Coffee Talk

America, post 9-11, is a very different America, and is on a pace to become something that would be appalling to it's founding fathers. I understand fear, I understand what our soldiers are experiencing (as much as I can through the various media outlets), I know their is need for heightened awareness, but this week Boston took it a little to far. Was it an overreaction, or was it a statement regarding the amount of power our government is prepared to use at a moments notice?

On January 31st, two men placed 38 "electronic devices" around the city of Boston with flashing images of "mooninites" from the Adult Swim cartoon "Aqua Teen Hunger Force". According to the Detroit Free Press, the devices were one foot tall and "resembled circuit boards with battery packs protruding". It was a publicity stunt, but in hands of Boston officials, it has become "electronic terrorism". The two men were arrested, but more importantly the bridges and subways were shut down, and the Coast Guard had stopped all water traffic. The alert of a bomb threat was sent through all the channels of the city.

Over the last three weeks similar boards have been placed in ten different cities, but this is the first time they have triggered a citywide terror alert. A comment in one of the articles regarding the was made by Jennifer Mason, “It’s almost too easy to be a terrorist these days, you stick a box on a corner and you can shut down a city.”

Did Boston officials overreact, or can they be justified because we are at war? Should we take comfort in their ability to shut down a large city like Boston in time of "crisis", or should we consider it in direct opposition to our freedoms as Americans? Talk amongst yourselves, and then watch this!