor. So why leave the black underwear if they were so important? If they were his "original" obsession? because he is going back to where it all started to regain control (or so he thinks). These panties could be from when he was in high school, and the police need to release that info--that these underwear could be years and years old--I can about bet the girl who owns them thinks "Well I had a pair ten years ago". I am willing to guess she is from his hometown where he went to high school. Well, that is my version anyway. I sure hope they are not ruling out suspects who may have moved and left before Feb 1st, another new month's worth of rent. You can post this one on your blog if you wish--I think the info about thinking about the fact that the underwear could be from years ago is important." READ ALL STORIES HERE

My Worst Nightmare

In the nightmare I found myself nude in bed, and I was looking at a mirror on the ceiling, and I discovered that I am a Negro, and I'm circumcised! Quickly I sat up, found my pants and looked in the pockets to find my driver's license photo and it was that same color. Black. I felt myself being very depressed, downcast, sitting in a chair. But it's a wheelchair!! That means, of course, besides being black and Jewish, I'm also disabled!!! I said to myself, aloud “This is impossible. It's impossible that I should be black and Jewish and disabled.” “It's the pure and holy truth”, whispers someone from behind me. I turn around, and it's my boyfriend. Just what I needed!!! I am a homosexual, and on top of that with a Mexican boyfriend. Oh, my Gosh..... black, Jewish, disabled, gay, with a Mexican boyfriend, a drug addict, and HIV-positive!!! Desperate, I begin to shout, cry, pull my hair, and Oh, noooooo...I'm bald!!! The telephone rings. It's my brother. He is saying, “Since mom and dad died the only thing you do is hang out, take drugs, and laze around all day doing nothing. Get a job you worthless piece of crap... Any job.” Mom?... Dad?... Nooooooooo... Now I'm also an unemployed orphan! I try to explain to my brother how hard it is to find a job when you are black, Jewish, disabled, gay with a Mexican boyfriend, are a drug addict, HIV positive, bald, and an orphan. But he doesn't get it. Frustrated, I hang up. It's then I realize I only have one hand!!! With tears in my eyes I go to the window to look out. I see I live in a shanty-town full of cardboard and tin houses! There is trash everywhere. Suddenly I feel a sharp pain near my pacemaker.... Pacemaker? Besides being black, Jewish, disabled, a fairy with a Mexican boyfriend, a drug addict, HIV positive, bald, orphaned, unemployed, an invalid with one hand, and having a bad heart, I live in a crappy neighborhood. At that very moment my boyfriend approaches and says to me, 'Sweetiepie, my love, my little black heartthrob, have you decided who are you going to vote for in the Primary? Hillary or Obama??? Say it isn't so!!! I can handle being a black, disabled, one armed, drug addicted, Jewish queer on a pacemaker who is HIV positive, bald, orphaned, unemployed, lives in a slum, and has a Mexican boyfriend, but please, oh dear God, please, please, please, please don't tell me I'm a DEMOCRAT.........!!!!! (Author Unknown)

Wednesday Hero - Mark O'Steen - Thomas Gibbons - Daniel L. Kisling, Jr. - Gregory M. Frampton

Pictured Left to Right Chief Warrant Officer Mark O'Steen, 43 years old from Ozark, Alabama Chief Warrant Officer Thomas Gibbons, 31 years old from Prince Frederick, Maryland Staff Sgt. Daniel L. Kisling Jr., 31 years old from Neosho, Missouri SSgt. Gregory M. Frampton, 37 years old from Fresno, California 1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regimen January 30, 2003 "They succeeded where lesser men failed," said Chaplain Robert Glazener. "They proved themselves in ways that men out there who never served, never volunteered, never sacrificed, would never understand. They sought neither glory nor special recognition, but they gained both by their actions. They are the true American heroes today and deserve more honor than we can humbly bestow on them." The helicopter carrying the men went down seven miles east of the Bagram Air Base while on a training mission. These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero. We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

I've Always Been There - Reason, Season, or Lifetime

