"Explosion" that shattered no more than a window staged diversion from puppy killer fury?

Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, desperate for terror fearmongering like a junkie craves their next hit, chose to hype an inconsequential "explosion" in New York last night beyond all proportion - claiming the blast "tore through an empty military recruiting station in Times Square" when in reality it barely shattered a window.

Homeland Security also took the opportunity to reassure Americans that the actions of a hooded kid on a bicycle, did not indicate there was an "imminent threat" to the United States.

Mayor Bloomberg even got in on the act, scolding the perpetrator, "The fact that this appears deliberately directed at the recruiting station insults every one of our brave men and women around the world," he said.

The fact that the recruiting center was so routinely empty that it was all but closed down mattered little, as the hysteria generated by the minor blast, which caused no more damage than a shattered glass door, mirrored the reaction to similar previous events when firecrackers thrown in trash cans put the country on high alert.

In light of the controversy over the puppy-killing Marine, many will question whether or not this was a staged incident to take attention away from the fury being directed towards the behavior of U.S. troops in Iraq.

On May 5, 2005, the British consulate was the subject of a similar "attack" when a toy grenade filled with crude explosive powder shattered a few windows. The incident happened on the very morning Brits went to the polls to re-elect Tony Blair.

In the Fox News report, anti-war demonstrators are subtly weaved in to the narrative in an attempt to link the dastardly mega-bombing with opponents of the Iraq war.