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Hope John Deleyer got a ribbon for that performance or at least honourable mention.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/07/07/cursive-finally-being-phased-out-of-u-s-schools

Students in Indiana’s public schools will no longer have to learn cursive writing starting this fall.

Interpretive dance talent like that deserves a Canada arts council grant.

"Cursive writing FINALLY being phased out". I failed miserably at hand writing. To this day I print everything whenever I have to write it down. I taught myself typing in grade 7, and got up to 70wpm by grade 9. Granted I only took typing because the class was full of girls. When I started in the work place, I had a dial phone, and international communication was by telex. Computers came in mid 80's for most part, and my typing skills were a huge advantage for me for communications. It was funny looking around the room at all the one or two finger typers. Failed cursive writing sure helped me in my career.

"Students in Indiana’s public schools will no longer have to learn cursive writing starting this fall."

Forced to unlearned my cursive years ago while becoming an engineer. damn.. now that I think about it don't think I can handwrite in lowercase anymore either. Could be it's going the way of shorthand.

Here's a useful and random tip. Don't irritate and mock sunbathing otters.

"Students in Indiana’s public schools will no longer have to learn cursive writing starting this fall."

Guess they couldn't find some gay that had the "Best penpersonship" in the world.

@ChrisinMB at July 8, 2011 2:12 AM

As a draftsman (do we even exist as a category anymore?) who took pride in writing skills (now apparently spelled as, 'skillz'), I understand.

Mao Stlong* P;esents:

"No wonder the local Communist party secretary, recently promoted from mayor, is known as “Mr. Digging Around the City.”"

...-

"Building Boom in China Stirs Fears of Debt Overload

WUHAN, China — In the seven years it will take New York City to build a two-mile leg of its long-awaited Second Avenue subway line, this city of nine million people in central China plans to complete an entirely new subway system, with nearly 140 miles of track.

And the Wuhan Metro is only one piece of a $120 billion municipal master plan that includes two new airport terminals, a new financial district, a cultural district and a riverfront promenade with an office tower half again as high as the Empire State Building.

The construction frenzy cloaks Wuhan, China’s ninth-largest city, in a continual dust cloud, despite fleets of water trucks constantly spraying the streets. No wonder the local Communist party secretary, recently promoted from mayor, is known as “Mr. Digging Around the City.”"

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/business/global/building-binge-by-chinas-cities-threatens-countrys-economic-boom.html?_r=3&hp

...-

"Life and Death in Shanghai"

"This is the extraordinary story of an extraordinary woman who, despite 6 1/2 long years of imprisonment and torment in Communist China, not only survived but endured and even prevailed. It is a story that began more than 20 years ago but has special relevance today. That is so partly because many of those who benefited during a decade of madness not only have gone unpunished but are trying to make a comeback, and partly because a story that so vividly documents the triumph of the human spirit over inhumanity is always relevant. Nien Cheng, 72, born into a wealthy landowning family, met her husband, Kang-chi Cheng, in 1935 in England, where both were studying at the London School of Economics."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1585897,00.html

*H/T Liberal leader Bob Rae is the nephew of his uncle Mao Strong.

"Homilies Of Healers Of Souls

From the desk of George Handlery on Thu, 2011-07-07 22:44

A “1968” rebel against majoritarian democracy clashes with an insurgent against Communist dictatorship."

"Raise your eyebrows.

The international left’s “Black Sheep of Year” is Hungary. The unstated reason is that in 2010 a right-of-center center party has achieved a 2/3 majority. This happened at the expense of the Socialist that got less than 20% which matches the score of an extreme rightist grouping. There is a trend behind this as the Left is doing badly in the entire Euro-Atlantic world. This insolence expressed by winning is made more irritating by the economic recovery unfolding under new management. There is a successful budget and the national debt is shrinking significantly. The constitutionally mandated deficit at 50% of the GDP has become achievable. That goal is set in a new constitution that provokes the liberal press and some politicians abroad.

Regarding that general subject, it might be of interest what leading politicians do in their country’s name. Mrs. Clinton has visited Hungary. There, reflecting her leftist informants’ inputs, she took positions. A sample follows.

