Bullying = Gun Volence? No! Try Lack of Parent/Teacher Cooperation

Anyone who thinks this anti-gun movement is anything other than politically driven has been brainwashed into believing.

Go back a step to bullying being the cause of a lot of gun violence. Of course so does the lack of a father figure, a broken home, kids making fun of you or so perceived and being forced to eat oatmeal for breakfast.

Go back another step to what leads to bullying.  It has been around as long as I can remember.  Kids can be incredibly cruel to one another.  I experienced my share of it from older girls on my street. And I'm ashamed I dished out my own fair share. I have never been able to pin point why I have that particular flaw.

That being said, it was considered misbehaving.  When found out I was duely punished and believe me, my parents had a way of finding out.  When I was on the receiving end I talked with my Mom.  She always made me feel better about myself.  It does drain your confidence and hurts terribly.  She told me to just stay away from them.  In time I was able to do just that - with her support and encouragement.  She knew it wasn't easy for me. But she was always there for me.

On into school there were the usual cliques.  Mine was the band kids - most of us were nerdy at the time but we stuck together and did our thing.  Made music. Frankly, most of those oh so popular kids were popular for a reason.  Of course they were pretty or cheer leaders or football players but they were mostly pretty nice kids and they too had parents who cared.

There was, too, always the loner. They were strange to the rest of us and caused the teachers consternation. I never remember them being violent or unusually angry.  Just sullen.  But they coped and so did the rest of us.

The foundation for the majority of my high school acquaintances was sound parenting reinforced by teachers more than willing to work with both parent and student.  That's what the PTA  (Parent Teachers Association) was all about.  Do they still have them today?

I'm thinking if more emphasis was put on cooperation between teachers and parents in identifying problems and finding solutions for them, kids would be better served than after the fact prayer vigils and protests.

Nope.  Kids just aren't given the basics for coping.  Safe spaces, running to authority figures when someone looks at them funny or makes a snide remark doesn't cut it. A restructuring or elimination of time on social media would certainly help but again, that involves parenting and cooperation with teachers.

Don't have time to parent?  Don't have kids.  Don't know how?  Common sense is a good place to start.  My Mom didn't have a study guide either yet she and my Dad did a pretty darn good job.  They were both there for me, gave me a fair shot at an explanation for wrong doing while also listening to a teacher or another parent.

Isn't this the crux of it?  Back to the basics?  Guns are a last ditch cry of anguish, not the cause of it

Ah, Dogwalk - How You've Changed!

When I began this blog I had a Saint Bernard named Bacchus.  My husband wanted to name him god because that's how we revere our pets but I could just hear the reactions when I'd be inclined to shout "goddammit" when he misbehaved so we indulged our taste for the grape and named him after the god of wine - Bacchus.

Every morning we were  home in northern Idaho, regardless of weather, Bacchus and I would take about a two mile walk.  Back then we actually knew our neighbors, because of those walks, and often stopped to chat if they were in their yards.

When the blog came along I wrote a lot about those walks; observations I made or just the random thoughts that might pass through my head. Nine years passed like it was nothing and suddenly he was gone.  It didn't seem possible.

I decided to keep the blog and its name in his honor but boy, did the tone change.  Suddenly I discovered politics and not particularly liking what was happening locally what's more nationally, I immersed myself in it.  Stress, anxiety and pure disgust prevailed. Several times in more recent years I've taken a hiatus just to get a grip.  Too often I returned in the same vein. Occasionally I tried different approaches but I always seemed to either tie the subject to politics or reverted back to politics entirely.

Even now.  I'm even tired of ranting because it no longer brings relief.  It's like the lava vents in Hawaii.  It relieves pressure for a period but it's already rebuilding before the spewing is even finished.

Now I just feel like commenting on the lack of civility that has permeated our society - the political partisanship and the criminality at the very top of our governmental agencies that seems to be the norm now rather than the exception.

I read today Trump may not run again.  That begs the question, currently being asked mostly of the Democrats, who do the Republicans have to run? Same old, same old. While I don't like Trump as a person, I do give him credit for shaking things up and marvel at how dysfunctional his opposition has become.  It would be funny if it weren't so serious.

Is there hope with our young people?  I have little faith in that when Megan Markel refused to follow British tradition and showed a total lack of class by refusing to curtsy before the Queen.  Feminist that she claims to be does not absolve her from common respect and British tradition considering she married into the family.  The class in that encounter came the from the Queen.

Ah, Dogwalk, how the times have changed.  When a man as rude and crude as Trump can be married to a woman as beautiful and classy as Melania can rendezvous with a porn star is beyond my comprehension.

I'm way out of my class, that's for sure.  However, this addiction to blogging is going to continue.  I've some comments on school shootings I'd like to get off my chest.  Next time.

A Bully Is A Bully - Indeed!

There is a lot wrong with the David Hogg scenario  when he shrugs off Laura Ingraham by stating, "A bully is a bully."

Now to put my thinking into some sort of perspective, I think most of the talking heads on TV, regardless of channel, are bullies.  They go to great length to tout their guests as being expert in this or that then proceed to talk over them if they dare try to defend an opinion other than the host's.

