CNN:

TAMPA, Florida (AP) -- A U.S. Army soldier who had served in Iraq was tackled by airplane passengers after he ran down the aisle and rammed the cockpit door on a flight from New York to Tampa, an official said.

The soldier did not have any weapons and there was no evidence that he meant harm anyone on the flight Thursday night, Tampa International Airport spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan said.

She said he was restrained until the flight landed, then taken into custody under a Florida law that allows a person to be held without charges if they are deemed to be a threat to themselves or others.

The soldier's brother told officials that he "has some mental problems related to his Army service," Geoghagan said.

Let's, um, roll? Bring 'em, er, on?

Gotta love the Stop the ACLU Coalition. Check out their "poll":

Stop the ACLU Poll

What ACLU Issue or Group Concerns You the Most?

Abortion on Demand
Same Sex Marriage
Assault on Boy Scouts
NAMBLA
Legal Action Against the 10 Commandments/Pledge
Legal Action Against Prayer in Schools/Government
Illegal Immigration
Undermining the War on Terror
Death Penalty Opposition
Legal Action Against Christmas

Notice how the question makes the distinction between "issue" and "group"? As far as I can see, there are nine "issues" and one "group," the group being NAMBLA. Did you all know NAMBLA was an affiliate or branch of the ACLU?

Also, I really do need to contact the ACLU because I've been planning on taking legal action against Christmas while I have some free time this summer.

The Statue of Liberation Through Christ, as she is called, stands 72 feet tall from the base of her pedestal to the tip of her cross. She was the idea of Mr. Williams, a very successful pastor whose church, World Overcomers, qualifies as mega: it has a school, a bowling alley, a roller rink, a bookstore and, he said, 12,000 members.

Update: My attention has been drawn to this lovely "patriotic shopping" photo essay posted at kos, the mind-blowing highlight of which is this:



Seen a lot of shit, but never an exploding Twin Towers lighter.

Giuseppe Abote breaks it down (from the Comments):

Does anyone think there's a connection between a) the fireball coming out of the south tower on the face of the lighter; and b) the flame made by the user of the lighter? Look at the positioning. And the proportions of a) and b) would be about the same, right? If anything b) would be even bigger proportionally than the actual 9/11 fireball in the photo.

Is that a way of never forgetting -- symbolically re-enacting the 9/11 attacks, and in fact symbolically taking part in them? And then using the lighter flame, now imbued with this special and complicit meaning, to light a stick of tobacco that will eventually kill you?

You could almost compare it to one of those primitive rituals in which some great, long-past castrophe is re-enacted in order to benefit or purify the group, or to return it to some supposed Golden Age. Except in those days the rituals were generally designed to, like, *ward off* disease and pestillence and civil commotion. In this case it seems like the objectives are to increase those things: cancer, war, obsessive fear, societal divisions.

Get informed read Mircea Eliade "The Myth of the Eternal Return"!!

I mean, of course the lighter is mostly a sort of bumper sticker meant to signify one's membership in the guild of assholes, or else just to piss other people off. But beyond that, what kind of sick fuck would want to gaze at that picture every day, or actually more like *20+* times a day -- while slowly giving himself CANCER?!?