“Mrs. Clinton noted that Hungary’s new constitution recognizes the country’s Christian roots, states that life begins at conception, defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and restricts the voting rights for citizens with “limited mental ability.” She then continued her criticism by encouraging “Hungarian friends to ensure an inclusive constitution that is consistent with democratic values”. (Does this infer that retards vote Left or, in the USA, Democratic?) The Washington Times notes, “Her remarks were seen by Orban’s supporters as part of a campaign of unfair criticism.” The “prime author of the constitution” reflected that many critics have not read that new constitution. “It is very dangerous if someone from the outside… starts to speak about things on which they have very superficial knowledge.” Cheekily he concluded, “Many Western countries are demanding of Hungary what their own constitutions lack.”

Because of that constitution, in the European Parliament, the Socialist-Green-Liberal fractions condemned Mr. Orbán. The Premier told Cohn-Bendit who lead the attack: “Brussels is not Moscow,” so Hungary will not submit. Yes, Cohn-Bendit and he share the inclination to rebel. Yet, there is a big difference. In 1968, when C-B rebelled against majoritarian democracy, he Orbán resisted (Communist) dictatorship.

More misbehavior. Once Clinton left, on “Freedom Square” where the US’ embassy is located, a Reagan statue was erected. The motive was to express gratitude for a leader who not only dared to fight the “Evil Empire” but also prevailed in the struggle. From abroad mainly Republican legislators attended. The local conclusion: it sometimes pays to deal with those who are momentarily not in power."

http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/4766

Solar Panel plant lays off 2 shifts just weeks after provincial cabinet ministers presided over the official opening of the plant.

http://www.windsorstar.com/business/Solar+firm+shifts/5065688/story.html

What the liberal political class does not get here is that the local infrastructure (where the wind and solar power is produced) is not capable of handling the extra input in most cases.

Only at the end of the article are the ridiculous government subsidies paid to alternative energy producers mentioned.

Thanks for the link, rita. (I'll read the column later.)

Re cursive writing: idiots! As usual, the mental midgets who run our schools (into the ground) make decisions based on incompetence. I’ll bet that they don’t have a clue about HOW to teach cursive—because they’ve never learned themselves—nor do they know that, like studying music, learning cursive is advantageous to brain development. The fact that teaching the full alphabet—in families, re how the letters are formed—takes a few months is also a downer for these “I want what I want right now” non-professionals. The handwriting/printing skills of our kids are absolutely atrocious: they form letters in the most awkward fashion and their work looks like alphabet soup. They need direct instruction to produce legible written work.

After learning how to form the letters and attach them properly, which takes a lot of practise, I also found that cursive writing increased the self-esteem of my students. They were justifiably proud that their written work didn’t look like chicken scratching anymore. Their work was both legible and attractive looking—not to mention that I also taught them: DIRECT INSTRUCTION again—how to title and date an assignment (a MUST), use a margin, leave spaces, number questions, use a hyphen, so as not to crowd, etc. Most teachers no longer teach this: the students’ crowded, higgledy, piggledy, messy work is both an indictment of the teachers and lets our kids—and their future employers—down. Low standards are increasingly the norm in our public schools.

The often poorly qualified “Whatever Generation” of administrators and teachers likes instant “bling”: they’re not fond of the time, knowledge, and method—direct instruction and massive practice—needed to master this skill. (A principal once made fun of me when I said that massive practice—timed, once they knew the whole alphabet—was a technique I used). These shallow educators want instant results and “up to date” and glitzy practices that use technology.

Typing skills are important, but this is not an either/or situation. The kids should be taught BOTH skills. As far as I know, most teachers aren’t qualified to teach either. Now, why don’t the boards do something to solve that not-so-difficult problem? I think I know: administrators don’t find writing and typing as “sexy” and career enhancing as setting up special, “diversity” programs for all their minority students. As I said at the beginning: what idiots!

Toronto Argonauts ad:

Home is where the heart is.
It's also where we hurt people.

Well a handful of people complained about its insensitivity to domestic violence and complained to the club, who of course caved and took it down.

One of the complainants? A Toronto city councilor by the name of Layton.

I'm glad his child isn't involved in synchronized swimming.

"Based on a suggestion from Kate, here's an overenthusiastic parent who could be a stunt double for John Cleese."

Posted by Robert at July 8, 2011 12:01 AM
..........

The 53rd three day Annual Oxford Kennel Club outdoor show in Woodstock Ontario, starts today.

I just may go over and try some of those John Cleese like moves to entertain the crowd before they judge the Great Danes.
Acquiring the musical accompaniment may be my biggest hurdle, eh?

