The Yin Blog

Stupid things celebrities say, Mrs. Polanski edition

Roman Polanski's wife says: "My husband has never considered himself above the law."

Huh?  Hasn't he considered himself about the law for the past 33 years, when he's been a fugitive?  And is it a little weird that his current wife is 43 years old, which means that she's actually younger than Polanski's victim (who's 45 or 46)?

Polanski's wife also excuses his conduct on the ground that back then, "It was a crazy time. The attitude to drugs was not the same, nor was the attitude to sexual liberty and permissiveness."

Um, I realize that I didn't come of age in the 1960s, seeing as how I was born late in that decade, and that my vague memories of the 1970s were not from living with drugs or permissive sex, but I certainly don't recall that it was permissible then to ply 13 year olds with drugs and alcohol and then raping them.

Oregon's cellphone ban and its budget deficit

Oregon has a new ban on driving and talking on a handheld cellphone, which apparently has operated as a mini-stimulus for the hands-free accessory industry, judging by how my local Verizon store was sold out of said accessories recently.  It's a $150 fine if you are caught driving and yakking on a phone that you're holding.

The other day, I was getting back to my car from the bank when I had a police car, sirens blaring, heading toward me from up the hill.  Hmm, I thought, this is Lake Oswego, you don't normally see police cars speeding down the boulevard.

Then I saw a pickup truck, still several vehicles in front of the police car, whiz by.  Driver was holding a cellphone quite clearly in his left hand to his ear.

The police car passed by where I was and got behind the pickup, and started flashing even more lights, and then having to make even louder honking noises.  I guess there's something to this law.  I mean, if you're so engrossed in your conversation that you don't even notice there's a police car with its sirens blaring and lights flashing, you really are a danger to everyone else!

As I witnessed this take place, the thought kept flashing through my mind was, "Yes, $150 for Oregon's budget!"  It's a drop in the bucket, but we'll take everything we can get.