Another Frankenstein

Found this juicy little snippet in the local paper. Could not have said it better myself.

"READ my words about "tomorrow's monster", note them in your journal and be prepared to remember them. The president of Uzbekistan, a delightful gentleman called Islam Karimov, is the new "best buddy" of the West, being funded with millions of dollars, primarily from the US and the UK. This is the guy whose favourite pastime seems to be boiling alive the odd dissident and sending home the results to the family. Many thousands of people are jailed and tortured every year. He quashes all opposition and rules the country with an iron fist. Sound familiar?

It shouldn't come as a huge surprise that Uzbekistan is awash with oil - fancy that. I give it 10 years before someone starts saying "where did he get those nasty weapons? Gosh, isn't he nasty to his people!" And we'll rustle up a "coalition of the willing," don our shining white armour and kick him out.

Just remember you read it here, December 17, 2003. The hypocrisy just makes me want to puke."

PHILIP LANGLEY
.......................................................

Plus ca change .............

Baaaah. Humbug!

Auntie Scrooge takes this opportunity to introduce some of her bean counting friends

But seriously. Just been thinking about Christmas and all the crazy creatures maxing out their credit cards to impress people they don't even like by giving them things they don't even need.
The Izzie motto for gift giving is to preferably find something where the value to the person getting it is always greater than the cost of giving it. Anything else is pure inefficiency and a gross waste of resources.

And it gets harder and harder to find useful stuff for the people who seem to have everything (except of course -time)
One of Izzie's favorite Christmases was back in 1997 when the Izzie sister was here. She now lives in Amsterdam with her fella. We do the same things every year but it is always more fun when there are more people involved.
The first rule is that you buy a couple of proper presents. The second is that it is obligatory to recycle the soap on a rope as a present and the person who gets it is NEVER allowed to actually wash themselves with the damn thing but rather to wrap it in different paper and give it to some one else the following year.
Another rule is that Izzie snoops in the ma's place and she snoops in mine and we snatch stuff with the sole intention of wrapping it up and giving it back as a present to the rightful owner. Of course one loses points if what you have taken is noticed before Christmas Day.
Then there is the ancient and noble art of wrapping. One must very very carefully undo the ribbons and spellotape from the wrapping paper as it is a requirement to use them all again in the following year. The record so far is about four years for one particular piece of wrapping paper! Making patchwork parcels is also perfectly acceptable.
And is it really necessary to say that all gift tags and cards are written in pencil?
Iz has been known to wrap an itsie bitsie present in five layers of newspaper and then a proper wrapping and then more newspaper before a final outside veneer of re-used paper, ribbons and stuff and of course a few little notes and comments tossed in between the layers.
But the whole point is that we can spend lots of time unwrapping prezzie instead of lots of money buying them and have a great laugh about who is the cheapest and scroogiest of all.

One thing that peeves me so much is folks who do the thing the other way around. At work and various groups and things there is usually a ritual of spending a certain amount on one gift and then Santa gives them out to everyone.
It is always better when you get to pick a name rather than have to find some general unisex present suitable for anyone.
Recently Iz got a bottle of rum to give as her prezzie. Got it in the duty free on the way back from a trip. So what cost Iz five silver sickles was worth ten in the shops. And what did I get? A crappy little bar of soap. Firstly Iz has more bars of soap than she knows what to do with and figures this has a value to her of maximum $2. Turns out that this soap is from "The body shop" and it cost the buyer exactly the same as the Izzie bottle of rum. But to Izzie - the cost is not relevent - it is the value. If some silly sausage wants to pay $500 for a nasty plastic handbag just because it has a designer label then that is a sign of stupidity. They may be of a higher quality but usually only marginally. Most of the premium price is purely snob value.
Same thing the following year when I put in a bottle of wine that I got a 20% discount on and got three tea candles in return. They were obviously very good quality candles but it still does not justify a price tag of $3 each for tea light sized candles.
It is a bit like the silly twits who pay outrageous sums for designer childrens' clothes like Oshkosh and Pumpkin Patch. They hide behind the excuse of quality costs but most kids have long grown out of such clothes before they ever have to worry about them outlasting the usual wear and tear and rough and tumble of little monsters. It especially peeves Iz to think that all that stuff is made in China anyway.

But it can also work in reverse. This year the Mistress of Ceremonies came up with the wonderful idea of certificates and prezzies for everyone. One person got the award for pathetic excuses for six weeks absence. (His car had broken down) and his prezzie was a plastic toy car with a plastic jack, spanners and stuff. Another one who never ever directly answered the topical question of the day got a big "Vote for me" badge with flag and all. Ickle Iz got an award for introducing the most interesting new words (ignoranus, osteopornosis and the Dopeler effect among others) and the MC says - there is no surprise for guessing the nature fo Izzie's muse and gave me a gorgeous ickle green glittering snakie! Iz knows that all the stuff came from the $2 shop but it does not matter. It is just the most adorable cutest prezzie and valued very highly by Iz (much more than the soap or candles which cost a lot more) as will be all the prezzies by their recipients as it was obvious that a lot of thought and observation went into the whole thing. It cost little in terms of money but the entertainment value was enormous.

Iz is certainly never impressed by folks who flaunt their Harrods shopping bags but rather thinks - look at this stupid gullible sucker who spends their precious life energy just attempting to impress people they don't even know.

So Iz was lurking in the local Greek deli where they sell stuff loose like nuts, lentils, coffee beans, cereals, peas and beans etc. Was there to get my supply of slivered almonds to make the Izzie cockroach clusters.
Used to make chocolate truffles but couverture is very expensive here when you can get it and the climactic conditions do not lend themselves to chocolate dipping or whipping up mousse mixes outside at temperatures of 0 celsius like Iz used to do in Durmieland.
But these almond thingies are dead easy to make and taste yummie and give the impression that Iz has spent infinitely more time and money than she really has on prezzies for people. Iz likes best dark chocolate with bits of glace ginger but also does milk chocolate clusters with raisins and white chocolate with orange peel.

Funny - in the past it was the poor people who baked all their own stuff and made their own clothes. Now it is mainly seen as a decadent luxury reserved solely for the rich. Times change.