(no subject)

The worst outlaws are those with legal support from the government. Not only do they rob you, but they add insult to injury by smiling and telling you they're perfectly entitled to. And if you try to do anything back, you're the outlaw, not them, you lawbreaker.

Explanation of my outburst

This article, yoinked from postrodent's post here, is what really set me off into making my last post. Keywords: no-bid contracts, bureaucratic obstruction for the poorest (and black) residents, free breaks for commercial interests.

And then there's this delicious satire of abuse of religious authority. Keywords: allegory, circular reasoning, condemnation of arbitrary sins, obedience to central religious authoritie.

Ants

I really don't like killing them. I don't like making them go squish. But if no one does something about them, they'll overrun the house and carry germs into our food and so on. My mom has set out traps to kill them.

The problem is, if I accept the ant traps but not squishing them, I'm essentially saying it's okay to kill as long as you're distanced from the act. On the other hand, squishing them is very, very yucky (more so than the ants themselves). I'm saying this as someone who can handle earthworms with my bare hands without being grossed out.

What would be the most ethical way to deal with this? Does ethics even apply to ants?