Following the Boston Marathon bombings, my editor asked if I had any special feelings about the tragedy. He obviously was moved in some special way that was difficult for him to pin down … I can see why. Such an incident raises unanswerable questions, and there is nothing more disgusting or offensive than that.
But his email got me to thinking about my own reaction. Being older and more experienced with life’s surprises no doubt has something to do with my feelings. And having seen people killed a couple of times in flying accidents, and having my youngest son die in my arms, I am perhaps calloused — my sensitivities dulled. So my reaction and continued feelings about Boston are seething anger. Sure, I feel sorry for the victims and their families, but that doesn’t bring them back nor make them whole again. For them, I pray.
Will we catch the perps? Of course! Somebody on the inside or somebody related to an insider will eventually rat on the group, perhaps for money. The only exception to this will be if the deed turns out to be religiously inspired — Muslim-style. We know that the majority of Muslims, even so-called moderates, covertly if not overtly believe non-Muslims are infidels and should not be tolerated. That’s been Mohammad’s core teaching ever since he and his zealots eliminated 30,000 Jews in Medina.
On the other hand, I personally will be surprised if the Marathon bombings are a foreign terrorist act. I may be dead wrong and I’m not trying to be cute, but in my opinion, had this been a Muslim terrorist’s act, the collateral damage would have been far greater. Moreover, in true Jihad style we would have seen at least one screaming suicide bomber yelling “Allah Akbar” strapped with a much bigger load of explosives.
Now, not that there’s anything funny about the Boston bombing because there isn’t, but my first reaction was to wonder if the perp was another right-wing nut case like Timothy McVay, the Oklahoma bomber. Guys like him hate liberals with a passion and from what I’ve observed, most marathoners are liberals. Liberals seem more into exercise and healthy living, while we conservatives are usually older and more into life’s comforts.
All of this is bad enough without having to listen to President Obama assuring us that the perps will pay the ultimate price. Empty words. Do any of you remember the Weathermen in the 1960s? This was an insurrectionist group of student murderers originating in the University of Wisconsin who bombed police stations and anything else that would be a slap in the face to the establishment. One of these people, having done prison time for murder, now teaches at Columbia University. It took years to catch the Weathermen, and I doubt we got them all.
Frankly, this bombing has all the earmarks of a college-engineered job exactly as the Weathermen would have done. Think back to the last presidential campaign, when college kids were an integral part of the gigantic park sit-in or camp-out or whatever you want to call it. No matter what these kids do, they get away with it, never having to pay a price? They destroy property and cost us taxpayers millions, and nobody has the guts to physically kick their butts as their parents should have but didn’t.
As I see it, all of this lawlessness began in the 1960s when parents thought it novel and fun that their kids were expressing themselves — finding themselves. The parents of the 1960s and ’70s failed society in just about every way. Their kids, now parents themselves, have never known right from wrong. Brace yourselves for the worst to come.
Bob Thomas is a retired high-tech industrialist who served on the Carson City School Board, Nevada Welfare Board and Carson City Airport Authority and as an Assemblyman. His website is www.confessionsofthe entrepreneur.com.