Otto Von Bismark said, “To retain respect for sausages and the law, one must not watch them in the making.”

A recent case in Germany covers both. Armin Meiwes, a 41 year old computer programmer, stood accused of placing an ad on internet sites searching for a partner … a most unusual partner. He sought a healthy male who desired to be killed and eaten. As strange as that is, he found one.

I have a friend who claims that internet matchmaking services never work and that you can’t find anyone who suits your taste. Obviously she isn’t trying hard enough. Our hero met his friend who joined him for dinner and apparently went to his fate willingly enough. They first removed parts of his anatomy and cooked them for dinner which they both enjoyed. Then it was time for the parting … oh such sweet sorrow. Sweet, succulent sorrow.

He killed him and then ate him, storing bits in the freezer for later. Oh, and in case there was any doubt of his guilt, he videotaped the whole thing. Court TV and the Food Channel are undoubtedly fighting for the rights as we speak.

But guilt may be a harsh word here. Cannibalism isn’t a crime in Germany. The murder is a bit tricky, but the victim willingly came to his fate. He wanted to die. Think of it as similar to the American Doctor Kevorkian, er, make that Chef Kevorkian.

One could argue that if someone came to you and wanted to be killed and eaten that they weren’t in their right frame of mind and the ethical thing to do would be get them some kind of help, not start digging out your pots and pans. However, is someone who wants to kill and eat people REALLY in their own right frame of mind? And to what extent does one deranged person needing help really have responsibility towards another deranged person? It’s a clear case of two sick puppies finding each other in the world.

Civil liberties even come into play here. Can society really put boundaries on what two consenting adults decide to do with each other? Well, apparently so. The line has been drawn, at least in Germany. If you kill and eat your friend, however willing, you will be convicted of manslaughter.

You really can find anything on the internet.

Politicians hold up the welfare mom as the second greatest threat to our way of life, only following the global terrorist. As if a tired, overworked (usually black), mother of three who can’t find a job is the equal of a bearded zealot with bombs strapped to his chest. This is laughable, and plays to the worst element in all of us; the fear that while we’re working so hard that someone else might be getting a free ride.

I would rather pay twenty, or thirty, or even fifty percent in taxes to support homeless, hungry, education, free medical care, and welfare moms, than I would to pay even one percent towards bombs, soldiers, or propping up corrupt foreign dictatorships. Right now the tax dollars you spend are oppressing someone in a Third-World country. Right now your tax dollars are going into the pocket of a weapons maker here in the United States. Right now your tax dollars are paying for the missile that’s going to land in an urban neighborhood in Iraq, killing children.

Currently a number of states have programs to force welfare mothers to pay back the money they are given after a period of time. They are forced into working two low-paying jobs, because nobody will hire them for a single high-paying one. Where there is a father paying child support, the checks are confiscated by the government to pay back the welfare, which is now considered a ‘loan’ to help get the poor mother on her feet. Forcing hungry, desperate people to take a loan and then putting them through extreme hardship to pay it back is not welfare or social justice; it’s loan-sharking.

I don’t want my money back. If you can’t find a job and need money to feed your hungry children until such time as the corporate dirtbags in America stop sending jobs to Third-World sweatshops, then by all means take it. Most of us would gladly sacrifice that small percent of our income or spending to help you through your rough time. It’s the thieves in Washington who have decided that you are a burden on society. They need the money more than you, to give back in tax cuts to the ridiculously rich or to pay Halliburton or Lockheed-Martin and the rest of the Beltway Bandits.

If you’re a welfare mom and you can get off work, or the pathetic public transportation system in your area will allow for it, please find time to go vote in this next election. Vote for someone compassionate. Vote for someone who loves peace. Vote for someone who believes that Americans are America’s greatest resource. And then drop me a line to let me know who that person is.

In each of our lives there is a circle. This circle encompasses those whom we care about. They are family and friends. Within the radius are those for whom we would drive across town to help change a flat tire. Those we are willing to feed and shelter. People to whom we could gladly loan money.

If we are right-minded souls, the circle continues to expand. New friends are welcomed into the circle. Their own circles begin to overlap with ours and a rich tapestry of friendships, families, and shared experiences develops over time. A full life could be measured by the number of people within one’s circle, and even the number of concentric circles that share space with your own circle. Happiness is found by having many for whom one cares about and having the widest circle possible. Bitterness and cynicism causes one’s circle to shrink.

Imagine for a minute there is no circle in your life. Not a small circle that only encompasses yourself, but rather an infinite, boundless space that encompasses every living person and thing. A stranger is cared for as one of your own family. Imagine the richness of such a life.