Just don’t know where to start today… There are a few things happening in the news the past few days that I’d like to comment on, and not knowing where to start really, I’ll just start with what I feel is the most ridiculous.

Isaac Hayes, voice of “Chef” for 9 seasons on Comedy Central’s South Park, quit the show over arguments of religious intolerance by writers Matt Stone and Trey Parker. An honest enough reason to quit a job I expect, but really WTF? Matt and Trey have been making fun of religions of all types for all 9 seasons of South Park, and only now does Mr. Hayes take umbrage with it, because they made fun of Scientology, his own religion. NOW who is the intolerant in this scenario?

I must say that Chef’s demise last night on the season premier was not a surprise, but the manner of his demise certainly was! We laughed at how Chef’s voice over was obviously pieced together from previous shows. My eyes got wider and wider as it became obvious what the writers were doing. Near the end, the bloody end, I said “You Do NOT Fuck with Matt and Trey!” Isaac Hayes pissed them off, that is evident, but by the eulogy at the very end you can tell that he also saddened them with his decision to leave. He’d been with them for 10 years, battled Satan and Saddam Hussein, and all other kinds of blasphemous things, and then they trod upon *his* beliefs, and he wouldn’t stay around. Double standards are rather annoying, (to put it lightly) but I will here quote the eulogy given by Kyle:

"A lot of us don't agree with the choices the Chef has made in the last few days, some of us feel hurt and confused that he seemed to turn his back on us. But we can't let the events of the past few weeks take away the memories of how Chef made us smile. We shouldn't be mad at Chef for leaving us, we should be mad at that fruity little club for scrambling his brains."

RIP Chef. We hope you change your mind.

*****
Now, onto local news.

Last week, a local Public Safety officer (here in Morganton they pull double duty as police and fire fighters and call them Public Safety) died of a heart attack while putting out a house fire in his neighbourhood. When anyone dies, it is a sad occasion for everyone, when a Police officer or fire fighter dies while on duty, not just his/her family and friends mourn, but the entire community. But, if this officer dies of a heart attack while on duty, is it murder?

That’s what the locals are attempting to do with this death. The fire that crews were attempting to put out had been deliberately set by an arsonist. No other people where harmed in 2 fires that were set. The firefighter just collapsed from massive heart attack, never regained consciousness and later died in hospital. His funeral was yesterday, befitting any hero who dies in the line of duty. News choppers overhead the whole deal.

But was it murder? Should the arsonist, who was caught, be charged with anything more than 2 counts of arson? Is it the arsonist’s fault that the firefighter was overweight and likely had a lifetime of fatty diet and clogged arteries? The photo of him in the paper shows just his face, but it is quite obvious he’s carrying quite a few extra pounds. He was just 41 years old, too young to die, and too young to leave his wife and family behind. But murder? Honestly!?

North Carolina has the death penalty for first degree murder. No one, other than this firefighter, was harmed in either of the house fires that he set. Did the firefighter die as a result of the fire? No. He died as a result of a heart attack. It just so happened he was on duty at the time. It may just as well have happened while sitting watching TV, or in his sleep. I don’t want to in any way lessen the grief and anger that his family and friends are feeling right now, my condolences go out. But legally, was it murder?

***

And more on our tax return…we still haven’t figured it out because the State insists that we have to include a copy of my Canadian tax return as evidence that I have paid taxes to Canada. But Canadian law states that as I am a non-resident with no ties, I’ve paid my flat rate of 25% tax on exit, I do not have to file a return, my NR4 *is* the evidence that I’ve paid the tax. As it rests right now, I will have to pay the state over $1700, unless they can figure out how to get the full benefit of the $8000+ in taxes I’ve already paid. :-p

We sat with H&R Block for nearly an hour yesterday arguing this out, and finally we ended up with me having to get a number for H&R Block in Canada for them to talk to. Apparently for some idiotic reason, they don’t have access to H&R Block phone numbers. Yeah, riiiiiiiiiiight. Anyhoo…so I called H&R Block Canada this morning, got a name and number for the preparer here to talk to and hopefully they can figure this all out with minimal damage. The hard part here is of course trying to understand why the state is so dang greedy in making me pay taxes on this income twice. According to the tax treaty between Canada & the US, I shouldn’t have to. North Carolina says I do. *sigh* Greedy bastards.  ¶ 1:04 PM