Ed Dugan's Incredible Bathroom Book

Table of Contents

RODIN’S THE THINKER

Help-I Gotta Write A Book! | Nonprofit Growth | Have an Incredible Lifestyle on Less Than $25,000 a Year!

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I

EDUCATION

RELIGION

LIFE IN GENERAL

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B

RODIN’S THE THINKER

Rodin made the first small plaster version of The Thinker around 1880. The first large-scale bronze casting was finished in 1902 but not presented to the public until 1904. It became the property of the city of Paris thanks to a subscription organized by Rodin admirers, and was put in front of the Pantheon in 1906. In 1922, it was moved to the Hotel Biron, which had been transformed into the Rodin Museum.

The first cast sculpture can be found in front of Grawemeyer Hall on the University of Louisville Belknap Campus in Louisville, Kentucky. Made in Paris, it was first displayed at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 and was then given to the city.

ED DUGAN’S BOOKS

Help-I Gotta Cook!

(Awarded Cookbook of the

Year)

Help-I Gotta Learn to Cook!

Help-I Gotta Lose Weight!

Help-I Gotta Write A Book!

Nonprofit Growth

Have an Incredible Lifestyle on Less Than $25,000 a Year!

Copyright © 2016 Ed Dugan

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express permission of the author in writing.

T

his collection of my blog posts is meant to help you pass the time, if you’ll excuse the expression.

Although most current bathroom books are purported to be funny, a majority of my posts are not, and were written to get you thinking. If a person really is in the bathroom reading this, thinking might be a much better idea than laughing. You might not like what I say, and some might even piss you off, but they WILL make you think.

The posts are taken from my blog: FOODFORTHOUGHTPLUS.COM and the only difference is that on my blog each has a great recipe at the end. I didn’t think that was appropriate here.

The subject and tenor of the posts say a lot about my background. I was born and raised in a much different society than you find today in America. It seems to me people had better manners then. There were no such things as road rage,  political correctness, unearned self-esteem, or politicians telling us which bathroom a person should use.

Our most serious discrepancy was racial prejudice, a problem that’s still with us today. I guess some things never change, but in this case, we seem to be making progress. I just wish the progress could be compared to a rabbit, not a turtle. However, staying with the theme of this book, even a little movement is better than no movement at all.

Ed Dugan

TABLE OF POSTS

WHO’S THE BLOGGER?

Page 14

Politics and Society

A GENTILES’ VIEW OF JEWS

Page 21

A POSSIBLE RESOLULTION TO THE ISRAELI/ PALESTINIAN CONFLICT

Page 32

A TRIBUTE TO BOB MARLEY

Page 40

WOMEN DESERVE MORE THAN EQUAL RIGHTS!

Page 49

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM TELLS YOU

WHAT THEY BELIEVE; WHO IN HELL ARE THEY?

Page 61

NO CLIMATE CHANGE YOU SAY?  YOU NEED A BRAIN IMPLANT!

Page 75

GUN OWNERSHIP VERSUS GUN CONTROL

Page 86

IS THE SECOND AMENDMENT OUTDATED?

Page 97

IF YOU’VE NEVER INHALED JUST SHUT UP!

Page 109

EUTHANASIA – ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW

Page 116

A HONKY’S VIEW OF RACE RELATIONS

Page 126

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS – WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF THE PERPETUALLY OFFENDED

Page 141

HOW TO SAVE SOCIAL SECURITY

Page 149

A WAY TO END THE CIVIL WAR BETWEEN THE POLICE AND THE REST OF US

Page 160

IMMIGRATION – TWO STRATEGIES

Page 167

WHY WE NEED A THIRD POLITICAL PARTY!

Page 179

MOTIVE, MEANS AND OPPORTUNITY – SOLVING THE CRIME OF OUR HEALTH INSURANCE SYSTEM

Page 195

Education

WHERE HAVE ALL THE TEACHERS GONE?

Page 207

HOW TO HAVE A GREAT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL – OR GOING BACK TO THE FUTURE!

Page 220

Religion

THE THREE FLAVORS OF CHRISTIANS

Page 238

DOES GOD HAVE A PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE?

Page 250

SHOULD THE TEN COMMANDMENTS BE ON PUBLIC PROPERTY?

Page 259

Life In General

IT NEVER HURTS TO HAVE A JOB! HERE’S HOW TO GET ONE.

Page 275

AVOIDING SOME OF THE PERILS OF GROWING OLDER

Page 298

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE FOR PEOPLE OVER SIXTY

Page 309

GOOD RELATIONSHIPS ARE MADE, NOT BORN!

Page 327

LIVE A WONDERFUL LIFE ON LESS THAN $20,000 A YEAR

Page 336

HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT DIETS, PILLS OR DRINKS!

Page 343

IT’S GOOD TO KNOW YOUR STRENGTHS, BUT EVEN BETTER TO KNOW YOUR WEAKNESSES

Page 348

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.

Theodore Roosevelt

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WHO’S THE BLOGGER?

I

’m Ed Dugan, and for over 40 years I’ve been married to the most wonderful woman on the planet. Like everyone else, she has flaws, although they’re really minor ones, while I, on the other hand, am an unreconstructed SOB, and not likely to change.

