Several (extremely ignorant) people have suggested using anti-freeze to poison the (presumed) cat.

For gods sake don't do that, a bullet or cyanide bait would be more merciful.

Anti-freeze is sweet tasting - that's why many pets lick it up but its a incredibly painful way to die. Its a corrosive that burns the animals guts out, it takes them days to die and they will scream the entire time.

Apart from the probability that you will poison entirely innocent animals there's a good chance you'll do your own kids in as apparently they are too stupid to not play with crap.

Also if caught the RSPCA/Police will throw the book at you, you're looking at jail time here for animal torture.

That's good - for once a personal essay that's not a self indulgent piece of tripe.

Susan Straight gets it - write with honesty about people and experiences that were earned, not drifted through.

And to think I nearly skipped it thinking it was just another self indulgent whiny me-to column.

let us talk about these things in an atmosphere of free and open discussion.

Lets do that now that you've characterised anyone who critiques the column as a hate filled flake.

I think that's what bugs people about Cary and Salon - the tendency to dishonest posturing and sanctimonious lecturing.

I presumed it was Cary doing a Q/A format to address an issue, Mea Culpa.

Wow - someone wrote that for real ...

So what about it, letter writers and column readers? If you occasionally writhe in disgust or sheer embarrassment at what you see in this column, if it seems to you that we are all nothing but whiners, if you occasionally feel an unnatural rage rising in you and find pleasure in giving vent to it, if there are people or subjects that truly drive you nuts: What is up with that?

Let us talk about these things in an atmosphere of free and open discussion.

You don't think the above tars people before we've even started ? I find it rather dishonest, have we stopped beating our wives yet ?

What ? that's just plain weird Gilda

"condescending and offensive ... seems kind of sexist"

This is Broadsheet after all

I'd never heard of the guy before but will have to check him out. I especially liked his points about the "no user servicable parts" society and the loss of self-reliance.

Nice article, informative and avoided the easy kneejerk responses/questions, pulled some interesting responses from the interviewee

Good one RT

You forgot to mention the Palestinian rituals where they use the blood of Jewish babies.

First off, no I have nothing to do with the blackpaw at http://www.myspace.com/blackpaw - hopefully he hasn't been too deluged with hate mail from the wingnuts.

While I'd lend more credence to your msg if it had at least a reliable handle identifying it you did take the trouble to write a reasoned reply, which is appreciated, though Ad hominem attacks are not.

"Thankfully, blackpaw's earlier post, in which he used a derogatory term for Arabs, was deleted"

Interesting that, because its a term I've seen commonly used in the letters pages at the JPost, Haaretz etc - and that's some of the more easy going abuse, this in liberal & center wing publications. I used it to illustrate the mindset of a lot of the Arab haters I see posting there and on Salon - they are racists pure and simple and their arguments stem from that. Such abuse is common graffiti in various areas in Israel and I'm told is left untouched until some paints a swastika over it - then the authorities find it offensive and clean it off.

I'm well aware that the "blood of Christian babies" is a disgusting myth propagated by Jew haters, that's why I brought it up. I'm seeing a disturbing trend in the media and place like the letters trend in salon propagating the beginning of similar myths about Arabs - "They hate our freedom", "The ceremonial Islamic beheading sword", "Palestinian universities display art celebrating the dismemberment of Jews", " Palestinian ambulances smuggle suicide bombers".

Sure the extremists in Palestinian say and do hateful things - so do the extremists in Isreal, including some in the Knesset. Shall we use them as the yardstick to judge Jewish character by ?

We run the risk of becoming what we hate.

Now I want some bacon

You win the humourless vegetarian doesn't get the point award

"Cheese is ... basically liquid cow snot"

Ah - no .... Its fermented milk. Never goes near a cows nose. What a bizzare thing to believe.

imagine this: you are a 19/20 year-old and you go to France in 1943. The British are bombing it! Why? Why would they bomb the poor Germans in France? They are really terrible people, those British. Germany said they'd stop their hostilities if the British would stop theirs!

Yup those situations are exactly the same, just like the Nazi's invaded France and oppressed the French the Palestinians have invaded Palestine, established checkpoints everywhere, loot the water, destroyed the economy, cut off all aid, run over people with tanks, bombed them with gun ships, arrest & hold themselves indefinitely without trial, establish illegal settlements, divided the land in Bantustans, establish roads and areas for themselves only, destroy or steal the olive groves, refuse them citizenship or independence - the list goes on and on.

The Palestinians are doing all that - shits that's worse than the Nazi's in France !

::slaps head:: No wait! that's being done to the Palestinians, they were there already - who is it doing all that now ?