The little Inn by the wayside

[eMTe]

heavy penalties do not really discourage criminals. Even if the penalty for a mass murder like in Norway was defenstration (no, they don't take away his windows in that), I guess he would have still committed it.

Sure, but system must be prepared for mass murder. Whether a one-time killer can be resocialized during 21 years or not is a matter of debate; maybe Norway has great resocialization programs, I dont know. But there's something wrong with law if it doesnt predict such madness like the one that occured on Utoya.

There's also certain thing that worries me, it's the picture of Norway created by government showing peaceful, multicultural, high income country. Life learns, that it's usually not quite like this. Im far from creating another picture - land of young right wing extremists, satanists and depressed alcoholics (biased opinion, often stretched over all Nordic countries), but I think, if you look for truth about things, confront two extreme opinions and search only there.

Ive found the video with the guy (who knew Breivik) speaking of central Oslo as the place full of people with "very radical religious views", Muslim, right wing, leftist and so. We dont have Norwegians in here to confirm that, but the guy speaking looks sensible (the girl asks stupid questions, so the whole interview is flat, but the guy looks intelligent). Social welfare can produce various unexpected results, like teenagers spending their whole free time at homes and writing blogs or creating bombs. We must be prepared for this.

[Chroelle]

They are now considering taking to trial under a paragraph tat is mostly used i genocides - which could give up to 31 years.

[eMTe]

Reading his political views (his manifesto can be found in web and its summary also) I can say he doesnt look that original. He just repeats what Pim Fortuyn (deceased) and Geert Wilders say. What is most striking is that he decided to "shake" the society, instead of taking the legal way to promote his views, in contrary to both Dutch politicians. He gained publicity, he'll be punished rather lightly, in turn he wont be considered as a madman, rather like a man who perfectly knew what he had been doing, taking all the "necessary" consequences on his chest.

I just hope he wont inspire imitators.

[Scythe]

In Norway they can extend a sentence after the maximum 21 years have been served, if he's deemed a "threat to the public." This guy is not getting out of prison.

[eMTe]

Well, he'll have internet, he can write books, there will be journalists getting wet only hoping to make exclusive interview with him. He's a star nonetheless. Just like Burzum, another Norwegian "celebrity".

[Scythe]

Yes. There are no easy solutions that will not be deemed either "frivolous" by some or "torture" by others. I believe incarceration for life is pretty harsh and not something to aspire to, but then I guess I'm close to being right in the head.

[eMTe]

Well, he should be sentenced for life, because he's dangerous to society. In fact, it's not the matter of how many people he killed, it's the matter of his approach to killing. He's not the betrayed lover killing in revenge nor a shoplifter shooting at policeman during flight. It was carefully planned extermination. He must remain in isolation, because of what he thought, not what he did.

[Scythe]

I'm not arguing that he shouldn't remain in prison (not isolation though, that's something else). That's already going to happen. However, I disagree that a prison sentence is not harsh, and wanted to state that even though the "maximum" sentence Norway carries for murder is 21 years, that sentence can be renewed (I've seen the misunderstanding that he has a right to be let out in 15 years for good behaviour or 21 years max, and that's just not true). I don't see incarceration as "getting off lightly", though I can see how some people might.

Anyway, I understand the issue and I acknowledge the various arguments, though I'm not particularly inclined to enter a debate about what he deserves or what not, I just didn't want to see the "out in 21 years" misunderstanding used in the argumentation.

As an aside, where I come from, Greenland, imprisonment is generally considered worse than a death sentence, and there are no actual prisons (though that is probably not a contemporary view, it used to be true). There are "open" prisons, where you have to spend a certain amount of time each day. For an actual prison sentence to be carried out, you have to ship the prisoner to Denmark. Those people rarely return.

[eMTe]

As it is known to everybody, for about 4 centuries, Denmark is a prison.

[Chroelle]

Woot! I remember the debate being about people having a hard time getting in here, and not out of here.

