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Boston Blows Up the Mooninites
Turner Broadcasting, apparently following the Mooninite imperative that "We do whatever we want, to whomever we want, at all times," places as an ad campaign a bunch of ill-described "devices"--basically images of the Mooninite characters from the Aqua Teen Hunger Force show, involving some electronics--around Boston.
The city goes on an Orson Welles-sized rampage of ridiculous, unnecessary panic--even though, as per a Turner Broadcasting apology, the advertising thingies had been in many cities, including Boston, for weeks.
From a WCVB-TV account :
"Emergency deployment teams were sent into the center of the city immediately upon these reports. There were significant shutdowns of not only highways, but rail traffic with the MBTA," Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said. "Several of the devices do have common characteristics, but it is too early to say how many are connected."
The first device was found under Interstate 93, and the state police bomb squad was called and detonated the package in Sullivan Square just before 10 a.m. Officials said it contained an electronic circuit board with some components that were "consistent with an improvised explosive device," but they said it had no explosives.
Several hours later, Boston police said the department received four calls, all at about 1 p.m., reporting the devices. Officials responded to at least nine locations, including the Boston University Bridge, the Longfellow Bridge, the McGrath O'Brien Highway in Somerville, a comic store on Harvard Avenue in Brighton, a location near the intersection of Stuart and Columbus streets, a location near Washington and Water streets and under the McCarthy Overpass in Somerville, according to Davis.
A device described by officials as a pipe bomb was found in the basement of the Tufts New England Medical Center at 185 Harrison Ave.
........
Davis said that residents should not be afraid to enter or leave the city and that additional police resources have been deployed to help ensure people that they are safe......"The individuals who placed these packages should be warned that there is a heavy penalty -- two to five years imprisonment for each one of them. We are not playing around."
The punchline for this whole bit of absurdist security theater?
....police were told about the first package by a transit passenger who spotted it on a column that supports I-93. "This is a perfect example of our passengers taking part in Homeland Security," [MBTA Lt. Sal] Venturelli said.
Major cities should be warned that decent intelligence has it that Cavity Creeps lurk in many major cities' subways and catacombs, and possibly even offshore.
John|1.31.07 @ 8:08PM|#
How funny is it that Foxnews felt they needed to censor out the pixilated middle finger of the mooninite. God forbid someone be able to see that.
|1.31.07 @ 8:25PM|#
Thank goodness the governor is on the ball: "We feel there is
not a reason for anyone to panic". Well said, sir! You speak well
English!
I LOVE the Mooninites.
Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|1.31.07 @ 8:35PM|#
The explosion shall be of extraordinary magnitude. Just hang on. -- Ignignokt
|1.31.07 @ 8:42PM|#
Turner Broadcasting may be going on the principle that no
publicity is bad publicity. They can now advertise their program as
"the show everyone's talking about!"
I wonder what would happen if the opposite scenario took place:
Someone placed a *real* bomb, but no-one paid attention because
they thought it was a publicity stunt by an entertainment
company.
|1.31.07 @ 8:45PM|#
Of course, the is an Aqua Teen movie coming out later this year. Greatest promotional stunt EVER.
|1.31.07 @ 8:53PM|#
"Residents should not be afraid to enter or leave the
city."
What about staying where they are?
WHAT ABOUT STAYING WHERE THEY ARE?!?!?!?!
norbizness|1.31.07 @ 9:09PM|#
Inignot: And everyone understands how this will come about?
Remember, there are no dumb questions.
Mothmonsterman: Um, yeah, right here...?
Inignot: In the back, yes, the retard with the dumb question.
|1.31.07 @ 9:11PM|#
Are there no nerdy, single males age 15-25 in Boston that could have helped avert this crisis?
J|1.31.07 @ 9:21PM|#
Are there no nerdy, single males age 15-25 in Boston that
could have helped avert this crisis?
