Almost all highrise condos around here prohibit live trees because a) they’re a fire hazard and b) there are always a couple idiots who don’t take their tree back to the proper disposal places but instead leave them by the garbage (and the garbage people won’t pick them up & then someone else has to deal with cleaning the mess up)
We bought a very nice artificial tree quite a few years ago. The trick to buying artificial trees is similar to buying lots of other things – the expensive ones do look a lot better and last through more seasons looking good. Cunningly, we bought ours one year after Christmas (having smuggled in a live tree into our condo for that holiday, ahem) and so got one at a deep discount.
The thing is, we bought it for our old place, the one where we could tango in the living room if the mood ever struck us.
See? Ignore that strange man who I think is doing magic tricks. That’s my father & we’re about to sit down and have a traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner. The part I want you to notice is how far away that tree is from him. You’ll also notice that even though we have 9 foot ceilings in the old place, Roo dissuaded me from buying a really tall tree, which is a good thing because it wouldn’t have fit here at all.
If my father had just lifted his arm higher (or just left it down altogether), you could have seen that there was a large expanse of clear floor area in front of the tree. That’s a large tree back there, far away behind him.
So fast forward to Christmas 2005, and just tell me where I should put the tree in here????
I’m thinking the glass shower stall might work.
Ok, on to matters of national importance.
Was there something off with the timing? It seemed to me that Jack Layton wasn’t getting as much time as the other 3 to make his responses.
Someone at the NDP obviously figured out that Ed Broadbent is admired throughout Canada because Layton mentioned Ed so many times that it was getting bizarre. Reminded of SNL’s subliminal message man.
Layton goofed with the comment that electing more women to the house is going to change the parliamentary debate style. That, my dear Jack, is sexist. I agree with the CBC blogger:
“Did Layton really just say his party would increase civility in the House of Commons by electing more women? That's placing a big burden on the gender that produced Sheila Copps, Hedy Fry, Carolyn Parrish and Deborah Grey. Are the female MPs supposed to shush their male counterparts when they get raucous? Should they hold tea parties in the foyer? Will they bring in a "bad-word jar," with MPs having to pay a twoonie every time they heckle? Puh-lease.”(post 9:04 EST)
I thought the question was inane so it’s hard to say what the right answer is. Debate is part of the parliamentary process. Get over it already you navel-gazing, let’s all sit together and hold hands, and intuit a solution people. I like debates.
Gilles Duceppe – I love Gilles. Of course he’s way off on the politics though really, if Quebec is so damned unhappy, they should just go. Frankly, I don’t believe it, and I think this endless referenda crap has to stop. Enough already. It didn’t pass, now move on. Europe is merging and they want to balkanize Canada?
But Gilles. Gosh, he sounds great, doesn’t he? I was bummed he didn’t get to say federalism this time. Last debate he said it so many times. federAHHHHlism
He did say democrAHHHHHtically but it wasn’t the same.
One thing he is absolutely right about is the farce with the government’s constant undervaluing of the budget surplus. Come on! Just because the books are in the black doesn’t mean that you haven't completely screwed up if you’re that much off. It does look like just a ploy to keep that money firmly in federal hands & then start handing it out when politically expedient.
Stephen Harper. OK, I admit it, I don’t like the man & I don’t like this merged party because Reform/Alliance is a bunch of religious fanatics. Yes, that’s insightful analysis from someone with a degree in Political Science. Perhaps if this party were being led by Peter McKay it would have more of a chance. Though maybe not, because that gumboot in the potato field, I miss Belinda performance, was not exactly what you’d call statesmanlike. Their best bet was probably Scott Brison: openly gay, fiscally conservative and with good hair. But he crossed the floor to the Liberals, probably because of the Eau de Intolerance stench.
Harper boo-boo: at the end, when the question posed was about Canada’s greatest strength, there IS only one right answer to that question – the PEOPLE. Martin answered it first and then Harper looked pained that he had to agree with Martin. This was a missed opportunity to be magnanimous and diplomatic and sound like a man who cares about this nation. Instead he made it sound like it killed him to have to agree with Martin about anything.
Whoever wrote Harper’s closing statement did a very good job. Well done. He even managed to sound impassioned. Ultimately though, his stance on same-sex marriage is going to hurt him. And he has bad hair. I have no doubt he’s a smart guy, and he may even be personable IRL, but he just doesn’t have any charisma on the screen and in this age, that counts against him.
Paul Martin did fine. The comment about how terrible it is that the reputation of politicians is tarnished, given his family’s history in politics, was masterful. His passionate defense of Canada against Duceppe’s desire to break it up was excellent. Coming towards the end of the debate, I think it left a positive note with all those voters who would prefer to see Quebec stay.
Did everyone notice that to be a federal politician you must have one parent from Quebec, one from the Maritimes, and ideally at least one of them is disabled or struggled over some adversity, plus of course, you must have ties to the West. It was ridiculous how they were all one-upping each other with their relatives……
“Oh yeah? Well, my mother is from Quebec, grew up on the prairies, fished off the Grand Banks, started a logging business in BC, and she only had 1 leg!”
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