That being said, it seems to me young Mr. Hogg, in his new found fifteen minutes of fame, is no different.  He has a point of view, not shared by all of his classmates by any stretch, and woe be the ones who don't see things his way.

Somehow I cannot help but think many of his words have been written for him.  Much like the time the youngster took a "science project" to school that looked like a bomb than screamed "foul" when school authorities and the police took punitive action.

Mr. Hogg has taken the whole gun control argument beyond the edges of credibility because I believe his advocacy is new found and barely researched what-so-ever.  It's no more than a knee jerk reaction that lacks discussable substance.  Not that he wants to discuss anything of substance.  Only his point of view.

Even more disturbing than this barely likable young man spouting off to who ever will have him, what is wrong with Ingraham's advertisers that have acquiesced to his demands to drop their advertising from her program?  Please!

What is he, seventeen?  Maybe eighteen?  That his dictum's must be obeyed?  What's next? These personal assaults from the under informed really should stop while we still have some semblance of common sense in this country.  Small as it may be.  When the inmates start running the asylum we're in real trouble.  Not because of the inmates nearly as much as the administrators of said asylum for allowing themselves to be so intimidated.

FOX, stick by Ingraham.  Advertisers, stick by FOX just as you do CNN, MSNBC and all the others who are just as snarky, mean spirited, and often down right wrong.

Man, this country scares me these days. We worry about artificial intelligence taking over.  I wonder if it can be worse than the lack of intelligence we are now experiencing.

Will Confidence Breed Contempt In Trump?

Trump is already an arrogant man.  He is also narcissistic (I can't believe we elected two narcissists in a row), thin skinned and vengeful.

Commentators on FOX have been commenting that he seems to be getting more confident in his role as President.  It should be of concern that rumors of more senior staff changes may be in the works - like totally eliminating the role of Chief of Staff. Please, no.

If General Kelly goes I imagine what's left of senior staff will drown in a pool of back stabbing, butt kissing and total chaos. Then Trump will bring in more of lesser caliber and they too, in time, will not survive.  What's next after that?  Trump alone?  Dictator Trump?  King Trump?  Off with their heads!

The more I watch his blustery speech the more I realize what little grasp he has of most situations. His recent foray to the "wall" prototypes is a perfect example.  Like the border agents will need to see through it.  Duh. He liked the solid ones.

Or the signing of this horrendous budget. He didn't read it.  His staff didn't have time to read it.  Isn't this the same reason the Republicans pilloried Obamacare?  Because no one had a chance to read it before voting on it?  That they don't see the irony in their own actions confounds me.

I'd like to think a confident Trump would find it unnecessary to counter attack  on Twitter everyone and everything that bristles his skin. Of course that's more wishful thinking.  Insecure people bluster and bully to try and cover their insecurities.  Of course it doesn't work.

Perhaps that's why Trump likes to surround himself with chaos.  It's easy to blame others in the midst of confusion.  And hope no one notices the truth.

Fat chance.

I'm Sick Beyond Words So I'm Going To Say A Few

Yes, I'm still around.  The problem is I've been posting about politics so long and have become so disgusted with it I've been recovering from a bad case of burnout.

I still am, actually, and the fact Trump signed the Omnibus Bill this morning hasn't helped any.  For a long time I thought maybe our Congress would come to it's senses and work together for the country.  How mistaken I have been.

All the talk about draining the swamp and like discussions are all just wishful thinking.  It isn't going to happen.  When you have over 3 million people feeding at the public trough there is no way it can be drained.  Each and every one of those 3 million are going to do what is expedient for them to hang onto to their piece of the good life while the rest of us can do no more than wait and wonder.

If any outsider other than Trump had ascended to the Presidency there may have been a chance.  I actually agree with a lot he says he wants to do for America.  The problem is he is who he is, his own and our greatest obstacle to succeeding.  It's hard for me to garner any respect for the man much less hail him as our President.

The handwriting is certainly on the wall.  The Left is most likely to oust the Republicans in the midterms.  Those of us who consider ourselves independents lose.  Will Trump lose?  Hard to say since in many respects he's more of a Democrat than a Republican and it's impossible to know what exactly it is he believes at any given moment.

Climate change, global warming,  gun issues all pale in comparison with what is really the biggest threat to this country and the world.  It's what our politics, politicians and their sycophantic media are doing to our country.

It isn't easy being green, the color that is.  I can find no comfort in the attitudes and actions of either party any more.  It's as if the country is just an aside.  Except for those of us who aren't a part of the ever expanding swamp.  Heck even alligators are green.  What does that tell you?  Of course they were in the swamp first.  Maybe they don't appreciate the interlopers who are taking over. I wish we had the  alligator like ability to scare the wits out of them by bearing our teeth!

Just thought I'd touch base today.  I'm still here.  I'm still angry, disgusted and perhaps most of all sad at what is happening to this once seemingly invincible nation.

Invincible.  Sigh.  Talk about wishful thinking.