Nerds get their pants pulled down and they are spanked with moon
rocks.
|1.31.07 @ 9:21PM|#
This isn't funny anymore. The artist has been arrested. Patrick,
Menino, and Coakley are calling for blood.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/01/artist_arrested.html
|1.31.07 @ 9:25PM|#
So is the Boston Globe in a truly awful editorial.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/01/31/turner_tricksters_should_pay/
|1.31.07 @ 9:27PM|#
CNN was hyping this story all day. Now, as they are part of a
very large corporation it is possible the news dep't wasn't aware
of the ad campaign -- however the "screw up" was somehow
advantagious, as is usualy the case, to all parties involved: CNN
hypes the scary story, driving up their own ratings while at the
same time advertising a show broadcast on antother channel owned by
the parent company.
And -- to make matters even better, this will no doubt be the MAJOR
story on all morning news shows.
|1.31.07 @ 9:30PM|#
This is the sort of conflict that I really enjoy...
On the one hand you have Aqua Teen Hunger Force whose popularity
makes me question my libertarianism (emotionally I want to force
the people who watch it to improve their tastes. At gunpoint. I'm
even tempted to nerve gas their villages.).
On the other hand, you have the administration of Mayor Menino,
whose tenuous grasp of economics is well hidden by his inability to
enunciate. I suspect that he wasn't paying attention when someone
was telling him about Demosthenes, and he thought he was supposed
to leave the stones in...
When I loathe both sides in a dispute, I get a bit of a kick
watching them fight each other. Kind of like when Republicans and
Democrats start arguing about who should get the loot.
What I hope to see is Ted Turner and Menino getting their dander up
and challenging each other to a duel of some sort. If they killed
each other in this duel, the I would consider it a miracle.
Actually, that would be incontrovertible proof that god exists.
|1.31.07 @ 9:31PM|#
Bombs, is everything a bomb? Oh, and I'd have totally snatched one of those for my living room.
Franklin Harris|1.31.07 @ 9:39PM|#
tarran, the fact that you don't like Aqua Teen Hunger Force probably says it's your taste in TV that needs to be improved. Just sayin'.
|1.31.07 @ 9:40PM|#
What amazes me is the professional and (ostensibly) trained
Boston bomb squad weren't able to distinguish an LED light
controller from an explosive device. The obvious lesson here is
that the bomb sqaud is completely worthless. The people of Boston
ought to be thankful to Turner for this revelation.
Anyway, any 20-year-old would have known that the proper way to
deal with Mooninites is to call in Frylock.
|1.31.07 @ 10:14PM|#
Let me get this straight. The city of Boston is paralyzed in
fear of Lite Brite?
This is why I moved to VA.
KAPOWEE!|1.31.07 @ 10:16PM|#
the bomb sqaud is completely worthless
Not that I believe anything the news says, but I heard that they
did "detonate" some Mooninites, and you can't "detonate" a Lite
Brite without sticking a bomb on it, so the bomb squad clearly can
plant bombs.
And Amerikkka's Most Wanted and Nation of
Millions still hold up.
|1.31.07 @ 10:24PM|#
What the hell were these officials smoking? This wasn't Turners fault, you could more mistake a bookbag for a bomb than a mooninite giving the middle finger. They are calling for blood because its embarassing to them - as it should be. Idiots.
|1.31.07 @ 10:28PM|#
My name is!
Shake-Zula, The Mic Rula, The Old Schoola.
You Wanna Trip? I'll Bring it to ya!
Aw Frylock, and I'm All Cock Blockin. Like I got Meat Wad, Ya Up
Next, Workit Out Na!
Meat Wad Getz The Money, See? Meat Wad Getz The Honey's Shee.
Drivin In My Car, Livin Like a Star. Ice On My Fingers And My Toes.
And I'm A Taurus...
|1.31.07 @ 10:40PM|#
I'm with Ted on this. The worst crime imaginable is to expose the incompetence of the state. I assume someone will go to jail for this (and unfortunately it won't be the fools who blew up the lite brite).
|1.31.07 @ 11:06PM|#
Master Shake: I tell ya, they sneak into this country and try to
tell you how to do things. Well, maybe I should sneak into your
country and not cash your checks! How will you like that? You
won't! Because you'll be here!
