Progressive Bloggers // Blogues progressistes

You may have read that our beloved Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, is shuffling the chairs in his cabinet.  The Huffington Post says that Pierre Poilievre is expected to become Honourable sometime this weak, oh, Freudian slip, week. The MP for Barrhaven, a south western burb of your capital, is well

You thought I would miss it, eh? Almost, almost. Thanks to my Facebook and real world buddy, Bob Rae, for the tip. WFDS

Not saying they are racist or anything, but… Thanks to my Facebook and real world friend Don Negrodamus. WFDS

The whole Canuckistanian media world has its panties in a knot over George Zimmerman getting off even though he killed Trayvon Martin.  Racist USA and all that, eh? The irony is that cases like this, a white guy improperly killing a tinted person, happens all the time in Canada, specifically

I’m noticing a disturbing trend in the newspaper copy I edit. Writers are assuming a stunning lack of cultural literacy in readers and dumbing down stories, often to an annoying extent. This week I’ve seen a food writer decide that in a review of the food at an English Pub,

I’m noticing a disturbing trend in the newspaper copy I edit. Writers are assuming a stunning lack of cultural literacy in readers and dumbing down stories, often to an annoying extent. This week I’ve seen a food writer decide that in a review of the food at an English Pub, it was necessary to explain that “bangers and mash” was sausages and mashed potatoes. A Canadian Press story on the acquittal of the killer of Trayvon Martin contained this paragraph:

 Trayvon Martin’s brother, Jahvaris Fulton, said on Twitter: “Et tu America?” — a reference to the Latin phrase “Et tu, Brute?” known as an expression of betrayal.

I’m guessing that if an American public school-educated teenager knows enough Shakespeare to make reference to Julius Caesar’s dying words, we probably don’t need half-assed explanations like this.
I know we all think that nobody reads anymore (which makes me wonder why e-readers sell so well) and that the great unwashed have had their minds dulled by Reality TV and TMZ and video games and Hip Hop culture, but am I now going to have to explain what lasagna is a review of Luigi’s Trattoria or explain that when a politician claim some statement or other is the “gospel truth” that he is comparing the statement to the Christian holy book know as Bible?
Are people really getting this dumb?

And by the way, get the hell off my lawn, whippersnappers!
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I’m noticing a disturbing trend in the newspaper copy I edit. Writers are assuming a stunning lack of cultural literacy in readers and dumbing down stories, often to an annoying extent. This week I’ve seen a food writer decide that in a review of the food at an English Pub,

What is the real take-away from the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the sidewalk slaying of Florida teen, Trayvon Martin? The case, at first glance, appears to reside squarely on the obvious fault-lines of race, guns and the law that shamefully, America still doesn’t have much of a handle on.

The judge hearing a preliminary inquiry can, at the conclusion of the inquiry vacate any existing bail order and make a new one: Criminal Code s. 523(2).  R. v. Prete, [1987] O. J. 2480 is usually taken to say such an order will be made only if there material change

Many species of plants and animals will face extinction because they cannot evolve in time to adapt to the rapid onslaught of climate change.   The pace of current global warming is simply too quick for natural or evolutionary adaptation. A study by researchers at the University of Arizona finds that