A tragedy - eyewitness already reported hearing announced it was a drill and thought it was strange he saw bomb sniffing dogs at start and finish. Very odd.

Don't know who your "eyewitness" is, but it's not "odd" at all. Public events like the Boston Marathon are routinely swept for bombs before and during.

There has been a good deal of disinfo out there already. Don't fall for it. Don't pass it on. Thanks.

Beware, Marzi @ #1, of attaching significance to unconfirmed reports purporting to be statements from unidentified eyewitnesses. Experience shows that initial reports in the first 24 hours of major breaking news events are often wildly wrong.

We heard the explosions all the way in East Cambridge, although we thought they were backfires or something like that. I cannot begin to fathom what would possess someone to do something like this. How does this advance anyone's cause?

Here's hoping all the injured recover quickly and the perpetrator(s) get(s) found even quicker.

Maybe the Big Brother capturing of all communications and storing them in the vast (unit of measure of bytes stored had to be coined at its creation) NSA server farm in Utah and then processed via the NSA supercomputers will actually do some good and catch these bastards.

The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)
http://www.wired.com/thr...012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/

Contrary to the headline and initial reports, no other explosive devices were found. Two "suspicious" packages were isolated and one was detonated as a precaution, but both were found NOT to be explosive devices --- and by evening that was announced at the evening press conference by the police commissioner.

Although no one, including the FBI, can say who was responsible for this or why, that didn't stop Fox 'News' commentator Erik Rush from calling for all Muslims to be killed.

Meanwhile, Glenn Beck, applied his unique (twisted) logic to assure us that the bombing "was part of a Middle Eastern scene" because "when our crazies go off they target the government, not people."

So, Glenn, was Sandy Hook an attack on the government?

Speaking of Sandy Hook, it's a good thing that the U.S. small arms industry does not derive its profits from the materials used to assemble bombs like these. Otherwise we'd be faced with the mindless claim that regulations designed to prevent access to bomb making material, like regulations limiting the capacity of assault rifle magazines, somehow deprive citizens of their 2nd Amendment rights.

Right, Brad and Desi... initial reports are mostly wild speculation. For the next week or more our media will demonize everybody.

The majority are, I'm afraid, going to cry to, not just "catch these bastards," as Irwin wants, but to "kill these bastards."

And Irwin, wasn't NSA, Homeland Security and all the spying, detaining, infiltrating, droning, etc, etc, supposed to "keep us safe" from these things? None of it worked so far, why will MORE of it help?

This bombing will only make our politicians, pundits and radio/TV "hosts" all the more aggressive and stupid. There will be LESS sympathy for ANY foreign deaths.

The "conservative/religious/right" of America will cry out for MORE foreign deaths, MORE spying, MORE torture...

Even if this bombing was homegrown, by an American, or by someone of "non-color" (I don't know, I just started reading about this), America is going to be MORE draconian...

Of one thing you can be fairly certain. Cause and effect will not be dealt with in any meaningful way. The perpetrator(s) will be portrayed as "other". Motive or how they came to a place where they could do something like this will conveniently have nothing to do with the key elements of our sociopathic dysfunction--our relentless and reckless pursuit of empire, our rapacious style of capitalism, and denial of its effects on the planet and people.

Until we as a society start getting a clue as to the deeper inter-related causes and effects of terrorism, until we start recognizing that war IS terrorism, until we become capable of feeling the same empathy for OUR victims across the globe as we do for the Boston victims, you can bet your ass this kinda shit will keep happening.

Eyewitness confirmed here: Ali Stevenson -

"Evidently, I don’t believe they were just having a training exercise, they must have known,"

http://blog.al.com/live/...thon_explosion_univ.html

If "we" follow the example of historical and hysterical 911 sheer madness, we will invade Australia and torture folks from Bohemia when we find out that "15 Wahabis from Saudi Arabia did it" (Fighting Terrorism For 200 Years - 3).

MARZI --- THE EYEWITNESS DID NOT SAY THAT. Read your own link and stop spreading disinformation.

FYI, security sweeps before and during major public events with bomb sniffing dogs is standard and smart practice, which is why they told the runners not to be alarmed because it was routine. Just because this one runner didn't notice such security activities in his previous races does not constitute evidence of anything.

Marzi seems to be a Glen Beck/Alex Jones zombie.

P.S. The Beck site is running the "AP" article about pressure cooker bombs. Only the ADDED pictorial instructions about how to make such bombs. AND they removed the original article's note that American White Supremist websites have recommended reading Islamist-radical "recipes" for making such bombs...

CambridgeKnitter @#4 --- didn't realize you were close enough to hear the explosions! So glad you guys are okay. Sad and scary times.

Re Marzi @1 & 10:

With all due respect, you really need to sharpen your reading skills.

The article you linked to pertains to an interview of Alastair Stevenson, the coach of the University of Mobile (AL) cross-country team who finished the Boston marathon prior to the explosion.

Stevenson told reporter John Sharp that he saw police with bomb sniffing dogs at the starting line, and that runners were told "not to be alarmed , that they were doing a training exercise."

First, Marzi, you need to understand that the location at which Stevenson saw the bomb sniffing dogs --- the starting line --- is 26.2 miles away from the site of the bomb blast near the finish line.

While bomb sniffing dogs have a remarkable scent, they are not capable of sniffing a bomb that has been placed 26.2 miles away.

There's no indication in the article that Boston police were involved in the "training exercise." The starting line of the Boston marathon is actually located in Hopkinton, MA, which has its own police department.

Also, you have misquoted what Stevenson said. He told the reporter:

"I've run a lot of races like this one, but I never saw bomb dogs at the starting line of any running event. It led me to believe that something like (a bomb detonation) might have happened."

The activity Stevenson observed at the starting line did not take place because a bomb detonation had occurred, as speculated by Stevenson.

The activity (bomb sniffing dogs) took place more than four hours before the detonation.

The fact that an unnamed police agency deployed bomb sniffing dogs at the start of a race in no way establishes that agency that deployed the dogs knew something like this was going to occur four hours and 26.2 miles into the future.

Moreover, Marzi, you would have done well to think about the ramifications of your conspiracy theory before you advance it.

If the government had truly come up with this as a false flags event, why would they tip their hand by way of a training exercise involving bomb sniffing dogs in advance of the event?

While this tragic event was the product of the worst amongst us. I think it important to recognize that it brought out the best amongst us --- specifically those --- police, fire, emergency personnel and ordinary citizens --- who ran towards rather than away from the site of the blast.

As peace activist and Red Cross worker Carlos Arredondo told Amy Goodman:

Arredondo applied tourniquets to a young man who lost both legs and delivered him by wheelchair to an ambulance.

So Ernest, since Obama perpetrates such attacks on a daily basis globally, does he qualify as being "the worst amongst us"?

Well, it at least qualifies him as one of the world's chief promoters and purveyors of terrorism. Probably won't hear that point of view on too many cable news shows though.

Karlof1 @17 wrote:

So Ernest, since Obama perpetrates such attacks on a daily basis globally, does he qualify as being "the worst amongst us"?

I believe, Karlof1, you can find the answer to that question in my article, Plumbing the Depths of Lawless Executive Depravity.

In that article, I quoted former Israeli Prime Minister, Golda Meir:

"There's no difference between one's killing and making decisions that will send others to kill. It's exactly the same thing, or even worse."