Good Morning Campers,

I’m sorry to do this, but I’m mad as hell and I have to.  I’m going to start today’s issue with a

Can somebody please tell me what in the holy hell is wrong with this world?  Another school shooting in Texas, with the benign euphemism of “mass shooting”. 

Please.

Ten people murdered, nine of them children, all killed by another child.

What the hell is wrong with us that we all find this acceptable? 

Okay, so not acceptable, but not horrifying either.  Why are we not doing more to keep guns out of the hands of kids?  Kids, who have no concept of their own mortality, much less someone who has bullied them or picked on them or not gone out with them or any of the myriad of “life ending” problems that teenagers deal with on a weekly or even daily basis.

Remember when you were a teenager?  All hormones and prickly edges?  If a girl smiled in the same room as us, we were unable to speak for 17.5 minutes and all it took for one of the jocks or bullies to pick on us was a day that ended in the letter Y.

But, those of us who had access to firearms would never THINK of taking one to school to settle things, because we KNEW what they could do and how to properly handle them.  So, why didn’t we teach that to our kids?  And don’t think for even a second that it isn’t our fault. 

Because it is.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying it’s YOUR fault, or my fault for that matter since my kids KNOW gun safety, but it is OUR fault, as in OUR generation’s fault.  This whole me, me, me mentality and the entitlement generation and the “gonna get me some” thought.  The idea that it is alright to take a gun to settle an argument, or to stop a bully.  Why are we even letting our kids pick on other of our kids?  If I found out my kid was bullying I WOULD KICK HIS ASS.  But no, what we do instead is to say, “oh not my little angel.”  Little Angel my left butt cheek!

The mean ones are REALLY man and the weak ones are pussies!  Okay, so here it is, really simple.  Here’s how to fix the problem.  And we can fix it right here and right now.  I am a full supporter of the 2nd amendment.  I may not own an AR, but if I could afford one I would.  And in answer to the quite legitimate question posed by Mr. Matthew Walther in his excellent essay on the website The Week (http://theweek.com/articles/774000/how-america-normalized-murder-schoolchildren) entitled “How America normalized the murder of schoolchildren”.  He postulates that the owners of AR-15s should be able to explain why they need those types of weapons without falling back on the “excuse” of the second amendment.  Well, without getting into the obvious argument in regards to the legitimacy of the second amendment, I can say that the primary reason for owning such a firearm is the same reason that the left wants to take those weapons away from us.  Because those are combat weapons and they must take them from us before they can take everything else away from us.  By holding on to them, we keep the wanna-be despots a tiny bit more honest than if we didn’t have them.

Call it a deterrent force.

But that leads us right to the first step in controlling and fixing this issue of the school shootings. 

Step #1: Parents and adults, lock your fucking guns up!  And keep the keys secured, too.  What the hell is wrong with you?  You don’t own a GUN until you own a GUN LOCKER!!!

Step #2: Teachers and school people, open your eyes!  This bullying crap is going on right under your noses and the school administrators are lying about it.  Indiana schools reported some of the lowest bullying numbers ever and every parent knows how much bullshit that is, so much so that the local news actually ran a story on it.  Step up and do what’s right.  If you need to walk the kids through a metal detector and search them every day then that’s what you have to do until this problem is fixed!

Step #3: Back to you parents again, stop raising victims!  Do you tease your kids?  Pick on them from an early age to toughen up their skin?  Or do you encourage their siblings to stop their teasing because everyone should love everyone and float off over the rainbow in sweetness and light?  I call bullshit!  I don’t mean to abuse your kids, but toughen them up!  It might be nice to think like a hippie and peace and love and all that crap.  I’m a child of the 70’s, I understand the thought process, BUT, THAT IS NOT THE WORLD WE LIVE IN!!!!!!!  And parents, if another parent contacts you and tells you that your kid is bullying another kid either online or in the real world, take it seriously and let them know that the wrath of hell will rain down on them if they don’t stop, and then DO IT! when they don’t believe you, which they won’t the first time, and maybe even the 4th or 6th time if you’ve been a wussie parent and had been phoning it in all this time.

Step #3a:  Snoop, spy, check on, follow up with, peek…check their phone, their laptop, their tablet, their online history.  create fake Facebook personalities or snap chat or anything else you need to and befriend them on line. And pay attention!

And no, I don’t think that’s wrong.

And yes, I am being unfair to some of you parents, and some of you teachers and administrators and you know what?  Who cares!  If you are one of the minority of parents, teachers, etc. who ARE doing the right thing, then of course, THIS DOESN’T APPLY TO YOU.  And don’t become defensive on behalf of the other parents, teachers….yada, yada… because there are good and bad in all paths of life.  And I know that not everyone is perfect, just ask my kids, they’ll tell you what and fill you in, but I’m trying.  And I’m engaged, and if you’re kids are pissed off at you over something then you aren’t trying hard enough.

And if you ARE pissed off at me anyway, too damn bad, because I’m pissed off at the continued murdered children, and if you are still pissed off, then I only have one thing for you…

And with that rant off my chest….at least for a little while…then…

For all the young ladies thinking of getting a tattoo…
REMEMBER – When you get older a butterfly on the back becomes a buzzard in the crack.

Today, Friday, a boy in a 7th grade class in Noblesville, Indiana … about 50 miles from here…asked to be excused from class and returned with 2 hand guns and shot a 13 year-old girl.  His teacher intervened and stopped the boy and got shot 3 times himself.  Abdomen, hip, and somewhere else that I can’t remember and am too friggin’ tired to look back up.  (Forearm) The teacher is a hero and definitely kept this horrible incident from becoming something worse than what it was.  The girl is still in critical condition and of course, because of the ages, no names or anything have been released.  The teacher will be okay, he is in stable condition and is talking to his family.

Several of the men and women I work with have children who attend this school and it has been a long, very difficult day.  There really isn’t anything that I can add that I didn’t already say at the beginning.

I was going to come home from work and finish this post.  (it’s 11 pm on Friday).  That was the plan yesterday.  Then I spent the night Thursday taking care of Mrs. Dragon (that’s another story for another time)  and ended up getting a little less than 2 hours sleep.  I got home from work about 330 and was asleep by 335. 

Izzy dragon, bless her heart, woke me about 930 pm and told me that her mom was asking for me, so I got up and took care of her and realized I had no energy or the proper frame of mind to do anything funny tonight.  Therefore you guys are getting this long winded explanation to say that I’m sorry that this is not your usual issue.

I’m not sure how much longer I can keep doing this ezine.  Life is definitely getting in the way of living.  But, I won’t abandon you guys without first letting you know what’s going on. 

Please, please, please join me in offering prayers to God for all the poor people involved in these school shootings, may God Bless them and bring them peace.  Please pray that the children involved across our country come to their senses, that the adults learn to be parents, that the teachers and administrators of all schools realize that it could happen at their school at anytime and that they need to do what needs to be done.

They JUST released the name of the student and the teacher.  Mr. Jason Seaman (29 years old) was the teacher and is being lauded as a hero, as he should be, and many of the students interviewed on the news.  He and his family released the following statement:

“I want to let everyone know that I was injured but am doing great.  To all the students, you are all wonderful and I thank you for your support.  You are the reason I teach.”

What a hero.

7th grade kids.  12 and 13 year-olds. What the fuck? 

They are interviewing children!  I’ve got to go campers.  Until we talk again.  My love to you all.

I.D.