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Has anyone ever seen one of these?
It is possibly the scariest and most inhumane little invention I've ever come across. So of course my fourteen year old little brother absolutely adores it. He thinks its God wrapped up in bug-zapping form. I think its mildly grotesque.
I didn't even know what this thing was. I knew it sat on the ledge in our exercise room and I knew it had been there for a while. What I didn't know was that this little thing had a button allowing one to send a current of electricity through its metal netting and subsequently kill whatever small winged creature it came in contact with, which vaguely reminds me of a medieval torture device. Fun right?
I might not be so biased against these things if not for the horrific display of bug homicide that was its first demonstration in front of me. The problem with this bug zapper is that it seems to be designed for small bugs. Flies. Bees. Mosquitoes. Well, I live in Utah - land of the ants that could possibly eat your dog for dinner and the beetles that chase you down with pincher's the size of a small crowbar, so the bug zapper is a little bit out of its league here. That however, does not stop my little brother from using it. Not even a little bit. So when a moth the size of vampire bat comes fluttering into my kitchen the first thing he does is book it out of the room in search for any death-by-electrocution-tennis-paraphernalia while us girls cower in the corners of the room, trying to avoid getting the wretched thing caught in our hair, and have completely forgotten the "It's Just As Scared As You Are..." rule. Whatever.
So Little Brother comes back into the room, hauling ass, in hopes that the giant winged bug will still be there. Unfortunately it is. Its landed all carefree like on the fireplace, completely unaware of the chaos its causing, and generally minding its own business except for the fact that its in my house. I can practically hear the thing singing "The hills are alive..." in all its nonchalance. Little Sister and Mom and I are all still freaking out shouting things like "Get it out! Get it out" "Its going to tell its friends to come back here if we let it stay!" "It probably has rabies!" and god knows what else while Little Brother slowly creeps forward, arm outstretched, racket in hand, and finger poised on the button that I'm sure is labeled "Emit Cruel, Unusual, and Surely Fatal Death Shock".
The room gets quiet as Little Brother brings the racket only inches away from the moth which is still perched on our mantle. We're holding our breaths. He fires up his miniature piece of electric sports equipment. And then.
ZAP!
If you've ever lit some of your own hair on fire (yes I've done this - both to myself and other people) then you can understand the horribly disgusting smell that this bug was giving as it burned. And I do mean burned. Because, as boys tend to be, Little Brother was thrilled with his new found power as Bug Executioner, and so even after the moth fell to the ground and was clearly dead he continued to roast the thing with the tennis racket. I am plainly horrified and am burying my head in my sweater to avoid breathing in the dead bug fumes which are now wafting through the house. Little Sister and Mom are egging Little Brother on with the type of chanting one would expect to hear at an ancient Roman gladiator match.
It would be one thing if it had ended there. Instead Little Brother gets down on all fours and presses the racket into the bug on the ground like one would with a spatula to a pancake causing it to not only smoke and sizzle but to emit even more of the awful smell.
"Just wait." Mom tells me.
"It gets better!" Little Sister adds.
Better how? I get my silent question answered when the moth, which is now stuck to the racket - held on by its 9th degree burns- crackles and finally gives a loud pop, accompanied by a small white-ish blue-ish ball of light which apparently means moths have a tendency to spontaneously combust after 50,000 volts. I'm immediately having flashbacks to the first time I saw The Green Mile.
"That was awful" I remark, staring at the mini cremation site our kitchen floor has become. No one agrees with me.
What is our world coming to if we can't be happy killing bugs with acidic spray and blunt force like we used to?
Showing posts with label disgust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disgust. Show all posts
Friday, September 19, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Palinsanity
One of the most frustrating aspects of politics is that we, the general public, are in this constant struggle to sift through the propaganda, the cover-ups, and the flat out blatant lies that we're delivered through not only sickeningly biased media sources (read: FOX News) but from the candidates themselves. However the one aspect of all of this that I find particularly infuriating is when through sickly sweet public statements public figures reveal themselves to be nothing more than brown-nosing, deceitful, hypocrites.
