Jesus would like some new sandals.
I was going to hit the TJ Maxx or Bed, Bath and Beyond for cheapie pans and what have you, but I headed for the bowels of Tribeca instead. Why pretty up your digs when you can hit sample sales? Discount TJX co. Calphalon is forever, but 80 percent markdown off retail is fleeting. So off I went, "Where New York" map in hand, searching for deals. Unfortunately, I neglected to take a few things into account: a)80 percent off a grand is still two bennies, and sample sale goods come in "sample" sizes. Since we all know top designers don't plan on anyone thicker than a sapling birch slinking around in their creations, this was a problem, for Sid is a lady of er, generous, size, alas. Still, there was the accessories sale, and as any big gal will tell you we love our bags and shoes... So off I went to Anbar, a shoe store on Reade Street that I heard had spanktacular deals. Maybe I was too late for the good stuff, maybe I was disgruntled about the 45 minute detour into Brooklyn I took when I hopped the wrong subway line, or maybe I just have an off the wall idea of good shoe, because I was not the least bit impressed, with the stock or prices. It's not really a deal until you dip below $20, I say. So I decided to wander up to Loftworks on Lafayette, another alleged deal-haven. Let's just say I was as impressed as I was with Anbar. I actually did find clothes of interest there; unfortunately, they were all too big and were cast-offs from about 7 years back. I know--I actually bought some of the stuff during the Clinton administration. Anyhoo, I made my way back uptown and was accosted by a flyer-passer-outer, ubiquitous staples of the NY subway system. Usually I take one and throw it away later, since it makes people happy to have someone not ignore their presence, and it doesn't make me unhappy to hold a piece of neon paper for a minute. When I glanced down at the little pink propaganda sheet, though, I got pissed. It was titled, inanely, "How Old Is Your Church?" The point of the thing was to condemn non-Catholic religions on the basis of age. Well, to be clear--anything not founded by Jesus (which the flyer claimed the Catholic church to be, in the year 33) was founded and flawed by man (which, we are to presume, the Catholic church is not, indulgences, Crusades, and international sex abuse scandals notwithstanding). I would think, given the litany of crimes of which the Catholic church has been guilty these last two millenia, a comparative history is the last thing they'd want to highlight. Jehova's Witnesses after all are only guilty of shoddy apocalyptic predictions and maybe double-booking an allegedly limited number of spots on the jumbo-jet to Heaven. Catholics not only actually sold seats, they put thousands of unfortunate Muslims, Jews, and other "heretical" types in them. Not that I mention this to hate on the Catholic church. Hell, my daddy's Catholic, and I whole-heartedly believe faith is not only good, but necessary, wherever you choose to place it. I just hate the hypocrisy and willful amnesia involved in painting the Catholic church as this great, infallible, God-sent arbiter of human fate. I mean, why would anyone trust a bunch of people who insist they own Truth regardless of historical fact, who, come to think of it, fight the uncovering of truth tooth and nail to maintain their position, eliminate dissenters at will, and refuse to admit failings in the face of overwhelming evidence? Hang on, this all reminds me of something.... Hmmm, what could that be? Oh yes. Vote Kerry.
posted by Sid @ 7/15/2004 08:40:00 PM
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