The Bombings; Things that should be said and asked.

I am afraid for my country. More so, I am afraid for the American people. I think we are being fooled and are being treated as fools as to the things that are happening right in front of our eyes. Last week a terrible thing happened in Boston, two men with bombs killed three and wounded somewhere around 200. The official version of what happened is that two guys with backpacks and pressure cookers set off the explosions thus causing all the aforementioned death and suffering. Those two became the focus of a massive manhunt in Boston and the surrounding communities, that literally shut down the city and ended in the death of one and the capture of the other. We have been told that they were lone wolves, that they had no help, and were just kind of winging the whole thing based off information on the internet. We were also informed that their religious beliefs, Islam, had nothing to do with it, that they were unemployed and that the older brother, especially, was angry at his situation or that perhaps a concussion suffered while boxing was the real cause and that while the younger brother was essentially a good kid he was easily influenced by his brother.

I am not buying any of this.

Lets address the religious aspect first so that those of you who are going to be offended will be and we can then move on. If these two men had been white or members of the Tea Party or the Westboro Baptist Church it would have been all over the news and many in the government and the mainstream media would have been loving it. They were practically salivating in the hopes that it would be. Instead these two turn out, once again, to be Muslim extremists. Not all Muslims are extremists but these two certainly fit the category of angry young Muslim men who want to kill anyone who does not follow their sick ideology. This has been admitted to and is quite apparent based on what was found on their computers. The teachings of the radicals that they followed and based on what Russian intel told us. This is not fiction, this is fact. You may not like it but there it is.

Second; The lone wolf concept. If they were alone and acting on their own, then where did they get the money for the guns,not to mention the bomb making materials (remember they had more than just two as demonstrated when they were having it out with the police) or the car that they were driving? I understand that they were both unemployed and yet somehow the older one is able to fly to Russia and stay for 6 months. Where did the money come from? They would have needed money to get the permits needed in MA to own a gun never mind actually buying the guns. Or perhaps they obtained them illegally, as most criminals and terrorists tend to do, or maybe the oldest one's wife had something to do with providing them with the money. Perhaps it could have been a, dare I say it, an Islamic terrorist organization? Or a another FBI set up that this time went terribly wrong? As long as the official story of “lone wolves” stays in place we may never know.

Third; While it can be argued that the bomb material is easy enough to obtain and you can find directions on line as to how to build a bomb you still need to know how to properly deploy these weapons in a way that will cause the most damage and still allow you to walk away, not to mention being able to time everything just right so that nothing is detected by the bomb sniffing dogs. That takes a bit of time, practice and surveillance. There simply had to be some training involved to be able to do this successfully. I know that when I went through boot camp back in the dark ages you were taught how to handle weapons, including various explosives, but they wouldn't let you handle anything until they were satisfied that you understood all the components, how they worked, how to properly deploy them, and make them work without killing yourself. So I am supposed to believe that these guys were so smart that they were successfully able to pull this off with out any kind of outside help?

Fourth; Why was the older brother tagged by DHS and or the FBI a few years ago and yet left alone, even after the Russians warned them about him and the radical Islamist that he had been with? From what I understand they had reason then to deport him yet they let him stay.

Fifth; Why was so much force needed to capture one man, a so called lone wolf? I have seen video clips taken from houses in the search areas where the police stormed into houses and took people out at gun point screaming at them to keep their hands up like they were the ones who had done something. I understand that it is dangerous work but if you knew who you were looking for and that he was a lone wolf, as has been portrayed by the media/government, then why are you violating the rights of those who had nothing to do with it? Could it be that the government knew something more than they will admit and that perhaps these guys had some help?

Sixth; If this attack caught everyone by surprise, as we have been led to believe, why were there warnings of a bomb drill? Why were there so many men dressed identically, khakis and boots along with black jackets, carrying backpacks the same color as at least one of the ones used? Who were these people? The official response is either denial of government people being there (Just ignore the shiny black SUV's and the ear pieces) or it's been shoved into silence mode.

There are more questions that could be asked but I will stop with these.

I said earlier I don't buy the official story.

The irony here is that not too long ago Mr. Obama said military style weapons had no place on the streets of America and yet Boston had so much on its streets that it looked just like a war zone. You don't need a small army to capture one man. You had both of their pictures all over the internet; where do you think that they could go and not be found in these days, where damn near everything has a camera on it? Or is it more that they wanted to make sure that he was caught or killed as well so that he couldn't talk?

Sadly some of you are going to be offended by this piece because you reflect the current administrations view on Islamic terrorist, that they don't really exist, even as your streets are being bombed and people are being killed and maimed, even as your houses are being forcibly entered and you are being searched at gunpoint you won't believe the truth. Our enemies are here and they are likely better organized than we have been told. The government won't acknowledge it but I think I know, at least in part, why. Fear is a powerful motivator and they have been using it against us, especially since 911. Bit by bit they have used various situations to encroach on our liberties so I am guessing that this is going to cause more, or at least an excuse to attempt more.

Just My Simple Minded opinion.

We Are Patriots

This week, once again, our world was rocked by cowardly, despicable, semi human, monsters who killed and maimed innocent people with two bombs at the Boston Marathon. I had originally planned on writing about how much this reminded me of September 11 and all the emotions and feelings it brought up, having experienced that and war in Iraq. Instead I am going to write about my anger. Not anger at those worthless bastards who did this, whoever they may be, but my anger at the media who immediately jumped to conclusions or, at the very least, insinuated that they had a pretty good idea of who might do it and why.