Take the newly nominated GOP vice president candidate, Sarah Palin, for example. This lady, the farthest from being considered feminist you can get while still having ovaries, has proved herself time and again to be uneducated, misinformed, and shows blatant disregard for anyone who's political agenda does not match her own, but this time she has really outdone herself. We recently discovered that Gov. Palin, recent mother of four month old "Trig", her down syndrome baby, took a blood test during her pregnancy to screen for such anomalies as down syndrome and various other birth defect. *Gasp* What?! How could she? A blood test?! How dare she take a doctor advocated, obstetrician encouraged, blood test that had she refused would have landed her in a counseling session and allows her to make an informed choice. We all know how firmly Anti-Choice Sarah Palin is. So what was she thinking when she told her doctor that yes, she would like to have this blood test done to see what defects her baby might have, given the fact that she's 44 which puts her odds of having a down syndrome baby at roughly 1 in 30. How wonderful for her that she was given the opportunity to make that decision and to be an informed mother. And its so thoughtful of her to be a strong advocate of the groups and ideals that would see to take that choice away from women. Because not only is Palin a die-hard Anti-Choicer she's also against abortion without an exception for rape or incest. Expert lawmakers have confirmed that if, as Palin advocates, Roe Vs Wade was overturned it would also make it illegal to have an abortion for down syndrome or other birth defects. If Palin is such a strong believer in denying abortion in any and all circumstances, be it birth defects, rape, or any other undesirable situation why didn't she refuse any kind of testing thereby denying herself the same choice that she would deny the rest of us women. Her choice to raise and attend to the needs of her baby are admirable but it must be remembered that its only admirable because she chose to. Had it been mandatory that she carry her baby to term there would be no fanfare, nor parading of her "motherly ideals" because it simply would have been something she had to do. She might even be deemed reckless for having a baby at such a late age in life when the chances of the child being born with defects are so high instead of being glorified as selfless because she chose to have the child as she is now. The fact of the matter is that its incredibly hypocritical of Palin to take advantage of the choices that other women before her, with whom she has little more than a chromosome in common, fought so hard to have and then turn around and try to take those same rights away from the rest of us.
It's absolutely appalling.
Vote Obama 2008
Take the newly nominated GOP vice president candidate, Sarah Palin, for example. This lady, the farthest from being considered feminist you can get while still having ovaries, has proved herself time and again to be uneducated, misinformed, and shows blatant disregard for anyone who's political agenda does not match her own, but this time she has really outdone herself. We recently discovered that Gov. Palin, recent mother of four month old "Trig", her down syndrome baby, took a blood test during her pregnancy to screen for such anomalies as down syndrome and various other birth defect. *Gasp* What?! How could she? A blood test?! How dare she take a doctor advocated, obstetrician encouraged, blood test that had she refused would have landed her in a counseling session and allows her to make an informed choice. We all know how firmly Anti-Choice Sarah Palin is. So what was she thinking when she told her doctor that yes, she would like to have this blood test done to see what defects her baby might have, given the fact that she's 44 which puts her odds of having a down syndrome baby at roughly 1 in 30. How wonderful for her that she was given the opportunity to make that decision and to be an informed mother. And its so thoughtful of her to be a strong advocate of the groups and ideals that would see to take that choice away from women. Because not only is Palin a die-hard Anti-Choicer she's also against abortion without an exception for rape or incest. Expert lawmakers have confirmed that if, as Palin advocates, Roe Vs Wade was overturned it would also make it illegal to have an abortion for down syndrome or other birth defects. If Palin is such a strong believer in denying abortion in any and all circumstances, be it birth defects, rape, or any other undesirable situation why didn't she refuse any kind of testing thereby denying herself the same choice that she would deny the rest of us women. Her choice to raise and attend to the needs of her baby are admirable but it must be remembered that its only admirable because she chose to. Had it been mandatory that she carry her baby to term there would be no fanfare, nor parading of her "motherly ideals" because it simply would have been something she had to do. She might even be deemed reckless for having a baby at such a late age in life when the chances of the child being born with defects are so high instead of being glorified as selfless because she chose to have the child as she is now. The fact of the matter is that its incredibly hypocritical of Palin to take advantage of the choices that other women before her, with whom she has little more than a chromosome in common, fought so hard to have and then turn around and try to take those same rights away from the rest of us.
