Welcome back Kate.

Hope you were able to get some R&R in the last week.

With the cruise I went on last year, the toughest part to get over for me was having to pay a bill when I left a restaurant. (Though, of course, you pay for your meals on the ship in your over-all fees.)

To get rid of residual wave motion sensation insert left index finger in right ear, hold left foot in righ hand, hop around on right foot for 2 days. Works every time.

Welcome back! I take it yours was not the ship that lost a passenger, thank goodness.

"To get rid of residual wave motion sensation insert left index finger in right ear, hold left foot in righ hand, hop around on right foot for 2 days. Works every time."

Too complicated :) . . . . couple a beers always works, much simpler.

Welcome back Kate, that wave motion will subside after you get your land legs back, two or three days.

Press on the spot between your nose and upperlip throughout the day.

To get rid of the seasickness that is.

One tablespoon of crushed ginger or ginger powder in boiling water several times throughout the day. Either that or stay drunk until it passes after a few days landlocked.

I didn't hear anything about any lost passengers, but we had pretty high seas for a couple of days - 18 foot swells. I managed to get through dinner every night, but unlike many people who hitch themselves to these floating food troughs, I think I lost a pound.

Either that or it was exposure to the pasty white legs of Canada''s leading Conservative pundits!

Try the Scott Reid beer and popcorn regimen.

I recommend enjoying the wave motion. Think of it as a nice reminder of where you were.

I'm trying to imagine Ezra Lavant in a thong. Nope. Can't. Anybody see PMPM's press conference in Ancaster with Tony Valeri at his side? It's officially begun. The scary Harper, hidden agenda card has been played. A Liberal plant in the audience dutifully asked the PM if he was worried that there was a hidden agenda, and what did he think he might be. PM goes into full flow, shaking his head, deer-in-the headlight fear on his face. But watch the exchange between Martin and Valeri when it wraps. All that's missing is the high-fives, but neither could hide their smirks. Probably didn't know the camera was still on them.

I hope you took advantage of the food, and packed on a few winter pounds...

Will somebody please, please PLEASE tell the Tories to spell out, in black and white, how they will go about CREATING daycare spaces vis a vis the $250 million to create same. I'm so tired of hearing Martin and Layton go on about this, and yet I distinctly recall hearing Harper say that money was being allocated to aid in the creation of daycare spaces in corporations (what a great idea, or in centres (rural - it would be a clearcut winner). THat would definitively end this beer and popcorn b.s. once and for all.

Mrs Thatcher: I suggest you read Tom Brodbeck's column in Sunday 11 Dec (yesterday) issue of the Winnipeg Sun for the best description of how to compare the LPC and CPC policies on day care.

BCer, it's not registered east of Manitoba, apparently. Andrew Coyne also did a good piece last week, but I suspect most Canadians are being dazzled by the idea of all these spaces, even if they haven't figured out that like healthcare, once the provinces have cold-hard cash in hand, they'll spend it as they want to. But before that, folks will vote Liberal. I'm afraid I don't have a huge amount of faith in Canadians given that the Libs should have been gone after HRDC and Shawinigate.

Criminal Gangs in TO? Vancouver? Montreal? Nah. Annie "Got-Yer-Guns" (in the Gun-Gun Registry) is where? At her McDuyyrkks' office in Edmonton. No Lebanesese there.
When will multiculty be an "issue" in Canada? Soon or in January, 2006. >>>

Breaking: Violence breaks out again in Cronulla

Many emergency vehicles are converging on the site of the Sydney beach riots. Radio reporters are suggested a large number of "incidents" are taking place. Car windows have been smashed and bloodied individuals have been sighted by radio reporters. Residents are being advised to stay at home. More as information becomes available.

Several cars have been pulled over by policemen and persons have been arrested. The cars have been attacked by baseball bats. One witnesses is reporting by cell phone from behind bushes and trees.

Now there are reports that the attackers are from the largely Muslim suburb of Lakemba. Unconfirmed reports say the 'youths' are attacking cars and individuals at random. More unconfirmed reports that a mosque has been attacked. These reports are being compiled while listening to live coverage on 2GB. You can listen online at this site.
Commentary

Too early to tell now but it looks like the Lebanese gangs have struck back. The radio reporters are talking about "white Australians". The PC front is fraying. People are angry and I don't blame them. But the cops can't cope with the guerilla tactics because the raid on Cronulla has been in the kind of hit and run that was reported in Paris.

Interesting. Very interesting. I think Oz is the middle of the biggest political crisis of the decade. This is going to polarize the population, not fatally, but as never before. More importantly, it has made the issue of Muslim immigration and impossible one to ignore.

Look for this to spread because the modus operandi of the 'youths' is to fan out and hit other areas. Lebanese Christians are calling in and saying that they're different from Lebanese Muslims. There's a Lebanese Christian who is on and saying "they've taken Christmas away from us". Multiculturalism may not be dead, but it's certainly taken a hell of a ding. >>> more
http://www.fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/

Welcome home, eh.
It is not that your guest bloggers didn't do a good job ('cause they did) but I for one missed your witt, charm and hard hitting writing. This is especially true now as there are so many things happening that need or deserve some comment/dicussion.
Question: Did you go through withdrawl symptoms from not being in a paint booth all week?

Withdrawal symptoms, that's good. So what is your preference Kate? Xylene and lacquer or cigar smoke and bourbon fumes.

By cruise end I came to the realization that I am now a smoker, due to the intense concentration of cigarette fumes in my vicinity. Apparently, one is not allowed into the journalistic fraternity without a nicotine means test.

When I remarked on this, I was told that it had been already noted and it was time I chipped in for cigarettes.

Welcome home Kate. It's good to have you back!

Hope that you had a great vacation!

"A life member of the Montreal Pipe Smokers Club, Albert Einstein was quoted as saying: "Pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment of human affairs." He once fell into the water during a boating expedition but managed heroically to hold on to his pipe." --scienceagogo.com

I don't think I myself have ever had a real vacation, ever. Guess being a little fellow in the Seventies was my last real vacation. Since then, it's been nothing but either study, study or work, work. Not to worry, the day approaches when I can really let it all go and just enjoy life again doing something totally exhilirating (and punishingly expensive, probably).

Glad you had an ok one, Kate. Welcome back to the real world. And I know what it's like to be the only nonsmoker around.

Oh bother, that was rather rude of me, posting before even welcoming you back, Kate. Sorry 'bout that. Welcome back!

Kate the only cure for those sea spins is to get right back on the boat again and again and again... shit now I'm gettin dizzy. Glad to have you back!

I don't get seasick. I get Libsick.

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