Peace Activist Attacks Rock Star, Puts Him in a Coma

All coffee cups and drinking vessels down, please. This is toooo good.

The New Zealand Herald is reporting (side-splitting hat tip to Drudge): “A New Zealand peace activist is facing serious assault charges after he allegedly punched a rock singer in London, leaving the man in a coma.”

Shhhh. Wait. It gets better (emphasis mine): “Christiaan Briggs, 30, who spent three weeks in Iraq with the Truth Justice Peace Human Shield Action Group in 2003, appeared at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court on Tuesday to face a charge of grievous bodily harm.”

Safe to say Briggs isn’t an effective “human shield” anymore. But I digress:

Police say the incident occurred on June 22 when Briggs allegedly punched 19-year-old Billy Leeson, causing the rising rock star to hit his head on the ground.

Leeson, the lead singer with rock band Les Incompetents - who have supported Pete Doherty's group Babyshambles - was "still very ill", said Scotland Yard spokesman James Nadin.

Rumor has it that the two were fighting over whether the New York Times should reveal another top secret counterterrorism program being used by the American government. Just kidding. The real punchline is: “Briggs was a London-based list candidate for the Green Party in the 2002 election.”

I guess peace activists on the other side of the world are similar to Hollywood liberals that dream of killing the vice president.

+++++Update: This story was originally reported on July 3 by UPI. In America, besides NewsBusters, the only news agencies that reported it were the Washington Times, FrontPage Mag, and Political Gateway -- conservative sites all. Would the same have been true if Briggs had served in Iraq instead of protested against it?