Those explosions today in Turkey were huge. Huge.

What scares me most about the MJ distraction is that the world is erupting all over and nobody cares. I know, I know, this is old hat for our beyond-belief-terrible media.

But the number of global suicide bombings seems to be increasing every month. The scope of the destruction seems to widen every time. Whoever is doing this is getting better, and so far they are relatively crude. That can't last.

The consequences of our consumer culture, fast food media, and the glut of nonstop entertainment have made most people sheeple. This is not news, nor is it new, but I swear it can't go on forever.

I'm scared and frustrated. Again, this isn't new, but given Arnold and now MJ, I just can't see the mass culture getting better.

America has begun two prolonged wars, but it is business as usual for Americans. Nobody seems affected. I have yet to hear people talk about Iraq and when I bring it up, people don't get it. They don't see what we've become and they definitely don't seem to care at all.

Was it like this during Viet Nam? Did people talk more back then?

I used to see our popular culture as stupid, but now it is terminal.

If this mass stupidity continues, we will not.

Don't worry, be stupid.

Ugh. :-(

September 11 doesn't count - that was a freak show that we watched on TV. Most Americans can't empathize because they don't have the slightest idea what it's like to experience a bombing, let alone to be hungry.

The economy is taking a toll, but the majority are still employed - and many of the unemployed I've talked to are still stupid. Have we reached a point of terminal stupidity?

that direct knowledge of violence will change people's behavior. I don't think there's any real evidence of that. Israel hasn't changed its behavior. England didn't change its approach to Northern Ireland for decades.

Alas, violence just seems to beget more violence.

How mistaken you are. 9/11/01 will be used to destroy any and all resistance to the new world order. Like it or not them are the facts.

I haven't seen any real explanation yet of why this is occurring in Turkey.

I agree it's huge, and very threatening. Turkey is an ally of major importance not just to the US, but to all of Europe.

If it's really Al Quaeda..... why? Turkey has NOT committed troops to Iraq.

If it's NOT Al Quaeda, is it the emergence of an islamicist force in Turkey?

I have to admit to not being overly familiar with the political situation there. Anybody have any idea of why this is happening now?

They blew up a British bank HQ and a British consulate IN Turkey. I don't think that it was in Turkey had anything in particular to do with it, other than that it was convenient.

I'm kind of surprised that Turkey hasn't blamed it on the Kurds.

Turkey is in NATO. Turkey rejected sending forces to Iraq but then offered them up a couple of months ago.

Saudi Arabia and the US are considered allies, although Al Qaeda never claimed responsibility for the last bombing there.

The targets in Turkey were British and Israeli(synagogues).

The dots are all there, you just have to connect them.

They are attacking within nations that they consider to be colluding with the US and Britain.

Where are those tons of plastics explosives coming from? There's got to be a government involved somewhere. Russia? China? Pakistan? Not likely to be Syria, Iran, or Libya -- they're trying to get on our good side. Or maybe there's a clandestine plastic explosives factory run by radical Muslim groups somewhere.

who would gain from a military crackdown in turkey? (remember, the turkish civ. population derailed plans to base u.s. troups there)

i submit that these blasts are part of a larger effort by the bfee to ensure that we don't withdraw from the region.

BFEE likes to kill, for sure.

I really see it as Peak Oil driven. The nastiest elements controlling our country have the big picture mapped out.

The religious armegeddon is mainly a red flag to incite certain elements of BushCo.

it is all about oil.

:shrug:

and war.
and prisons.

Witness the yellow smoke and ammonia aroma post facto. Not "plastic" as you suspect. In fact the "plastic" part of bootleg secondary explosives is not even used...only the nitrated compounds of RDX, TNT, NG and other aromatic nitro compounds are mass produced and packed into their packages of death and destruction.

And it bring home the FACT the as long as explosives are very easy to acquire and/or create on your own, why go through the hassle of WMDs?

BTW - Anyone know what ever happened to the "TAGEMS" (sp? - that idea to "mark" explosive so you can figure how how bad guys got them) idea post OK City Bombing? I'm surprised that hasn't been resurected.

We had something approaching real news on Tv ("where Reality lives") as well as in the newspapers, and more people read the newspapers.

Eloriel

was there chatter among the people, though?

like on the street, the bus, stores, anywhere???

really was BFEE/Saudi/Bushes. I think Osama is the bogeyman, and where is Saddam?

Two questions not answered. They got us into a war, and they send tapes to AlJazeera to keep us warned? Or Frightened? Or they are fake?

Who asks any questions?

be coincidence that this occurred during Bushwacks visit to UK. If it was terrorists they timed it poorly. It would be like the Bush crime family to create this opportunity to undo the message of the protests.

When the great Tao is forgotten,
benevolence and moral codes arise.
When shrewdness and cleverness appear,
great hypocrisy follows.
When there is no harmony in the family,
filial manners are developed.
When the country is in disorder,
ministers appear as loyal servants.

I thought that was appropriate. I think that's why we are getting good Dem candidates. People are waking up all over the world. The badness of the Bush Administration is a clarion call to "ministers" who really are "loyal servants."

He's a musician on tour over there (and an American), so he'll mainly be staying in the tourist region of the city. At least that's what he's told me. I'm worried.

during Vietnam there was one half hour of news each day, up from 15 minutes just a few years earlier.

There were no stations dedicated 24 hours a day to "news". Makes a huge difference.

When the troops started getting killed in big numbers the shit hit the fan. Protests were big, but started slow. Have hope. I think it is starting to happen. We did have good media coverage then. Todays media is bought and paid for and that is why the people are slow to get it.