Archives for March 2006

Earlier in the week I wrote about Isaac Hayes and his departure from South Park. Last night the world got to see the typical South Park response to criticism. I missed the episode so I am relying on ‘E’s report.

“Trey Parker and Matt Stone have buried the hatchet with–sorry, into–Isaac Hayes.

On Wednesday’s South Park 10th season premiere, Hayes’ Chef character was struck by lightning, impaled, shot, mauled by a mountain lion, eaten by a grizzly bear, and, oh, yes, accused of being a child molester.”

Just wait it gets better

“In the completely made-up story, Chef is “brainwashed” by an organization of child molesters called the “Super Adventure Club.” In order to cure Chef, Kyle, Stan, Cartman and Kenny take their friend to a psychiatrist, a frowned-upon profession among Scientologists.

In the end, Chef dies a million Kenny deaths, only to live on, sort of, as a Darth Vader version of himself.

At his funeral, Kyle urges South Park residents to remember Chef as he was, before the brainwashing. If there is to be anger, he says, don’t direct it at the beloved cafeteria worker.

Rather, says Kyle, “we should be mad at the fruity little club for scrambling his brain.”

“BASTOY PRISON, Norway (Reuters) – The Web site reads like an advertisement for a holiday home.

“Is Bastoy the place for you?” it asks next to photographs of a sunset sparkling off the tranquil waters of the Oslo fjord and horses pulling sleighs over packed snow.

This wooded island could be — if you are a rapist, a murderer, a drug trafficker or have accepted a large bribe.

“We try to take a cross-section of the country’s prison population, not just the nice criminals,” said Oyvind Alnaes, governor of the minimum security prison on Bastoy Island about 46 miles south of the Norwegian capital.

Inmates have included Norway’s most notorious serial killer, Arnfinn Nesset, convicted of murdering 22 elderly people when he was manager of a nursing home in the 1970s. He was freed for good behavior after serving two-thirds of a 21-year sentence.

“A lot of people in Norway say that we treat them (the prisoners) too well because they should be punished. But this is the biggest mistake we have been making since the 1600s. Taking this line makes people bad,” Alnaes said.

“You have to believe people are born good.”

The one square mile island offers its 115 “residents” cross-country skiing, tennis and horse-riding, but before the inmates can slope off to practice their serve or head to the beach for a swim, there is work to do on the farm.

“We want to become the first ecological prison in the world,” Alnaes said. “It’s about giving the inmates responsibility (and) trust, and teaching them respect.”

Alnaes, who wears jeans and t-shirts to work and is known to the inmates as Oyvind, says this model of open prison is the future. In 1997, he gave Bastoy Prison a new slogan: “An arena of the development of responsibility.”

Sounds pleasant to me, not sure that I buy into the philosophy of the place but…

KOLKATA, India – A giant aldabra tortoise thought to be around 250 years old has died in the Kolkata zoo of liver failure, Indian authorities said on Thursday.

The tortoise had been the pet of Robert Clive, the famous British military officer in colonial India around the middle of the 18th century, a local minister in West Bengal state said.

Local authorities say the tortoise, named “Addwaitya” meaning the “The One and Only” in Bengali, was the oldest tortoise in the world but they have not presented scientific proof to back up their claim.”

That is ok, read the next graph and you can see that the tortoise was still exceptionally old.

“Historical records show he was a pet of British general Robert Clive of the East India Company and had spent several years in his sprawling estate before he was brought to the zoo about 130 years ago,” West Bengal Forest Minister Jogesh Barman said.

“We have documents to prove that he was more than 150 years old, but we have pieced together other evidence like statements from authentic sources and it seems that he is more than 250 years old,” he said.

“BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — U.S. and British forces have freed three Christian aid workers held hostage in Iraq, ending a four-month ordeal in which an American captive was found dead on a Baghdad street.

No shots were fired and no captors were present when the hostages — Briton Norman Kember, 74 and Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32 — were freed early Thursday, officials said.

“I am delighted that now we have a happy ending in this terrible ordeal,” British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in announcing the rescue.”

This is good news. However, I am disappointed by this.

“Christian Peacemaker Teams posted a statement on its Web siteexternal link expressing joy in the hostages’ release but also criticizing the U.S.-led operation in Iraq.

“We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq,” the statement said. “The occupation must end.”

It is irresponsible to place the blame for the kidnapping upon the coalition forces. The men who went to Iraq were adults and aware that they were intentionally placing themselves in harms way.