You’ve heard the story by now:

http://tinyurl.com/246dk3

My issue is this:  does Homeland Security really think terrorists would put a bomb in a device in plain sight of traffic with a lighted, animated figure on it?  This really is getting absurd.

I can think of lots better ways to spend a few billion that actually will save lives.

I hadn’t heard this part:

At a news conference after the hearing, Stevens and Berdovsky stepped to the microphones and said they were taking questions only about 1970s hairstyles.

When a reporter accused them of not taking the situation seriously, Stevens responded, “We’re taking it very seriously.” Asked another question about the case, Stevens reiterated they were answering questions only about hair and accused the reporter of not taking him and Berdovsky seriously.

Reporters did not relent and as they continued, Berdovsky disregarded their queries, saying, “That’s not a hair question. I’m sorry.”

Their attorney said the two were putting on a “performance,” and noted that he had told them not to discuss the case.

Well, the police have to take anything like this seriously, even if they don’t think that it’s likely to be anything that’s actually a real threat.  If they don’t check it and it is a bomb, then they get accused of incompetence.  If they don’t check it and it isn’t a bomb, people complain that it could have been one and that they didn’t do their job.  If they do check it and it turns out to be nothing, they get accused of wasting tax money and panicking.  And if they check it and it is a bomb, then they get to have the joy and fun of trying to figure out what to do with it.  There’s more than one reason I decided to turn down a job in bomb disposal. . .

Oh, and as to the question about whether or not terrorists would use something bright and flashy and visible to put a bomb in:  yes, they would.

Well, the thing that kills me is that these LiteBrite thingys were up for a couple of weeks before anyone freaked out. They were also all around NYC (who you’d think would be the more jumpy ones), Seattle, and a couple other cities I can’t remember right now.

Also, apparently there really WAS someone who planted 2 fake pipe bombs near a hospital and a bridge, some disgruntled employee. This person was deliberately trying to incite terror, yet he has neither been arrested nor charged as yet.

Two fake pipe bombs found not part of marketing stunt
By Michele McPhee and Laura Crimaldi
Thursday, February 1, 2007 - Updated: 01:42 AM EST

The two devices found in an office at Tufts-New England Medical Center and attached to the Longfellow Bridge yesterday morning were not the marketing devices that sparked a daylong panic in Boston, but simulated pipe bombs, police officials said last night.

I was on a plane heading to Boston when all this was going on.  I was just worried my flight was going to get cancelled.  I watched it on the local news that night when they arrested an art student working for Turner Broadcasting who had put those things up.  It was sad seeing him be arrested when really he had done something innocent and that was a part of his job.  Turner should of been in trouble rather then their minimum wage worker.

This is paranoia; only Dr. Drakken would make a Doomsday Device that even remotedly resembled one!

You gotta love the response of the two guys charged, however…

They hold a news conference, but then refuse to answer any questions not directly related to ‘
1970s hair styles and their effect on society’.

Points for style.