It's absolutely appalling.
Vote Obama 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Palin?
I don't make it a habit to write about politics on my blog but this time I simply had to say something.
Sarah Palin? Come on. Seriously?
Ignoring the fact that she's been in office for a grand total of five minutes, that she's younger than Obama(thus nullifying the "young and impressionable" card the Rep's keep playing), that she is extremely unqualified and inexperienced especially when, if (god forbid) McCain were to win the presidency, she has the very real possibility of having to take over upon his death, the real issue I have with her being named as McCain's running mate is that I simply cannot see it as anything other than a bid for the pro-Hilary voters. Is that really a move that the Republicans believe will sway Hillary's almost-demographic (which consisted mainly of young college students, the elderly, and middle class women)? It's frustrating that the GOP seem's to be harboring the belief that those of us that supported Hillary did so merely because of her possession of ovaries - and will settle for anyone else that just happens to fall in that category. Ms. Palin is anything but adherant to even the most basic of feminist principles, and frankly its rather terrifying to have a woman who returned to work just three days after having her child making decisions about the rights and choices other women have over their own bodies.
Palin is, time and again, introduced as a "mother of five" and a "mother to a down syndrome baby" which, once again, makes me wonder what the party is aiming at by touting all these motherly ideals. Has it not occured that the last thing the pro-choice, pro-gay, pro-health care women of this country are looking for is an anti-choice, pro-drilling, anti-health care governer who, instead of shielding her daughter (and said daughters' pregnancy) from the media, seems to be hoping it will cast her family into a We-Are-Noble-And-Self-Sacrificing-Light. Unfortunately for our Red party, there are too many voters who believe that women are not interchangable and that it actually does matter what their positions, beliefs, ideals and ethics are - not just their gender. I am, however, still appaled that someone out there seems to think that having a woman in office, any woman as it were, will appease us (watch out for the scary word --->) feminists.
Just because she's a woman, doesn't mean she has a feminist agenda.
Lizzy
P.S. Sorry for the rant - politics drive me crazy.
Sarah Palin? Come on. Seriously?
Ignoring the fact that she's been in office for a grand total of five minutes, that she's younger than Obama(thus nullifying the "young and impressionable" card the Rep's keep playing), that she is extremely unqualified and inexperienced especially when, if (god forbid) McCain were to win the presidency, she has the very real possibility of having to take over upon his death, the real issue I have with her being named as McCain's running mate is that I simply cannot see it as anything other than a bid for the pro-Hilary voters. Is that really a move that the Republicans believe will sway Hillary's almost-demographic (which consisted mainly of young college students, the elderly, and middle class women)? It's frustrating that the GOP seem's to be harboring the belief that those of us that supported Hillary did so merely because of her possession of ovaries - and will settle for anyone else that just happens to fall in that category. Ms. Palin is anything but adherant to even the most basic of feminist principles, and frankly its rather terrifying to have a woman who returned to work just three days after having her child making decisions about the rights and choices other women have over their own bodies.
Palin is, time and again, introduced as a "mother of five" and a "mother to a down syndrome baby" which, once again, makes me wonder what the party is aiming at by touting all these motherly ideals. Has it not occured that the last thing the pro-choice, pro-gay, pro-health care women of this country are looking for is an anti-choice, pro-drilling, anti-health care governer who, instead of shielding her daughter (and said daughters' pregnancy) from the media, seems to be hoping it will cast her family into a We-Are-Noble-And-Self-Sacrificing-Light. Unfortunately for our Red party, there are too many voters who believe that women are not interchangable and that it actually does matter what their positions, beliefs, ideals and ethics are - not just their gender. I am, however, still appaled that someone out there seems to think that having a woman in office, any woman as it were, will appease us (watch out for the scary word --->) feminists.
Just because she's a woman, doesn't mean she has a feminist agenda.
Lizzy
P.S. Sorry for the rant - politics drive me crazy.
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