The words I heard used over and over were “right wing extremists” with ABC and MSNBC being the worst, at least of the ones that I heard, but, you might ask ,why that would bother me so much? You have no party affiliation. Its because at least two of them tried to tie “patriots” in with “right wing extremists” and at least one, Jessica Stern on MSNBC said and I quote “far right Neo Nazi patriot movement”.The other being Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center, while being interviewed by ABC, suggesting that it was those of the so called “patriot movement” being responsible and that while Patriots day isn't until the 19^th they acted sooner because Boston celebrated it on the 15^th. Then there were those , particularly CNN, that suggested that it was the work of “white tea party members.”

What the hell is the matter with you people in the news media? You want this to be some sort of home grown terrorism? Do you really love your political agenda so much that you would be happy at the mere thought that it might be someone affiliated with a group you don't like? You people are sick and the entire lot of you should be fired for sheer ignorance and stupidity and hatred for your own nation. Let me give you a real idea of just who patriots are.

I am a patriot. My father was a Cuban refugee who escaped communism. My mother of the peoples of Ireland and Scotland that has been here for generations. I was born here and I served my country in both peace time and war.

We are patriots. We are people who believe in the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights. We are people who fight against you being taxed and regulated to death and being man handled by a federal government that has clearly over stepped its bounds. We are people who believe that life liberty and the pursuit of happiness applies to all people no matter their color ,race , religion, sexual orientation or creed. We do our fighting with the power of the internet and the vote. We are not people who use bombs as a means to get any of our views across, that is what terrorists and governments do. We are instead people who will write and call our representatives and peaceably protest against those policies and laws we disagree with. We are Redsox and Yankee fans who unite under one flag though we are sports rivals. We are Bruins fans who sing the National Anthem at the top of their lungs 2 days after the attack. We are the men and women who raised the flag at the twin towers and those who rescued the dead and the injured. This is not about political differences, we are a nation of people who all believe differently on a great number of issues but when you boil it all down we are all Americans and most , if not all, are patriots. To suggest that someone who believes differently than your political ideology is somehow a terrorist is disgusting and childish.

Am I saying that there is no way that it couldn't be some Neo Nazi group or far right or left nut jobs?No. The past shows us that there are crazies on all sides of the spectrum. What I am saying is don't put those of us who consider our selves to be patriots in the same sort of category as cowardly terrorists or Nazi's because in doing so you have just demeaned 330 million Americans and it doesn't pay to piss off Americans.

Just my simple minded opinion.

Prejudice in the North East ??

As most of you know, I live in the Northeast, one of the most liberal areas of the country, where just about anything conservative or religious is frowned upon ,unless its politically correct, and the level of tolerance for just about anything, this side of California, is just about the highest in the nation but it is also an area where prejudice seems to be quite alive and well.

When I lived out in the south west, I wasn't all that surprised to find that the KKK was still in power in some places. I was never troubled by any of them mind you, but still I knew that they were there and when they spoke, politicians on the local level, listened. I started taking care of a camp after Hurricane Katrina and the camp was packed with supplies that had been meant for refugees from Katrina that were supposed to come to the camp but never did. I was told by one of my neighbors that the reason that they never came was because the local klan had intervened and had prevented it from happening because most of those that were going to be coming were black. Now, I can't prove that this was true it was simply told to me so I can only say that it's a many times removed account but still when I consider where I was and the obvious signs it's not really that surprising to me. Not saying it's a good thing just not surprising.

Here in the Northeast though, where liberal politics rule the day, I had always kind of assumed that in this day and age that there wouldn't be any to speak of. Sure, there would always be cases of individuals who were bigoted knuckleheads, but not so wide spread as I have discovered.

My wife and I have been in the process of looking for a place to rent after we were informed by our landlord that he was going to be selling the house. He has not been prejudice towards us in any way that I know of, it's just that the taxes are going up and he needs to sell. The problem has been in the search for a new place dealing with people who are obviously just a bit on the biased side.

My wife would call a place and give her first name and all would be well in the course of the conversation until it came time for the last name and /or my first name. We are talking of people who were excited in talking to my wife because they know we have a steady income and could get good references etc, but as soon as it got to my full name the conversation would end and all the warm fuzzies with it. We even looked at a few places and filled out forms only to either not hear from these people again or to be told that they were looking for other types of people. The reasons varied but none of that would come up until my family name or my first name came into play. Then it all fell apart. No one can say to you outright that they don't want you to rent from them because your Hispanic, that’s against the law, but they can use just about any other excuse that they wish. It could be coincidence but I really doubt it because it always follows the same path.

The funny part in all this, is that if you met me on the street, without knowing my name, you would likely never guess that there was any Spanish blood in me at all. Sure I am short and stocky as many Hispanic folks are and yes my eyes are sort of brown and in the summer I can get quite a tan but I tend to look more like my mothers family which were Scott and Irish and I only speak a little bit of Spanish. The point is that without even seeing me some people passed judgment and some of those who did , did so based on my name.

Now, for the record, we have found another place to live in the state that I am originally from and I am very grateful for it because of the opportunities available to my family and because it will put me closer to extended family as well but the whole process of the search was a bit of an eye opener.

Personally, I think we still have a long way to go on the issues of race, especially the stereo typing, and I realize that certainly things are much better than they were 50 years ago, but all sides of this issue, no matter the race, has to come together and start working out our differences. We are supposed to be a nation of rugged individuals who earn our place in society that should be judged on our character of heart, not pigmentation, heritage or sexual orientation. This is just My Simple minded thought.