in cold blood

I have been rather uneasy since hearing about all the shooting and killing over in West Memphis on Thursday. Two officers were blown away on site as they attempted to stop a van on the interstate. The shooters were eventually killed by other law enforcement in a WalMart parking lot, but not before they wounded two more cops. A father son team with roots in white supremist beliefs, they were traveling in a "church" van with two dogs and the late wife's ashes to lord knows where. The boy was 16 and came out shooting just like his daddy. Now there are four people dead and nobody knows why. That? Breaks my heart. I hate guns with a passion and believe that EVERYONE should be registered if they carry one. No exceptions. Call me a commie liberal...i don't give a rat's ass. If you have a reason to carry a gun, it should be well documented with all concerned. If not, turn it over. That privilege involves a lot of accountability in my opinion.

I had to laugh at the irony of post-Katrina FEMA trailers being sold for almost nothing in a little town south of here the week before our major flood. How many freaking years ago was that when NOL washed away??? But I digress. I fear that this might turn into a rant and I would certainly hate to bore anyone with my bitching about the randomness of violence in our world today. My daddy would say "It has always been thus and so.'" And I guess he's right. Back in the day, our town was known as "Little Chicago" due to infamous goings on down around the riverbanks in what was just a tiny little hamlet at that time.

What really REALLY blows me away is just how many crazy people there are out there wearing the disguise of a church or a hatred filled belief...or both, and swearing jihad against the innocents. A couple of years ago a man with whom I did frequent business was gunned down in his front yard while getting the mail. His murderer ( whom he knew, by the way) then went into a field and offed himself with the same gun. C.R.A.Z.Y. as batshit.

About twenty years ago the catch phrase "random acts of kindness" surfaced and I was so delighted to see a movement that embraced love and pace rather than condemnation and judgement. It seems like a simple concept....just to do something nice anonymously for no other reason than it's the right thing to do. That, my friends, is true belief in faith and karma.

BG is halfway through the interview process with a different company that looks promising, and is taking her GRE as I type. Her plan is to begin work on a MSW in the fall. Maybe by the time she gets done with all this she can counsel me on how to grow old gracefully and not be a bitchy little old woman. I have a feeling that even then, I'll be all about the chillaxing.

^j^