Socialism's message: Free coffee. For one month only.

And lest you forget: "“Hug a stranger. We’re all relatives if we go back far enough,” reads one execution."

"But that’s not going to stop the People For Good partners from trying to change the world. “Something like this can make people think differently, truly think more positively,” Mr. Mroueh says.

You can hear the optimism in his voice."

"Building a better world, one coffee at a time"

http://www.ctv.ca/generic/generated/static/business/article2090387.html

Another day, another SDA vow of collective silence on the antics of the right-wing media.

And to think that just three short months ago, you had a point.

I do most of my writing on the computer now and I'm very glad I took typing in high school. Keyboarding should be properly taught. I earned my living as a secretary for 4 years, so typing wasn't just a handy skill, it kept me. However, I'm trying to imagine my life without handwriting skills and I can't.

Lookout, I agree. I don't see why it has to be either/or. Why can't it be both? Many skills have unexpected spin-offs. There is a connection between music training and higher success in math for example. Before phasing out cursive writing skills, it might be an idea to research how far-reaching this decision will be in terms of brain development. The other point is why is this being done? Will the time spent in teaching writing used for something equally useful or important? Or is it just laziness--teachers would rather teach something less taxing?

In a way it's a bit like trying to legislate the value of pi to something less cumbersome than an irrational number...which interestingly enough was also attempted in Indiana. in 1897. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/805/did-a-state-legislature-once-pass-a-law-saying-pi-equals-3. It was an attempt by an amateur mathematician at self-aggrandisement who wanted his "discoveries" enshrined in the legislature. The fact that it made it through 3 readings of the lower house suggests that then (as now, for example, in climate legislation), a lot of people in power were meddling with matters they didn't understand.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/7/political-correctness-gone-mad-at-ground-zero/

The memorial at Ground Zero ,cost 600 million, will make no mention of 9-11, how it happened or who did it.

Davenport, maybe Kate doesn't see any need to repeat yesterday's lead headline at Drudge.

and people wonder why I have so much trouble taking some religions seriously...well, no more seriously than dealing with the fanatics they spawn...

via: blazingcatfur

"Saudi daily al-Riyadh reports that an Egyptian salafi cleric (Mohammed El-Zu’abi) has issued a fatwa allowing eating the flesh of demons and jinn (djinn or genies)."

This is great news for Toronto District School Board Cafeterias!

I haven't used cursive since elementary school and have never encountered a situation where it was required. Like some of the other commenters, I moved to typing at quite a young age and now have a career in programming. I've led a fine life since.

Davenport, go start your own blog. And like DrD mentioned, Drudge already covered it.

macd, good for Hungary.

Or today's headline in the National Post, or yesterday's lead item on two of Sun News' commentaries.

Steyn spanks cherniak....cherniak comes back for more....gets lots more...I think he's beginning to LIKE it...typical liebral.

via: several blogs leading back to www.steynonline.com

Dear Mr Steyn,

I see that you have very recently written a blog post in which you disagreed with a comment I wrote some time ago. As you may already know, I stopped blogging in 2008 and have no way to respond in kind. I hope you will choose to publish this response.

In short, my intention was to explain that in Canada governments had the theoretical right to do whatever they wanted within their jurisdiction before the Charter was passed into law. This reality is why we have had laws taking away the right to vote from “enemy nationals” during WWI and WWII. It is also why laws against obscenity and reporting untruths have existed in Canada in the past.

I never believed or intended to suggest that Pierre Trudeau created the right to free speech or gave it to us in a theoretical sense. I was just explaining the legal reality that section 2 of the Charter created a legal right that did not exist as a legal right before 1982. Surely it existed as a conceptual right to be cherished and fought for, but it was only respected by convention. Legally, Canadians simply had no ability to go to a court and demand enforcement of the right until the Charter became law.

Jason R Cherniak, Barrister and Solicitor
Richmond Hill, Ontario

MARK SAYS:

"Barrister and Solicitor"? Does that come with long trousers? You really need to quit while you're behind. Your original statement on "freedom of expression" at least had the merit of only being two lines of stupid. Your attempt to justify it only makes you look ten times as stupid at five times the length. I don't use that term lightly. I'll charitably assume that you're aware that "enemy nationals" aren't allowed to vote because they're nationals of other countries (a Greek national can't vote in a Canadian election because he's Greek: case closed) and that you're referring instead to the denial of the franchise to those who were His Majesty's subjects but of particular racial origins (Japanese). But that doesn't make the point you're making. And the point you're making is remarkable because it demonstrates a total misunderstanding of the legal tradition to which you, O Barrister and Solicitor, are heir.

