Hey fellow Aussies... (About Bali)

[Marcus Telcontar]

Are all your family okay? How are you going?

(Dunno what the news has been like elsewhere, but Bali, just north of Australia and a very poplular tourist destination was hit by a car bombing. 187 dead so far, 14 Australians known dead, 220 missing, 113 known injured. It seems the majority of casualitys will be Aussies. This just makes no god damn sense. Absolutly no f'king sense whatsoever. Holiday makers! Why the hell would anyone think they were targets?!?!

Personally, I'm in a pretty foul mood, so if I'm short tempered... well yeah, part of the reason. Just what is the world coming to? What type of sick bastard thinks their cause can be furthered by blowing up hundreds of tourists?)

[Diego Van Derveld]

Or blowing up day traders and accountants?
Or head-shotting children and pedestrians as they pump gas?

In a short cliche', I know how you feel. My heart goes out to you, and any others affected by this, and I pray that no one here has lost friends or loved ones in such a pointless act of violence. That is a horrible feeling to face.

[Xenodoros Stormrider]

Isn't it just plain stupid how man destroys man? Usually, for insignificant purposes.

[Arya Ravenwing]

:( My prayers and thoughts are with Australia's people. :(

[DarthHERA]

I havent heard of any personal bad news from home yet as a result of this, but it really is such an awful thing. It only serves to solidify the stand against terrorism and for the world in general to not back down.

[Brielle Acaana]

My prayers are with the people who have lost thier lives, been injured or lost someone in the bombing.

[Dark Lord Dyzm]

It Reported only 2 American's Died, but what is the difference between American, Australian, Canadian, and the other people? We are all human, and any attack is not against a single country, but against Humanity. I Prey for the familys who lost loved ones.

[Marcus Telcontar]

The difference between this and the WTC is that it's only a few days later that the true horror is being found out. Some of the escape stories and the tales of people lost are rather upsetting. It's a sickening kick for us, because it's so close to home and it's affected all Australia. They think at least 100 Aussies aint coming home, 20 confirmed, 160 missing, 200 injured, some not expected to live.

It's now being thought tht it's not going to be 11/9 for Australia - it's now 13/10. I can see why. The more you hear about it here, the worse it gets. Evacuations are going on and literally 10's of thousands are coming home in Air Force planes and special commerical flights.

I really never thought this insanity could get so close to home.

[Taylor Millard]

None of us did...look at DC. We gotta watch our backs whenever we go outside.

It sucks. Royally.

[Azhure Darkstone]

Yeah, it does.

[Taylor Millard]

Now they're saying it was Al Quaida...who did the Bali bombing, not the DC shootings. We still don't know who did that.

But we'll get both perpatrators.

[Gitane Blesse]

That's what's making me so sick of it... I mean, I'm still in shock about Bali, and my deepest sympathies go out to anyone down there...

But it's pissing me off that Bush is up here saying "Oh, yeah, it's Al Quaida! The World revolves around the US, so, yep! Our enemy has to be Australia's enemy!"

--Sighs-- All of this crap is really getting me in a low mood, lately. I'm supposed to be going to St. Mary's, Maryland this weekend, and while it's no where near any of the other snipper attacks, we have to drive right through DC.

[Taylor Millard]

If you're driving you don't have anything to worry about (imho).

Still be careful if you do stop.

[Sene Unty]

Yeah dont be caught doing any normal everyday duties, because that some how makes you a target of a sick bastard. I cant believe this crap. People are dropping like flies and they cant seem to stop it. Its pretty distressing. And now the damn bombing in Bali! What the hell is happening to the world I live in....:(

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Its being Fed-Exed to Hell in a Handcart. :(

[Sene Unty]

Yeah overnight delivery.....:(

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Would you believe I hadn't heard about this until last night, when I read it in the paper? Damn- The WTC gets attacked and they put out a special edition, but Bali gets bombed and I don't hear about it for like, three days.

Well, Australia, we've got your backs. Whatever you guys need, just let us know and we'll do our best.

...

One of these days, I keep thinking that someone's gonna figure out that the real key to world peace is to talk out problems you have with your neighbors- and not bring bombs to the discussion table...

[Gitane Blesse]

I know what you mean, Hob. :\ I first heard about this only because my Aussie-lovey mentioned it as a reason he might not be online much.

Then last night I heard an itty bitty mention of it on the news. It's completely messed up.

--Throws a rock at the US--

I also hadn't heard a peep about the US Marine thing until they mentioned it yesterday, too..

[Kelt Simoson]

Alot of brits in the Bali incident to..:(

[Marcus Telcontar]

/Rant - that is what I hate about the USA media, if it didnt happen in the USA, they dont care! Look at this, hundreds of people lost their lives in a sick and twisted bombing. This is no smal terroist incident, it's a major one and do the USA Media give a crap? Notice I say media - I I know full well that orinanry citizens of the USA when they fin out just how awful this was, they can sympathise. The mdia makes me sick. Least the Australian media are doing a good job, one that is not over the top. /end rant

And the news just gets worse, not better - confirmed 30 dead, 200 now estimated to have died.

* sigh *

The Air Force base I live near is quiet - everyone has gone to Darwin. All the planes have gone. Al my neigbours who are in the RAAF, they are gone too. It's errie to see them not about. The big heavy lift planes left a few days ago to help out in this

[imported_Grev Drasen]

CNN has been reporting the Bali incident pretty regularly, I think.

The reason the WTC was such a big deal was because it was one of the first attacks of real terrorism to strike. That and it was estimated at like 5,000 lives lost compared to the 200 in Bali.

I'm sure Australia didn't air the WTC footage nonstop on their media networks.

