Little Nicky II and miscellaneous anger-making

Kristof has a good column today, by which I mean he agrees with me. (Login required.) More importantly than his reinforcing my obvious wisdom (though what could be more important than that?) he adds some actual statistics to back up my earlier assertion that there are bigger and more deadly things in the world than mere Tsunamis. Roughly 300,000 people will die of Malaria and darrhea in the next 30 days. These are two easily treated ailments that kill millions every year, and don't face nearly the same social difficulties as HIV does. Letting these people die is a pretty profound moral stain on us all.

Speaking of moral stains (and who doesn't love to do just that?) CBC Radio ran a piece on prostitution in Canada this morning while I was trying to sleep through my alarm. In it, they mentioned that at least fifty (or is it sixty now?) women disappeared off the streets of Vancouver, and that their remains were found on a pig farm belonging to one Robert Pickton.

Oh, did I mention that they were mainly native women? And that the RCMP only began seriously investigating the dissapearances after a white woman went missing? People talk about Canada not having as serious racial problems as the US does. Bullshit. We may not have a white/black divide, but our racial issues are just as nasty as anything from the South.

(I know the Pickton story is old, it's just that everytime I hear about it again I get angry all over. Apologies if I got bile on any of you. Also, sorry if I've been a downer lately. I'm sure we'll get back to energy and environmental policy sooner or later.)

To lighten the mood slightly, read Slacktivist's solstice response to all those idiotic "Put the Christ back in Xmas" rantings. I had some crazy lady yell at me because I wished her a "happy holidays" this Christmas, so I enjoyed this greatly. Regarding the solstice, can anyone explain to me why the Solstice does not occur on the same day as Perihelion (our closest approach to the sun)? Perihelion was yesterday, I believe. I've tried some quick web research, but alas nothing.