by Tim Jones

Created on: February 13, 2007   Last Updated: December 09, 2008

I must confess that sitting here in the middle of the country, I was in stunned disbelief when it was revealed that the true cause of Boston's panic were actually lite-brites of the Mooninites from the Cartoon Network animated series "Aqua Teen Hunger Force". Once again I was utterly disappointed by the lack of a real, cohesive threat that I could wrap my freedom loving paws around. This was almost as bad as the homeless terrorists from Miami who were supposedly plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago. Remember that? I didn't think so, as that case seems to have mysteriously disappeared from the media radar screen, as so often happens with these "threats" that seem so dire at the time.

But, then I got to really thinking about it, and it occurred to me that this is worse. In the case of the Miami homeless sect of "terrorists", it was a clear case of typical government ginning up a "threat", a common practice of governments around the world. Create a big story that will fill a news cycle or two, that makes it seem like the government is doing their job protecting us from evil, etc., etc. It was pretty easy for me to understand the gravity of the threat when it was revealed that the first thing they asked for from the government planted Al Qaeda recruiter was shoes. I never worked at the CIA, but I'm pretty sure they were a LONG way away from being able to blow up a mailbox, much less a skyscraper.

Now, this brings us to Boston. In my opinion, this situation is worse because it was started by the citizens themselves. It is concrete proof that the seeds of fear that have been sown in this country for the last six years are finally starting to take root, and the paranoid population has finally started to tangibly react.

For those of you who do not know, The Mooninites are basically characters from the old video game "Space Invaders" who live on the Moon, totally convinced of their intellectual superiority over us "Stupid Earthlings" as they call us. They are featured in the series "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" on Cartoon Network, frequently making trips to Earth with ludicrous plans to take over the planet. Quite humorous for those with a penchant for staying up until three o'clock in the morning studying horticulture, but I'm sure quite unknown to the average Bostonian or even Boston Police Officer, it seems.

Now, it seems to promote the new feature length "Aqua Teen" movie, Cartoon Network placed lite-brite signs of these characters in several major cities across

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