Much to the dismay of my very traditional mother of blessed memory, I decided very early in life that I didn’t want to have children. Times have changed and I have a whole civilization to care for.  Besides, the genetic soup is so complex in my family that the chances of heartbreak are at least as great as the chance for joy.

So no — I am not raising children.  Still, I am exposed to people who do and I have to wonder what the heck is going on with them.

I was one of those rare kids who actually had a copy of some “original” Grimm’s Fairy Tales — the ones with lots and lots of gore.

Perhaps it was a safer and more innocent time then, for the most frightening things I see on television now are not images of an on-going war, but reportings on allegedly legitimate news about shootings within a few miles of where I am watching in San Diego.  And not only the atrocities committed by handguns and assault rifles, but even repeated assaults with paintballs within a few streets of where I live. Read more on The Threat Of Disney’s Princesses…