Quick hits

So a quick hit kind of morning. I might try and write something more substantial later, but I'm actually back to writing my novel again, so that might take away some of my focus.

Anyway...

1. It's municipal election day in Newfoundland. If you live in St. John's then I strongly encourage you to vote for Simon Lono in the Councillor-at-Large race. And on the off-chance you happen to live in Clarenville, I strongly recommend you vote for Lisa Browne as mayor (oh, and Eph Carpenter as a councillor, but that's because he's the father of a good friend of mine).

I reiterate the same point I always make in elections....they are your certificate to bitch and complain about that level of government until the next election. So go out there and vote.

2. Stats Canada came out with their quarterly population numbers for Canada. I always find numbers like this fascinating. I think I would have liked a job at Stats Canada if only I didn't suck so completely at all things math related.

Anyway, Canada's population is up 33,739,859; that's about 100,000 more people than in April (the survey went from April 1 to July 1). But the numbers that most interested me were, of course, Newfoundland and Nunavut. Shockingly, Newfoundland and Labrador was up about 1,400 people to 508,925. I'm not going to sing hymn of praise quite yet. I've seen bumps in those population numbers before only to have them crash later. And hey, I know of at least three other people (and a pretty evil looking cat) who have moved to Newfoundland since then.

As for Nunavut it gained 218 people and the population of the territory stands 32,183. Also interesting is that the Yukon only has 1.500 more people than Nunavut and this territory's population is growing at a rate more than double the Yukon's. So at some point in the next decade, I suspect, Nunavut will no longer be the smallest territory in terms of population.

Which is lovely and all, we just need to be able to handle all of those extra people up here. So far, let's just say efforts to address that have been...shaky.

3. Your cheap shot of the day - Pamela Anderson is denying she's broke and deeply in debt. God, I hope she won't have to do anything demeaning to make that money up.

Yes, it is a cheap shot and I try to do better than that. But I have special hatred in my heart for her. I also don't understand the appeal. She was cute for 5 minutes 20 years ago before she became Frankenstein's monster. Anyone who would find that...thing attractive is severely touched in the head. And yes, I know you can love someone for their personality. However, this is Pamela Anderson, so you know, personality?

4. I suppose I should stop doing entertainment based posts, since no one really seems to care much about them. I base that on the lack of comments on the last few posts. But the Roman Polanski case is proving to have more depth to it than I thought. I'd never cared much about it one way or another. I thought it was pretty open and shut. He raped a 13 year old girl and fled the United States rather than face jail time. And pleas for clemency from supporters using excuses that he'd already been through so much in his life - from escaping concentration camps and the murder of his first wife by the Manson family - fell on deaf ears with me. Lots of people have horrible things happen to them. That doesn't give you carte blanche to do terrible things.

"My wife was murdered, so it's all right if I drug, rape and sodomize this 13 year old girl." Nooooo, I don't think so.

But reading this New York Times story does putting a grayer shade on things. His victim has long since forgiven him. The US has had other chances to grab him and never had until now. And he fears LA judges are corrupt and biased against him, especially since he's convinced one was going to change his mind on the plea agreement from the 70s. I don't know about that one...it seems a bit weak.

Still, I think he has to come back to the US and face the music. If the woman in question wants to stand up and say I forgive him and don't want him to go to jail, well, I think that carries some weight in his sentencing. But he's dodged this bullet for too many years. Maybe it is more complicated than it first appears, but I still think he needs to stand up in court and explain himself.

Anyway, we shall see. But I don't think I would let him out on bail. That's just silly. If you ever wanted a poster child for "Flight Risk" I think you have one in Polanski.

Last Five
1. If you love someone, set them free - Sting
2. Accidents will happen - The Von Bondies
3. Highway girl - The Tragically Hip
4. Run - Snow Patrol*
5. Camalina - The Pursuit of Happiness