Megan McArdle, special correspondent for Newsweek writes:

"Many progressives, and especially, many libertarians, are criticizing this [the Boston lockdown] as an overreaction that involved immense intrusions into personal liberty. An overreaction it may have been, but I'm less worried about the liberty aspect, because as far as I can tell, compliance with the shutdown was pretty much entirely voluntary. I haven't seen any complaints about jackbooted police officers forcing people back into their homes when they tried to come out, and I have heard reports from folks who drove into the office without getting hassled. I'd imagine that most people were quite willing to stay inside for a day if that would help the police capture the marathon bombers."

I reiterate:   If the authorities had NOT done what they did to safeguard the citizens of Boston and facilitate the apprehension of the bombers, Songwronger would be up in arms criticizing them for THAT.

Don Firth