This morning in Sauk County, not far from Madison, gun violence in a school erupted. Once again guns and blood are replacing math and reading in our public schools. In this latest episode a 15 year old boy brought a rifle and handgun to school and shot a principal three times. As of this writing the victim is in a Madison hospital being treated.
(Following the writing of this post the man died from the gunshots.)
How guns are so carelessly left around in the homes of Americans is a mystery to me. How a child walks out of the house on the way to school with a loaded shotgun and a loaded handgun baffles me. How parents are so tone deaf to the problems that their child is having BEFORE a violent act of this kind, confuses me. Why we as citizens do not tell the NRA that we have had enough death and violence as a result of their buying politicians, and thereby stopping needed gun legislation from getting passed, is in itself a crime.
I think it is time to hold parents accountable for their children’s actions in cases like this. For instance, if teenagers use a parent’s home for a party where alcohol plays a role in illegal activity, the parent can be liable. When a parent has deadly weapons in a home without being locked up they should also be liable. When a parent has no more sense of what their child is doing with their life other than planning murder with a gun, that parent must face up to their role in the disaster as well. Being a parent is more than just having sex.
We are hearing lots in our state in advance of an anti-marriage amendment in the fall election about what constitutes a family. Today this episode has brought to our attention that a family is much more than two heterosexuals with a marriage certificate who have sexual parts that work. A family is also supposed to be a working unit that converses, cares, and watches out for each other. It is clear that one heterosexual family did not do that in Wisconsin today, and probably had not for some time. Hmmmm…..
A lot of things to ponder this afternoon here in Wisconsin.
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 
Do you remember the blood drives that cropped up after 9/11? Despite the fact that there haven’t been any major terrorist attacks since then, people do get hurt every day, and the need for blood donatoin is still quite strong. In particular, the shooting in Sauk County in event drove me to donate at a UWM blood drive. Apparently they used 80 (yes, eighty!) pints of blood trying to save the late principal’s life. It didn’t work. Please consider giving some blood, just a pint. Assuming it checks out okay, it *will* get used.