Blame Game

I was in the car for just 10 minutes, and Hannity was on.

(Now, I'm not a fan of Hannity... but I didn't change it because - as everywhere - the discussion was about Jared Loughner.)

I was not in the car long enough to catch his guests' names, other than Peter and Bob. And I don't really care who Peter and Bob are, to be honest. It's cold out there. Regardless.

They were looking for a place to put the blame for Loughner's actions. Unlike many, they were not talking about political speech, but about the all too clear fact that someone dropped the ball where this kid was concerned.

One of them wants to place blame on the sheriff, for not having a deputy on scene. Both seem to believe the college is at fault, since there was a clear record of outbursts by a deranged individual and the college did nothing to have him committed.

Do we need to play the blame game here? Do we need to pin someone (or something, in the case of the school) with responsibility for protecting the public from a very sick young man? Do we?

Then here's my question:

What about his freakin' parents?!

And don't give me any crap about it not being their responsibility. He lived with them. If anyone was aware of Loughner's issues, it was the people who raised him and who should have been paying attention.

I have kids. A bunch of them. And I know them. Therefore, I would be the very first to know if one of them jumped the rails. I would consider it my duty to get them whatever help was available.

And if they couldn't be helped, it would be my duty to have them put somewhere they could not hurt themselves or others.

Barring that, I would see it as my responsibility -- if I brought a monster into this world -- to remove that monster of my making.

So while everyone is looking around for someone to blame, let's not forget the prime suspects.

Their pain be damned. I could care less. They didn't do their job.