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Ted Nugent's Advice To Grads
detnews.com ^ | 4 June, 2008 | Ted Nugent

Posted on 06/05/2008 6:53:23 PM PDT by marktwain

Ted Nugent outlines the keys to leading a good life in America

Ted Nugent

Gather around, high school and college graduates, and listen good -- real good. What I am about to tell you will help you immensely throughout the rest of your lives if you commit to practicing Uncle Ted's proven modus operandi for a quality of life.

Work

Nobody owes you a thing. Everything you will get out of life will be based solely on what you put into it.

As humorist Mark Twain said, "Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first."

The only free lunches are at the homeless shelter. If you want to dance, you have to pay the band. And you will get what you pay for.

Get a job. If you work hard, real hard, at your favorite craft, you will ultimately succeed. If you are lazy, you will not succeed. Expect to be fired over and over again and aimlessly drift from job to job, your soul as empty as your bank account.

Find your passion in life, your calling, something you crave, that special thing that makes you giddy. Set a goal and never, ever quit. When you get close to the brass ring, move it farther away from your grasp.

Do not complain. Any spineless whiner can do that. Instead, look for solutions to tough problems. This will earn you respect from your boss and get you promoted.

Never do anything for money. Do what you do exceedingly well and thoroughly enjoy, and money will come looking for you.

Be frugal. Live responsibly within your means. Bling-bling is not making ends meet.

Values

Never be afraid to let yourself go and exhibit unbridled raw emotion and enthusiasm. Emotions need exercise. March to the beat of making your own loud and obnoxious guitar breeding noises no matter how many times they tell you to turn down and stop the feedback. Following trends and peer pressure is for mindless sheep that are never happy.

Avoid negative people and slobbering hippies like the plague. They never accomplish anything. Surround yourself with positive people who are better than yourself and will mentor, help and guide you honestly.

If you want to know how others perceive you, look around at whom you associate with. In the end, all you have is your character and integrity. Do not ever compromise or sell them.

Take care of your precious, sacred temple. Eat smart and stay clean. Do not smoke, use drugs, eat or drink too much or chew on glass sandwiches. Partaking in these mindless misadventures will shorten your life.

Find a relaxing hobby to recharge your batteries that has nothing to do with your profession. I have found that peaceful time with family, friends, loved ones and my dogs, fishing, hunting, shooting, setting rocks on fire, giving birth to brass rainbows by shooting machine guns till barrels burn up, and killing sacred protein with sharp sticks recharges my batteries beyond redline. I cleanse my soul as I cleanse the good mother earth by eating her surplus.

Take the time each day to show love and affection for your family and loved ones. The smallest gesture goes straight to the heart.

Never miss an opportunity to say thank you to the men and women in our military and law enforcement. They are the defenders of freedom putting their lives on the line for you so you can reach your American Dream.

Politics

Be intelligently and effectively defiant. Defiance is the very spirit that gave birth to this country when our forefathers fought against overwhelming odds, signed the Declaration of Independence and fired the "shot heard 'round the world." Lock and load. Really.

Remember Rosa Parks. Be prepared to defy stupid laws and regulations wherever you find them. Raise hell. Vote smart.

If you have not made a few well-deserving idiots boil over in anger by the time you are 25, get busy. We live in a target-rich environment of liberal denial.

Famous philosopher and legendary San Francisco police detective, my hero Dirty Harry, once said, "A man has got to know his limitations." This is good advice.

Stand up for what you believe. Remain polite and courteous, but never back down. You have an obligation to leave America in better shape than when you arrived. Work to ensure that future generations of America have a better shot at the American Dream as well as more freedom, more liberty and more pursuits of happiness than you did.

Trust your gut feelings. Only trust people who have earned your trust. Trust but verify. Never trust the French.

Have fun. Life is not a dress rehearsal. Live smart, live good. Rock hard.

Ted Nugent is a rock musician who runs a safari and hunting operation and is a board member of the National Rifle Association. Write comments to Letters, Editorial Page, The Detroit News, 615 W. Lafayette, Detroit, MI 48226 or e-mail: letters@detnews.com.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: banglist; detroit; nra; nugent
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Sounds like a good commencement address.
1 posted on 06/05/2008 6:54:03 PM PDT by marktwain
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To: marktwain
Never be afraid to let yourself go and exhibit unbridled raw emotion and enthusiasm. Emotions need exercise. March to the beat of making your own loud and obnoxious guitar breeding noises no matter how many times they tell you to turn down and stop the feedback. Following trends and peer pressure is for mindless sheep that are never happy.