Ignignokt: Your logic is flawless.
|1.31.07 @ 11:21PM|#
The irony of the situation is that the paranoid reaction of the police means that basicly anyone can throw a few fake bombs around, not hurt anyone, and pretty much cripple the economy of any major urban area in the United States.
tros|1.31.07 @ 11:24PM|#
I live in Boston. I have seen the narc cop for my school smoking
a blunt on the street. That guy had the biggest dread I have ever
seen on a human being before. They detonated the first device?
What, with their own grenade launcher?
Did you know the feds are developing a gun that microwaves
protestors?
Shit, people, I hope we don't fuck up this planet so bad that we
have to start a colony on the moon! What the fuck would we do
then?
Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|1.31.07 @ 11:28PM|#
Shit, people, I hope we don't fuck up this planet so bad that we
have to start a colony on the moon! What the fuck would we do
then?
Most likely stare in awe at the power of Err.
Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|1.31.07 @ 11:31PM|#
The irony of the situation is that the paranoid reaction of
the police means that basicly anyone can throw a few fake bombs
around
Or a bunch of strategically placed lite-brites and simons.
Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|1.31.07 @ 11:32PM|#
What amazes me is the professional and (ostensibly) trained
Boston bomb squad weren't able to distinguish an LED light
controller from an explosive device.
They confirmed that one was a pipe bomb and one was an electronic
explosive device. They detonated them. PIPE BOMB?!?!?!?!
|1.31.07 @ 11:48PM|#
My neighbor who is an ex-KGB agent said that the pipe-bomb was actually a cardboard-pipe with a Gigli movie poster rolled up inside built by Mossad agents and planted by the Iranians.
|1.31.07 @ 11:55PM|#
Pipe bomb indeed. If it wasn't a pipe bomb how would the artist be able to prove it wasn't now that it's blown up?
Guy Montag|2.1.07 @ 12:07AM|#
How funny is it that Foxnews felt they needed to censor out
the pixilated middle finger of the mooninite. God forbid someone be
able to see that.
What FOX news were you watching? Here in Miami, FL, USA Fox News
Network did not pixilate anything and even had a graphic of the
middle finger getting longer.
tros|2.1.07 @ 12:08AM|#
See, in the south cops are like vicious carnivors. Here they are
more like herd animals. It is very similar to the way they treat
the cows in India. They are allowed to wander into the road and
hold up traffic whenever they want. They have a symbiotic
relationship with construction workers.
Seriously though, all the cops here are unionized. I am not
surprised that they can't do anything besides wave at cars.
There were two or three murders down the street from where I live
in late November/early December. Cops said nothing, media said
nothing. It's mostly a nice neighborhood so people just assumed
that the parties knew each other beforehand and one of them had it
coming.
|2.1.07 @ 12:08AM|#
So is the Boston Globe in a truly awful
editorial.
Shorter Boston Globe Editorial Board:
We're a bunch of total fucking morons, and someone ought to pay for
exposing that.
Are there no nerdy, single males age 15-25 in Boston that could
have helped avert this crisis?
What's worse is that these things have been around for a while.
Maybe not in Boston, but they've been up in San Francisco for
weeks. I mean seriously,
does this look like a bomb?
Gorgatron|2.1.07 @ 12:08AM|#
New city motto: "Boston: We're Not Hip to Pop Culture, and It
Shows!"
Aw Frylock, and I'm All Cock Blockin.
Actually, it's "Frylock, and I'm on top/Rock you like a cop..." But
whatever works for you.
