Former United Public Workers director Gary Rodrigues may be serving time in a federal prison in California, but the Board of Land and Natural Resources is preparing to grant him a revocable permit for 33 acres of state land adjacent to his Kauai home for a nominal $40 per month.

The permit was previously held by Rodrigues’ father, and then passed down to Rodrigues. In December, 2007, just before having to report to prison, Rodrigues asked the Land Board to add his wife’s name to the permit. The Land Board deferred action on the matter, but it is now on their agenda again for the meeting scheduled for Friday, March 28.

Staff have recommended approval of the permit for “conservation management purposes”, although its difficult to see how much conservation Rodrigues will accomplish from his prison cell in Taft, California. By the way, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Rodrigues’ release date is projected to be August 27, 2012.

DLNR staff say there is no real alternative.

“The alternative is to keep the property vacant with no management, or to place someone on the land who will take resonsiblity for it. The latter is the best course of action at this time.”

There may be some rationale for granting this permit, but it looks too much like a favor for a once politically powerful but now discredited union leader.

By the way, a check of that same prisoner database shows former Campaign Spending Commission director Jack Gonzales will complete his sentence in a little less than a year, March 9, 2009.

Pacific Business News reporter Chad Blair commented on yesterday’s post concerning Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

Maybe you already know this, but the smash Broadway version of Monty Python’s Holy Grail, called Spamalot, features Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.

Eric Idle wrote that song — I think — and he was the guiding force behind Spamalot, directed by Mike Nichols and featuring a voice cameo by John Cleese.

I saw it on Broadway a couple summers ago, with Tim Curry as King Arthur and David Hyde Pierce (Frazier) as Sir Robin.

Laughed so hard I almost wet myself.

I did not know that. Thank you, Chad!

I don’t agree with my friend Neil Abercrombie’s call for a boycott of the Olympics in China. My cousin, Joan Lind Van Blom, won a silver medal in the 1976 Olympics, the first to include women’s rowing. She was favored to win the gold in 1980 in Moscow, but lost her chance when the U.S. boycotted. Although she continued rowing and coaching, and won another silver medal in quadruple sculls in 1984, politics cheated her out of her best chance at the gold when athletes became pawns in a political game. I wouldn’t want to do that to another generation of athletes by boycotting the Olympics to make a symbolic point.

The cats were hanging around the house late yesterday, so I grabbed a camera and started following. The result is this small batch of cat pics.

Cat lovers will just want to click the photo.

If you’re not a cat person, then just come back tomorrow.