German cannibal goes to the big house (where they have big pots)

I wonder if he'll get to be a trustee working in the kitchen. Maybe he'll guide the Germans back to a path where they find... um... creative uses for prisoners. (Giving a creature like this anything less than life in prison indicates a society that has some serious sickness at its heart. Although I suppose there's comedy value that he was convicted of manslaughter, as that is literally what he did.)


From the AP, Jan. 30...

German Cannibal Sentenced to Prison

KASSEL, Germany - A German who confessed to killing, dismembering and eating another man who allegedly agreed to the arrangement over the Internet was convicted Friday of manslaughter and sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison.

A state court ruled that Armin Meiwes, a 42-year-old computer expert, had no "base motives" in the crime - sparing him a murder conviction.

Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, calling Meiwes a "human butcher" who acted simply to "satisfy a sexual impulse."

The defense argued that since the victim volunteered to be killed and eaten, the crime should be classified a mercy killing, which carries a five-year maximum penalty.

Before the verdict Meiwes looked calm, chatting with his attorney and occasionally grinning for cameras allowed inside the courtroom before the session began.

When his trial opened Dec. 3 in the central city of Kassel, Meiwes confessed in detail to killing Bernd Juergen Brandes, 43, in March 2001 at Meiwes' home in the town of Rotenburg.

Brandes traveled from Berlin in reply to an Internet advertisement seeking a young man for "slaughter and consumption." Meiwes testified that Brandes wanted to be stabbed to death after drinking a bottle of cold medicine to lose consciousness.

"Bernd came to me of his own free will to end his life," Meiwes said in his closing statement in court on Monday. "For him, it was a nice death."

Still, he said he regretted the killing.

"I had my big kick and I don't need to do it again," he said. "I regret it all very much, but I can't undo it."

A grisly video he made of the act was shown to the court during a closed session.

A doctor testified that Brandes died from loss of blood and that the medication, along with a half-bottle of liquor and 20 sleeping pills he took beforehand, could not have lessened his pain.

Several experts have testified that Meiwes was fit to stand trial and was not mentally ill.

Police tracked down and arrested him in December 2002 after a student in Austria alerted them to a message Meiwes had posted on the Internet.

"If I hadn't been so stupid as to keep looking on the Internet, I would have taken my secret to the grave," Meiwes said in his closing statement.

UPDATE: When moving this article to its new home here at Cinema Steve, I decided to see how life has been treating Mr. Meiwes. I discovered that since entering prison he has become a Vegetarian and has joined the Green Party (Jailbird Chapter)... and that he had NOT been released from prison as I had expected to find.

From Wikipedia....

In April 2005, a German court ordered a retrial after prosecutors appealed his sentence.

The prosecutors believed he should have been convicted of murder. Among the questions courts answered is whether Brandes agreed to his killing, and whether he was legally capable of doing so at the moment, taking into account his apparent mental problems as well as his significant intake of alcohol. Other aspects of the retrial determined whether Meiwes killed to satiate his own desires (in particular sexual desires), and not because he was asked to, which Meiwes has repeatedly rejected during testimony.

At his retrial a psychologist stated that Meiwes could reoffend and still "had fantasies about devouring the flesh of young people." On May 10, 2006, a court in Frankfurt convicted Meiwes of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Armin Meiwes, enjoying a good meal....

I feel like chicken tonight

Just when I thought there was no way for Pamela Anderson (whose IQ is certainly lower than her artficially inflated bust-size) to appear any dumber, I hear about her quest to avenge the cruelty to chickens!

I think it's been at least five years since I last ate at a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), but I drive by one at least twice a week... and I think I'll be having a two-piece combo meal with mashed potatoes and gravey for dinner tonight.

Something as stupid as this makes me boycott boycotts.

Pamela Anderson loses battle over Col. Sanders bust

Pamela Anderson (best known for artifical breasts, bad movies, and worse TV shows) has lost her bid to get the bust of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) founder Colonel Harland Sanders removed from the state Capitol building.

Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher has written to the actress/model explaining the bust will stay put, despite Anderson's claim that Sanders is a symbol of cruelty to chickens.

In his letter, Fletcher wrote, "Colonel Sanders remains a Kentucky icon. His success story has been an inspiration to many. The industry he began has employed hundreds of thousands of workers over the years. His business and his legacy have been good for Kentucky."

Anderson has fired back at Fletcher, calling Sanders' company one "that mutilates God's creatures."

The actress has teamed up with animal activists at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to urge fast food fans to boycott KFC until the company agrees to clean up its slaughterhouse policies.

I urge fast food fans go get themselves some Original Reciepe Chicken! And I urge movie fans to ignore whatever remains of Anderson's sorry excuse for a career.

