A quiz for 2011;
Which of the following stories were covered in the January 14 issue of Globe and Mail and which were gleaned from Tom Lehrer’s blog?
1. China has made clear its willingness to save key European nations from looming bankruptcy.
2. Brussels, the bureaucratic hub of the European Union, will soon be a hub without a country.
3. The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has banned Dire Straits’ 25 year old hit song Money for Nothing from Canadian air waves because it includes the word “faggot” even though this is spoken in the text by an obvious bigot, and generally understood to be satire
4. A former vice-presentential candidate in the United States said that commentators who registered their disapproval of the shooting of a Jewish congresswoman were engaged in a “blood libel” campaign.
5. Supporters of the vice-presidential candidate defended her on the grounds that she literally didn’t know what she was talking about.
6. 61 year-old Sandra Finley, head of the Albert Green Party, faces jail time after having been found guilty of refusing to fill out a long-form Canadian census. The ruling Conservative Party also opposes this census.
7. 69 year old retiree Barb Copp has had her driver’s licence revoked after her doctor reported to the Ontario government that she had had elevated alcohol levels in her liver after she attending a wake. Ms. Copp had no previous flaws on her driving record and had taken a taxi to and from the wake.
8. Mr. Wally Balloo had his driver’s licence revoked when Vancouver.
police reported that he had used improper diction in a radio report criticizing police.
9. Poland announced that it had removed visa restrictions for all citizens of Belarus except the government leaders.
10. Quebec securité confiscated the pots and pans in 55-year old Mary Magoon’s kitchen after she had been denounced for using cookery made in Newfoundland.