Applauding the “Never Again” movement, another inane decision from a chaotic Whie House and our cat comes in from the cold cellar

“Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it.” 
                                                                                                                                                            ― Howard Zinn
                                                                                                                                  

AUBURN, Maine — You just witnessed this nation’s teenagers take charge of their lives when they came out in droves across America to protest incessant gun violence in schools.

They delivered rousing speeches and vowed to make an indifferent congress and apathetic president accountable — and if they continue to drag their heels — thousands of young people have made a solemn promise to vote them out of office in the midterms.

These courageous and admirable teens gave us all a civics lesson and re-enforced what Harry Truman said: "Decisions are made by people who show up." And we haven't seen much of that from our leaders.

I stand with them as a part-time teacher and as a responsible adult who was proud of their courage and determination when they spoke before thousands of supporters in Washington D.C., Boston, New York as well as cities in Ireland and France.

This was a worldwide event and these teens were loud and clear with their message: Never again.

I guess the children of this country shall lead us because most of our leaders continue to bow to the NRA or they are too busy sparring with a chaotic Oval Office where indecision and indifference rules. Many of our leaders just don’t get it that these wonderful kids are frightened and weary of the senseless slaughter of their peers.

But they delivered on their promise and a word of caution on a sunny Saturday to our nation’s leaders — “we are not going away and we will vote to make a change.”

I will join these brave teens at the polls when the midterms roll around this year and will gladly show any insouciant politician the door.

Speaking of the White House

Let me get this straight! 

Transgender people won’t be allowed to serve in this nation’s military thanks another absurd decision by the Oval Office.

Why? 

They are American citizens who are willing to stand between us and harm’s way. Another words, they are putting their lives on the line for all of us — including the people in the Oval Office.

In the end, does it really matter that these brave souls are transgender when they pick up a rifle to protect us.

During World War II, the military insisted blacks weren’t capable of flying war planes. Obviously, racism was the backbone of that backward way of thinking of people who just happen to be black.

Well, thanks to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and wife, Eleanor, black men were given that chance and proved they were equally capable of flying P-51 Mustangs and knocking the enemy out of the skies.

They are now known as the Tuskegee airmen, who were honored for service to their nation.

Transgender people deserve the same chance to serve their country.

But it is just another derisive and uninformed decision from the current and befuddled administration.

And Cindy Lou finally came out

Our new cat, Cindy Lou Who, has been hiding all over the house for five weeks.

The hairy critter is like the lead character Keyser Soze in the movie, “The Usual Suspects.”

And like that, poof, Cindy Lou is gone.

From time to time, we had at several sightings of our aloof cat before it dashed off into the darkness of our damp cellar where she hid out like a wanted convict. She would leave dead mice in her wake. We would hear creeping around at night, but when we went to take a peek, she was out of sight.

But this week was break through with relations with our stealthy cat. The thaw came swiftly.

Thanks to my wife’s love and devotion to animals, Cindy Lou decided to give our upstairs accommodations a try.

She is still here and she let’s us know it when she is around. This cat likes to talk and craves attention and still disappears for hours in the cellar.

He now sits on the chair with his own blanket or is in the kitchen getting high on catnip.

I am just glad we are finally friends with the elusive hairball.

Cindy Lou finally feeling right at home.

This part-time teacher will carry a tune but not a pistol to school

“When you have a high-volume magazine or an assault weapon, you're not hunting deer or protecting your home; you're out to hunt people.” 

                                                                            — U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley

“We have to fulfill what the real meaning of the Second Amendment is: reasonable access to guns for self-protection and for hunting. And there's no room in America for these semiautomatic, automatic and other kinds of weapons that are simply designed to cause mass havoc. 

                                                                       — Alan Dershowitz, attorney

AUBURN — As a part-time teacher, I refuse to step into a classroom with a concealed weapon strapped to my ankle or hidden under my sports coat.

I am not a Clint Eastwood wannabe playing a rogue cop in the 1976 movie, “The Enforcer.” Schools don’t need teachers playing Dirty Harry with a Glock capable wiping out the population of Rhode Island.

It shouldn’t be a choice, either. It is not a viable option for a number of reasons.

It’s law enforcement’s job to confront and corral criminals. Police know how to handle a handgun and undergo extensive training to deal with dangerous suspects.

This rabid violence against this nation’s young is also societal problem and it is up to this nation’s citizens and leaders to arrive at a sensible solution.

A pistol is no match against an assault rifle.

It is like bringing a knife to a gun fight. 

And I don’t buy the argument that an assault rifle is just another gun. 

Baloney! 

This gun was designed for military combat. It has no business being in anybody’s gun locker.

I understand there are thousands of Americans who own and respect guns. Many of them are hunters and look at a rifle as necessary tool to put food on the table.

But I feel students might be intimidated with teachers carrying a piece. My responsibilities include teaching history or English, being a role model and steering students in the right direction. I would find it awkward and uncomfortable to inspire a classroom while I am carrying cumbersome handgun with a 10-shot clip.

