Blogging the Blogroll #1: Angry in the Great White North

About time I got started on this . . .

Somewhere in 2005, I decided that I needed more  Genuine Canadian Content™  in my blog diet. (I have a large collection of news-and-opinion-oriented blogs in my regular reading list, but for the most part they are American.) My method of searching them out wasn't fancy: I just Googled "canadian political blogs" or some such. And amongst the other blogs I came across was Steve Janke's Angry in the Great White North.

I believe the first post of Steve's that I read was in July '05, titled "Choices have consequences.", about an NDP MP and his wife who got the shock of their lives when they found out their Catholic parish would not marry them, because of his support for same-sex marriage and her abortion-rights advocacy. Here's the paragraph that hooked me:

I can't believe this person was labeled a "practising [sic] Catholic" in the article. Unless it was meant to suggest he needs more practise. A lot more practise.

One thing I like about Steve's approach to blogging political issues is that it's quite different from mine. I will note a news story, respond with "what an idiot" and a witty one-liner, and slap a light-bulb graphic on it. Steve takes the time and effort to research a story further. For example, at the time of writing, the most recent post on Angry is titled, "Is [independent MP] Garth Turner joining the Liberals?" Well, since that post was made at about noon today, it's been reported that Turner did, indeed, join the Liberal caucus. In the next few days, it's likely that there will be three or four additional posts about Garth Turner from various angles before Steve goes on to the next topic.

Of course, there are other good Canadian opinion blogs out there: Kate Werk's Small Dead Animals and Joel Johannesen's ProudToBeCanadian Blog are two more favourites. I don't like my opinion strictly one-sided, but up to now I haven't found a blog on the Left that isn't just dull or out to lunch and probably any other meal. (So if anyone has a reasonable suggestion to balance my reading, please feel free.) But for the most part, Steve Janke is my go-to guy for Canadian news and opinion. Being blogrolled means I hit Angry in the Great White North daily, and alphabetical order means I hit him first.