Smooth, Duval. Acknowledge an apology while still casting aspersions...



"I understand that Turner Broadcasting has purported to apologize for this,"



Purported? Either they did or they didn't. Don't throw in crap to show your disapproval.



File this under: "I wonder if our so-called Governor stopped beating his wife?"

Bob - Heh. I was talking about this with a co-worker this morning and they completely feel that TNT should pay a fine, etc. When I pointed out that it seems to me that the Boston police department should be a little ashamed that they didn't spot these things for the past two weeks that person just couldn't seem to get their head around it and I could tell they didn't agree on that point. Which I found odd...but whatever...

this concerns me a lot.

the government has spent the last 6 years
actively cultivating a culture of fear
and paranoia
and then they blame Turner
when people act out of fear and paranoia.

ten years ago,
people would have been confused,
and would have laughed,
and that would have been the end of it.

and where does it end?
if an anti-government protest
turns into a riot
can they arrest the organizers
for creating fear and unrest?

this seems like a fundamental shift in liberty
from where i'm sitting.

It seems to me that the only thing TNT did wrong was not get a permit or whatever for putting up outdoor advertising. And it was a kind of a stupid format to use these things in our post 9/11 society.

On the one hand it's worrisome that no one noticed these "suspicious" things for two weeks and on the other hand its good that when they did notice them they took every precaution in figuring out the problem. Maybe they should wrack it up as a drill and move on.

I think it's ridiculous to charge the two guys who installed the things. I'm sure they had no intention of causing this sort of uproar. Apparently the things have gotten little or no notice in other cities.

As jhimm points out - if you are going to whip everyone into a paranoid frenzy then you better be prepared to respond to a lot of false alarms. This response of wanting to prosecute someone over and honest misunderstanding is very worrisome.

I agree with jhimm's assertion.

There is something more sinister going on here. The police get caught with their pants down (not noticing these things for 2 weeks?!), then they arrest a couple of people and ask Turner to pay for this? Seems like you won't be able to do anything creative "in a post 9/11" world.

What a crock.

In my mind, I hope that this goes to the Supreme Court because this may be a case of infringement of free speech. This is not like yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater. This is advertising -- out of the box to be sure, but it is advertising.

Obviously since the ads (which is what they were -- not 'hoax' bombs) were around for 2 weeks they did not prove to be an immanent danger to the community.

It is like those ads I saw plastered all over NYC last year for Prison Break. I don't really have TV, so when I first saw them I assumed that 2 real killers were on the loose. What is the difference between those ads and a bunch of led lights of cartoon characters.

And, if they were a real threat, people could be dead now because the Boston PD or the Feds dropped the ball.

jhimm, iwan and donna - Amen.

As my day continues the angrier I get at the stupidity surrounding the bomb scare. I'm trying to figure out if i'm going to contact my local state representative, the attorney generals office and/or write a letter to the editor. Oh great, my state rep to the u.s. house is quoted in a CNN article and it's obvious he's on everyone else's side. Okay, definitely will have to contact him. Charging those two people for assembling and putting up the ads is ludicrous. Getting upset that the police did what they were supposed to do is ludicrous. What we should be upset about is that if they considered these things such a threat yesterday, why the f* didn't they notice them two weeks ago?

Iwan - p.s. Mission Impossible III last year had that stupid bomb scare thing with the newspaper racks, also. Did anyone get arrested for installing those? No.

exactly.
apparently i've been wrong all this time.
the fascists in california -have- a sense of humor
but the proto-fascists in new england don't.

how disappointing.

jhimm - *giggle*

The pictures I've seen don't look much like a box. It's a flat panel with a bunch of LEDs on it, and looks about as un-bomb-like as you could wish. There simply isn't enough mass there for any amount of explosives to be concealed.

And I don't think it's shocking or even surprising that no one noticed them, if the lights weren't working yet. One of the most salient features of the average person is, they don't notice much. People are incredibly unobservant.

If the lights were already operating, I would suggest that it wasn't that no one noticed them, it's just that no panicky underinformed idiots noticed them. These ads had been installed in like ten major cities, and yet, strangely, no one in Chicago or Los Angeles panicked.

If the Boston prosecutors know what's good for them, they will wait until the media barrage quiets down, and then late some Friday afternoon, when the press isn't paying attention, unostentatiously drop the charges. They'll only look like fools and laughingstocks if they keep pursuing the case against what were, essentially, just ordinary grunts doing their job.

Ulrika - Yeah, I have to admit that what I've seen doesn't look like it could carry any sort of bomb chemicals to even make a dent anywhere. I'm hoping exactly for what you suggest: drop it.

Everyone - wait a second. Did everyone in this thread actually agree? Am I dreaming?

Dunno, Jenn, there are some people I don't read.

C4 in very small, very flat quantities can do a lot of damage.

that being said,
these objects were clearly not bombs.

did you hear today's press conference
where they would only take questions
about haircuts and the 1970's?

jhimm - huh. didn't know that.

i just got a chance to start watching the press conference.

they played some clips on NPR.
it was hysterical.