bombs in Boston ... and now in Texas???

They dont yet know whether it was the act of another mentally ill individual or whether it was nation/state sponsored terrorism, but if its the latter, I think we have to respond in some fashion, once we isolate the perps. U.S. Citizens are not military combatants and thus should be protected from these rogue acts of desperation from some global group who feels slighted.

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WASHINGTONPresident Barack Obama, responding to the explosions at the Boston Marathon, says the United States does not know "who did this or why" but vowed that whoever is responsible "will feel the full weight of justice."

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He said: "We will find out who did this and we will hold them accountable."

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Im just saying that if it is discovered who did this, I agree with Obama. We simply cannot ignore such hubris.

Its either that or a disturbed domestic individual. Im not suggesting anything yet...we shall see. And what would be your response, were you a national leader? Turn the other cheek?

You just like to argue! Why not? You seem to enjoy putting racist motives in mine.The fact is that this was an act of violence.If the perpetrator (of any ethnicity or color..it doesn't matter) is mentally ill, give them justice.If the perpetrator or perpetrators--of any ethnicity or color--were aware of what they were doing, I agree with Obama. Bring them to justice!!

This quote from the Boston paper that ooh-child cited:

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And we are left with this unnerving proposition: If it was home-grown, it was probably an aberration, the work of a lunatic. If it was foreign inspired or sponsored, we will never feel safe again in our own town.

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President Obama asked the rest of the country to pray for Boston. But we need more than prayers. We need answers. We need peace of mind, and we’ll never have that again on Patriots Day. Ever. Because somebody came here on our Patriots Day and launched their own revolution.

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Tell me why I am being irrational and not thinking. Anyone who would do such a thing ...lets just say that justice is demanded at this point.

Yes indeed. There is no justification for intentionally killing innocent civilians. I dont think a just case could even be made that would stand up under any jury.

As of the time of this post, there are still no suspects. What is evident is that this was a purposeful action that killed and was designed to kill and maim innocent civilians. There is no excuse nor justification for this action.

I agree, yet I see jars point. He would argue that we citizens are responsible for the behavior of our government and that many foreign and a few domestic people are at war with this government. A civil war, were they domestic.I maintain, however, that no jury (at least of US citizens) would ever condone such an action, and that we the people can not, nor should not change our behavior nor our daily actions simply because some individual or group of individuals demands that we do. In essence, i have picked my side in this battle...the side that protects and supports the American people.

The thing here is that we the people don't like civil wars. In essence, this is not a U.S. issue...its a global issue and, globally, humanity appears to be in a civil war. Human against human. Nobody likes to be targeted and feels a legitimate threat when another individual or group targets them. Note my underline. Individuals with evil in their hearts. Now...it may well be that when the United States invaded Iraq, we the people saw all Iraqis as the enemy, since they all seemed to support Saddam. In the same way, perhaps our enemy sees all of we Americans as complicit towards the military industrial complex that makes drones and engages in wars on foreign soil to secure national interests. However....as has been said, the difference between Boston and a Military Drone attack is that in the former, civilians were intentionally targeted whereas in the latter, civilian deaths were said to be collateral damage. Still....I agree with you that America need examine its national purpose in this world. You wont find many people wanting to do so now, however...they want revenge! Terrorism wont easily bring us to either the altar of repentance nor the negotiating table. We are a stubborn and proud people.

surrender to Jesus Christ.Negotiate....I dunno. Im not in favor of negotiating with terrorists.Repent and kill our flesh so that we no longer support the military industrial complex.When i say surrender, i mean that we are to surrender our sinful nature to God. If we still got attacked after that, our enemy is then in the wrong.

Granted that was my unthinking kneejerk fundie response. But lets talk a moment, shall we?In this BBC news link, the investigation lines up its likely suspects. Boston marathon bombings: Possible lines of inquiry

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The FBI maintains a long list of potential threats emanating from US individuals or groups harbouring violent intentions towards the federal government, civil organisations, or society in general.