I’ve Always Been There. Such a simple statement, but yet one so profound. I don’t know about you, but I am a person that is SO BUSY just dealing with day to day life, that I forget those that have always been there. My family gives me HUGE SHIT, and rightfully so because I might tell you I’m sending you something, or buy you a present, and six months later (or much longer), I finally get around to actually sending it to you. I talk to my own sons on the phone and at some point (far too quickly) it feels like we’ve each said just what we called to say but the conversation ends too quickly. I’m as guilty as anyone; I just don’t quite know what to say at the point of “dead space”. We all have SO MUCH to say, we JUST DON’T. I’m a person that is a bit of a techno-geek. What I actually SEND you is usually a drawn out e-mail, or a quick photo, or a blog post that goes on and on, and in my feeble mind it should SHOW you what I’ve been thinking. I THINK of people EVERY DAY, or at least once in a while, and I sit and have warm fuzzys about them and my memories or thoughts of them, but THEY HAVE NO IDEA. In the last year, and even up and until the last couple of months, I have been mysteriously contacted by persons that come from years FAR GONE BY. It amazes me that no matter how many years pass, some connections are never lost. There’s an age old e-mail analogy or a saying that states that people come into your life for 1) a reason, 2) a season, or 3) a lifetime. It is so true! REASON: It is a fact that some people I’ve met were in benign situations, through situations in simple circumstances, like a client or vendor at my work, or a player that was just playing cards when I was a dealer, or a checker at a line I was in. Once in a great while, one person comes along that says something so benign to them in the course of their day, but yet so profound to me in my day that at that moment, I know will never forget them. You might occasionally see them again or not, but they are forever special to you, but they do not know that they are. SEASON: This deals more with some friendships, work relationships, or ex-boyfriends or girlfriends. It could also deal with projects or short term long-seeming things. These people you saw more than once, possibly for a long time, but on a regular basis for some time at least. It could even be an ex husband or wife. The crazy thing about reason, season, or lifetime is that it make take a lifetime or seemingly close to realize which category one might fall into. Season people are the ones that were at some point vital to you for a considered period of time and then for one reason or another were gone. They rate no less important on the scale than REASON people, they just lasted longer in the course of things. LIFETIME: BOY, these are the people you can count on one hand, and if spiritually minded, you might be lucky enough to have enough of these people to consider both hands, both feet, all fingers and toes, OR, you might find that there are more of them than you think. These people ARE your children or your husband or your lifetime friends, the people you see all the time and people you would die for. Your children are a given, your spouse is a given, but there are others that are also a given, you just let them slip away. Don’t let the word lifetime fool you. Never be so closed minded to think that some of those reason and season people might not just creep up on you only to make you see that they are LIFETIME people. For the young out there don’t sit and wish that reason or season people WILL be lifetime, those probably won’t be. For the young, you can’t know for sure until you are older. I’ve just been touched over the last year or two by people that have come back from the past. People that in their reason or season I never realized how important they would be today. I’m bad about not taking the time to relish the important sometimes. I live a life that revolves more about today and what needs to happen today, and then tomorrow feeling pity on me for what I didn’t accomplish yesterday. I think that tends to be more the norm and the obsessive in today’s society. We addict ourselves to one thing or another, whether it be work, house, kids, alcohol, drugs, relationships, appointments, arguments, politics, or crocheting…whatever your seemingly simple addiction seems to be, we lose sight of reason, season, or lifetime. I just want to say to those that have recently said some really kind and touching things to me that I’m sorry that we all just evolve and meander each day or year into other things and that not only did I never take the time to relish the moments we had while we were having them, I am so happy today to have someone remind me of them and truly remember that while it might have been a reason, or season, some have turned out to be a lifetime. I also want to apologize to those that ARE A LIFETIME, ARE MY MAINSTAY, MY FAMILY, that sometimes I get carried away with other thoughts and obsessions and my personal passions that I don't either spend enough time with YOU each day. And I also want to thank those that will never know that as each day turns into a memory, the people I meet and those that touch me daily might just also someday make the list of lifetime. Life is an evolving journey and I don’t want to miss the moments. Moments can be monumental; I hope anyone who reads this might take one to reflect, but also to make a note to notice than any moment in your upcoming days might turn out to be monumental.

