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| Activist's Fiery Death Prompts Questions |
| 2006-11-27 |
| Malachi Ritscher envisioned his death as one full of purpose. He carefully planned the details, mailed a copy of his apartment key to a friend, created to-do lists for his family. On his Web site, the 52-year-old experimental musician who'd fought with depression even penned his obituary. At 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 3 _ four days before an election caused a seismic shift in Washington politics _ Ritscher, a frequent anti-war protester, stood by an off-ramp in downtown Chicago near a statue of a giant flame, set up a video camera, doused himself with gasoline and lit himself on fire. Aglow for the crush of morning commuters, his flaming body was supposed to be a call to the nation, a symbol of his rage and discontent with the U.S. war in Iraq. |
| Posted by:.com |
| #24 I get all warm and fuzzy over this idea of many points of light. "It is better to light one Wish I could take credit for the .gif but I filched it from Free Republic and failed to note the specific source. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2006-11-27 17:35 |
| #23 AC, as in "let there be many points of light across the nation...." ;-) The image... a nice cartoon job ... your impromptu production? |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2006-11-27 17:28 |
| #22 I certainly hope this canonization will inspire many leftists to emulate the late Mr. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2006-11-27 17:20 |
| #21 "WTF??? Should've called himself Kingsford" A new saint: St. Kingsford, patron saint of anti-war leftist self-immolaters. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2006-11-27 14:53 |
| #20 world-famous prophet My Bible knowledge is post-modern european (less than zero), so I apologize if I mix up with a biblical prophet, but if this refers to the papal prophecies of Malachi, then tough luck, because they're most probably apocryphal. Better luck next time. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-11-27 14:48 |
| #19 He was an alcoholic who collected fossils, glass eyes, light bulbs and snare drums. Well then I'm glad he had a kid. At least somebody's left to give all of this swell shit to. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-11-27 14:38 |
| #18 And the irony of it was that he went up in a cloud of greenhouse gases. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-11-27 14:25 |
| #17 The culmination of self-loathing. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-11-27 13:55 |
| #16 Nearly made my notice. |
| Posted by: Fred 2006-11-27 13:25 |
| #15 I am strongly apathetic about the whole thing. It moved me to sighs. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-11-27 11:55 |
| #14 Now, if he'd done it before reproducing... |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-11-27 11:22 |
| #13 Mental illness burning bright on the left. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2006-11-27 11:01 |
| #12 "It's one thing to go out in a blaze of glory, but another to go out in a blaze of apathy." Rofl, Spot! |
| Posted by: .com 2006-11-27 10:40 |
| #11 Note - he had a son - therefore the gene pool can't thank him. It's too late. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-11-27 10:37 |
| #10 The gene pool thanks you... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-11-27 08:47 |
| #9 "Activist's Fiery Death Prompts Questions" "Who? He did? Where? To protest...what? And did anyone notice? Well, that went over real well, didn't it?" |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2006-11-27 08:26 |
| #8 Hope he provided some heat for the local |
| Posted by: Jackal 2006-11-27 08:18 |
| #7 His flame-out didn't cause a stir here in Chicago - this is the first I've heard of him. It's one thing to go out in a blaze of glory, but another to go out in a blaze of apathy. Sheesh. |
| Posted by: Spot 2006-11-27 08:13 |
| #6 He set an excellent example for all who hold his views. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2006-11-27 07:37 |
| #5 Activist's Fiery Death Prompts Questions 1. Malachai who? 2. How messed up do you have to be to set yourself on fire in Chicago? 3. Why couldn't he just wander the earth looking for TV cameras to make a statement in front of like Cindy Sheehan? 4. (Special bonus moonbat question) Did Karl Rove have him assasinated? |
| Posted by: Mike 2006-11-27 06:25 |
| #4 The world carefully ignored this insignificant being, and it wasn't happy about being ignored. As a leftist he thought the world should listen to his views far more than he paid attention to their views (note the crap music). His ultimate tantrum was his very public suicide. Leftism is a mental illness based on neoteny. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan 2006-11-27 05:52 |
| #3 At the end, he worked in building maintenance and was a fixture in Chicago's experimental music scene. Translation: he was a janitor and played music no one could stand listening to. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-11-27 05:20 |
| #2 Like "Who cares?" |
| Posted by: Cholunter Elmineck7388 2006-11-27 03:29 |
| #1 Born in Dickinson, N.D., with the name Mark David, Ritscher dropped out of high school, married at 17 and divorced 10 years later. Eventually, he would change his name to match his son's and, coincidentally, a world-famous prophet. WTF??? Should've called himself Kingsford |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-11-27 01:12 |