[Chi-townChief]

It sounds like the war on terror just burned him up!

[BelegStrongbow]

"May he find peace now"

A nice sentiment, but given that Roeper has tried to put Buddhist fatalism with Christian hope on the same level, I think that the man in question now finds his circumstances have not cooled off.

[Aussie Dasher]

Silly bugger.

Any chance of this catching on? (Perhaps mention to Sindy a similar act will get her on TV???)

[Cindy]

ARTICLE SNIPPET:

"Ritscher describes an incident in 2002 in which he claims to have had a knife as he passed within close range of Donald Rumsfeld. To his "deep shame," he didn't attack. There is also discussion of God's role in the universe, the two-party system, and the Bush administration. Throughout he comes across as intelligent, passionate, bitter, angry, disoriented -- and disturbed. Brendan Burke was a friend of Ritscher's. "Malachi was an incredible and gentle soul," Burke said in an e-mail to me."

[Fairview]

Crazed vanity, to suppose that anyone is going to take a look at his burning corpse and say, "Oh, this has just inspired me: let's stop all that icky fighting over there in Iraq and instead pursue Peace Studies."

[HiTech RedNeck]

My sincere sympathies to all who knew Ritscher. But with all great respect, if he thought setting himself on fire and ending his life in Chicago would change anyone's mind about the war in Iraq, his last gesture on this planet was his saddest and his most futile.

Er, with the shift of political wind, something like this could be, excuse the pun, fanned into the flame of an icon.

[FDNYRHEROES]

It wasn't the heat, it was the stupidity, that killed him...

[bad company]

"Do you remember the Buddhist monks who publicly burned themselves in Saigon to make an anti-war statement during the Vietnam War?" he wrote.

Um thanks for all that but the monk that burned himself was protesting the treatment of the monks by the south vietnamese government. They were not treated as well as the christians.

[samtheman]

Let me get this straight. He's an anti-war activist. The anti-war party just won a major election. His reaction to that victory is to BBQ himself.

Maybe his friends didn't know him as well as they thought they did. Maybe he was a PRO-war activist, upset that Pelosi and Reid were now in charge of congress.

[rightwingextremist1776]

I wonder if he voted first.......

[Toby06]

What a fargin idiot.

[oh8eleven]

It was also done right outside
Robert McNamara's Pentagon office in 1965...

[Alouette]

If only he had the courage to "come out of the closet" he would not have killed himself.

[TADSLOS]

Hey, maybe it will catch on.

[albee]

"The man who doused himself with gasoline and lit himself near a 25-foot-tall sculpture titled "Flame of the Millennium" was Malachi Ritscher, 52, a local musician and anti-war activist."

Well, that's one less Demo vote next election.

I encourage other Lefties to follow Malachi's lead.

[Americanexpat]

Red Foreman had a name for people like this, DUMBASS!!!

[YOUGOTIT]

Bravo! Burn in Hell!

[loboinok]

who are sent off to war in the name of God and country, and who give up their lives for no rational cause at all, my heart is crushed.

How ironic!

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

Here's your sign!

[verity]

"Malachi Ritscher, 52, a local musician and anti-war activist" as well as a flaming asshole.

[TexConfederate1861]

Just DARN!
Somebody had a barbecue, and didn't invite me! :)