The tragic murder of 20 first-graders and 6 teachers in Connecticut has put a damper over Christmas for the whole country. No one can explain such a senseless, cowardly act. We’ll depend on ministers and other religious leaders to bring comfort to the families and other students in Newtown. Ironically, if those same preachers volunteered to offer a prayer each morning at the school, that would be prohibited.

Naturally, guns are blamed for this massacre. And it’s doubtful if the killer would have done much damage armed only with a hunting knife. Now, I’m sure against banning guns. But for those folks who insist they need a semi-automatic military attack rifle and thousands of rounds of ammunition for self-protection, ask this question: how much good did it do the murderer’s Mom?

It’s not just about guns. These loner, mentally deranged boys and young men are over exposed to violence and mass killing in Hollywood movies and video games. Maybe the surprise is there aren’t more horrible cases, whether it’s a suicide, or murders of family members or random helpless victims.

News reporters said the murderer’s mom used to take her son to a shooting range for practice. If that is true, I wonder if she also took him to church. Or to Boy Scouts, or 4-H.

The Fiscal Cliff is still staring us in the face. Speaker John Boehner finally agreed to raise the tax rate, but only for those making at least a million dollars. He had already come up with about a Trillion in what he calls new revenue. Meanwhile, President Obama is still looking for a few Trillion in spending cuts to put on the table. He hasn’t found any, and neither has any other Democrat. I heard a Congresswoman from Texas on TV. She was asked at least twenty times if she could name even one expenditure she would offer to cut to reduce the $16 Trillion debt. Not one dollar was she willing to give up.

Can you imagine being married to a Democrat like that? You would say, “Honey, we have two mortgages, maxed out credit cards, and you got laid off. We’ve got to cut back on spending.” The spouse replies, “No, you’ll just have to make more money.”

The federal government has a slew of new regulations ready to spring on us. Here’s one I got wind of: rainwater is a pollutant. That will be a shock to farmers in drought-stricken Kansas and Oklahoma. They might say, “Maybe the EPA can force these excess rainfall states, where rain is illegal, to ship some of it our way.”  Ironically, a couple of years ago EPA wanted to rule that dust from farms is a pollutant. If Washington would just pass a law like the one on “share the wealth”, they could even out the rainfall and eliminate the dust.

Historic quote by Will Rogers:
“It must be marvelous to just belong to some legislative body and just pick money out of the air.” DT #2673, Feb. 28, 1935