One last thought (I hope) about the Boston "bomb hoax" — amazingly, that completely incorrect phrase is still being used in some major media headlines, despite the well-established fact that nothing of the kind ever happened.

The phrase occurs in this case not because it’s related to reality, but simply because authority figures used it. And now it continues on, lingering, refusing to die despite its uselessness in describing the event.

Consider: this is what happens when local officials briefly utter complete nonsense about a single, simple and local issue that is immediately debunked. The horseshit still takes weeks to filter out.

Now consider the case when powerful national officials repeatedly utter half-truths about multiple, complex, faraway concerns that are later debunked. Are there enough filters in the world to clean out that crap? Possibly not.

And then, years later, the reality-based community wonders why millions of Americans still don’t understand either basic stuff like Iraq’s lack of connection to 9-11.  We wonder how Bush can get away with blurring Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda in the recent State of the Union address.  But maybe it’s no wonder at all.

The Mooninite incident is kinda scary to think about. But not because of any blinking lights in Boston.