The "someone" in this case was Star Simpson, World-Class Stupid-Seemer.

Self-absorbed artistic dellusion is no excuse for breaking the law and REALLY scaring a bunch of innocent people.

Whatever she makes in her free time in NO way changes the fact that she walked into a post-9/11 airport with what looks like a homemade explosive device strapped to her body. I would have been scared to death if she walked up and stood behind me in line!

There are thousands of commercial flights EVERY DAY in the US. And only a handful of incidents like the one with Star Simpson.

The device, made of a plastic circuit board decorated with green LED lights and wires leading to a nine-volt battery, was attached to the front of Simpson's black, hooded sweatshirt when she walked up to the information counter in Terminal C at 8 a.m. and asked about an incoming flight from Oakland, Calif., said Major Scott Pare of the State Police. He said Simpson was also carrying in her hand between 5 and 6 ounces of Play-Doh, a substance that can resemble some plastic explosives.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/09/22/student_causes_scare_at_logan_with_shirt_art/

In fact, can't see any in the picture either. Nothing but a bare breadboard, some wires held down with scotch tape, some resistors, some LEDs, and a 9-volt battery. Obviously not a bomb, so someone had to throw in the Play-Doh to make her seem more stupid, I guess.

The scary thing here is not Star Simpson. It is that we are more at risk from our own government than from any terrorists. Someone mentioned the bipolar young man that was shot to death in a Florida airport for no good reason. False claims were made that he had mentioned a bomb. And don't forget the young man that was executed in cold blood in the London Tube; the London police in that case put out one falsehood after another to justify that cold-blooded execution. Salon also recently carried the story of Jamie Dean, murdered by the Maryland State Police for nothing more than being drunk in his dad's farmhouse. And check out this story of a bunch of out-of-control Barney Fifes who could have killed someone with all their cool SWAT gear (http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2004-08-05/news/dog-day-afternoon/full) We have entrusted a bunch of testosterone addled junior authoritarians with too much power over our fellow citizens. These people see terrorists, bombs and bad guys everywhere to justify their own sense of self-importance. At least if its The Terrorists, we can go after them. These assassins are on the government payroll, appear to act with total impunity, and are still walking about free.

Like many others. But the fearful don't apparently understand. All the bombs that we know terrorists have used have been concealed. Which makes sense, you know? The idea is to get the bomb to a place to do damage. So, no one is going to put one on their chests with blinky lights. Ok, I suppose they could try a Purloined Letter sort of scenario, but it is pretty unlikely. The blinky lights would draw attention, even by those who don't normally cower under their beds. And attention is the last thing any would be bomber is going to want.

Certainly, the cops should have questioned her. For the skittish, maybe that would have puts their minds at ease. Because what is the point of telling them that a real bomber with a wad of C4 shoved up their butt is virtually impossible to catch with present security? Or even mooshed down inside of a laptop?

Which is probably the point of this brouhaha. We haven't put in real security, so they have to pretend that it exists.

Just Ask The Pilot.

If I were to rank all of the things in the terminal that might be a bomb, I'd start with all of those suitcases, all of those backpacks, all of those purses--none of them inspected, all of them large enough to conceal a timing device and enough explosive to do some real damage.

And then, at the very, very bottom of the list, I'd have the little circuit board on the girl's chest. Too small to contain much in the way of explosives, too unusual and attention-attracting (heck, it had lights!)

What this tells us is that the security people at Logan airport and the Boston police have no clue--they imagine that threats are things that look odd and call attention to themselves, while the real potential threats pass right under their noses. The notion that a real terrorist would probably make his bomb look ordinary is too sophisticated for their little minds. Which probably tells us a lot about why the 9/11 bombers flew out of Logan, and why the next batch of terrorists will probably do the same, because the security guys are busy watching out for college students with flashing jewelry.

Face it. An airport terminal will never be safe from suicide bombers so long as people are allowed to walk right into the building with uninspected luggage, and hysterical overreactions like this make us less safe, not more. The real bomb won't look weird and unusual; it will look like something you've seen a million times before.

No. In fact, you are not.

Please note that Taserboy also got the same "wise" reaction from a gazillion people.

People are complaining about how what she wore and where she wore it got her in trouble...

Am I the only one who is reminded about how rape victims are treated?

Sorry, no sympathy for Star from me (though certainly glad she survived the incident).

It shouldn't take the brains of an MIT student to know that wearing anything that could possibly be misconstrued as a bomb to an airport is a potentially suicidal "statement" to make. And no I do not expect those viewing someone who may be a potential suicide bomber to be able to make subtle judgements about how "realistic" the possible bomb is...I think authorities responded completely appropriately.

I'm an anti-Bush liberal who is dismayed at the eroding of civil rights and privacy under this administration...but do not see the place for the "free speech" interpretation of her clothing in such a fraught setting.

We are all lucky that the law enforcement who responded were not trigger happy and remained calm enough that Ms. Simpson survived the incident to pay a pretty minimal fine. The "airport cops" in fact did not "nearly kill her" as stated by the article...she was unharmed. How awful would it have been if she had been shot, and it was determined that only this young woman's stupid and irresponsible choice of a venue to make a statement of some kind had brought about a tragedy. I live in the Boston area and am glad we don't have to spend the next six months investigating the events that (would have) lead to her death.

Defending her irresponsible idiocy damages the cause of those whose civil rights are being truly and unfairly compromised.