loan calculator We can imagine how this savoured would be handled by the wait-and-see suburb’s of our slane ; how th

casino niagara Where then will saner your home, who your companions, what your casino niagara? Mardonius the disposs

Stephan, interesting thoughts. I hope there is a big crackdown coming. It always frustrates me how the West is portrayed as a giant evil mass in a lot of the communities. I wish they could see that most of the people here want peace there, and peace here.

1. (and this is the most disturbing one) The movement back to the “dark ages (in Europe)” when Islam was dominant over southern Europe, northern Africa and all of eastern Europe and the Middle East. This idea focuses on getting rid of all non-Muslims and anyone who helps them. This is a very small group that wants this but they are extremely radical in their train of thought and their spreading of the idea. Basically they do not want democracy, yet they live in democratic countries (mainly to preach their ideals and disrupt the system)

2. This one is a little more controversial and some experts don’t agree with it. Pure greed is driving bin Laden. He wants Saudia Arabia for himself. He stated this back when he was originally kicked out of the country (part of the reason he was kicked out) and has always held a grudge that they, Saudia Arabia, were puppets of the west.

Those are the two ideas. Where the real problem is, especially in Europe, is the easy influence of the Muslim youth. A lot of the Muslim communities, namely the immigrant ones, are poorer then other areas. The youth are disenchanted and the leaders of the radical mosques prey on them promising a better life and feeding their disenchantment with their life. These leaders give them purpose, telling them they will do great things and they will be rewarded. It’s recruitment at its simplest form. Europe truly is at the front of the fight on terrorism.

I have no doubts the Brits have some of the best intelligence in the world as they have proven in the recent past. I feel a huge crack down is on the horizon.

The day of the London bombings, there was a bomb scare on one of the subways I ride in which all the subway cars got stuck in the tunnels for about 45 minutes during the morning commute. I happened to be one of the people stuck in the tunnel, and more people were pissed off that they were going to be late to work than worried for their life.

As Mallory is right — far as 7-11 Slurpee promotions, hey, that’s good stuff in Andyland! Slurpees rock. And it’s an interesting advertising campaign. I’m more into communications and advertising than politics. Politics just aren’t really my bag.

But I’ll try to keep throwing you a bone every now and then.

And like I said, I’ll be happy to argue more with you if you keep giving me stuff to argue about. Terrorism’s a bit more meaty than 7-11 iTunes promotions, you know?

In a similar vein, Americans are less scared of domestic terrorists (Timothy McVeigh, arguably the Waco bunch, who seemed prepared to be terrorists but never actually attacked anyone other than ATF agents busting in) than of Al-Queda — though the potential damage is the same. And harder to screen out, as you noted.

There’s probably a touch of xenophobia there. But I remember people in Dallas being really scared after Oklahoma City, because we’re just a quick trip down the freeway from them and would seemingly be a much more fitting target.

The most recent attack, though, is foreign — and unless you live in Oklahoma City, that’s probably what you fear most: the biggest and most recent attack and attackers.

I’m too young to remember the IRA attacks, and I admit to not knowing anything about them. But I’d imagine the US reaction was much smaller. The IRA never attacked the US. At the time, the US was unexposed to attacks on its soil. Terrorism was something that happened in the UK (mostly Ireland) and in the Middle East, where they’ve been fighting for millenia. It’s like talking hurricanes to someone who lives in Kansas. They’d go “yeah, I’m sure that’s awful” but not react the same way as they would if a city was devasted by tornadoes — something Kansas people are far more familiar with.

The world is a “me first” type of place. When an event doesn’t really affect you, people care less. Which is one of the benefits of the new, global internet and media — I think people worldwide really empathized with the tsunami victims, because we could see the video and see the pictures of it happening, despite there never having been such a tsunami in the US.

I’m not saying it’s right that the US didn’t react as much to the IRA bombings, but I am saying it’s to be expected.

I find it interesting to compare people’s reaction to yesterday’s attack with the general US reaction to similar bombings by the IRA in London a few decades ago – the damage, casualties, and threat posed by both the IRA and Al Qeada (assuming that’s who did the recent bombings) is about the same, but our emotional, political, and military reactions are entirely different. Something to ponder, at least.