Well, we’ll get to property taxes in a moment.

As someone who spent a few years toiling in the low end of security work, I have been reading the suggestions made of late that military veterans of the Iraq/Afghanistan conflicts be hired to patrol our nation’s schools, to militarize them, in effect.

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Cue the outrage.

As if to emphasize the point, on Facebook, such suggestions are usually accompanied with a photograph of someone in full battle gear.

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We are used to Facebook (and letters to the editor on occasion) being the home of simplistic, comic book solutions, but the truth is that the notion is getting some traction in the more respectable areas of the world now.

In the to the wonderful world of security, where no matter what your experience may be, military veterans may well find themselves making just as much – or as little, in reality – as someone who has no experience at all.

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Security guards are among the lowest paid workers in America, whether you are carrying a weapon or not. And this includes whether or not the security guard – (sorry, security officer) has military or police training in their background. That’s the bitter truth, and one that many ex-military or former or former police officers do not know until they experience it for themselves.

Though there has been talk of a federal program responsible for securing schools, don’t look for it to happen in any century near you.

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The most we have are efforts on the local level. And how do we pay for local schools?

Property taxes? When the rubber hits the road – particularly in places like Oklahoma, where in some parts of the state they really don’t even like paying for the roads themselves – would this fly?

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Property taxes.

We are living in a period in which Congress, in its collective wisdom, feels that education in this country has been getting way too much money from the federal government for way too long, and many local schools find themselves shortchanged. School districts must face the difficult decision over which programs to cut.

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Sports programs?

Not on your life, Iambic Reader. They teach “team spirit” – something which can not be measured, but the folks in the stands know it is real, and shame on anyone who believes otherwise, or is interested in other things in their life.

Art? Music? New books for the library? Hey, they are good for the guillotine, especially if the art isn’t on black velvet or the music is something you don’t hear on American Idol.

And now comes “Security.” Ironically, we may end up with the most well-guarded, ignorant generation in American history. But if anyone dares suggest that Security not be given all the money it “needs,” well, maybe we need to look twice at them.

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Property taxes only pay for so much. Despite all of the current enthusiasm for paying for security I have been reading this weekend, I strongly suspect that, if push comes to shove, something is gonna be history at some of these schools.

History? Do we still have room in the budget for that?

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Second Amendment News: Stalker shoots up police station in New Jersey

In Gloucester Township, New Jersey, on Friday, Eddie Jones III, who was arrested for stalking his ex-girlfriend, managed to overpower a police officer inside a police station, and grabbed her gun. After he shot her, he also shot two other officers before being shot and killed himself.

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Quote of the Day

If we think that the world is here for us we will continue to destroy it the way we have been destroying it, because we think we can do no harm. — Douglas Adams

rsdrake@cox.net

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