Ex-military... Sounds a lot like the freaks in rec.boats.

SPOKANE, Wash. —

A man with extensive ties to white supremacists pleaded guilty
Wednesday to charges he planted a bomb along a Martin Luther King Jr.
Day parade route in Spokane, Wash., targeting minorities.

Kevin Harpham reached a deal with federal prosecutors for a
recommended sentencing range of 27 to 32 years in prison just days
before his trial was to begin in U.S. District Court.

The pipe bomb was loaded with lead fishing weights coated in a
chemical, and could have caused mass casualties, prosecutors said.

The 37-year-old told U.S. District Court Judge Justin Quackenbush that
it took him about a month to build the bomb with components he bought
at Walmart and other places. He acknowledged placing the bomb along
the parade route in an attempt to commit a hate crime.

The backpack bomb was discovered by parade workers and disabled before
it could explode.

"This community was terrorized on Jan. 17 when this occurred," U.S.
Attorney Mike Ormsby said after the hearing. "Hopefully the healing
that needs to occur as a result of this happening can begin."

Ormsby said the evidence suggests that Harpham acted alone.

"There is no evidence to suggest anyone else was involved in this
event," he said.

Ormsby praised the various law enforcement agencies that gathered
evidence leading to Harpham's arrest on March 9. There was no
particular tip that led officers to Harpham, Ormsby said. Rather, it
was information about the purchase of components for the bomb and DNA
on the backpack that housed it that led to the arrest, he said.

Harpham spoke in a clear voice when he said "guilty" to each of the
two counts against him. When the judge asked if he placed the bomb
along the parade route because of the actual or perceived race, color
or national origin of the marchers, Harpham replied "yes."

He will be sentenced Nov. 30, and the judge has the option of imposing
a sentence within the range of the agreement or not.

Harpham's public defender, Roger Peven, did not answer questions
outside the courtroom.

Harpham originally was charged with committing a hate crime, using a
firearm in relation to a crime of violence, attempt to use a weapon of
mass destruction and unauthorized possession of an unregistered
explosive device. He could have faced up to life in prison.

Harpham, of Addy, Wash., is an Army veteran who has extensive ties to
white supremacist groups but no record of past crimes.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, has said
that Harpham made more than 1,000 postings on a racist website called
the Vanguard News Network. The center also has said that Harpham
belonged to a neo-Nazi group called the National Alliance.

Harpham served from 1996 to 1999 in the U.S. Army at what is now Joint
Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, Wash. His lawyers have said Harpham
had not been recently employed.

He has remained in the Spokane County Jail without bail since his
arrest.

Prosecutors recently revealed that Harpham took pictures of young
black children gathering for the march and of a Jewish man who was
wearing a yarmulke.

The hate crime charge, used for the first time in the Eastern District
of Washington, contended Harpham targeted the parade in downtown
Spokane "because of actual or perceived race, color and national
origin of any person."