Millennials: The Failed Children - Liberal Influance Has Failed Generations

Millennials: This is the “new word” for our latest generation (I didn’t know that), the generation my children fall into. PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO HIRE THEM; THEY ARE BECOMING A FISCAL NUISANCE, AND A MATTER OF PROFIT AND LOSS NEGATIVES. My niece Rhonda started this ball rolling in my head, and I’m not sure we stand on the same side of the fence on the principle, but as I let it sit for a few days, more things have happened that remind me this is something that needs to be said. The Soap Box is open, so bookmark for later, or read now, this one will be long : ) Thank goodness, neither my niece, nor my boys fall into this category, due to their particular conservative upbringings. However, I’ve seen this coming on for YEARS, and the articles and points made clear in this post are some current events that bring these thoughts to fruition. Having children that are six years apart, I’ve had a total of 30 years of experience of watching our national school systems turn from actually TEACHING our kids what they need to know in life, to helplessly watching the vastly LIBERAL minded MOLD our kids into NEEDY ROBOTS VOID OF THE CAPABILITY TO COPE. Now I know that not ALL kids fall into this category, but the ones that have risen above it really don’t realize that while they are going on about life in a normal and successful course because they DID have good guidance and teaching, there are MANY times more than them that aren’t. And, given a course of 30-50 years, the RESULTS of many years of liberal and “cushy” mentality in the school systems…, the repercussions are finally beginning to show themselves. The repercussions are not good, and we must get a handle on it soon, or the future of America will in no way resemble the easy and sensible successes our founding forefathers intended for this nation. THIS ARTICLE says it. This is the first article I’ve read lately that seems to bring the reality that young people have not been prepared for life in school to the forefront. While I TOTALLY AGREE with Owen Hannay (who fired more than a dozen millennials in 2006), a principal of Slingshot, LLC in the Dallas, TX area (an agency known for its leading edge marketing), I find some real problems with the “solution” he hired. His observations of the underlying problem are correct, but the “cushy” “professional” he hired to solve his problem, or “teach” him how to deal with the Millennials seems to me to be as misconstrued as the Millennials are. How is it that NOW we have professionals to teach us how to deal with a problem that should have never been, and the solutions are as coddling as the basic reason for the original problem were? We have generational experts? We have certified reality therapists? I just don’t get overly liberal minded people that just cannot say NO, or THAT’S WRONG! If we as a nation of adults make it our priority to TEACH correctness and life skills from first grade forward, the current state of affairs would never be. When a “child” is 27, and is still confused, it’s too late. Political Correctness, Spiritual Anonymity, NOT Teaching NO RACE but Creating Racial Chaos, and promoting a Void of Proper Physical Normalcy, has left our children without life skills. I think that “older people” say age 40+ are more able to grasp the young world and market it properly for profit than the “young people” are capable of grasping the discipline necessary to still market and profit, yet keep some decorum within great profits. It is possible to be COOL and RICH, but still RESPECTABLE AND CENTERED, even, and I said EVEN if you combine your efforts with a little risqué and skin. Just keep some basic parameters around your boldness, your attitudes, your work ethics, and your common sense! Oh yeah, this article is about how we don’t teach common sense anymore. If you didn’t read the linked article, here are some quotes, and we’ll continue the story from there. I’ll post comments in between… "They wipe out on life as often as they wipe out on work itself," If we taught them early on that life is beautiful, not chaotic, they wouldn’t be wiped out! It’s the PERCEPTION of life that they’ve been taught that leads them to depression, overt restlessness, and failure. "They've been overparented, overindulged and overprotected," They’ve been UNDERparented, overindulged, and OVERprotected. We used to play OUTSIDE for HOURS. Our parents used to tell us to “shake it off” if we weren’t bleeding. A quarter when we were young and $5 when we were older was a great allowance. Our children today are given too much too early, and even I am guilty of that one. My parents though found time to TEACH me powerful things, they made time to point out life situations when I wanted more attention when they were busy paying bills or having “parent” discussions about life things. Later, when they could, they made up for it. They played with me outside, they took me for a drive and showed me something cool, they educated. There is a HUGE difference between TEACHING and EDUCATING, folks that have been educated know that to be a sure truth. If I could ever change anything about my life, it would be that I was not guilty of NOT spending enough time with my children to just show them the mere beauty of any day the sun rises, and WHY? "They get an apartment and a kitty, and they can't cope. Work becomes an ancillary