Well, he’s still more charming than Tom DeLay

Favorite headline of the day, from the Sunday Times: “Cannibal Goes on Charm Offensive.” That’s the German guy who advertised on the Web for a willing main course. The prosecutors are appealing his sentence (8½ years), which was light because the victim did volunteer. Herr Meiwes says, “I have three good lawyers and I am calm, relaxed and very confident.” Now when you say good lawyers, do you mean good in the sense of delicious with some fava beans and a nice chianti, or something else? He piously turned down media offers until he found one that would tell the story properly: “I want to explain what made me do this and I want to warn other people.” Yes, because without your warning, who knows how many people might kill and eat somebody they found on the internet. One good thing about being a cannibal in prison: they give you your own cell.

The Pentagon claims that the number of hunger-strikers at Guantanamo has dropped to 40, of whom 32 are currently being force fed. The new German chancellor has criticized Guantanamo, saying “Different ways and means must be found for dealing with these prisoners.” I’m handicapped in formulating a joke about that because I have somehow never watched Hogan’s Heroes. Please feel free NOT to post your own in comments. And here’s a little detail in an Observer story about all this, demonstrating American cultural sensitivity at its finest: “During Ramadan, tube-feeding takes place before dawn.”

Name of the week, from a WaPo article about how evangelical Christians love them some Jewy Jews: the Rev. Lamarr Mooneyham.