Ray Thornton, a good friend and former Congressman, University President, and Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court once told me, Ed, you’re a certified genius but don’t ever think about going into the Diplomatic Service. I speak my mind and deal with the results, so I have spent some of my life extracting my foot from my mouth.  

Before we got married, the only promise I made to Lynne was she would never be bored and I think she’d agree that I kept that promise. For instance, we lived full-time aboard our boat for over 10 years, while cruising the Bahamas, the Caribbean and the costal US. We also created a successful cattle ranch from raw land in the Ozark Mountains. Without Lynne’s love and support none of it would ever have happened, and to steal a line from one of Jimmy Buffet’s songs, IT’S BEEN A LOVELY CRUISE! (And still is)

Additionally, Lynne owned a number of retail bookstores and I owned several successful restaurants. Whatever we did, our major focus was always on establishing a lifestyle that gave us pleasure and satisfaction. How we earned our income was much less important than the lifestyle it provided. You’ve probably already guessed that we’re not the type to stay in one place very long. Even while living on our boat I think we changed directions about every 3-5 years.

My adult life began by serving in the US Navy and then on to college. After graduation, I entered the field of fundraising and served as a campaign director for a number of professional fundraising firms. I eventually became President of Indiana Institute of Technology and left Indiana Tech to form my own strategic planning and fundraising consulting firm.

Our clients included many state and private colleges and universities, including the football programs of the Miami Hurricanes and the Washington Huskies. We also had as clients a significant number of colleges and universities, hospitals and medical centers, several Caribbean countries, a few individuals, and a number of small to mid-sized nonprofit organizations. In over 35 years of directing fundraising campaigns, some as much as several hundred million, we never failed to meet a goal!

Along the way, I had the pleasure of interacting with such diverse personalities as Senator Barry Goldwater, Art Buchwald, the NY Times columnist and humorist, Hillary Clinton, and Helen Walton, the matriarch of the WalMart family and one of the nicest people I have ever met.

Since my blog posts all end with a recipe, I want to mention my connection to cooking. With few exceptions, I have cooked every one of our meals for over 40 years, and when you add in the meals I cooked in my restaurants, the total comes to over 90,000! My cookbook, Help-I Gotta Cook! was named Cookbook of the Year, so I guess all that makes me a chef.

My cooking career found me working with Darren McGrady, Princess Di’s and Queen Elizabeth’s personal chef, and Jerry Van Dyke of Coach fame. There were literally hundreds of other amazing people we interacted with, perhaps not as famous, but just as interesting.

A few of my posts will almost certainly offend some of you. In this age of the perpetually offended, that doesn’t mean much anymore. College campuses seem to be factories for the perpetually offended, and that trend can only be placed at the feet of the faculty. During my time as a college president, if any of my faculty members or administrators acted as immature as the majority today, I would have fired them on the spot. They have turned their campuses into environments of fear, where students are terrified of being labeled as different. Faculty members are supposed to open minds, not twist them to fit their personal viewpoints. 

Since my posts are meant to get you thinking, let’s get started!

POLITICS AND SOCIETY

A GENTILE’S VIEW OF JEWS

I

‘ve never understood anti-Semitism. I ask myself where that kind of ignorance and hatred toward a particular people finds its roots. During my lifetime, a lot of it was fomented by that godfather of anti-Semitism, Adolph Hitler. He showed the world what one truly evil person could do when he killed 6 million Jews, every single one a much better human being than he was.

I am really concerned that anti-Semitism seems to be on the rise again, particularly in France and other parts of Europe. Although the rest of the world pays only marginal attention to what happens in France, their attitude is a reflection of the fact that far too many people in the world hate Jews. Anti-Semitism, either in a person or a country, won’t ever go away, anymore than prejudice toward black people will ever go away. If it does, it will have to begin in our hearts and minds, not in some courtroom.

I was born and raised in an early 20th Century neighborhood of European immigrants, many of whom were Jewish. Jews were called, and are still being called, the same evil names; kikes, Jesus killers, and shylocks. The stupidity continues, creating hatred where it was never justified. Even worse, during my early years it was also institutionalized! One of my best friends, whose family wanted to send him to dental school, received a letter denying him admission because the school had already accepted its quota of Jewish students.

Jews and Judaism were on this earth, both as a race and a religion, long before most of the rest of us even had an identity.  If you can get beyond the ignorant stereotypes that people assign to Jews it might be helpful to look at a few facts.

The most famous Jew, by far, is Jesus Christ. Christians view him as the founder of their religion, but then gloss over the fact that he was also a Jew. How can you profess a love for Jesus Christ and hate His people?

Jesus was born and raised as an observant Jew and was living in Jerusalem when He was crucified. The city was composed of the usual Middle Eastern mix of Arabs and Jews plus the ruling Romans. The total population at the time has been estimated at 80,000, with only 6,000 of them being Jews. Although they were a minority, they were important politically. Just like today, it was easy to single them out if one could point to a single controversial leader, and Jesus was viewed as such. Something like Martin Luther King was. The same type of ignorance killed him, as it did Jesus.