I also just read the news that the sentence only being 21 years and him actually (in principle) being able to get out early for good behaviour (however unlikely) was false. It's amazing how many false information I ahve found in the news lately... It's kind of sad. I just read a news story yesterday online from a - lets called it somewhat respected or at least have a big following - newspaper, where they wrote about a woman being hurt during intercourse (not as funny as it could be - a lamp fell on her face, and cut her nose, and some teeth) - but while on business travel, and now she wanted the company to accept this as a work-related accident. Cool thing was that she actually worked in that line of work herself - making sure that people got money from their workplace if injured during work. They wrote how she was going to trial on this and the community was divided wether she was actually right to demand money... They built up tension on this case - and then it turns out that the case was from 2007 and the sentence had been out since early 2010... Thank goodness I didn't buy the paper but just read it online.
Shows how fast the news are during summer -where everything can be turned into a story... We call it "cucumber season", but I have no idea why...

[eMTe]

It's the common name for the summer period in many languages. The name comes from the fact that media, having nothing interesting to report, write about vegetables price fluctuations and other similarly "important" things.

It's 31st of July and I was able to wear shorts ONCE this autumn. I mean summer. I wonder why nobody makes news of that.

[Pager]

I, for one, would like some good news in my paper for once.

The local paper I subscribe to has to do something about their layout designer...we have front page pictures of people enjoying the heat, or a pair of old people selling stuff at a yard sale, and then the heading above it says, something like, "Rapist still at large" then some small story about that in A5 or at the bottom of the first page. Its brutal. I hope my picture is never in this paper because I'd hate to think what I get branded by poor layout.

It has been getting cooler here at nights, two Thursdays ago it was 38 degrees celsius ouside, I have been walking to work in my shirt and tee (and pants, just in case there is any confusion ), and have been soaked from sweat by the time I get there. So if it is cold and rainy there, and hot as hell hee, maybe I should take a boat trip to the middle of the atlantic to find the "in between" state.

[eMTe]

Then Azores must be the paradise you dream of.

[Pager]

Hmm...never thought of that...
Although, my luck there'd be swarms of locusts when I get there...

[eMTe]

Locusts? They're harmless and add to the evening's atmosphere. Besides, who knows if there are locusts at all on Azores, if there are no snakes on British Isles for example.

[Pater Alf]

Don't wonder if there aren't much posts of me at the moment. I visit my parents for a week and as long as the weather stays sunny all I do is painting the wooden elements of their house (I did this for nearly ten hours today). Quite monotonous,but I like that kind ofwork once in a while.

[Chroelle]

Me too. Especially in the sun...

BTW Zyx - did you change smething during today, that might affect PHP on the server? I got an errormessage on my blog but I dont want to go to Surftown with it if it is perhaps something you changed..

[Zyx]

BTW Zyx - did you change smething during today, that might affect PHP on the server? I got an errormessage on my blog but I dont want to go to Surftown with it if it is perhaps something you changed..

Wasn't me.

[Chroelle]

Oki, then Surftown is getting a new supportcase..

[Pager]

Me too. Especially in the sun...

I agree. Especially in the summer time...

My wife and I have been making headway on our house, the room where I kept my computer has been under construction for the past few months, what was simply supposed to be just stripping the wallpaper and painting has turned into a 3 month rigamaroll. Turns out the guy who put up the wallpaper put it up over paint, but that paint was put up on brown paper, which was put over wallpaper, and that was put over wallpaper, which was also put over wallpaper. I have 80 years of paint and wallpaper in this room...but now it is mostly all gone. The front wall under the window is swiss cheese, where someone created bore holes to insert insulation in the walls...I think instead of repairing it, I am just going to drywall over it.

Plus, we found out that the previous owner didn't put up vapour barrier in the basement when he finished the basement. In fact, he just bought the cheapest craft grade styrofoam he could find, and whatever wood that was laying around and used that. It is a mess. So we pulled down about a third of the walls in the basement. We are going to paint the walls, put up vapour barrier, add moisture resistant wood framing, then put up drywall there too...unfortunately, the window frame leaked at one point so we need to replace that first. Ugh.