mooninites terrorize boston

I'm not sure if you've heard, but some relatively big stuff went down in Boston the last couple of days.  Basically a PR firm hired some people to put together a viral marketing campaign in some major US cities, Boston among them.  The campaign was for a cartoon called Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and the guys went around hanging lite-brite version of the mooninites (pictured here) around the city.  Some city officials mistook these things for potential bombs and the city of Boston was practically shut down for a day as city officials sought out and actually detonated many of these devices.  Two guys were arrested for this and it's a big part of the cable news networks right now, talking about these guys.  I have a couple quick thoughts on this.

First, it's very funny seeing stuffy news anchors say "Aqua Teen Hunger Force."  Watching some of the news coverage is almost surreal.  It's like a clash of two cultures.  At the news conference, the "suspects" only talked about 70's hairstyles.  The press doesn't know what to do with them, and is calling them "goofballs" and "stoners."  Both of those things may be true, but how can they not see the real story here is the overreaction of the Boston officials and the completely different climate we're living in today?

Second, the city of Boston is completely overreacting.  They are prosecuting these guys and saying they intended to cause fear.  It's ridiculous that these guys would be brought up on charges.  Who can't recognize a freakin' lite-brite?  Yes, a lot of city resources were wasted, but the city has nobody to blame other than themselves. 

Third, the "terrists" have won.  To think people would be prosecuted about something like this happening - it's a sign of the stupidly litigious nature of our culture and the "we don't want it to be our fault" atmosphere.  I know we need to operate a little differently in this post 9/11 world, but this is out of control.  If stoner geeks can't hang lite-brites of cartoon characters in major cities without causing a ruckus and being prosecuted, what has this nation come to?