[Marcus Telcontar]

it was one of the first attacks of real terrorism to strike

Ummm, not correct by a long shot. Tjousands have lost lives to terrorism, 286 US Marines to one blast in the early eithies. WTC was a very big deal cause of how successful the strike was and it was the first real large scale attack on the USA. But Bali is just as bad - tourists in a night club. How much more foul and low can someone go?

On the scale of life lost, it matters not. Both WTC and Bali are appalling and disgusting examples of the lengths terrorists will go.

[Sanis Prent]

I've had pretty consistent coverage of it, though I'm a CNN and Fox News junkie.

[Taylor Millard]

Yeah, we've seen consistant coverage of it too. Though in the morning the Sniper in DC gets pretty good coverage as well.

But that's probably 'cause of where I live (DC)

[Oriadin]

Its a truly sad world we live in today and I cant see it getting any better for a while yet either. Bombing a place full of tourists is just plain out of order. They have nothing to do with anything. The WTC you could possibly understand because of the impact it had on the world but a holiday resort? Doesnt make much sense to me.

[Jackson DeWitt]

Because its where the same corporate capitalist scum go when they aren't daytrading and such...and nobody would expect to hit them there.

At least thats the likely mindset these people justify :\

[Sene Unty]

The USA media is run by people who have there own best intrests at heart. If they dont care about something than the people dont here about it. You know how many Aircraft accidents there are in the world? I dont know figures but I can tell you quite a bit. But we never hear about it unless Americans die. Until then we get a little news blip at best. I realize that trying to cover every news story in the world is imposible, but focusing soley on whats happening here is selfish.

[Jackson DeWitt]

No, its the market of interest. If you cover in america the same news footage in sri lanka that you do in california...you will fail. Its not that they don't care, its just that there is only a certain amount of time in a day that you can report news, and there's more news int he world than that, so you have to be selective, and the most pragmatic way is to be geographically selective.

[Morgan Evanar]

NY Times had it on the front page. When I first looked at the picture I figured a tornado hit the place.

But I started reading the article and my jaw dropped.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

So, for that matter, did the Richmond Times-Dispatch, but since I don't work as much as I used to, I didn't get to see a copy of the paper until Monday.

In defense of the media I just knocked, however, I will say that the college tv has CNN on it and has reported the lowdown pretty accurately, and I haven't been watching tv for the past several weeks, Sunday prime time being the first boob-tube opportunity to come along in a while.

Although, come to think of it, whenever a country is attacked, I think as a whole its people tend to get a little self-centered for awhile. At least until they calm down, anyway. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if some people over in Australia are wondering why this had to happen to them instead of the U.S....

[ReaperFett]

NOTE how some knew, who read papers and watch the TV. So dont make out like it wasn't reported.


When all that Enron stuff went on, I knew NOTHING about it. Same thing



You know how many Aircraft accidents there are in the world? I dont know figures but I can tell you quite a bit. But we never hear about it unless Americans die.
I doubt theres six a year, forgetting private jets.



WTC was a very big deal cause of how successful the strike was and it was the first real large scale attack on the USA
I disagree. It was "a very big deal" because so many from so many places lost their lives.

[ReaperFett]

I realize that trying to cover every news story in the world is imposible, but focusing soley on whats happening here is selfish.
Its reporting what the public is intrested about.

[Denali Gue]

I think Grev meant that its the first major terrorist attack to claim so many lives on US soil.

[Gouyen Chee]

I've seen quite a bit about the bombing here in LA, probably because LA is such an international city and also because one of the dead Americans lived in Orange County (just south of LA proper).

But how is it that some folks think that they can further their agenda by blowing up innocent people?

[Severen Morkonis]

Retaliation to Bushes attack threats..they cant attack america right on so attack the innocent...its a brutal but its true.

[Blaine]

Noticed that the Bushes are usually the ones that cause the wars?

Kuwait war.
Now the attack on Iraq?

The more modern our technology becomes, the more dangerous we become. I imagine that when humans conquer planets, we'll be blowing them up afterwords.

[Sanis Prent]

Thank you, Mr. Philosophy :rolleyes

[Taylor Millard]

Originally posted by Cold Blaine
Noticed that the Bushes are usually the ones that cause the wars?

Kuwait war.
Now the attack on Iraq?

The more modern our technology becomes, the more dangerous we become. I imagine that when humans conquer planets, we'll be blowing them up afterwords.

Hold on there...I need to correct you on your last comment.

The Persian Gulf War (get it right please)...was because Iraq invaded another sovereign nation (Kuwait). The United States did not provoke the invasion, nor did our president. President Bush said, "We can't let another nation invade a sovereign nation with a standing government."

So we came to the rescue of the Kuwaiti Government. And don't forget it was an international effort. The UN participated in Desert Storm...so remember the US did not start the Persian Gulf War.

[ReaperFett]

So by that logic, World War 2 was started by the Allies, nothing to do with Poland, The Netherlands etc being invaded.

[Daiquiri Van-Derveld]

The US didnt officially get into WW2 until Japan attacked Pearl harbor.

[Severen Morkonis]

And to be honest the US proboly wouldent of even hopped in if they was not attacked.

[ReaperFett]

Doesnt matter. What matters, is they did.

[Sanis Prent]

Hey you ungrateful putz, nevermind the fact that we were doing everything within our power to help you guys out before we got in the war. Lend Lease Act, anyone? I mean, we're kinda hamstrung when most of the people are so burned over the first world war, which apparently only sent a few hundred thousand of their sons to the meat grinder for apparently no results. The administration was doing everything to support you guys that they could without a declaration of war. The Roosevelt administration was chomping at the bit to join into the fray, from the get-go. They couldn't stand the axis, and knew what kind of threat they were, but they didn't have the support for full-out war at the time. So they did what they were allowed...sent warships, supplies, tanks, ammo, and anything else that could be used in those first 2 years.