We North Dakotans like to think we’re pretty level-headed folks, and for the most part we’re right. Then you get the occasional goofballs like the woefully ignorant ND Peace Coalition, with their affiliations to rabid Communist Party members; Ryan Gustafson and his ilk calling us “the Taliban” because most of us oppose abortion; and this fella, who would probably vanish completely from history if not for some North Dakota bloggers picking up on his story.

This fella, Malachi Ritscher, lit himself on fire on a freeway ramp in Chicago this month in protest of the war in Iraq. Hardly a brilliant political statement, especially because nobody had any idea who he was or what he was doing. If it wasn’t for an online suicide note, it’s doubtful anyone would still have the slightest clue what was going on in this poor guy’s deluded mind.

The scariest thing is that he could very well have been a world-famous assassin, if his self-written obituary was true:

“I have had one previous opportunity to serve my country in a meaningful way – at 8:05 one morning in 2002 I passed Donald Rumsfeld on Delaware Avenue and I was acutely aware that slashing his throat would spare the lives of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent people. I had a knife clenched in my hand, and there were no bodyguards visible; to my deep shame I hesitated, and the moment was past.”

North Dakotans have plenty of really scary characters in our midst. Take Cheryl Bergian, for instance. She was the Democrat candidate for Public Service Commissioner, running against Tony Clark. She’s a big-time gay rights activist, most notably known for fighting to have the Ten Commandments removed from public view in Fargo. Did that ever come out during the campaign? No.

Ms. Bergian is one of two employees of the ND Human Rights Coalition, which basically is an atheist homosexual rights group. They also link to groups which oppose the war in Iraq, but once that war is over they can get back to championing sodomy and other sexual immorality while trying to remove God from public view. And this activist almost won a seat on the Public Service Commission! Can you imagine what kind of mayhem she could wreak on those evil utility companies from there?

Whether it’s a hapless would-be assassin or a cleverly disguised activist politician, we’ve got all kinds of folks right here in North Dakota. We just need to be a little more self-aware, lest people like this actually stumble into power and start trying to implement the insanity they fight for when they’re not running for office.