It's been a while since I have been able to have any sympathy for a terrorist / demented news-maker. Probably the last one was Ted Kacyznski. I, of course, say that, acting as the true luddite that I am in posting this to my personal web site. Here was a man who expressed opinions a lot of people have about society, which you could read and try to pin-point exactly where it diverged from normal thought. Add to that the realization that any number of people are living his hermit life in shacks in the woods, willfully getting away from a society that they don't really want to participate in, and he's a bit of a sympathetic character. One that's a little nuts and should be locked up so that he doesn't blow people up, sure, but nonetheless...

Everybody pretty much sucked completely since then. Damned Nationalist bastards around the world. A bunch of "oh - so - troubled" school killers on mind-numbing pharmaceutical drugs. Absolutely no redeeming qualities to these people, really. And NOTHING at all that I can relate to.

So, today, who's our latest terrorist in the news? Luke Helder, a 21 year old college student who attempted to get Dan Rather to stand before a map (with the flashing "Terror in the Heartland" graphics at the top of the screen) showing a smiley face in the middle of the country.

Brilliant. He had a mode de operation. An artistic purpose. A lot of planning went into his work. He was trying to bring a smile to a beleagured nation... or at least to the sick minds within that beleagured nation.

What else did he leave behind in the mailboxes besides beginnings of a couple of eyes and the arched chin? The worst, most sophomoric "spiritualist" and "anti - The Man" drivel possibly created. Something along the lines of "Death is fake. You worry about death, and thus the government can control you. If you stop worrying about death, you won't be so easily controlled." Hysterical. Not deep, but getting there.

Next, we get to his grunge band... number of MP3 downloads having exploded from 1 or 2 a day to over 1,000 a day since he made the news. (earning the band $12 or so.) The music, which I just heard on the radio today, is the very definition of bad. A high voice trying to sing a low, grungey voice and failing. Songs along the lines of "Conformity is Evil." Bad, bad Nirvana imitation.

Adding to the basic mantra: What a cute kid!

Not that he shouldn't be thrown into jail with the keys tossed out, but he seemed to have some good, sub-sophomoric ideads rumbling through his head -- which puts him a step above a lot of people. And he deserves points for successfully starting a good smiley face. And he showed some good foreshadowing of the news that would leak out shortly by smiling at the camera as he was being hauled off for questioning.

Disclaimer: I am not going to plant pipe bombs, nor harm in any way anyone in the world.