Category: random

Reno’s Mayor Bob Cashell asked the City Council, to begin drafting regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries, after Governor Sandoval signed legislation last week legalizing them. However, the Council voted to wait before determining where dispensaries are to be located.

Furthermore, the council also voted to do more research and drafting before proposing any regulations. They need figure out how they will comply with the new state law that allows Washoe County 10 dispensaries, but no more than 25 percent in a single jurisdiction.

This must be killing Reno’s  RINO-in-Chief.  It was two years ago, at the height of Nevada’s economic recession, that Cashell declared a personal moratorium on allowing anymore tattoo parlors, liquor stores or pawn shops in the downtown district, saying he and his wife believed them to be a blight on the city.

I love God’s sense of humor.

We were in 3rd Grade at Margaret Keating School when Mrs. Damm told us how man came to have fire. While I don’t recall the tale word-for-word, I have cobbled several versions of the story together, recreating what was passed down to us…

Coyote had no need for fire. So he seldom concerned himself with it, until one spring day when he was passing a human village.

There the women were singing a song of mourning for the babies and the old ones who had died in the winter. Their voices moaned like the wind prickling the hairs on Coyote’s neck.

“Feel how the sun is now warm on our backs,” one of the men was saying. “Feel how it warms the earth and makes these stones hot to the touch. If only we could have had a small piece of the sun in our teepees during the winter.”

Coyote, overhearing this, felt sorry for the men and women. He also felt that there was something he could do to help them.

He knew of a faraway mountain-top where the three Fire Beings lived. These Beings kept fire to themselves, guarding it carefully for fear that man might somehow acquire it and become as strong as they.

Coyote saw that he could do a good turn for man at the cost of these selfish Fire Beings. So Coyote went to the mountain of the Fire Beings and crept to its top, to watch the way that the Beings guarded their fire.

As he came near, the Beings leaped to their feet and gazed searchingly round their camp. Their eyes glinted like bloodstones, and their hands were clawed like the talons of the great black vulture.

“What’s that? What’s that I hear?” hissed one of the Beings.

“A thief, skulking in the bushes!” screeched another.

The third looked more closely, and saw Coyote. But he had gone to the mountain-top on all fours, so the Being thought she saw only an ordinary coyote slinking among the trees.

“It is no one, it is nothing!” she cried, and the other two looked where she pointed and saw only a grey coyote.

They sat down again by their fire and paid Coyote no more attention. So he watched all day and night as the Fire Beings guarded their fire.

He saw how they fed it pine cones and dry branches from the trees. He also saw how, at night, the Beings took turns to sit by the fire.

Two would sleep while one was on guard; and at certain times the Being by the fire would get up and go into their teepee, and another would come out to sit by the fire.

Coyote saw that the Beings were always jealously watchful of their fire except during one part of the day. That was in the earliest morning, when the first winds of dawn arose on the mountains.

Then the Being by the fire would hurry, shivering, into the teepee calling, “Sister, sister, go out and watch the fire.” But the next Being would always be slow to go out for her turn.

Coyote waited through the day, and watched as night fell and two of the Beings went off to the teepee to sleep. He watched as they changed over at certain times all the night long, until at last the dawn winds rose.

Then the Being on guard called, “Sister, sister, get up and watch the fire.”

And the Being whose turn it was climbed slow and sleepy from her bed, saying, “Yes, yes, I am coming. Do not shout so.”

But before she could come out of the teepee, Coyote lunged from the bushes, snatched up a glowing portion of fire, and sprang away down the mountainside.

Screaming, the Fire Beings flew after him. Swift as Coyote ran, they caught up with him, and one of them reached out a clutching hand. Her fingers touched only the tip of the tail, but the touch was enough to turn the hairs white, and coyote tail-tips are white still.

Coyote shouted, and flung the fire away from him. But the others of the People had gathered at the mountain’s foot, in case they were needed.

Squirrel saw the fire falling, and caught it, putting it on her back and fleeing away through the tree-tops. The fire scorched her back so painfully that her tail curled up and back, as squirrels’ tails still do today.

The Fire Beings then pursued Squirrel, who threw the fire to Chipmunk. Chattering with fear, Chipmunk stood still as if rooted until the Beings were almost upon her. Then, as she turned to run, one Being clawed at her, tearing down the length of her back and leaving three stripes that are to be seen on chipmunks’ backs even today.

Chipmunk threw the fire to Frog, and the Beings turned towards him. One of the Beings grasped his tail, but Frog gave a mighty leap and tore himself free, leaving his tail behind in the Being’s hand, which is why frogs have had no tails ever since.

As the Beings came after him again, Frog flung the fire on to Wood. And Wood swallowed it.

The Fire Beings gathered round, but they did not know how to get the fire out of Wood. They promised it gifts, sang to it and shouted at it.

