Posted on 02/21/2003 7:20:52 AM PST by LonePalm
I just turned and looked out my office window and saw a column of black smoke rising towards Union Beach/Perth Amboy NJ.
I then felt the force of an explosion rattle my window.
?!!?!???!
It's on the bulkhead just up river where another ship is docked.
Yes there is. If there are workmen who saw the start of the fire, then it's possible to rule out terrorism.
I'm comfortable with the idea that this is an accident, because accidents of this type (if not magnitude) happen all the time.
LOL!!
It's not the same country we had 30-40 years ago. Immigration is changing the demographics of our country, and changing it for the worst. Expect more and more such incidents due to human incompetence, lack of command of the English language, and just plain hate for America from the new waves of illegal and legal immigration.
Don't laugh, but immigration is changing our country.
Yup...or using their terminology: believers vs. the infidels.
Personally, I prefer to be right 99.9% of the time.
And I do not exaggerate that percentage. Since 9/11 I'd say 99.9% is a literal ballpark of the incidents in this country thought to be terrorism by at least some FR posters have turned out not to be. This includes literally hundreds of threads on incidents that racked up 300+ posts.
The .01%, however, is endlessly harped upon. The 99.9% is instantly forgotten.
Ironically, literally seconds before the barge explosion broke, on a thread about the Rhode Island Club fire I posted this:
"Instructive the next time we have another "Wow, there have been a lot of (factory explosions/train derailments/plane crashes/biologists murdered/etc.) lately!" threads with an assortment of people making vague or not-so-vague intimations that terrorists are behind them.
Unless one believes Iraqi Intelligence has infiltrated the ranks of stage techs for mediocre 80s hair-metal bands, or Al Quaeda has specially-placed security guards who cleverly start stampedes with pepper spray, both of these club incidents are clearly not terrorism.
Yet they've occured, rather coincidentally, within a week of of each other. One of the dumber things you often see repeated on FR is "I don't believe in coincidences!"
The world is FILLED with meaningless coincidences. And the world is also far more random than people want to admit. Nightclub disasters aren't going to be evenly spaced throughout time."
I'd add that refinery/fuel storage fires aren't evenly spaced through time. Could this be terrorism? Sure, but seems doubtful and is well down the list of possible causes.
Still, as I've stated over and over again, it continually strikes me as odd that people seem to really desperately WANT incidents to be terrorist attacks, as if they're frustrated there hasn't been a large one since 9/11. They almost seem offended by people pointing out how a given breaking incident could be an accident.
Oh, I dunno -- I chuckled....
Very useful.
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