ROCK n' frickin' ROOL !!!

/laughs

2 posted on 06/05/2008 7:00:13 PM PDT by Mr_Moonlight
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To: marktwain

I would love to see the look on Barack O’Bomber’s face if he read this!


3 posted on 06/05/2008 7:01:30 PM PDT by MtnClimber (Stalin, Mao, Castro, Obama.)
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To: marktwain

GRRRREAT American! BTTT!


4 posted on 06/05/2008 7:02:22 PM PDT by PGalt
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To: marktwain

Journey to the center of the mind.


5 posted on 06/05/2008 7:04:14 PM PDT by Fester Chugabrew (Proud participant in "Operation Chaos")
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To: marktwain
Find your passion in life, your calling, something you crave, that special thing that makes you giddy.

Liberals will have a heyday with that one. They love taxing the hell out of us to help themselves first and others as might be convenient.

6 posted on 06/05/2008 7:10:19 PM PDT by Fester Chugabrew (Proud participant in "Operation Chaos")
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To: marktwain

Amen, Ted. I think you have life in a Stranglehold. Hey Baby, Where Have You Been All My Life? You just have to remember it’s Dog Eat Dog and you have Just What the Doctor Ordered if you read the Writing on the Wall. So Turn Up the Volume and let the Street Rats know You Make Me Feel Right at Home and help me watch out if the government decides it’s Stormtroopin’ time.

ROCK ON, Ted!

I’m a Huge fan of the Motor City Madman.

From Tucson, Arizona where there are way too many Snakeskin Cowboys.

Thanks, marktwain.


7 posted on 06/05/2008 7:15:51 PM PDT by AZ .44 MAG (Do I waste my time explaining? He had such trouble with my name.)
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To: marktwain

Fine, fine job by the Motor City Madman. And compliments on fitting Mark Twain, one of America’s finest into the equation.

Ted you did us proud.


8 posted on 06/05/2008 7:16:28 PM PDT by romanesq
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To: marktwain
I hated Ted Nugent when I was in my teens because his "music" was so lame and ugly. But I sure do like his mindset on politics and life. My favorite line:

Remember Rosa Parks. Be prepared to defy stupid laws and regulations wherever you find them. Raise hell. Vote smart.

AMEN.

9 posted on 06/05/2008 7:20:00 PM PDT by Finny (Democrats do Mommy Government. Today's Republicans do Daddy Government. Conservatives do Freedom.)
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To: marktwain

Good stuff. Are we pretty sure that it’s really Ted this time? It’s just that there’s been so much attributed to him that wasn’t, truly.


10 posted on 06/05/2008 7:35:24 PM PDT by Ramius (Personally, I give us... one chance in three. More tea?)
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To: Ramius

Can’t say for sure, but killing sacred protein with sharp sticks sounds like Ted Nugent....


11 posted on 06/05/2008 7:44:59 PM PDT by trimom
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To: marktwain

Giving this to my kids and e-mailing to all. He said mostly what I’ve wanted to say with a great tone and dynamic.


12 posted on 06/05/2008 7:45:00 PM PDT by ropin71 (God Bless our Troops!)
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To: marktwain

What’s with the phony link?


13 posted on 06/05/2008 7:57:02 PM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (Guns don't kill people, criminals and the governments that create them do.)
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To: marktwain

btt


14 posted on 06/05/2008 9:05:33 PM PDT by Cacique (quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat ( Islamia Delenda Est ))
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To: PGalt

Ted Nugent rocks!

And he is a good shot, too.

He is a liberal’s nightmare. A rock N roller, a shooter, and an intelligent, articulate white man.

Or, as Sen. Biden (D-De) said about Obama. “He is articulate and clean.” Hee, hee, hee.


15 posted on 06/05/2008 9:34:13 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: Finny

What was wrong with his music when you were a teen?


16 posted on 06/05/2008 10:05:36 PM PDT by wastedyears (Like a bat outta Hell.)
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To: Beelzebubba
“What’s with the phony link?”