They twisted it and struck it and tore it with their knives. But Wood did not give up the fire.

In the end, defeated, the Beings went back to their mountain-top and left the People alone.

But Coyote knew how to get fire out of Wood. And he went to the village of men and showed them the trick of rubbing two dry sticks together, and the trick of spinning a sharpened stick in a hole made in another piece of wood.

So man was from then on warm and safe through the killing cold of winter thanks to Coyote.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is an education plan designed to bring each U.S. state’s curricula into alignment with each other nationwide. This sounds very Progressive and worse yet — 45 states, the District of Columbia, four territories, and the Department of Defense  have adopted the standards.

Admittedly, I am not an overly smart man, but even with a college degree, I have no clear idea what those standards are, and judging from the website corestandards.org, they have no clear picture either.

“Building on the excellent foundation of standards states have laid, the Common Core State Standards are the first step in providing our young people with a high-quality education. It should be clear to every student, parent, and teacher what the standards of success are in every school.

Teachers, parents and community leaders have all weighed in to help create the Common Core State Standards. The standards clearly communicate what is expected of students at each grade level. This will allow our teachers to be better equipped to know exactly what they need to help students learn and establish individualized benchmarks for them. The Common Core State Standards focus on core conceptual understandings and procedures starting in the early grades, thus enabling teachers to take the time needed to teach core concepts and procedures well—and to give students the opportunity to master them.

With students, parents and teachers all on the same page and working together for shared goals, we can ensure that students make progress each year and graduate from school prepared to succeed in college and in a modern workforce.”

Huh?

It boils down to this: Common Core is ‘a one-size-fits-all’ program and the one question you need to ask yourself: Is this good for my child?

I’m betting not.

What sort of stupid moron’s are you Californian’s electing as state lawmakers? I’ll enlighten you.

From CSN News:

“A proposed law introduced in the California State legislature would allow public school children to use bathrooms designated for members of the opposite sex, if that students’ “gender identity” differed from the students biological sex.

Assembly Bill 1266 introduced by Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, who represents a portion of the city of San Francisco would:

“…require that a pupil be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s record.”

While the bill does not specifically mention restrooms, restrooms and locker rooms are generally considered to be part of the “facilities” in schools throughout the country. The bill would apparently also require that biological males be permitted to try out for, and play on, girls’ sports teams if they identify themselves as females.”

Imagine how happy you’ll be when your 14-year-old daughter is sharing a shower with a 17-year-old boy after Phys. Ed. class.

Goldfield was the site on September 2^nd, 1906 of a lightweight championship fight that lasted 42 rounds. It featured Joe Gans and Oscar “Battling” Nelson.

The fight started about three that afternoon, and temperatures in the boomtown soared past 100 degrees. The two battled long and hard, but, finally, in the 42nd round, Nelson was disqualified for a low blow to Gans, who was declared the winner.

It’s interesting to note that no matter whom won, Gans, who was black, was to earn $11,000 while Nelson, who was white, was to receive $22,500, even though Gans was favored two to one. When the pair fought again two years later Gans lost by a knockout.

“I was born in the city of Baltimore in the year 1874, and it might be well to state at this time that my right name is Joseph Gant, not Gans,” he told reporters. “However, when I became an object of newspaper publicity, some reporter made a mistake and my name appeared as Joe Gans, and as Joe Gans it remained ever since.”

Gans started boxing professionally about 1891 in Baltimore and quit in 1900 with an eye cut in the twelfth round of the world lightweight title bout against champion Frank Erne. In their rematch two years later, Gans knocked Erne out in one round to recapture the lightweight title.

He died in August 1910, of tuberculosis and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Baltimore. His monument is maintained by the International Boxing Commission and sits jus’ to the left of the main entrance of the cemetery.

Ernest Hemingway would later used Joe Gans’ character in his 1916 short story “A Matter of Color.” This early story set the stage for Hemingway’s famous 1927 parable “The Killers.”

Thanks to the news agency Reuters, we have now have a good idea what country leads the world in requesting data from Internet, cell phone and other techie companies. At 30,128 requests in 2012, the U.S. made more twice the requests by the United Kingdom, number two country on the list of ten.

“Even if they can listen in, that doesn’t mean they are,” says a friend.  “Most of our conversations are really not that interesting to anyone but us and sometimes not even then.”

Fair enough, but what makes all this National Security Agency eavesdropping so frightening to me is while you might not have anything to hide, talking with someone who does could get you caught up in the NSA’s dragnet. And like it or not, you are subject to being treated as a criminal too, though you’ve done nothing wrong.

It appears, “We the People,” are far more transparent and trusting that our Federal Government.

