Mooninites Newest Homeland Security Threat

[iplaw]

grizzle:

Though it's really timely to change, I miss Mayor West...

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

grizzle:

Though it's really timely to change, I miss Mayor West...

How do you know my language?

[iplaw]

I know who's stealing the town's water...

[BKDotCom]

There are great threads on Fark concerning this story..

Anyhow, I like
Seattle's non-reaction

anyhow, complete over-reaction in Boston, their official statements are 100% moronic.  

"If it had been a bomb, it could have been destructive!"

[sgrizzle]

I like how Seattle PD is basically rolling their eyes at Boston.

Mooninites 38
Boston      0

[iplaw]

Boston got their pants pulled down and spanked with moonrocks.

[Chicken Little]

http://www.adultswim.com/shows/athf/stuff/soundboard/

[BKDotCom]

Awesome!
"We are sorry in the most sarcastic sense of the word." - Ignignokt

Just think if a what a panic the city must go into every time a Ryder truck full of batteries travels over or under one of their bridges.

[South_Tulsan]

Boston: The first city conquered by the 9-11 hijackers.

So sad.

[aoxamaxoa]

" Such is the way of things in the 21st century. We curse the fear while whistling past the graveyard. It sucks out loud."

The 21st Century Sucks
   By William Rivers Pitt http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020807R.shtml

" The event also exposed a dissonance in our collective thinking, especially among the aforementioned younger set. For them, and to use their favorite word, the 21st century absolutely sucks. A twenty-one year old today was seventeen years old when we invaded Iraq, fifteen years old when September 11th happened, and fourteen years old when the Supreme Court decided to take over the duties and responsibilities of electing our public officials. Since then, they have been subjected to bogus terror scare after bogus terror scare, to lies without count about threats beyond measure, to a war seemingly without end that serves only itself. "

[patric]

This is what happens when you dont deliver $2 million worth of ratings:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/09/AR2007020902303.html

Hey, compared to $2.6 million for a superbowl spot, this got a LOT more air... []

...OK, that may be a bit off since the ad campaign was for the forthcoming motion picture, rather than the Cartoon Network series (which I think is in re-runs now anyway).

But seriously, was this Boston's own little Hurricane Katrina, where Homeland Security was put to the test (and not performing as well as expected)?

[patric]

Boston police today are showing reporters a black sweatshirt lit with LED lights that a 19 year-old MIT student was wearing when she was arrested at Boston's airport, after a transit officer reported it as a "bomb".

The light display was on a circuit board attached to the shirt, which on the back said "Socket to me" and "Course VI" which is the way in which MIT students refer to those majoring in electrical engineering and computer science.



LED displays arent the only things that scare Boston Police; the bomb squad blew up a "suspicious bomb-like device" in February which ended up being a common traffic counter chained to a light post --
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/02/28/boston-police-blow-u.html

...and will never live down the Cartoon Network "bomb scare"
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/press/poll-are-evil-aqua-teens-or-retarded-cops-to-blame-233313.php?cpage=2






But if you need to be frightened, there's always the AP spin:

BOSTON (AP) — An MIT student with a fake bomb strapped to her chest was arrested at gunpoint Friday at Logan International Airport and later claimed it was artwork, officials said.

Star Simpson, 19, had a computer circuit board and wiring in plain view over a black hooded sweat shirt she was wearing, said State Police Maj. Scott Pare, the commanding officer at the airport.

"She said that it was a piece of art and she wanted to stand out on career day," Pare said at a news conference. The device had wires connected to a battery, allowing it to light up, he said.

Simpson was "extremely lucky she followed the instructions or deadly force would have been used," Pare said. "She's lucky to be in a cell as opposed to the morgue."

Simpson is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology sophomore from Hawaii, officials said. A spokeswoman for MIT had no immediate comment.

She was arrested about 8 a.m. outside Terminal C, home to United Airlines, Jet Blue and other carriers.

A Massachusetts Port Authority staffer manning an information booth in the terminal became suspicious when Simpson — wearing the device — approached to ask about an incoming flight, Pare said. Simpson then walked outside, and the information booth attendant notified a nearby trooper.

The trooper, joined by others with submachine guns, confronted her at a traffic island in front of the terminal.

The city was the focus of a major security scare Jan. 31 when dozens of battery-powered devices were discovered in various locations. Bomb squads were deployed, and highways, bridges and some transit stations were temporarily closed. They turned out to be a promotion for cable TV's Cartoon Network.

[patric]

Homeland Stupidity: Security policies that place the public at risk
http://www.cnet.com/8301-13739_1-9782861-46.html

Homeland security officials seem to have adopted a naive and dangerous standard to detect bombs: Devices sold by major corporations that come packaged in logo-adorned, mass produced containers are perfectly safe, while those made by hobbyists and tinkerers with exposed wires and batteries are potential bombs or at least hoax devices.

The problem with this approach is that in many past cases of successful terrorism, especially those committed by state-sponsored groups, the bombs were actually hidden in fully-functioning mass-market electronic devices: personal stereos and mobile phones. Smart terrorists, the ones we should be trying to thwart, do not walk into an airport with LED lights and a 9-volt battery dangling from their sweatshirt.


Another bomb in Beantown
http://weblog.infoworld.com/robertxcringely/archives/2007/09/beantown_bomber.html?source=rss

This is twice now that Boston's finest have been made to look like tools by what are essentially toys. The first time was last January, when the city was brought to a standstill by glowing Hasbro Lite-Brite gizmos promoting Cartoon Network's "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," which had been deployed in a dozen other cities without incident. Likewise, Simpson managed to wander around MIT's campus wearing her art jacket without anyone mistaking her for a terrorist.

Prosecutors insist they will pursue a case against Simpson, though chances of a conviction under Massachusetts' "infernal machines" law seem slim.