I want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.

Ms. Simpson didn't think that her art project would frighten anyone.

The ticket agent, not being an expert on bombs was, in fact, frightened.

No one died. No one was tasered (and this does seem to be an ever-growing trend in law enforcement).

If this had been a real bomb worn by a real suicide bomber, and no one had stopped her, how loudly would we all be protesting then?

I daresay we'd be calling for the firing of every person employed at the airport who saw her and did nothing.

From the WBZ article Manjoo links to:

A Massachusetts Port Authority staffer manning an information booth in the terminal became suspicious when Simpson -- wearing the device -- approached to ask about an incoming flight, Pare said. She did not respond when the employee asked her about the device she was wearing, so the employee repeated the question, police said.

Simpson then said the device was artwork [my emphasis] and left the counter and walked around the terminal area, causing some employees to leave the building in fear, police said.

No, it does not look like she was "up to no good," it looks like she was completely oblivious to everyone elses's paranoia.

Which, given the odds of being a victim of terrorism (less than a lightning strike, but more than a shark attack?), is a pretty sane way to be.

I'm stunned by so many things with this story :

1) The assumption that a thing with blinky lights is a bomb.

I'm not saying things with blnky lights cannot be a bomb - but a breadbord with LEDs is no more likely to be a bomb than a laptop or other inconspicuous device.

2) The arrest - Try asking her what it is first - even yell from a distance where you'll likely be safe - showing up with a machine pistols drawn in a busy public area is reckless.

3) The attitude of the police after the event

"She's lucky she's in a cell and not a morgue" - These are the guys you're paying to protect you - this shows a reckless indifference to the value of human life. This statement will likely get the guy convicted of murder if he ever does shoot somebody.

Nobody has learned a thing from the egg-on-face incident that went with the previous "thing with blinky lights" story.

I mean, people like Star and her ilk need a place to express their artistic flair. They should be able to just go to ACLU Air, buy a ticket and get on the plane- no searches, no questions, nothing. They can wear fake dynamite, a T-shirt that reads "Allahu Akhbar-Boom" or an IED on their head. If their flight makes it safely- great. If not, well, at least their constitutional rights were protected.

Are you kidding, ru a troll,

WHAT IF,??? !!!

Wll you might be dead

if you were a dumb cops on a traffic island pointing machine guns at an LED when the terrorist walked up to a juicy crowd of American Zealots and blew his/herself up...

sans LED's of course,

I have read multiple articles, AP, USA today etc etc.

And they provide very little information about Ms Star's state of mind or intent. All we know is that she approached an airline worker of some sort (probably at a counter) asked about the status of her flight. Was questioned about the thing on her shirt, said it was art and walked away when the employee continued to ask questions,

OMG a teenager walked away from an adult asking questions. I've never heard of such a thing. Here is a girl that is comming to an airport, trying to pick up her boyfirend, asks an employee of the airline (whose job is to serve the customers of the airline) for information, and instead of getting the information she is quizzed about her pin.

Now, I am not going to categorically state that she was not :"looking for trouble" but I do not understand how you could possibly state that it is obvious she was. Do you not remember what it was like to be a teenager, to be assaulted with what you considered ridiculous questions every moment of your life?

If her intention was to "look for trouble" there are so many questions that make so little sense.

Ask yourself this.

Is it more likely that the fact that she had been wearing the pin on her jacket for a few days prior to the incident indicates she threw on her jacket and thought nothing of it, or that she was planning to create a disturbance at the airport?

If she was planning on creating a disturbance, where is the statement, the evidence, the camera. She is a tech savy young woman. Is it not likely that if she intended this she would have had a camera with her and it would already be on youtube?

Why in the world would she want to cause trouble on the day she was going to pick up her boyfriend? You can go to Logan any day you want.

As for the play doh, as I said, why do we need a reason to carry around play doh? There are a number of people who carry it or silly putty for stress relief reasons.

Note that the LEDs were in the form of a star, and the student's name is Star.

I don't know what's with the Pla-Doh though...

I hear you, as far as the teenager not paying attention part. But you must admit that an MIT student should have enough sense to more adequately deal with the apparent suspicion of the device.

Logan suffered from poor administration and one of the worst track records for security in the nation long before the 2001 attacks. Even nonspecialists, outside the field and relying only on general news, knew this — and if they had any doubt, after forgetting a few times that they'd packed a utility knife in their carry-on luggage and having it slip through security anyway would certainly have persuaded them.

Why do you think Al Quaeda chose Logan?

So, time to come to terms with the real secret of post-World Trade Center America: there is no secret. Nothing of substance has changed — airport security that was good in August of 2001 is still good, and airport security that sucked then sucks now.

The reason why nothing has changed is that it's all pretty much the same bunch of people in charge, and fundamentally they have been under zero pressure to change their policies and institutional culture. The only things that has changed is that there's a lot more money floating around now — so the people who were doing dumb things before are now doing dumb things fast.

The bottom line is this: the entire apparatus of air security has failed to catch a single terrorist, foreign or domestic. It missed 19 guys with box cutters on September 11. It missed Richard Reid. And when undercover federal auditors recently tested American airport security by attempting to smuggle explosives through, they succeeded every time.

People of America, the terrorists just aren't there, and your leaders know this or they wouldn't still be doing the same dumb things day in and day out in order to look busy. A day will come when you will put your feet down and demand an end to this idiocy, in favor of a system that addresses the realities of terrorism and actually makes Americans safer. Until then, pray that nobody (else) gets shot.