You claim that the legal right to free speech "did not exist as a legal right before 1982". This is bollocks de facto and de jure. When you say with all the blithe insouciance of a Dalhousie Law School alumnus that any right to free speech was "only respected by convention", my response is what do you think the entire Canadian legal inheritance is, genius? It's "convention". That's what the definition of Common Law is: a body of precedent, understandings of inherent authority - ie, "convention". When Julian Porter, QC filed a motion objecting to the Canadian "Human Rights" Tribunal's "secret trial", he cited CBC vs New Brunswick, Ambard vs Attorney-General of Trinidad and Tobago - in other words, the accumulation of precedent, or, in your words, a respect for convention.

England, the mother of Common Law, has no written consititution, and thus no "constitutional rights" at all, but only "conventions". Those "conventions" were the underpinning of the 1867 British North America Act and, more broadly, the third of a millennium of Canadian legal history before the Charter of Worthless Crap. As Blackstone put it, for lands "planted by English subjects", "all the English laws then in being, which are the birthright of every subject, are immediately there in force". In other words, long before 1982, free speech was a Canadian's "birthright" - through convention. It's all convention. In the English legal tradition, take away convention, and what's left?

That's why more countries have lived in liberty longer under Common Law than any other legal inheritance. Because what you dismiss as mere "convention" is, in fact, an understanding that "law" and laws are not the same thing. It's not about the government writing down on a piece of paper everything that it will permit you, Jason the Barrister, to do. "Rights" are not those things granted by the sovereign and enumerated in statute, but the precise opposite: They're restraints upon the sovereign. They're not about what the state allows you to do, but about what the state is not allowed to do to you. The English legal tradition is imperfect (as all systems are) but it has been a better protector of this principle than any other. What part of that don't you understand?

All of it, apparently. Because along comes that puffed up poseur Trudeau with all his modish contempt for the Canadian inheritance and he decides that, like you, he's not big on convention and precedent and he'd rather have everything written down, all nice and "codified". So now we have your 1982 Charter that, for the first time since Magna Carta, gives citizens what you call a "legal right" to free speech. And whaddaya know? Ever since we got a Trudeaupian "legal right" to it, there's been less and less free speech than back in the bad old days when (according to you) we had no "legal right" to it at all. Ask yourself this, "Barrister and Solicitor": Had Guy Earle delivered his lesbophobic putdowns at a Canadian comedy club in 1981, would he have had more or less "legal right" to free speech than he enjoys today?

I said in my post that, for you and yours, Trudeau is Year Zero. Your response confirms it. That a Canadian lawyer is willing to argue that a long, established, settled legal inheritance means nothing unless Father Pierre writes it down in his Napeoleonic Complex Code is bleak confirmation of how thoroughly he vacuumed Canada's past - and, in doing so, perverted the very idea of what "rights" are. If yours is a typical Canadian lawyer's view of the law, it certainly explains a lot. God help us all.

In 8 years of blogging I don't believe I've ever linked to a single News Of The World item. But I do hope the case sets a precedent for the next time the NYT publishes state secrets.

Re: CBC

Tried to post this on CBC.Ca this AM. Red letters came up that said, "Your comment cannot be posted."

"First of all, my hat comes off to all the Calgarians for the warm hopspitality they've expressed towards the Royal Couple.

Canada was much better and more secure place until the moron Trudeau mezmerized Canada (mostly Quebec) into believing that we'd be better off by cutting all ties with the UK. And I'd still like to know how he was able to strip us of our British Conmmonwealth citizenship without a vote.

Try and imagine an political, economic and military union with India, South Africa, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc. etc. in this day and age. We'd be above the ECM and the USA. Instead, we have maple syrup and poutine!"

Of the socialist brothers: Kamerad Adolf and Comrade Stalin.

...-

"Hitler's hometown revokes honorary citizenship"

"The Austrian town of Braunau, Adolf Hitler’s birthplace, has revoked the Nazi dictator’s honorary citizenship — even if he never actually was awarded one."

http://cnews.canoe.ca/

...-

"The Great Terror: In Stalin's Birthplace, Forgiving And Forgetting ...