Another ytmnd: http://whnboston.ytmnd.com/
Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|2.1.07 @ 12:15AM|#
I mean seriously, does this look like a bomb?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|2.1.07 @ 12:20AM|#
HEY BOSTON!
http://www.angelfire.com/ego2/egautographs/MOONINITE.jpg
BOO!
|2.1.07 @ 12:20AM|#
Boy, I hope there are plenty of laundromats in Little Green Footballs-ville. Lots of bedwetting going on over there, and I'm guessing that the thought of another terrorist attack on our soil probably produced some other bodily fluids among those psychos as well.
tros|2.1.07 @ 12:29AM|#
I seriously can not believe they are claiming that one of those things exlpoded. It's so conventient, too. Just say that one of them exploded on the Faux News and now they were all, what? DESIGNED ONE PURPOSE TO LOOK LIKE BOMBS AND FOOL THE POLICE. Right. We wanted all this retarded hysteria. Right.
Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|2.1.07 @ 12:49AM|#
I seriously can not believe they are claiming that one of
those things exlpoded.
They aren't. They are claiming that they detonated at least
one.
Xavier|2.1.07 @ 1:01AM|#
The Authorities up there in Boston were supposed to have a press
conference praising the benefits of their security efforts.
Instead, on the day of, they become the laughingstock of the
nation.
So the--um, mostestly-innocent of Discordian art stunts brings the
State to its knees, like a banana peel left lying on the stairs for
over three weeks.
The irony is cosmically delicious.
|2.1.07 @ 1:07AM|#
I seriously can not believe they are claiming that one of
those things exlpoded.
Tros, I don't think the police claimed that any of the packages
were a bomb. They placed another explosive next to the suspicious
package, and detonated it, in order to destroy the suspicious
package. That's standard bomb squad procedure, I think.
Graphite|2.1.07 @ 1:07AM|#
City of Boston paralyzed by feckless public workers. This is
news?
Can't wait to see ATHF's take on all this.
tros|2.1.07 @ 1:07AM|#
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Suspicious_Devices_Seattle.html
SEATTLE -- Four blinking electronic devices like the ones that
threw a scare into the city of Boston on Wednesday have been found
and removed from two Seattle suburbs, police said.
Nice. Homeland Security = Ultimate Stupidity across Amerikkka. Eat
it.
Guy Montag|2.1.07 @ 1:09AM|#
Please, just keep the stupid things out of Miami and keep Castro alive until I am out of Miami. k?
lunchstealer|2.1.07 @ 1:53AM|#
Shit, people, I hope we don't fuck up this planet so bad
that we have to start a colony on the moon! What the fuck would we
do then?
I don't know, but our vertical leap would be beyond all Earth
measurement!
Show them, Err.
|2.1.07 @ 2:28AM|#
BTW, I remember when the Aqua Teen Hunger Force crew was on
Space Ghost. It was a riot!
BTWBTW, Isn't "riot" a curious synonym for funny?
|2.1.07 @ 2:28AM|#
"This isn't funny anymore. The artist has been arrested.
Patrick, Menino, and Coakley are calling for blood."
Of course they are. It's the only way for them to avoid looking
like complete and utter tools.
|2.1.07 @ 2:40AM|#
Guy Montag:
...keep Castro alive until I am out of Miami.
How Come? I guessing there'll be a swell celebration in Miami when
the murdering, torturing dictator dies.
|2.1.07 @ 2:44AM|#
This isn't funny anymore. The artist has been
arrested.
Typical. Leave it to the government to take the fun out of a good
publicity stunt.
Guy Montag|2.1.07 @ 2:52AM|#
Rick Barton,
Because things around Dolphin Stadium have been nice, quiet and
peaceful (other than the
nut arrested a few days ago). The Chupacabra
nonsense is enough for now, thank you.
I just want my visit to be quiet and uneventful. My idea of a
"swell celebration" is more like when the Pope died, not when
Arafat died. I anticipate Miami being more like the latter when
Castro dies.
Guy Montag|2.1.07 @ 2:55AM|#
This isn't funny anymore. The artist has been
arrested.
Yea, like when the Germans kept arresting that little sign
painter.
Who wants to die for art?
NAIL HIM UP! NAIL SOME SENSE INTO HIM!
Guy Montag|2.1.07 @ 3:33AM|#
2 arrests at this hour!
Perhaps the trail of wrongdoing will lead all the way to
Atlanta.
