Once again, when it mattered most, Boston, Massachusetts, my area of residence, did the wrong thing. Today had some of the most comical examples of incompetence the city and the Commonwealth have ever displayed. Colbert is going to have a blast with this tonight (well, OK, not tonight). Our new governor, Deval Patrick, must be furious to have this as the first crisis of his administration.
Fortunately it was comical, because the last time we screwed up this badly, 11-Sept-01, the outcome was anything but funny. If you don’t know what happened, click here. If that link asks you for a registration that you don’t want to have, click here.
At the moment, reader comments on Boston.com are mostly critical of the reaction and response by the city and state. Here are a few examples:
…The only people that should get in trouble for this are the idiots that thought they were bombs
…look, i realize that thing arent what they were 10 years ago, but the authorities need to apply common sense to these types of situations instead of rushing into defcon 5. and they can relax with the macho posturing about “getting to the bottom of this hoax” already; you guys look plenty stupid so far, i would suggest you drop it before you embarass [sic] yourselves further. turner and the ad company did nothing wrong, i hope they defend themselves against this “anti-terrorist” dog-and-pony show
…If these devices have been in place in other cities without problems, then it shows what idiots we have running the show in Boston
The terrorists have won! And they didn’t even have to do anything today to succeed. If anything, today’s events highlighted that we have more to fear from the appalling condition of the city’s bridges and overpasses. This thing looks like it’s ready to collapse on its own, no bomb necessary!
If I ddin’t know better, that sounds like Stephen King himself in the middle post. He HAS been known to publish op eds under false names from time to time. He throws in typos on purpose to throw readers (and editors) off the scent, but not his faithful “Constant Readers!” It’s like Eric Clapton, you only have to hear one chord and you know who’s playing.