Burning desires

Great, just what we need -- a crank in a van at 15th and Pennsylvania Avenue, threatening to blow up himself and the White House on the eve of an inauguration with the tightest security in history.

Screwing up rush hour.

Dramatic gestures at the White House are a traditional means of drawing attention. Somehow I doubt Lowell Timmers bargained for an indefinite sojourn at Gitmo.

People have flown a plane into the White House, brandished and fired weapons, and set themselves on fire. Leaping over the fence is a perennial favorite, greeted with a swift smackdown.

It's enough to make you long for the days when a guy just wanted to sit in his tractor in a pond on the Mall for a few days.

Timmers, dude -- good luck with the immigration thing.