Voting and The Bus!

Voting!

So I voted today! Yes! That's right! I went in to register, as I'm registered back in Saskatoon and that's not real helpful to me. So, after much paperwork the lady said I could vote right then, or on the 14th, and I was all like "Let's do it now!" So I did. Now, I've never advance polled before, so this was new to me and exciting. Yet very complicated. I am given a ballot with a blank line that just says "Write the candidate's name" or something to that effect on it. So, I was like "Oh shit, I don't know any of the candidates...I rarely do, I just look at the party beside the name and vote like that." So I piped up and asked if there was a list in the thingy that you vote in. You know...half of a cardboard box. And she says they can't make up a list of people - you know in case some scandal occurs and somebody drops out. ;) But she told me the names and I memorized the guy I wanted. Then I went in with my ballot and little envelope and write the name down. Then I had to stick the ballot in the envelope without folding it and seal it. Then I had to stick the sealed envelope into ANOTHER envelope, sign it, and seal it. Whew! But there it is! I've voted!

This means that when the results from advanced polls come in, they will reflect my vote! Which is, granted, insubstantial in the grand scheme of things. But hey, at least the dude I voted for will at least be able to go "Well, I didn't get 0 votes, whooo!" That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Or something.

Now it's your turn!

Bus Insanity!

A few short months after the murder of Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus, another stabbing has occurred! Here's my understanding of the timeline:

-Police in Ontario take a guy into custody for disturbing the peace, charge him, then release him
-He later that day comes back and asks them to take him to the hospital for psychological reasons
-The police do so, he's assessed by a doctor, deemed safe, and released
-He had a "strong desire to go home" so the police used social assistance funds to pay for a ticket for him to go home on the bus
-The police put him on the bus (this is misleading...not sure if they just bought the ticket, or if they dropped him off at the bus station, or what exactly happened there)
-He apparently has a knife and stabs somebody on the bus about 2 hours into the trip
-He goes to the front and asks to be let off the bus, the bus driver stops, lets the dude off, and then just drives away
-The police arrest him on the side of the road.

Now, I swear this is straight out of a movie. If it wasn't for the fact that people are getting killed, injured, traumatized and more, this would almost be hilarious. Instead it's just tragic.

What is crazy is some of the comments people are leaving on the CBC website in reply to the article. Let me quote some of my favourites:

"The police are funny. Like clowns. And seriously?! They let the dude off the bus and kept going??????? "

"I got off a bus in Moose jaw Sask this week end and a guy was selling crack on it."

"I really wish people would stop referring to criminals or other ungentlemanly men as gentlemen."

"The era of taking naps on Greyhound buses is probably now over."

"Again? Why is it these knife carrying crazies are always headed toward Winnipeg? "

And last but not least...

"Commenter wrote: "The OPP are out of control. If the police put that violent man on the bus, it was a fearmongering conspiracy to push people towards a neo con police state."

The bus was heading the right direction ;-)"