Spring Fundraiser 2013, Day 2

Today is the second day of our quarterly bleg. However, due to this afternoon’s appalling events, I’ll put aside my pitch for the moment and focus on what happened in Boston.

This week’s theme is “putting our heads over the parapet”, so take a look at the emergency workers in the above photo, bearing in mind the roles they play during a terrorist attack. Talk about putting oneself in harm’s way!

Just like the firemen and cops at the WTC on 9-11, they have to run towards the place that everyone else is running away from, screaming. Despite the possibility of more bombs, or terrorists with automatic weapons, or radioactive materials, or vapor from poisonous chemicals that might have been added to the bomb to enhance its lethality — despite all that, they still have to go there.

It’s inspiring to see them in action. And, whatever political footballs are made from today’s events and tossed around in the weeks ahead, these brave people deserve our respect and gratitude. These heroes make up part of the basic decency that is still woven into the fabric of everyday men and women of this country.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

In addition to the hideousness of the act itself — the horror it unleashed upon the citizens of Boston and the participants in the Marathon, the permanent damage to a cherished annual event, the years of suffering that lie ahead for the victims and their families — one cannot help but dread the political use to which today’s (or rather, yesterday’s) events will be put.

If the conspirators who carried out the atrocity turn out to be Muslims, we can expect a mad, intricate pirouette by the Obama administration’s talking heads designed to make sure that nobody (well, no media person at least) ever dares to connect what happened with Islam. “Lone wolves” are bound to make an appearance. And no one who does such things could possibly be a “true Muslim”, of course.

And, if it does turn out to be an Islamic terror attack, the most important aspect of the aftermath of the Boylston bombing will be to make sure that there is no “backlash against American Muslims”. Avoiding this will be the number one priority. In his first breath after a non-zero Mohammed Coefficient for the suspects is revealed, the news announcer will remind us that the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful patriots who work hard and are wonderful Americans. Oh, and one more thing: if this incident were somehow to result in increased “intolerance” in the country, then the terrorists would have won, and the victims in Boston would have died in vain.

And on and on and on. We all know the drill.

On the other hand, suppose — God forbid — that the perpetrators of the bombings are in the Timothy McVeigh/Anders Behring Breivik mould. In that case the Lone Wolf will depart the scene precipitously, never to be seen again! You and I, and all other people like us, anyone with even the slightest conservative tendencies, will share the blame for the horrendous events of April 15, 2013. More laws against all the bad things we do and say and think will be necessary, in order to preserve the security of the homeland and keep ordinary Americans safe…

Yep, either way it’s going to be a rough ride.

But, for the moment, let’s not think about that. I’d prefer to remember those people in Boston who are now enduring a living hell through no fault of their own, and the selfless people who help and care for them. They all deserve our prayers.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

I mentioned last night one of main imperatives behind this quarter’s fundraising effort, namely my newly-acquired and expensive medical condition that has required me to cover my left eye while I work.

However, our operations also assumed an additional series of expenses when we left blogspot in January and set up shop under our own domain name using WordPress. One of the reasons we had stayed with Blogger for so long — besides natural inertia — was the fact that it was free.

We covered our start-up expenses with the help of a brief appeal right after we moved, so we are taken care of for the time being in that regard. But these additional expenses will be ongoing, which makes us push just that little bit harder.

Fortunately, given the generosity of our readers — which is truly astounding, especially among those who have returned many times to answer our appeals — we should be all set.

Yesterday’s donors checked in from the following locations:

Stateside: California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio

Near Abroad: Canada

Far Abroad: Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Slovenia, and the UK

Thank you all for chipping in. And Dymphna and I are doing better with our thank-you notes this time — you should be seeing an email from one of us shortly, if you haven’t already.

The tip jar in the text above is just for decoration. To donate, click the tin cup on our sidebar, or the donate button, on the main page. If you prefer a monthly subscription, click the “subscribe” button.