Once again California Congresswoman and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi showed her real-self to the public.  It came while explaining her disapproval of the Frank Bill, prohibiting abortions during the final four months of pregnancy, with exceptions for when the life of the mother is at risk.

When asked how she balances her dislike for abortionists, turned convicted murderer Kermit Gosnell with her equal disdain of legislation that prohibits abortionists from terminating the life of a child moments before birth, she lost it.  From the Weekly Standard:

“You’re probably enjoying that question a lot, I can see you savoring it,” Pelosi said in response. “What was done in Philadelphia was reprehensible and everybody condemned it. For the drafters to decide to disrespect a judgment a woman makes about her reproductive health is reprehensible.”

“Next question,” she added.

“So what’s the moral difference?” reporter John McCormack asked, “ I just asked a simple question.  …What’s the moral difference then between 26 weeks elective abortion and killing of that same infant born alive?”

“This is not the issue,” responded Pelosi, “They are saying that there’s no abortion. It would make it a federal law that there would be no abortion in our country.”

However, the bill doesn’t ban ‘all abortions,’ as she claimed.

“As a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me when we talk about this,” she added. “This shouldn’t have anything to do with politics.”

What an idiot!

This week, both Senator’s Harry Reid and Dean Heller tried to get a “Nevada voice” on the Southern Border Security Commission. But the senate refused to hear the amendment.

A voice is what is not what’s needed – it’s a fence that’s being demanded. But that’s the problem with those in Washington D.C., they’re going to do what they want without considering what their bosses from across the rest of the nation are directing them to do.

In fact, it looks like a cabal of both Democrat and Republican Congress members and Senators are planning to ram a reform package down our throats by this July 4th. Not only will it be vacation time for the Washington bunch, but it’ll serve as a great propaganda piece for Progressives.

Progressive Republican House Speaker John Boehner is in co-hoots Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to create amnesty for illegal immigrants. This piece of legislation will then get pushed through the House, with a majority of both parties voting it in.

Then it’ll have to go to a conference committee, where it must be reconciled. That’s where it’ll be gutted of its border security language, adding some extra pork and spending to it, and then it’ll be send it to the Senate, where it’ll pass.

Once back on the House side, the now-reconciled bill will be subjected to a vote, where the majority of the GOP will, vote “no,” so they can go home and say, they did their constituencies bidding. However, the Democrats and the committee chairs will vote it into law, because they have the numbers.

Finally, the argument isn’t really about citizenship or border security – it’s about creating more Progressive votes. And when that happens, this country will be, as President Obama promised, “fundamentally transformed.”

Although most of the “49ers” missed the Modoc country, in March 1851 Abraham Thompson, a mule train packer, discovered gold near Yreka while traveling along the Siskiyou Trail from southern Oregon. The discovery sparked the California Gold Rush from California’s Sierra Nevada into Northern California.

By April 1851, 2,000 miners had arrived in “Thompson’s Dry Diggings” through the southern route of old Emigrant Trail to test their luck, which took them straight through Modoc territory. Although the Modoc initially had no trouble with European Americans, after the murders of settlers in a raid by the Pit River Tribe, militia, not familiar with the Indian peoples, in revenge attacked an innocent Modoc village, killing men, women and children.

Kintpuash, the future chief also known as Captain Jack, survived the attack but lost some of his family. In retaliation and to try to end encroachment, some Modoc chose to attack the next whites they came across.

In September 1852 a wagon train of some 65 men, women, and children on their way to new homes in California were ambushed by the Modoc Indians. Only one badly wounded man, made his escape to the Oregon settlements in Willamette Valley and told of the attack.

His report spread quickly and Oregon volunteers, reaching the scene later, found bodies of men, women and children mutilated and scattered for more than a mile along the lake shore and their wagons plundered and burned. The location became known as Bloody Point.

In another round of retaliation, California militia led by an Indian fighter named Ben Wright killed 41 Modoc at a peace parley.

U.S. District Judge Edward C. Reed Jr. passed away Saturday, June 1st of natural causes. He was 88 years old and a native Nevadan.

Appointed in 1979 to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the District of Nevada, Reed became a nationally known water rights litigator during his career as an attorney in Reno. Before becoming an attorney, he served honorably in World War II as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army both in the Europe and the Philippines and. He found himself captured by the Nazis and imprisoned in Germany in 1945.

After the war, Reed returned to school,  graduating from the University of Nevada-Reno in 1949 and then from Harvard Law School in 1952. While there he met Sally Torrance at Wellesley College and the two married June 14th, 1952 in Jamestown, New York.

He was also a championship tennis player in Nevada and won the Reno City Singles Championship in 1951, 1958 and 1959.  Reed was also an all-state basketball player at Reno High School and the University of Nevada.

Because of his many years serving as President and a member of the Washoe County School Board, Edward C. Reed High School in Sparks, is named for him.