Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Use Honey for Catching Flies Only

I've been battling the mice in my house awhile now, content with throwing some more rat poison into the ceiling every time I hear the bastards scamper across the panels as I'm laying in bed. But last week I was awoken from my session-constrained sleep to hear one running around, and was so outraged I began violently pounding the wall (presumably to scare it from the house, but unsuccessfully so).

Monday morning I arose early enough to hit the supermarket for food and the hardware store for mousetraps before heading into work. Arriving home that night, I failed to find my jar of peanut butter (a safe assumption is Erol took it when moving out). Unsure of my next move, I was like, 'well, honey is sweet - I bet they'd like that.' So I set two traps with large dollops of honey and went to bed.

Tuesday morning I arose to find my trapping efforts were for naught, as both had been left undisturbed. Although disappointed, I decided to leave the traps there and see if I could get one during the day. I arrive home last night/this morning to find the traps still empty, consoled myself that it was worth the try, and went to bed. Before leaving for work this morning I check the traps one more time, hoping they'ed finally fallen for the sweet nectar, and sonuvabitch if there weren't ants crawling all over the floor. So now I've failed to adequately address the mouse problem, and have created an ant problem. Not only did I fail, I failed twice. I'm sure there's a lesson somewhere in there, but my penchant for obstinance means someone else will have to apply it.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Let's Kill the Term "Gay Priest"

Maureen Dowd is obviously agitated over the pushback against gay marriage in New York. The New York Times editorialist eviscerated Archbishop Timothy Dolan on Sunday over his opposition to the legislation. While full disclosure requires me to say I’m not the biggest fan of Dowd, this one rubbed me wrong.

Dowd has a lot of issues with Catholicism, and shotguns about 5 different attacks on the church (not all are even germane). My biggest problem with Dowd’s ranting, though, is that she bashes Dolan for opposing gay marriage while harboring gay priests:The church refuses to acknowledge the hypocrisy at its heart: that it became a haven for gay priests even though it declares homosexual sex a sin, and even though it lobbies to stop gays from marrying.

Dowd’s not the first to take this approach, but I think we should try to make her the last. Calling the sick assholes that took advantage of children for decades "gay priests" implies the problem is that they’re gay – and that replacing them with straight priests would solve the problem. It wouldn't, because it doesn't address the problem, but she seems to have no problem conflating homosexuality with pedophilia. Here's the difference: a gay priest gets a rent boy for consensual male companionship (see Ted Haggard, George Rekers, etc.). A pedophilic priest is a criminal who deserves criminal sentencing. And while the media doesn’t seem to recognize it, there’s a pretty big fucking difference. Shame on Dowd for refusing to acknowledge this difference because she'd rather further her personal agenda by throwing bombs at the Catholic Church.

Friday, June 17, 2011

A Better Battle

As State Senate Republicans debate whether gay marriage comes onto the floor today, a much more important civil rights campaign is brewing half a world away. Over a month of online campaigning is set to commence as Saudi women are taking to the streets... on wheels. Demanding the right to marry through civil discourse is a far cry from the threats of ostracization, violence, and rape awaiting the women brave enough to protest national laws forbidding females to operate motor vehicles. Right or wrong, gay marriage remains a very divisive issue in New York (and across the US). Yet the least we can do is provide an unwavering support for the women risking their lives in what will be one of many struggles for equality in the decades to come.