Some are saying that former wife Jane Fonda is penning chants for
Ted Turner's defense.
HEY HEY HO HO MOONINITES ARE JUST A SHOW.
Muttley|2.1.07 @ 4:08AM|#
This brings me back to the 90s, there was a very good puzzle
game for the Amiga:
The Boston Bomb Club
Guy Montag|2.1.07 @ 4:24AM|#
Muttley,
Wasn't Boston the main place that bomb money was collected for
Ireland? I mean besides the Soviet Union.
Muttley|2.1.07 @ 4:37AM|#
Well, you should ask some Irish-American. But I guess so.
Wasn't that the plot of the 1994 movie Blown Away?
|2.1.07 @ 4:40AM|#
Great, police in Boston can't tell the difference between an
LED and an IED.
I feel safer already.
Guy Montag|2.1.07 @ 5:13AM|#
How funny is it that Foxnews felt they needed to censor out
the pixilated middle finger of the mooninite. God forbid someone be
able to see that.
This just in: ABC Channel 10, Miami is pixilating it right now! Oh
the humanity! Broadcasters bowing to the jackbootied federal
communications regulators but cable versions of the same networks
are free to show the finger!
|2.1.07 @ 6:26AM|#
[Akira flips the entire city of Boston the Bird.]
I hope he can see this 'cause I'm doing it as hard as I can.
|2.1.07 @ 6:40AM|#
Should have sent me that check for this cheap Milk & Cheese rip-off. All it took was one phone call to the cops down at Sully's.
|2.1.07 @ 7:27AM|#
ATHF (don't they have a movie coming out?) oughta rush a commercial out featuring Ignignokt and Err singing "Well we love that dirty water, Oh, Boston, you're our bitch"
Todd Frye|2.1.07 @ 7:41AM|#
How about a civil disobedience campaign to put life-size Daleks
on the street corners of major cities? That would send some sort of
anarchist message to The Man. The message would actually be
non-existent, of course; I just think it would be cool as hell to
see clueless cops freak out over those machines.
God, it's early. Where's that coffee?!
chris|2.1.07 @ 7:47AM|#
Ah, the state of fear some people live in. As funny as this could be, it's just sad.
|2.1.07 @ 7:57AM|#
Hey Boston! BOO!!!! Boo!
Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!
Hey Boston!
Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!Boo!
What a bunch of wusses!
Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|2.1.07 @ 8:29AM|#
This is hilarious. The outrage from law enforcement and the right wing is delicious. I suggest a national campaign of putting lite-brite versions of Oglethorpe and Emory plastered to every structure in every major city.
|2.1.07 @ 8:31AM|#
Unfortunately for the City of Boston, when or if the terrorists
do strike, their fine police forces will be too busy rounding up
artists and sign makers.
Out here.
|2.1.07 @ 8:38AM|#
I was hoping joe might have had something to say on the efficiency of public worker's in his home state.
:-|2.1.07 @ 9:16AM|#
I'm thinking it's part of a larger and more sinister plan to out all H&R's nerds.
|2.1.07 @ 9:19AM|#
Boston cops are pathetic. Either dumb, lazy or corrupt, sometimes all 3. They created the panic because of their own stupidity and now have to try and save face. Unfortunately the statists I work with think it's a good thing they arrested the guy who put them up. "Can't be too careful after 9/11!" What a bunch of scared little girls this country has become.
|2.1.07 @ 9:31AM|#
Yeah, you guys don't have illegals walkin' through your yard,every day, looking at your sister, in some perverted manner. If you did, you wouldn't be so complex.
|2.1.07 @ 9:48AM|#
I didn't see one on Ebay for $3,000. They currently have bids
ranging from the upper $200 to mid $700. That's still a lot of cash
for $20 dollars worth of radio shack parts.
In a fools world, paranoia reins over truth.
I think Boston needs to explain why they thought it was a threat
when the other 9 cities had little or no problems. I live in NYC,
it wasn't a big deal. If I see one I'm snagging it for my
apartment.