casualty. They're good kids with talent who want to succeed. That's what makes me nuts." Kids who have been paid to be quiet, by parents who were the FIRST generation to be coddled are used to having it all, and when they get out on their own, they cannot imagine anything less. Kids who had nothing because their parents just worked hard and didn’t have much to give are used to seeing their friends have it all, so either way, indulgence is the norm with today’s young people. WE DON’T TEACH THEM HOW TO SAVE, HOW TO BE HAPPY WITH LESS…we paid for it, they had it when young, and they don’t understand the screeching halt to it all when we magically cut them off at age 18-20 something. "You have to be very careful in how you talk to them because they take everything as criticism." That’s because liberal minded people over years taught us to give everyone that plays a trophy. Elementary aged kids who play soccer, baseball, football or other sports are encouraged to NOT keep score, to make it fairer for everyone. After all, parents PAY for these kids to play, therefore ALL KIDS must be given equal playing time and results must be generic. NO, “Ya pays your money, and ya takes your chances.” Parents should better be teaching their youngsters that “it was worth every penny”, “maybe next year you can work on it and be better”, or “maybe that’s not your sport or strong suit, what do you like?” , “Next year, let’s try another activity that you might be better at.” If the child truly loves the thing that they failed at, then work with them, teach them diligence and hard work. If you love it, then pursue it until you succeed at it. Failures and disappointments will come, but if you really love it, then you have to be willing to do whatever it takes to overcome and surpass the negative. Today, it’s commonly taught that it’s not fair to exclude those that fail; it’s only taught that we must include the failed with the accomplished and give them all the same reward. Therefore, where’s the incentive? “He (the principal of that marketing agency) turned to Dallasite Cathie Looney, a nationally known speaker and generational expert, to help him understand this age group, the oldest of whom are 27 and just entering the workforce. All true, says Ms. Looney, a certified reality therapist and retired director of children and family ministry at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church. And many employers are backing away from hiring them because they're so high maintenance. If you want to get the best out of the millennials, you have to invest in them. You have to give them a mentor to teach them how to navigate the adult world," NO, NO, NO…if I own a business and hire people…they should ALREADY have at the very least life skills to “navigate the adult world”. After all, they are ALREADY adults! I’m ALL FOR paying big bucks for additional training, and even on the job training for adults that are learning the skills for a particular job, but LIFE SKILLS… that should have been taken care of by graduation of high school IF OUR SCHOOLS WERE PROPERLY TEACHING OUR KIDS…OR IF OUR PARENTS WERE PROPERLY TEACHING OUR KIDS. If kids are taught by all of us, parents, mentors, and teachers alike about life, then NOBODY COMES OUT HIGH MAINTENANCE! The funny thing about liberal minded professionals is that they contradict themselves continually just to make them appear “proper” on both sides of a fence. They are the experts of CYA (cover your ass). The only things that Cathie Looney (oxymoronic name I think) the “reality specialist” said that is true or that made sense are these quotes… "You have to tell them in black and white what your expectations are for them and what the consequences will be if they don't meet those expectations." Well, in most circumstances, when you are hired for a job, YOU ARE GIVEN a job description. You ARE told what is expected of you, (it’s in the employee handbook that you probably didn’t read). If I’ve ALREADY TOLD you what your job is, and I mention from time to time what you need to do different…and I’ve told you that if you don’t meet the probationary period expectations of 90 days you will be let go, THEN WHY SHOULD I HIRE A FREAKING MENTOR TO TEACH YOU HOW TO NAVIGATE THE ADULT WORLD? “But parents of millennials also turned into agents who worried about building self-esteem. Unfortunately, such coddling can lead to workplace meltdowns, Ms. Looney says. "Healthy, resilient people learn life skills from failure and frustration.” If parents of millennials were so worried about self-esteem, they would have taught them real lessons to avoid the term “needed self-esteem”. Unfortunately, my point is made here… Parents of millennials were also “victims” of liberal coddling that made THEM incapable of teaching their children. Healthy resilient people learn life skills from failure and frustration, however, our current society teaches our children, and even adults (given every program one after another to “help them and supplement them”) that failure and frustration is a thing we don’t talk about, and by God, our “ever concerned” government just won’t allow. Our liberal minded, want everything given to them, or government subsidized “professionals” teach today’s youth …don’t worry if you fail, “we’ll bail you out.” People of more than one generation have been bailed out, accepted, babied, coddled, and paid for, for too long. We are beginning to see the mass results of coddling. The