BORDEAUX, France (Reuters) - The mayor of a village in southwest France has threatened residents with severe punishment if they die, because there is no room left in the overcrowded cemetery to bury them.
In an ordinance posted in the council offices, Mayor Gerard Lalanne told the 260 residents of the village of Sarpourenx that "all persons not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried in Sarpourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish."
It added: "Offenders will be severely punished."
The mayor said he was forced to take drastic action after an administrative court in the nearby town of Pau ruled in January that the acquisition of adjoining private land to extend the cemetery would not be justified.
Lalanne, who celebrated his 70th birthday on Wednesday and is standing for election to a seventh term in this month's local elections, said he was sorry that there had not been a positive outcome to the dilemma.
"It may be a laughing matter for some, but not for me," he said.
(Reporting by Claude Canellas, Writing by Andrew Dobbie; editing by Sami Aboudi)
How the hell are you supposed to punish a dead man? By fining or imprisoning his living relatives? Didn't passing on punishment to the next generation get declared inhumane, e.g., illegal under the US Constitution (and the French one?) centuries ago?
Those gun nuts do not understand the meaning of "overkill," and will simply use weapon after weapon of mass destruction (WMD) until the monster is dead, or until they run out of weapons.
They have more WMD than there are monsters for us to fight. (More insanity here.)
How do you punish a dead man? Desecrate his corpse maybe? He'd be too dead to care then, but maybe he'll care enough when alive to make arrangements so it doesn't happen.
I read this article and was truly surprised to discover it wasn't satire. I mean seriously, how the fuck could anyone seriously say such a thing? They don't even bother to get a response to the obvious question that should be asked of an official making such a proclomation..."Um,, how are you supposd to CONTROL your dying?"
Idiocy. Why it's being reported in such a matter of a fact way instead of in the "What the fuck is this mayor smoking" way is beyond me.
You have to realize that most Christian "moral values" behaviour is not really about "protecting" anyone; it's about their desire to send a continual stream of messages of condemnation towards people whose existence offends them. - Darth Wong alias Mike Wong
"There is nothing wrong with being ignorant. However, there is something very wrong with not choosing to exchange ignorance for knowledge when the opportunity presents itself."
Adrian Laguna wrote:How do you punish a dead man? Desecrate his corpse maybe? He'd be too dead to care then, but maybe he'll care enough when alive to make arrangements so it doesn't happen.
Incarcerate the troublemaker's corpse in a prison. This also helps the crowded cemetary problem.
This must be incorporated into Armageddon somehow.
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
"Having been found guilty of illegal death in the precincts of the city of Sarpourenx, you, Jean Valjean, are hereby sentenced to a term in prison not to exceed the term of your natural decomposition."
Last edited by Patrick Degan on 2008-03-08 11:28pm, edited 1 time in total.
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People pray so that God won't crush them like bugs.
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Oil an emergency?! It's about time, Brigadier, that the leaders of this planet of yours realised that to remain dependent upon a mineral slime simply doesn't make sense.
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