There is only one way to take care of a bully. And that is turning the tables on him. More often than not, the bully is a coward, picking on someone less fortunate or smaller, because he thinks he can get away with it, and because he hasn't the guts to mess with anyone his own size or larger. I've been there. I was often the smaller kid, so I had my share of dealing with them. Especially every time I started a new school. So I learned early on, if you don't want them messing with you, you give them a very good reason not to. An example. I remember this kid, Greg, from Junior High. He was a big kid. He was always running his mouth, making threats, calling names.... those are just words. I got worse at home, so no big deal. I just tried to ignore and move on. But one day in the cafeteria during lunch he shoved me in the back from behind. I ignored it the first time, so he did it again. I nearly dropped my tray. "Dude..." I said. "Stop." So.... "What you going to do about it?" And then he shoves me again. I put down my tray and turned around. This time he shoves me from the front... I step back with the shove and one big quick step forward again and planted one good right hook. He went down like a sack of potatoes and never bothered me again. In fact, after a while had passed, he wanted to be my friend. One true story of a few such moments in my life. Bullies are, without any doubt, usually just cowards at heart.
Granted, they may just be angry... perhaps they have a bad situation at home and bullying others is their way of dealing with their emotions. So really, there could be a number of reasons for their lashing out. But in my opinion, the majority of them are simply cowards trying to push their weight around, but to scared to do against anyone they think might be an even match.
Take for instance, "cyber bullying." It's a pretty new phenomenon that didn't exist when most of us were growing up. Now you hear about it all the time. Somebody says a bunch of rotten things about someone else on Facebook or something similar. Well it's likely because the bully is too cowardly to say something to the bullied in person.
Of course parents these days aren't helping solve the problem, because instead of teaching their kids to stick up for themselves, they baby them, and give them hugs, and might as well be sticking a damn pacifier in their mouths instead of saying... "Next time he does this, give him a damn good reason not to."