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The list includes white racial supremacists, fundamentalist Christian extremists, animal rights activists and anti-abortionists. So-called "lone wolf" operators - individuals not belonging to any known terrorist group - are far harder for the authorities to detect and track.

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There are no extremists in the immediate circle of club christian that I socialize with.We do believe that humanity is imperfect, contrary to most secular humanist wisdom...we believe and can find evidence supporting the idea that human culture is capable of both good and bad actions, and I personally will admit that one need not be religious in order to be extremely good or extremely bad.So who do the authorities think is the most likely suspect(s)? So it looks as if jar may have been right. such an individual need not be classified as mentally disturbed...albeit fanatical.As for my kneejerk reaction? First off, I am a champion of freedom and believe that I live in a good(used to be great) country. We love things like the Boston Marathon. The very idea of an attack that targets the crowd, not even the runners themselves...causes internal outrage. And as a Christian who believes in the idea that humans have a sinful nature...I quite naturally think we all need to surrender in the sense that we need to kill our greedy selfish flesh and allow the Spirit of Love, Wisdom, and Peace dominate. (I was, in essence, preaching to myself. )Some would strongly disagree, of course...i can see hooah, theodoric, and coyote preeminent amongst them.Im sorry I am pessimistic on human potential. I simply dont see humans alone and of themselves willing to survive and love each other, thinking of others better than ourselves...as the Bible suggests we do.I know that I dont want to sacrifice my way of life to better the poor of the globe, and maybe this is why there is so much war and strife in the world...hence why I say that for me at least, I need Jesus.

I guess that most of you dont know jar the way that I do, and he will even cause me to reframe my assessment. But I think I know what he is implying....and, by the way, hooah...you will never get jar to answer your questions. All you can hope to do is ask better questions yourself for him to comment on. If any one of us gets to frame the issue, jar will rarely go along...he will continue asking questions and reframe the issue the way that he sees fit.That being said,and, correct me jar if i am wrong......Essentially, the bombings in Boston may have been done as a statement and way to get the attention of society in order to cause us(society) to re examine our behavior against other people in this world. We are not called to change our way of life...installing cameras at every corner of America, for example...or carrying more guns or not carrying more guns....but we are called to examine the way that our culture (and/or sub culture) gets along with other cultures and with society at large.Hypothetically...the perpetrator of this attack may be in your mind quite sane and has as an agenda a demand for greater societal examination and/or renunciation of behavior. Am I getting you right?

NPR ReportsAnd of course Alex Jones the king conspiracy theorist already thinks the government planned this whole charade...which i dismiss since Alex makes money off his own gossip.By and large I trust the news media, though I usually view a variety of sources and am unafraid to question. Phat As A Christian? Yes, I still believe that there is a spiritual war of sorts being fought with and between cultures...The issue there is whether humans should accept and trust their own intellects exclusively as the best moral ethical and societal path for them and others or whether they are sane in believing in someone greater than themselves whom we can trust and love.Critics would of course say that religious thinking is delusional and often causes the precise rebellions against society such as this Boston incident.... I will say that I have no ill will or hatred towards any group of humans although I feel that we all can say our battle (if not spiritual) is against "stinkin thinkin". Right, Tangle?

it seems to encourage terrorism, in my opinion. The way "they" can beat us is by bankrupting us....so much spent for one or two men. Its like spending a trillion to "get" Bin Ladin....utterly illogical, IMHO

Somewhere I read that the contrast between the US and most of our ideological adversaries in general is that while we highly value human life, we are unafraid to throw money at a problem. We would never wish to lose even 1-or 2 soldiers lives, but we can build a multi million drone.The adversary, OTOH, places less value on sacrifice of human life and is unable(or unwilling) to spend large amounts of money to fight us.In essence its about our money versus their people.Our people seem to want their money(resources, etc) while their people want a bit more of our money and a bit less war.Perhaps i am speaking in over generalizations, here....but I think that this cultural war could be solved by all of us globally fighting the rich. as long, of course, as I don't become poor as a sacrifice in so doing. Edited by Phat, : No reason given.