If this was art work by the infamous bomb artist Gregory Green, I
might understand their reaction. That's because it would have meant
to look like a bomb.
I think Boston is mad because the rest of the county is laughing AT
them.
|2.1.07 @ 9:54AM|#
One thing I can't tell from the news stories: did Turner/Cartoon
Network rent the poles or other locations of the electronic
billboards as a part of this marketing campaign?
I'm guessing not, but that's a ridiculously risk-exposing thing for
a multimillion-dollar company to do: at best, they'd be littering
right on up to stealing the market-value of the billboard space. No
one cares so much if it's an art school dropout putting "Obey
Giant" stickers on the trolley poles; deep-pockets Turner's at
least stealing display rights value and littering.
If Turner did pay for spaces or arrange the campaign with the
advertising department of the T or whatever, then Boston's response
is even more ridiculous.
|2.1.07 @ 10:01AM|#
"""One thing I can't tell from the news stories: did
Turner/Cartoon Network rent the poles or other locations of the
electronic billboards as a part of this marketing campaign?
"""
I don't believe so, it was a graffitti marking technique. If Turner
had permission from Boston, I think he would have brought that
point up already.
The way I see it, at best, the guy broke anti-graffitti laws.
The city of Boston needs to own up to their paranoia and not try to
blame it on anyone else.
|2.1.07 @ 10:26AM|#
I wonder what would happen if the opposite scenario took
place: Someone placed a *real* bomb, but no-one paid attention
because they thought it was a publicity stunt by an entertainment
company.
You mean like what our kops, um, I mean armed forces, are/aren't
doing in Baghdad right now?
Snorky, Dolphin King|2.1.07 @ 10:30AM|#
This is the last straw, you humans have created a culture of fear in our kingdom now as well.
|2.1.07 @ 10:31AM|#
Wow. That thread over at LGF is surreal.
"I'd like to see EVERYONE involved and any/all "superiors", all
the way to the top, slapped with a multi million dollar fine and
about 25 years behind bars. Such action would tell the rest of this
so-called "industry" that such IDIOCY and STUPIDITY that creates
near panic reactions will NOT be tolerated. Has cnn been running
interference for this IMBECILIC action, blaming everyone in the
Bush Administration, including Karl Rove?"
|2.1.07 @ 10:45AM|#
As an electrical engineer, my first thought was similar to some
of you. "These bomb squad dudes can't tell the difference between
LED controllers and a bomb."
But then I wondered how much room they have to think. When a
scenario like this starts I'm guessing they just have to follow
procedure, like cogs in a giant bureaucratic
machine. Cogs that risk their lives as part of the job mind you. So
I don't blame the bomb squad directly. Their superiors, maybe.
|2.1.07 @ 10:47AM|#
"When a scenario like this starts I'm guessing they just
have to follow procedure, like cogs in a giant bureaucratic
machine. Cogs that risk their lives as part of the job mind
you."
...cogs that have now been publically humiliated.
I'm sorry, but this is the funniest shit ever.
Mr. X|2.1.07 @ 10:50AM|#
Does everyone remember when the LGF crowd was making fun of
Islamic extremists for rioting and killing over Mohammed
cartoons?
Ain't irony grand?
dhex|2.1.07 @ 10:51AM|#
"i do not care how funny they are.
we are at WAR and it is about time the people of this country
started acting like it."
lgf is great.
oh, what? they're serious?
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
|2.1.07 @ 11:00AM|#
Mediageek, It pretty much shows the intelligence of your average
Bush fan. They are probably repeating something they heard somebody
say on Fox. I say that because most who what Fox hate CNN.
It will be interesting to see the outcomes of the soon to be legal
actions. The big issue is subjective Vs. objective. Will the
advertisment be viewed by the courts as what it really was, an ad?
or will they accept the subjective? Boston says it looked like a
bomb. I believe advertisment has first amemdment protection. If
screaming "fire" in a theater is not covered by the first because
it creates panic, screaming bomb in a city shouldn't be either, for
the same reason. Therefore, I conclude, whomever started screaming
bomb should be the one punished in the same manner that someone
screaming "fire" in a theater would be, for you do not have a right
to do so.
