Saturday night, New York City street vendors saw a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder SUV turning onto West 45th Street at 6:28 Saturday evening, at the height of the Broadway dinner rush.    The truck pulled over and parked, very close to the Viacom Building, home of several Cable Television Channels, including South Park. 

Later, street vendors noticed  the truck was still running – and filling with smoke.

A crude explosive device was set up inside the truck – barbecue style propane tanks, fireworks, alarm clocks and wires connected all of the device –  although it failed to fully detonate, NYC  Police Commissioner Kelly believes it was designed with one goal in mind.

It looks like it would have caused a significant fireball,” he said. “Clearly, it was the intent of whoever did this to cause mayhem – to create casualties.

The FBI released the following statement:

The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York, along with the NYPD, has responded to Times Square in response to the vehicle and device. Bomb technicians, Evidence Response Team members, and investigators are on scene and a command post has been established. All of the resources of the New York FBI office are available to assist with this ongoing investigation. Numerous initial reports will be checked and authenticated and the appropriate leads will be set.

The investigation into the Times Square bomb plot is ongoing. Mayor Bloomberg called the improvised device “amateurish”.

Amateurism aside, the  New York Times has related that, a 911 call on Sunday morning warned that the bomb plot was merely a diversion for a much bigger explosion that is set to happen at Times Square. (Isn’t that reassuring?)

Yesterday, runners in the Pittsburgh Marathon were forced to take a alternate route  as they approached the finish due to a suspected pipe bomb near a bus station close to the end of the course.

KDKA’s Bob Allen observed the bomb squad at the Greyhound bus station at 11th Street and Liberty Avenue.

Allen observed bomb squad personnel getting into their special made suits and a robot being moved into position.

The device was identified by one bomb squad member as a microwave with a pipe bomb inside. The microwave was in a white box near the entrance of the building.

Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper would only say that there were suspicious contents inside the microwave.

The device was detonated and Liberty Avenue and Grant Street was blocked off.

As of now, no suspects have been named, but, just like NYC,  police are going to review the surveillance video from security cameras in the area.

The President’s response?  Hey, no worries….yesterday he vowed to be relentless. 

Wait a second.  My apologies.  He wasn’t talking about these two foiled (by the Grace of God) attempts at Terrorism.  Here’s the full quote from mysanantonio.com:

President Barack Obama vowed Sunday that the government would “spare no resource” in a “coordinated, relentless response effort” to clean up and stop the massive oil spill bearing down on wetlands, residents and commercial fishing operations along the Gulf of Mexico.

From Saturday’s Blog, “Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise…”:

The oil slick is now more than 130 miles long and 70 miles wide and is endangering scores of species of wildlife, including birds, dolphins and the fish, shrimp, oysters and crabs that make the Gulf Coast one of the nation’s most abundant sources of seafood. Louisiana has closed some fishing grounds and oyster beds because of the possibility of oil contamination.

At least 1.6 million gallons of oil have spilled, according to  the Coast Guard.

Great.   Eleven days after this disaster began, as Gulf Coast residents are watching their livelihoods under seige from the oil spill and Americans are being threatened by Terrorist attacks on our soil, Scooter has vowed to be relentless.

Meanwhile, one of our most dangerous enemies, President Ahmedinejad of Iran, is speaking at the United Nations in New York City today.

Mr. President, relentless?  Hardly.  Oblivious?  Most assuredly.

Sources:   drudgereport.com,wcbstv.com, kdka.com, mysanantonio.com