Almost ready....

Ready for Christmas, that is.  It's getting close.  We aren't doing a lot of gifting, it seems silly between adults.  But there are a few things under the tree.  What do you do?  After a child is over some certain age they are earning their own money, making their own decisions; what does a shirt from the folks really mean?  If they don't know they are loved, you've sure screwed up!  If they need the shirt, they've screwed up.  Or we can blame our current economic troubles but I do have some trouble with that excuse.  It's the answer to whats wrong with everything. 

I was watching Anthony Bourdain's new show, Layover.  He zooms into some city and eats and drinks too much for about 30 hours then zooms back home.  This particular show was about Singapore.  I've read things about the place for years but have never visited it.  From what was shown it must be an amazing place.  The architecture was fantastic.  The public transportation was unbelievable.  Everything seemed clean and new.  It seemed a true melting pot of a place with leftovers from colonial days, all the new building, and people from all over Southeast Asia, China and India, not to mention ex-pats from Europe and the English speaking countries.  It sounded like New York must have seemed years ago.  It made me wonder if the place of the U.S. in the world hierarchy isn't much lower than we think. 

There are, of course, downsides.  Though Bourdain claimed to have never seen a policeman, he spoke of the severe penalties for drug possession.  I'm sure firearms laws are even more strict.  They have no traffic problem because the license required to buy a car costs more than the car itself (per the show).  According to Wikipedia,  Freedom House calculates that the people are only 'partly free'.  And the jury system has  been abolished leaving a suspected criminal at the mercy of the judge.  The execution rate for criminals is said to be very high.  All in all, when I win the lottery I may visit Singapore but I'm thinking I won't move there.  I haven't broken a law other than speeding in about 30 years but their brand of justice is just a little scary.

Have a good holiday if that's your thing; and all you Druids, happy belated solstice!