Will the artist be at fault because Boston misconstrued the
electronic ad and acted not in truth, but in fear?
Stay tuned
|2.1.07 @ 11:10AM|#
Vic, I think that the downside to the whole thing is that
Boston's prosecutors "will make an example" out of the kids who did
this viral marketing campaign.
And they'll probably give medals all around to the bomb squad
members who so bravely detonated a lightbright, and a public pat on
the head to the shmuck who actually called the cops in the first
place.
The thing that'll suck is that Adult Swim, which has been doing
viral marketing campaigns like this for awhile now, will probably
clamp down on how they're done. The legal department at Cartoon
Network is probably shitting a collective cinderblock right about
now.
|2.1.07 @ 11:24AM|#
Good
Lord:
BOSTON -- Two men were arrested Wednesday night in connection
with the discovery of 38 hoax devices found throughout greater
Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino and Attorney General Martha Coakley
said Wednesday night.
The devices were eventually determined to be part of a marketing
campaign that involved a character from the cartoon show "Aqua Teen
Hunger Force."
Coakley said Peter Berdovsky, 27, of Arlington, and Sean Stevens,
28, of Charlestown, will be arraigned Thursday in Charlestown
District Court. They were charged under a new statute that
makes it a crime to place, transfer or possess a hoax device that
results in panic. Berdovsky was also charged with one
count of disorderly conduct.
|2.1.07 @ 11:26AM|#
Menino has increased his absurdity by calling for the Cartoon Network to lose its broadcast license. I was under the impression that cable networks, by definition, do not have broadcast licenses. Am I wrong?
Jack|2.1.07 @ 11:27AM|#
I'm going to pick up my General Tso's a little early today,
before the Boston Police Department "safely detonates" the
restaurant because those crazy blinking symbols mean the Chinese
have invaded us....
I wish my grandfather was still around to tell me the story of how
the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, instead of
ratcheting up the terror-anxiety alert level to about the same as
coming off a three day coke bender.
What assholes.
|2.1.07 @ 11:28AM|#
They were charged under a new statute that makes it a crime
to place, transfer or possess a hoax device that results in
panic.
Except a hoax device is something that looks like a nefarious
device, but isn't. How a professionally trained munitions expert
can look at a lite-brite and think it's a bomb defies all
logic.
|2.1.07 @ 11:32AM|#
Dan: A Boston Herald columnist wants them to get two to five
years for each of the 38 locations! A bad sign is that they each
had to post a $2,500 bond instead of being released on their own
recognizance.
Have the mayors of the other nine cities where these were placed
reacted yet? If these are dangerous pseudo-bombs, there should be
prosecutions everywhere, right? (On second thought, I hope I don't
give anyone any ideas.)
|2.1.07 @ 11:42AM|#
The problem with Boston's claim is that the devices were NOT
hoax devices, they were advertisements for a cartoon show on a
cable TV channel.
I would be interested, don't have time to look it up now, what
Boston law defines as a hoax device. Logically, I would assume,
it's a device with the intent to look like something it's not
(hoax) with the intent to scare (panic), but I'm ass-u-me-ing. Even
if the law covers not intending to scare, they have a problem with
the hoax part.
James, I haven't heard what Bloomberg has said about it here in
NYC, but I can say the NYPD did not react to it in the same manner.
I do believe they are taking them when they find them.
Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|2.1.07 @ 11:50AM|#
Vic,
Read McPhee's column in the Herald. She's saying they were wired to
look exactly like a bomb. They are already setting their case up in
the court of public opinion.
ron|2.1.07 @ 11:54AM|#
wait is that really evan dorkin? dude i love milk and cheese and athf, and i do not really see a similarity beyond food products and swearing.
|2.1.07 @ 11:58AM|#
I damn near blew up my clock radio this morning. I mean, I saw
the lights, and the batteries, and the wires, and I'll tell ya, for
a minute there I was scared shitless.