article that started this rant was part 1 of 2. Part 2 lets part 1 slip away in importance, more liberal and way too muckety-muck. However, in fairness, if you want to read it HERE IT IS. Now, (probably nobody has read this far :) these are the other things that happened lately that brought me to write this. This very morning, on every news channel, a huge riot at a Miami, FL high school was dominating the news. It was like “Kids Gone Wild”. DOZENS OF POLICE CARS AND OFFICIALS WERE PRESENT. Helicopters were shooting live video for us all to see and panic over. Every school has fights, or problems, but THIS was like a prison riot. Teenagers were on the rampage, and many were arrested. I went to work, and during normal work, I kept the “live streaming video” minimized on my toolbar and checked it as I worked from time to time. As the day went, I closed it. Tonight, thinking about how this story was making my point about how our youth is uncontrollable sometimes, and if taught better from childhood they wouldn’t be…I was appalled to find that I had a really hard time finding any mention of the story tonight after hours. “They”, “the powers that be” DON’T WANT US TO SEE…in a mere few hours, it’s all swept under the carpet as a non-story. It’s GREAT to panic us in the moment, but as soon as one story is “non-profitable”, a new story of panic and fear takes its place. I managed to find THIS MENTION of it, but even MORE disturbing was the mention that Miami Edison High School just recently CELEBRATED the movement “upward” from being considered an “F” school due to average grades, to a “D” school on average grades. PEOPLE, this isn’t a reason for CELEBRATION, it’s a reason for CONCERN! Another thing I came across was in the line of OVER political correctness. YES, we need to keep our kids from doing TOO MUCH on the “sexual line”. We should NOT let our kids exhibit OVERT EXOTIC behavior on campus. DUH, don’t let the kids make out in public, don’t let hormonal puberty stricken pre-adults find their way in public. HENCE, if we taught them correctly from childhood, this would be a NON-POINT! Even I, the old chick of 45 once put on a skit in a talent show with my friends (in college) regarding PDA’s (public displays of affection), but in MY DAY, our skit was funny, provocative, but in favor of the establishment, that “some should just get a room”. (It USED to be that the ESTABLISHMENT was RIGHT.) I bet you are expecting me to make some point on high school juniors or seniors aren’t you? NO…MESA ARIZONA made a new school policy PROHIBITING HUGS longer than TWO SECONDS among little JUNIOR HIGH students, at Sheppard Junior High School. Junior High students mind you are of average age from 12-14 years. I’m an adult, and often people I see that I haven’t seen for a while I innocently give a hug to. The OVER political correctness of our liberal society is LITERALLY teaching our kids that NO TOUCHING is allowed. Touching is a vital part of learning human kindness, or human involvement. Inappropriate touching is bad, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that SOME TOUCHING is not only vital, it’s normal! Our biggest problem in our schools is that the adults no longer touch. We don’t hug the kids when they do well or touch our hearts in a special way, and we don’t spank their little butts when they do bad and need to learn. Many times the parents of multi-generational failure don’t, and the “knowledgeable, real adults” at school don’t either. Our kids are being failed on two levels. There is a video in THIS LINK, you should watch it! In Mesa, AZ, Kathy Bariess, the “adult spokesperson” for Sheppard Junior High in the video above is in my opinion part of the problem, not part of the solution. Perhaps she was told to say her spichel, but if I was told to make this “non-problem” a problem, I would decline the interview. We are slowly (30 years or so), but surely being “taught” or “molded” to be generic robotic people. Fear, horror, negative, evil…these are the things we are fed. Our schools don’t promote happiness, flowers, beauty, respect, or honor. All the good things are left by the wayside nowadays; therefore, we are all antsy. It’s just so unnecessary. The ability to say or print “something funny”, that IS FUNNY about ANY OF US, is no longer allowed. Humor, is vastly apart from truth. Jokes ARE FUNNY, when generic. If someone is NOT pointing a specific finger at YOU, then categorical jokes of any person, race, creed, hair color, or ANYTHING can be funny. The skin in this country has become FAR TOO THIN! People of the liberal mind like to poke, but JUST CANNOT FATHOM IT, if the poke comes back. We don’t teach funny, we don’t teach happy, we don’t teach natural progression of life with proper control. It’s all become about TOTAL CONTROL of our lives with the fear of being sued, or offended, or “dis-enfranchised”, or “dis-abled”, or “dis-apportionate”, or DIS-SOMETHING! What about PRO or PER? What about PROper? What about PERfect? What about PROfessional? What about PER-child (making sure each American child is taught)? What about PROvidence (divine guidance)? What about PER-diem (by the day for each day)? Let’s do our children a favor. Let’s go BACK a few generations and TEACH our children. Let’s bring common sense back to America and be willing to “suffer” the “consequences” to make it happen. We all want it; it’s just that hardly anyone old enough to make it happen remembers how.