Don't know! Kinda weird. I thought I had posted the correct link, but when I clicked on it, news of a fight in Albequerque came up!
17 posted on 06/06/2008 5:41:23 AM PDT by marktwain
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To: marktwain; Beelzebubba
Here's the correct link.
18 posted on 06/06/2008 6:56:53 AM PDT by Still Thinking (Typical white person)
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To: wastedyears
What was wrong with his music when you were a teen?

The same thing that was wrong with a lot of music that was around when I was a teen, and which is still around today: it's nursery-rhyme simple being treated as if it's literature. When it's angry adolescent driven, it's boring and ugly. Kind of like rap. Sorry if that offends you -- it's just always the way I've felt about mindless guitar-grinding three-chord "rock" where volume must serve as the major value.

Sorry, and I am a music snob -- complex music is something I admire and respect. The stuff that Nugent did, as I remember it, was the musical equivalent of making chocolate chip cookies. Not a lot of skill required or admiration earned other than general kudos for playing. On the other hand, the stuff that Santana, Jethro Tull, Emerson Lake & Palmer, to mention a few, were doing, was more like the musical equivalent of preparing a five-course meal. A lot more interesting, a lot more skill involved, and a lot more admiration from me, musically speaking.

I admire the heck out of Nugent and value him. In spite of the very bad 70s, and they were worse than we remember, if you want to know the truth! That's what his "success" as a rock musician indicates to me now, is that it was his ability to lead. Nugent is a born, inspiring leader with a message of God-fearing and just rebellion that I embrace and my family's traditions have embraced for as long as I can see back. It doesn't get much smarter, wiser, or better than advising open-eyed:

Be prepared to defy stupid laws and regulations wherever you find them.

Music snob me -- for all those seemingly long hours where I had to put up with his sh*t music blasting in late workhours because the guys I worked with thought he was so great, all those long minutes I cursed him under my breath when we could have been listening to something inspiring and cool ... well, with four words that follow he has COMPLETELY REDEEMED himself. I could kiss him:

Raise hell. Vote smart

That is our battle cry! God bless Ted Nugent and thanks God for blessing us with him. See my new tagline.

19 posted on 06/06/2008 8:57:58 AM PDT by Finny ("Raise hell. Vote smart." -- Ted Nugent)
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To: Finny
Rock music and Republicans is not a very natural mix -- Woody Allen make a joke of it in Annie Hall. Just as rock music and Christians are not a natural mix, either. Rock music and Liberal & Democrats is more of a natural mix. The numbers of this last mix is huge. Very broadly, rock music is about change and rebellion against the status quo -- conservatives want to preserve the status quo. Rock is about feeling first and foremost (not complex intellectual music) and feelings against some perceived injustice (Vietnam war = folk rock protest music, girlfriend leaving you = blues & country music, against parental authority = heavy metal music, against the establishment & G W Bush = punk rock and/or psychedelic music, etc.) Rock is the call for liberation but the liberation preached in the 60s was mostly informed by a subtle strain of Marxism (Frankfurt School) out to destroy the capitalist system. It culminated in hedonism. And yet, ironically enough, rock's Jethro Tull, ELP, Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant, etc., were inspired and informed by classical music, a tradition that didn't seek outright rebellion and which wanted to conserve older music and values from the past. But most rock music thrives on novelty and Ted Nugent is a dinosaur playing dinosaur music -- he probably shoots pterodactyls with a bow and arrow for breakfast. He is a caveman of the past. He sends a mixed message to young musicians: embrace good traditional family values but be a rebel, which for many young people may mean adopting a pro gay position, save the planet against capitalism (eco crusades), denigrate Christianity, etc. Rebellion is important if one knows why one is rebelling and not just something "cool" to do and attractive if you're a teen who wants to be "different" or have an identity separate from his parents. Rebellion can be sold by media and Hollywood and it would be great if Ted addressed that issue for aspiring rock stars. The real rebel would actually rebel against Hollywood and the countless musicians who conform by buying into being a "rebel."

Ted is a good guitar player -- good phrasing, passionate, good tone, etc. -- for the music he does. I heard him last year in concert in the park and I was impressed.

20 posted on 06/06/2008 10:36:52 AM PDT by Blind Eye Jones
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