Muslim comedian bombed at final show

Albert Brooks doesn't need to look for comedy in the Muslim world, because they're dishing up some real bombs when it comes to jokes.

From memri.org (full article and here)...

An article in the Saudi Gazette of June 21, 2005, titled "Saudi Suicide Bomber was a Comedian," reported that one of its on-air employees was martyred in a terror attack in Iraq: "Al-Majd channel acknowledged this week that Saudi suicide bomber Muhammad Shazzaf Al-Shehri, who attacked the Al-Hamra Oasis Village compound in Riyadh on May 12, 2003, was a math teacher and a hired comedian for the television station."

It further stated: "Just as the Ministry of Education was shocked to be informed that one of their own mathematics teachers was a suicide bomber, and just as King Saud University was also shocked that one of its former students and associates was a suicide bomber, Al-Majd channel also is shocked that one of its freelance comedians was a suicide bomber."

Responding to claims that Al-Majd is a "hatching ground for terrorists," a statement by the network defending the channel's integrity, as reported in the Saudi Gazette, explained: "The programs on the TV screen will speak out our innocence."

(Note: There's an interesting similarity between the name of the station in question and "Mad TV.")

Who will host the Academy Awards?

Billy Crystal and Chris Rock have both said they won't be hosting the Academy Awards show this time around.

Just to put everyone at ease over this matter, I have yet to decline to host the show.

Not all Bin Ladens are hairy, child-raping lunatics

Happy New Year to all Osama bin Laden fans!

Osama bin Laden's niece bares much in GQ spread for Jan. 2006 issue
'My values are like yours,’ she says, distancing herself from al-Qaida leader

NEW YORK - Osama bin Laden’s niece, in an interview with GQ magazine in which she appears scantily clad, says she has nothing in common with the al-Qaida leader and simply wants acceptance by Americans.

“Everyone relates me to that man, and I have nothing to do with him,” Wafah Dufour, the daughter of bin Laden’s half brother, Yeslam Binladin, says in the January edition of the magazine, referring to the al-Qaida leader.

“I want to be accepted here, but I feel that everybody’s judging me and rejecting me,” said the California-born Dufour, a musician and law school graduate who lives in New York. “Come on, where’s the American spirit? Accept me. I want to be embraced, because my values are like yours. And I’m here. I’m not hiding.”

Dufour, who adopted her mother’s maiden name after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that have been blamed on bin Laden, appears in several provocative photos in the magazine.

The pictures are likely to be considered obscene by conservative Muslims in and outside of Saudi Arabia where women are required to be veiled.
Asked if she would like to perform her music in the Middle East, Dufour says her mother, Carmen Dufour, would be too afraid that “someone would want to kill me.”

“Listen, I would love to raise consciousness. Maybe women could hear the songs and realize that I’m doing my dream and hopefully they can, too,” she said.

Yeslam and Osama are among 54 children of the late Saudi construction magnate Mohammed bin Laden and his 22 wives. The extended family includes several hundred people.

Binladin, who received Swiss citizenship in 2001, has condemned his half brother “for his acts and his convictions.” He intentionally spells his name differently from his half brother.

In the interview, Dufour says she would not date a fundamentalist Muslim and that she cried hysterically when she witnessed the attacks on New York while staying with her mother in Geneva.

'Eiger Sanction' author dead at 74

Author Rodney William Whitaker died in the UK on Wednesday 14 December of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at the age of 74.

The writer is most well-known under the pseudonym Trevanian and his novels include "The Eiger Sanction" (which was made into a film starring Clint Eastwood), "The Loo Sanction," "The Summer of Katya" and "Shibumi".

According to the "Los Angeles Times", Whitaker is survived by his wife, Diane Brandon Whitaker; two sons, Lance and Christian; and two daughters, Alexandra and Tomasin.

Richard Pryor dead at 65

LOS ANGELES - Richard Pryor startled audiences with his foul-mouthed routines, but his universal and frequently personal insights propelled him into one of Hollywood's biggest stars.

The pioneering comedian, whose audacious style influenced generations of standup artists, died Saturday of a heart attack at age 65, said his business manager, Karen Finch. He had been ill for years with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system.

"By expressing his heart, anger and joy, Richard Pryor took comedy to its highest form," Steve Martin said.

A series of hit comedies and concert films in the '70s and '80s helped make Pryor one of Hollywood's highest paid stars, and he was one of the first black performers with enough leverage to cut his own deals. In 1983, he signed a $40 million, five-year contract with Columbia Pictures.

His films included "Stir Crazy," "Silver Streak," "Which Way Is Up?" and "Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip."