Male Circumcision and Other Fun Topics

San Francisco and Santa Monica are competing to see which one will can be the weirdest. Both cities have small groups of citizens (very small groups of citizens) who want to put a measure on the next ballot that would ban male circumcision.

Gee, when I was little I was not given any say in the matter. Then, like now, the decision is up to the parents who have the right to say yeah or nay for their little boy. Most health professionals point to a mountain of evidence showing that circumcised boys are less likely to get urinary infections or sexually transmitted diseases and of transmitting them.

When I was a baby almost everyone in this country got “clipped” (Jewish Boys have this operation a little later as a part of their right of manhood). A few more choose to opt out these days but the majority of boys still get to experience the operation.

The law, if passed, would ban the operation entirely, even for religious reasons, until the boy reached 18. –If they had waited until I was 18 and then told me what they were going to do, they probably would have had to catch me first….

This is just another example of some people who decide they know best for everyone. “Here, come dance to my tune, the one you’re listening to is bad for you…”. I kid you not, I really get tired of people who try to pass laws to do my thinking and choosing for me.

They have not yet gotten enough signatures to put it on the ballot in Santa Monica but they seem confident they will. As for San Francisco, well they seem to like this kind of intrusiveness there. On the one hand they think the government should be our Nanny from cradle to grave and can make better decisions than ordinary citizens and parents. That is surprising since they also often refuse to cooperate with Washington and they generally do not trust Sacramento. Well, I guess hypocrisy is a matter of perspective, isn’t it?

~~~~~~~~~~

Ratko Mladic, the ruthless Bosnian Serb military leader charged with orchestrating Europe's worst massacre of civilians since World War II, was arrested at a relative's home in a tiny Serbian village on Thursday. His arrest ends a 16-year hunt for the architect of what a war-crimes judge called "scenes from hell."

A bullnecked field commander with narrow, piercing blue eyes, Mladic was seen handing candy to Muslim children in the town's square. He assured them everything would be fine and patted one boy on the head. Hours later, his men began days of killing, rape and torture.

I think it was best described by war crimes tribunal judge Fouad Riad during Mladic's 1995 indictment in absentia that the court had seen evidence of "unimaginable savagery: thousands of men executed and buried in mass graves, hundreds of men buried alive, men and women mutilated and slaughtered, children killed before their mothers' eyes, a grandfather forced to eat the liver of his own grandson….These are truly scenes from hell, written on the darkest pages of human history".

But, not everyone feels this way about this man. Apparently some Serbians don’t mind a little rape, torture and killing (as long as it is the right minority being victimized). The Serbian government has had to raise the security level and ban all gatherings as some Serbian Nationalist Groups have threatened to take to the streets in protest (perspective, remember?)

~~~~~~~~~~

Oh, and please remember Memorial Day is tomorrow. If you have one, please fly or display the flag.

The National Moment of Remembrance is at 3:00 pm. Whatever you are doing at that time, stop for 1 minute to remember and honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for us. -and remind everyone else to do the same.

Live Long and Prosper.....