Teachers are not armed prison guards strutting around the yard and staring down inmates. Breaking up a school fight could become complicated for a teacher carrying a weapon. A scuffle might turn dangerous and end in tragedy when a teacher’s pistol suddenly becomes the epicenter of a hallway confrontation between students.

What if a teacher, who draws his gun during a shooting incident, is mistakenly killed by police. Who wants that kind of collateral damage!

Arming teachers is an absurd notion for any politician who suggests weapons in schools will deter or put an end to school shootings.

The shooting in Florida where 17 wonderful, promising lives were lost when an unhinged student entered a school with an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle and opened fire.

I am proud of those Florida students who stepped up and challenged our nation’s waffling leaders to move on gun control. Those survivors were courageous during the shooting and their tenacity to push the gun control debate to the forefront is commendable.

In a perfect world, our leaders would layoff using Twitter and actually govern and listen to the outcry of their constituency and the teen-agers who are under assault.

There are many vacuous decisions emanating from a chaotic and pugnacious White House — and arming teachers tops the Oval Office’s list of absurd priorities.

Weapons training for teachers is not an antidote to school shootings. No teacher can also fulfill the role of an armed school resources officer. I don’t want to moonlight as Wyatt Earp with a six-shooter.

There are a handful of valid reasons why such violence erupts in schools — which should be safe, secure, nurturing and fun.

Besides banning assault weapons and conducting stringent background checks, there is a failing mental health system, poor parenting, and missed red flags. Until these issues are addressed and resolved, the death toll in our schools will rise. 

One of the most memorable lines in “The Godfather” is when a Mafia hood says, “Leave the gun, take the cannoli.”

I have no problem taking a cannoli to school, but I will leave a firearm at home.

I am not making light of this epidemic of school shootings. I’ve been in a lockdown and it was a terrifying experience for students for 20 long minutes. My concern would always be the students first, not reaching for a gun.

Leave the war on crime to the men in blue and out of dedicated teachers’ job descriptions — or put two capable, heavily-armed SROs in every school. Israel’s schools are fortresses thanks to heavy security.

We are educators not gun-totting bodyguards.

Our condolence to people of France

“They were singing in French, but the melody was freedom and any American could understand that.”

Audie Murphy, American World War II hero

“Global terrorism is extreme both in its lack of realistic goals and in its cynical exploitation of the vulnerability of complex systems.”

Jurgen Habermas

“The enemy for the fanatic is pleasure, which makes it extremely important to continue to indulge in pleasure. Dance madly. That is how you get rid of terrorism.”

Salman Rushdie

“Terrorism is the tactic of demanding the impossible, and demanding it at gunpoint.”

Christopher Hitchens

To the proud and good people of France,

You gave us the Statue of Liberty, helped our ancestors win their freedom in 1783 and you remain the devout caretakers of our American war dead in pristine cemeteries across your great nation.

I can’t speak for all of my countrymen, but my family stands by the French and we offer our condolences to the families who lost loved ones in another inane act of terrorism in your country.

What fanatics did was solidify the bonds between free nations and brought worldwide condemnation from all of us. Each terrorist act brings us all together and it accomplishes nothing except to continue a war without end.

There will be blood, but it will ebb from the veins of terrorists whose misguided beliefs and nefarious ways continue to unite those who believe in the greater good.

War is like a street fight — somebody’s not getting up, and our survival depends our decisive actions.

The fanatic doesn’t understand an open and free society, which fosters ideas, ideals and the advancement of its people. France and its open-minded people have always enjoyed the fine arts and their culinary delights have been the talk of Europe.

Flip through the pages of history and there are centuries of proof that terrorizing a civilian population will bring only doom upon the perpetrators of violence.

The French fought against Hitler, whose V-2 rockets terrorized London. But all those missiles did was strengthen the resolve of the British as they huddled in underground subway tunnels. The French Underground was responsible for numerous historic acts of bravery during the D-Day invasion of France in 1944.

In World War I, the Germans used giant artillery pieces such the Paris Gun to instill fear in the French population. It is obviously those massive guns failed after the Allies won the war in 1918.

When the World Trade Towers fell on Sept. 11, 2001 in the United States, France supported us and the Canadians allowed American passenger planes to land after the United States ordered all civilian aircraft to stand down. The Holocaust united the Jewish people and Israel was born in 1948. America was the first to recognize this new nation.

Grand ideas like our U.S. constitution, which includes the phrase: “All men are created equal,” inspired a new nation. Nobody ever wrote a sentence like that in the history of mankind. That one bold stroke of a pen set the bar for all humanity, started our Civil War that put an end to slavery and sparked the civil rights movement in this country 100 years later. Gays can no longer be discriminated and are allowed to marry without retribution or harrassment thanks to our just laws.

The terrorist, with their warped views and unjust laws, will never comprehend a free state, but they know we will never back down or retreat.

So no matter what these bastards do, liberty and the greater good will prevail. But if we allow paranoia and hatred to seize us, these miscreants will have the upper hand.

At this moment, our skyscrapers are displaying the colors of the French flag and an unscheduled rendition of your country’s national anthem was performed at the New York Metropolitan Opera.

We feel your pain, but you are not alone.