14 Aug 2007 ... Stalin still casts his shadow on his hometown, Gori (RFE/RL)This year marks the 70th anniversary of what is considered the peak of the ..."

www.rferl.org/content/article/1078153.html

O's birthplace? Survey says, Choose 3.

1. Hope and Change.

2. Drivel and Cliches.

3. Quagmire and Quicksand.

"Here is what he said: "Today's job report confirms what most Americans already know... we have a long way to go." "The economic challenges we face were not created overnight, and they will not be solved overnight." "There are a few things that we can and should do right now to redouble our efforts on behalf of the American people."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2745602/posts

Dr. Erik Klemetti is a geology professor who blogs about volcanoes. Today he had some unkind words for the Costly Broadcasting Corporation.

http://bigthink.com/ideas/39186

"The CBC might be trying for some record in inaccuracies, misconceptions and just plain loopiness in their new post titled 'FAQ: The Destructive Power of Volcanoes'..."

And: "I'm sorry, did someone let their 7-year old write some of the copy?"

Bemused, thanks for posting that excellent come back by Mark. He is a master.

This is an example of one of the nice things about Kate's blog. It is a collection of important goings on that ultimately affect all of us and most of us do not have the time to check every news source or blog.

Carolyn Parrish is coming out of retirement, intends to run in Mississauga's Ward 5.

Apparently the government is extending lavish EI benefits yet again. If only we had a majority CPC government to stop this foolishness.

But, white polar bears have all melted; besides, Tonto says, it's not a good thing to arm whitey.

Ugh. A shotgun 'gainst a polar bear? Nuts to that "violent encounter".

...-

"Globe | Polar protection: Parks Canada calls for law allowing shotguns in national parks

Parks Canada wants to allow researchers, soldiers and some aboriginals to carry shotguns in the country’s northernmost national parks to better protect themselves against possible violent encounters with polar bears."

http://www.jacksnewswatch.com/

Boiling frog alert: Congress wants automatic wage deductions to pay down the debt

Bill Text
112th Congress (2011-2012)
H.R.2411.IH

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:h2411:

David Cameron isn't a conservative, just a Conservative, and if Murdoch helped get New Labour into power then he isn't much of one either.

Anyway, the News of the World actions were shameful. As a rightwing neo-con I hereby officially denounce them. The way you'll denounce the lefty press for shilling for Obama, I have no doubt.

"Liberalism: Out of a Job"

H/T Basement Bob Rae, Mao Stlong's nephew.

More here: Liberal Leader Bob Rae Announces Summer Plans - Liberal Party of ..."
(bobrae.caca)

...-

More from USA:

It's all re Ted Kennedy's seat/Oswald/Bull Connor/Ku Klux Klan/LBJ and D'o, etc.

Check out Belmont's word: "juddering".
...-

"Liberalism: Out of a Job"

"Not just “the Democratic Party as most of us have known it,” but the post World War II structure may abruptly be juddering to an end. We are living through the crisis of the elites, whose ranks encompass but a few of the “oligarchy” Hamsher fears. Big government, multinational institutions, giant welfare states, and large scale public sector unionism may be dying.

All her heroes are now wearing black hats and losing the gunfight. And they will not go gentle into that good night."

http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2011/07/08/out-of-a-job/#more-15611

This is why I loath this Women. What a liar.
The only truth she has ever run into is low ratings.

Diane Sawyer Claims Neutrality: ‘People Will Know What the Truth Is’

http://www.breitbart.tv/diane-sawyer-claims-neutrality-people-will-know-what-the-truth-is/

Walt Gronkite says, Our CBC's Tet campaign is over. LBJ has won.

That's the way it is. Ugh.

...-

"Union, First Nation biz clash over employee taxes"

"The head of a First Nations welding company in southwestern Ontario is shrugging off protests by the Ironworkers’ Union, claiming he doesn’t have to pay employee taxes for his aboriginal staff, potentially sparking a larger battle between unions and First Nation groups. Full Story"

"CBC gets timeout to plead for more cash"

"The CRTC has postponed licence renewal hearings for the CBC until next June - a delay that will allow the state broadcaster to plead its case for more money from Heritage Minister James Moore and Canadian taxpayers."

http://cnews.canoe.ca/