The Boston bombing was horrific; and punishment should be swift and severe when the criminal(s) are caught. But it is also important to avoid a panic that swells into strident calls for increased state surveillance; increased police-state mobilization; and more curtailment of our country’s personal liberties and freedoms. The Boston terrorist act is not an existential threat to our country’s survival.

• (The FBI hasn’t named a suspect in the Boston bombings, though officials searched a suburban house early Tuesday morning. (AP))
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  The Boston bombing was horrific; and punishment should be swift and severe when the criminal(s) are caught.
  
  But it is also important to avoid a panic that swells into strident calls for increased state surveillance; increased police-state mobilization; and more curtailment of our country’s personal liberties and freedoms.
  
  The Boston terrorist act is not an existential threat to our country’s survival.
  
  As the Albany TU good editorial this morning advises us: take a deep breath, and proceed with caution.
  http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Take-a-breath-America-4439453.php
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  The Huffington Post’s senior religious editor Paul Brandeis Raushenbush asks us to apply “holy anger” rather than “demonic anger”.
  “By rejecting demonic anger, and choosing holy anger, our response to the horror in Boston in the coming days can be focused on affirming life, rejecting terror and death, refusing to succumb to fear and hate. Our holy response will recognize the need for justice in a world that continues to have so much evil, even while we dedicate our lives to building a future world where horrific events like the bombing in Boston never happen again.”
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-raushenbush/responding-to-boston-anger_b_3092758.html
  *******
  But we can be angry.
  As the late, late show comedian Craig Ferguson ranted: "Anyone Else Sick of This $h!t??
  http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/craig-ferguson-boston-marathon-monologue-anyone-else-sick-of-thi/

  

  Take a breath, America

  www.timesunion.com

  [...] we want it wrapped up in an hour, just like on television crime dramas. The danger in the wake of the Boston bombings and incidents like it is in trying to rush answers without all the facts. Yet we grew tired of the seemingly constant orange alert, as if things would not be so bad if the co...

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