Heroes at Sandy Hook Elementary

My God, the unspeakable horror of losing your child, especially from senseless violence.  Nothing can ease those parents' pain.  Nor the pain from the families who lost adult family members who were members of the staff at Sandy Hook Elementary.  However, self sacrifice and serving others is still alive in this country when we see multiple examples of school staff endangering themseleves and in many cases, paying the ultimate price to save children and others.  God Bless them, and God please grant the parents and families peace and grace over their losses.   

From an Associated Press article: A worker who turned on the intercom, alerting others in the building that something was very wrong. A custodian who risked his life by running through the halls warning of danger. A clerk who led 18 children on their hands and knees to safety, then gave them paper and crayons to keep them calm and quiet.

Out of the ruins of families that lost a precious child, sister or mother, out of a tight-knit town roiling with grief, glows one bright spot: the stories of staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School who may have prevented further carnage through selfless actions and smart snap judgments.

District Superintendent Janet Robinson noted "incredible acts of heroism" that "ultimately saved so many lives."

"The teachers were really, really focused on their students," she told reporters Saturday.

Some of them made the ultimate sacrifice.

After gunman Adam Lanza broke through the school door, gun blazing, school psychologist Mary Sherlach and principal Dawn Hochsprung ran toward him, Robinson said. Hochsprung died while lunging at the gunman, officials said.

The 56-year-old Sherlach, who would have been tasked with helping survivors cope with the tragedy, died doing what she loved, her son-in-law, Eric Schwartz, said.

"Mary felt like she was doing God's work," he said, "working with the children."

Just this past October, Hochsprung had tweeted a picture of the school's evacuation drill with the message "Safety first."

Victoria Soto, (photo at top), a 27-year-old teacher, reportedly hid some students in a bathroom or closet and died trying to shield them from bullets, a cousin, Jim Wiltsie, told ABC News. Those who knew Soto said they weren't surprised.

"You have a teacher who cared more about her students than herself," said John Harkins, mayor of Stratford, Soto's hometown. "That speaks volumes to her character, and her commitment and dedication."

In other cases, staffers both saved students and managed to escape with their own lives.

Teacher Theodore Varga said that as gunfire echoed through the school, a custodian ran around, warning people. He appears to have survived; all the adults killed were women.

"He said, 'Guys! Get down! Hide!'" Varga said. "So he was actually a hero."

Someone switched on the intercom, alerting people in the building to the attack by letting them hear the chaos in the school office, a teacher said. Teachers locked their doors and ordered children to huddle in a corner or hide in closets as shots echoed through the building.

In a classroom, teacher Kaitlin Roig barricaded her 15 students into a tiny bathroom, pulled a bookshelf across the door and locked it. She told the kids to be "absolutely quiet."

"I said, 'There are bad guys out there now. We need to wait for the good guys,'" she told ABC News.

One student claimed to know karate. "It's OK. I'll lead the way out," the student said.

Clerk Maryann Jacob was working with a group of 18 fourth-graders in the library when the shooting broke out. She herded the children into a classroom in the library, but then realized the door wouldn't lock.

They crawled across the room into a storage space, locked the door and barricaded it with a filing cabinet. There happened to be materials for coloring, she said, "so we set them up with paper and crayons."

One person who wasn't in the school at all also is being lauded for his grace: Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie died.

Speaking to reporters Saturday, he said he was not mad and offered sympathy for Lanza's family.

"I can't imagine," he said, "how hard this experience must be for you."

Impending Tax Changes in 2013

Everybody's taxes are going up, even though the grand Poobah himself, Obama, declared that raising taxes during a poor economy (indeed a recession) is a bad idea. We are on the verge of virtually everything going up,...taxes, food, fuel, housing, interest rates,....everything.

The great descent, indeed a free fall, over the Fiscal Cliff is no myth. Just wait and see. If Congress and this President do nothing before 31 December, on 1 January 2013 you will see the changes outlined in the chart below, courtesy of Bankrate.com and also viewable on the Yahoo Finance article here.

Benghazi,...Maybe We'll Find Out Some Answers Soon

....and maybe not. Hilary Clinton, soon to be the out going Sectetary of State, is scheduled next week to testify on what she knows about Benghazi. The questions are numerous, I'm afraid the answers will be few. While Clinton did brief congressional leaders behind closed doors shortly after the attack, many more questions have arisen as facts and assumptions become apparent following that initial briefing.

Such as:
1. Why did the Administration, for up to two weeks following the attack that left the U.S. Ambassador and three other Americans dead, continually refer to the terrorist attack as caused by a populat riot against a anti-muslim video?
2. Who pressured Susan Rice, Ambassador to the United Nations, to back up the Administration claims of a riot gone wild? Why is she unrepetent?
3. Why did the U.S. military assets in the region not respond, given the response time of one to two hours, when Americans held out against terrorists for up to seven hours?
4. Why did the President say on television that he ordered the military the respond, but no media has followed up to determine when did he order it, and/or ask for a written copy of the execute order?
5. Why were key military leaders removed , one frm AFRICOM, General Ham and the Naval Admiral, Rear Admiral Gaudette, in days following this failure to protect American citizens?
6. Former CIA Director David Petraeus testified behind closed doors before the Senate Intelligence Committee about the attack in November and told congressonal leaders that the intelligence report that went to the White House clearly dicatated a planned terrorist attack. If Ambassador Rice was given intelligence from the White House, who changed it from terrorist attack to "mob frenzy" and who ordered it?

Along with Clinton testifying, an "independent review" by the State Department on the findings concerning how the Libyan threats and consulate security were handled.