Speculating on the Spokane bombing attempt - and why does the national press not consider it a big deal?

The inmates of Arkham Asylum: FOX News will accuse them of the Spokane bombing attempt before they admit that some rightwingers might have had something to do with it

Let me say clearly here at the start of this post that the attempted bombing of the Martin Luther King Day parade in Spokane, Washington, with an anti-personnel improvised explosive device (IED) could have been made by some leftwing radical group. It's also possible that it could have been done by religious cultists following directions from voices in their heads, by escapees from Arkham Asylum, or by renegade Pleiadians trying to start a galactic civil war.

But I'm guessing it was attempted by some crazy-ass rightwingers out to kill them some libruls. Does it count as a "Second Amendment solution" (to use Nevada Republican leader Sharron Angle's celebrated phrase) if they kill libruls with shrapnel instead of a gun?

One thing that leaped out at me from the news stories is that the bomb was discovered and reported to police by three city employees, presumably on duty in some capacity. Think about that the next time you hear Republicans trashing public employees.

Dave Neiwert, who is very well acquainted with the modus operandi of the criminally violent Radical Right in the Northwest US, explains why police and federal officials are proceeding on the assumption that it was a far-right terrorist group behind this in In Spokane, they know that MLK Day bomb wasn't an 'isolated event' C&L 01/19/2011. He links to this story on the background: Thomas Clouse, FBI: Bomb could have caused 'multiple casualties' The Spokesman-Review 01//18/2011:

The FBI confirmed Tuesday that the Swiss Army-brand backpack contained a bomb that could have caused “multiple casualties” and credited Spokane city employees who noticed the suspicious bag and alerted authorities in time to re-route the parade. A $20,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

"It definitely was, by all early analysis, a viable device that was very lethal and had the potential to inflict multiple casualties," said Frank Harrill, the special agent in charge of the Spokane FBI office. "Clearly, the timing and placement of a device – secreted in a backpack – with the Martin Luther King parade is not coincidental. We are doing everything humanly possible to identify the individuals or individual who constructed and placed this device."

Madison Gray, Spokane: Bomb at Parade Attempts to Destroy MLK's Legacy Black Voices 01/19/2011 observes of this incident (emphasis in original):

Do we know who did it? No. Do we really know what the motive is? No, not yet, although the most popular speculation was that it was -- you guessed it -- racial.

But no matter who did it or why, it is clear that what Dr. King stood for is still a threat more than half a century after he began his teachings.

Dave also links to Will Bunch's commentary, Has right-wing carping killed media coverage of major "domestic terrorism" case in Spokane Philadelphia Daily News 01/19/2011. Bunch discusses the seemingly deficient response of the national news media to this story.

Tags: barack obama, domestic terrorism, radical right, terrorism

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