Ultimately, I think the fact that it took them weeks to notice
these things, and the fact that like 10 other cities haven't had
any problems whatsoever, is not going to help Boston's case.
|2.1.07 @ 12:20PM|#
Yep Thomas, trying thing in the court of public opinion is what
newspapers like to do. Fortunatly for the guys involved, it rarely
translates into the court of law.
I would have to ask McPhee's explosive background is? McGiever?
That goes to the problem of know-it-all news staff that don't
really know jack. I would also like to ask McPhee if she has ever
started liberating the dolls in the toy store because they "look"
like babies.
The reality is Boston is knee-jerking because one of the 9/11 plane
came from Logan. I can't really blame them on the knee-jerk, they
are touchy about the subject, but they shouldn't try to punish
these guys for the city's reaction. Especially since none of the
other 9 cities acted the same way.
Consider this possible headline.
Cartoon shuts down Boston.
If it wasn't true, if would be funny. Since it's true, it's pretty
damn sad. Ok, it's pretty damn funny either way.
|2.1.07 @ 1:00PM|#
Good news: The judge at the hearing, although he did set a
$2,500 bail as I noted earlier, "seemed skeptical of the state's
case."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/02/men_accused_of_2.html
|2.1.07 @ 1:20PM|#
The Assistant Attorney General John Grossman said at their
arraignment. "It's clear the intent was to get attention by causing
fear and unrest that there was a bomb in that location."
I think the only qualification for being in the AGs office is that
you are willing to prosecute anybody, for anything, at anytime, and
that it's not important to look at the facts for what they are, but
for how you want to believe they are.
When the subjective takes over the objective in matters of law, the
rule of law fails and our judical system becomes the style of
dictators and tyrants.
I do not believe the MA courts will be as "loose" with the reality
as the Boston's DA office.
Boston is going to have a hard time trying to convince anyone this
was something other than advertisement.
|2.1.07 @ 1:44PM|#
"That's not a hair question. I'm sorry." The
absurdist political theater is now complete:
In a news conference, Rich told reporters he had advised his
clients not to discuss the incident. Stevens and Berdovsky took the
podium and said they were taking questions only about haircuts in
the 1970s.
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."
These men are heroes.
|2.1.07 @ 2:15PM|#
Adult Swim did air an apology to the citizens of Boston last night before the episode of ATHF. I had hoped they'd be a bit more flippant about the whole circus, but I imagine they feel a lot of pressure to play nice right about now.
Guy Montag|2.2.07 @ 2:35AM|#
I really liked the way they worked the press confrence. I
figured their lawyer told them not to talk about the case (noted by
someone else above), but the way they refused to comment on the
case was great.
Now, give them a fair trial and nail some sense into them.
|2.2.07 @ 8:17PM|#
i saw the pics and these thingies didn't look anything like bombs- a hairdryer with the cover off looks more like a bomb than these things did. i think boston should be mad at the people who wanted in on this stupid easter egg hunt and reported these things in the first place.
|2.5.07 @ 7:19PM|#
Turner Broadcasting had planned another campaign planned using
lighted likenesses of cartoon characters. The other campaign would
feature a short, balding man with a shotgun and Duck. The plan was
to start in Washington D.C. with 50 electronic signs to promote the
upcoming reruns of Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck. They have scrapped
the plan in fear Capital Police would assume the characters were a
threat to VP Cheney and Lame Duck Bush. Then Bush at the urging of
Cheney would declare the entire nation and our ally under Marshall
Law until the terrorist threat was contained. Turner Broadcasting
decided that they would be unable to pay the cost of containing
such a threat to National and International Security and would
probably have to file Bankruptcy. Therefore they have canceled the
planned ad campaign.
Note:
The Mayor of Boston, The Boston Chief of Police, The Boston Bomb
Squad, The Boston District Attorney and The Head of Homeland
Security have been nominated for the first DARWIN AWARDS for
2007.
Jim Frego
Grants Pass, OR
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