No Joy in the A/C Department

New house here. Okay, condo. New condo here. New. As in not old.

I took Friday off for "me" time, so what did I do with my "me" time? I spent the day trying to get someone to give me a functioning air conditioner. It's 92 degrees F, for God's sake. It's a brand new house, for God's sake.

So... what happened?

Well, the unit just never turned on. So I did as I was instructed; I called the heating and cooling company. They asked me to see if the unit was running at all. Well, the unit didn't run. So it's the electrical current.

Two electricians come and check out the wiring. They take apart my circuit panel and test the wiring. The A/C wire in dead. No juice. Apparently, it's not unusual for the siding guys to drive nails into the wiring.

Monday, they're going to drop by and run another wire from the circuit panel to the unit. They will have to cut a hole in the walls of the unit below to do it. Thank goodness the unit below me is empty. The guys would have been working all evening to get this done.

I'm never moving again.

Wal-Mart v. The Christian Right

Anyone who knows me knows I try very hard not to patronize the vile retail behemoth Wal-Mart. Sorry, Walton family, but this ain't your father's Wal-Mart and you should be ashamed of your business practices and the way you treat your employees, you greedy b*stards.

Nevertheless...Wal-Mart gets props. From me.

I'd heard on the radio that that right-wing, anything-but-Christian group Focus on the Family is up in arms about Wal-Mart's decision to sell the DVD for Brokeback Mountain. This F*ckers on the Family klan (and, yes, the "K" is significant) seem to believe that a movie about star-crossed lovers who happen to be male should not be sold at their all-American, flag-waving, gun-selling, where-we-go-after-church-on-Sunday family store. Yep, no everyday low prices or smiley face is due this Academy Award-winning, $160MM-grossing film, because, GOD FORBID, the protagonists are GAY.

So, Reverend Dobson: don't give a second thought to the low wages and crappy benefits for Wal-Mart employees. Turn a blind eye to the hundreds of American workers who've lost their jobs due to company cut-backs and closures because of Wal-Mart's extortionistic buying practices. Forget about the mom-and-pop stores in the smaller towns whose prices have been undercut to the point where they have to close up shop and lay off people.

What the hell is wrong with them? Where are their Christ-like priorities? It's okay to stand by and watch a major American company roll over its employees, American companies with American workers, but for Christ's sake, DON'T YOU DARE SELL A MOVIE ABOUT HOMOs.

So...

In my own small way, I struck a blow to the F*ckers on the Family.

I had planned to buy my own copy of Brokeback Mountain from Amazon. F*ckers on the Family changed all that. I went to Wal-Mart and bought it there. My own very small jab at hypocritical, religious nutbars who would rather have Wal-Mart sell pistols and shotguns than a film about two men in love.

As distasteful as it was to hand over $17 to a corporate entity I loathe, I had to give them their props for not caving to pressure from people whom I believe to be far more dangerous: those who practice intolerance in the name of God.

YMMV.