San Francisco may ban male circumcision By Gabrielle Saveri, Reuters

[auntAgonist]

SAN FRANCISCO - A U.S. group opposed to male circumcision said they have collected more than enough signatures for a proposal to ban the practice in San Francisco as a ballot measure for November elections.

But legal experts said that even if the move was approved by a majority of the city’s voters, such a measure would almost certainly face a legal challenge as an unconstitutional infringement on freedom of religion.

Circumcision is a ritual obligation for infant Jewish boys, and is also a common rite among Muslims, who account for the largest share of circumcised men worldwide.

The leading proponent of a ban, Lloyd Schofield, 59, acknowledged circumcision is widely socially accepted but he said it should still be outlawed.

{more}
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2011/04/27/18072621.html

[CTyankee]

1. Well, hello, everybody!

I must have beat the crowd!

:popcorn:

[blondeatlast]

2. Scoot over--care for a Co'Cola? nt

[CTyankee]

6. It's nearly 5 o'clock. I'll wait for a glass of Prosecco....join me?

[blondeatlast]

9. It's only 2 in the Lunatic Fringe zone. Er, I mean here in the Arizona Time Zone--

a state so nutzo we have our very own time zone...

[auntAgonist]

4. oh c'mon. That's the best you have to offer?

:hi:

:rofl:

aA

[CTyankee]

7. Well, it was a last minute type of thing, ya know...

[blondeatlast]

3. This gets a lot of press, but I sincerely doubt it will get anywhere.

If it does, it'll just send the practice underground.

[auntAgonist]

5. I don't see it ever

happening. Lunacy at best. IMHO

aA
kesha

[CTyankee]

8. It's idiotic, actually. Are there no Jews in San Francisco?

Or is there a religious exemption? Sorry, I didn't read the story...

[still_one]

11. there isn't a religious exemptions, and Muslims have this done also. /nt

[aquart]

19. Yah. This is essentially an attack on non-Christian religions.

[GCP]

49. No, circumcision is an attack on infant boys

Period

[still_one]

54. that is your belief not others. This will not be ruled Constitutioal. /nt

[JVS]

58. Religions aren't cars, there are more that the big three.

[nichomachus]

12. It's amazing what you can get away with

If you claim god told you to do it.

[CTyankee]

15. My step daughter is studying to become a Reform rabbi. I'm going to

ask her what she thinks of your quote...she's a very big liberal Dem. I'd be interested to find out what she thinks...

[ZombieHorde]

10. Fingers crossed! Non-consensual gentile mutilation is fucked up. nt

[aquart]

16. You're so right. No gentile should have a pierced nose or tongue.

Unless, of course, they really want to.

And I have no objection to moving circumcision back to its original manhood rite of 13. When it will be so much more like major surgery and cost thousands.

What is it about those teeny tiny turtlenecks that has you gentiles so overprotective?

[inna]

17. "you gentiles"

unfuckingbelievable

[ZombieHorde]

21. Oops! Funny mistake.

And I have no objection to moving circumcision back to its original manhood rite of 13.

I think 18 is a better choice. What's the rush?

[JackRiddler]

30. How about we cut off one of your knuckles? Come on, it's only a knuckle...

why are you so overprotective of it? Pinky finger, just the fingernail. It will prevent any diseases that might originate in the pinky fingernail. It looks better too!

[elleng]

36. ...

:thumbsup: :rofl:

[GCP]

52. Having a razor-blade under a fingernail

Is equivalent to ripping off a foreskin that's joined to the glans in infancy. That what gets us 'gentiles' in an uproar.
I'm glad to be from the UK, my sons are intact.

[Taitertots]

13. Why should parents be allowed to mutilate the penis of someone who can't consent?

Religious freedom has nothing to do with allowing parents to mutilate the genitals of people who can not consent. Your religious freedoms end at the tip another person's penis, even if that person is your child.

[aquart]

20. Not Jewish?

Utterly insensitive to religious ritual and history?

By all means, raise the age of circumcision to 13 when it will be major surgery and expensive as all hell. Not to mention painful.

Oh, you thought you were eliminating something YOU DON'T LIKE. Like the people who shoot doctors to prevent abortions.

No, you don't get to do that.

[ZombieHorde]

22. Religion and tradition are fun servants, but terrible masters.*

*I stole and reworded this phrase.

[Taitertots]

24. The Jewish people's religious freedoms end at the tip of non-consenting children's penises

By all means raise the age to the point where the people being mutilated are able to consent to the operation. The insignificant inconvenience is the cost of protection children from religious mutilation at the hands of zealots.

[JackRiddler]

32. If you raise the age of circumcision to an age when the target is conscious and able to decide...

expense will become irrelevant, since, at least in a relatively free country like this one, almost no one's going to want to have a piece of their penis cut off. Obviously. Problem solved.

[GCP]

55. What makes you think it isn't painful at birth?

I've seen it done. The infant is strapped onto a board and screams until unable to scream no more.
Yeah - that's really better than having it done at 18 under anesthetic.

[Codeine]

25. My junk is fine.

I disagree with the assertion that it is "mutilated" any more than my step-daughter's pierced ears or my babe's pierced septum are mutilated.

[Taitertots]

26. Your opinion doesn't change that it is mutilation by definition

Your preference for mutilation doesn't change that it is mutilation.

[elleng]

37. NOT

'an injury that causes disfigurement or that deprives you of a limb or other important body part.'

[Taitertots]

38. You are wrong

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mutilate
mu·ti·late (mytl-t)
tr.v. mu·ti·lat·ed, mu·ti·lat·ing, mu·ti·lates
1. To deprive of a limb or an essential part; cripple.
2. To disfigure by damaging irreparably: mutilate a statue. See Synonyms at batter1.
3. To make imperfect by excising or altering parts.

It is without question mutilation by definition.

[elleng]

39. OBVIOUSLY depends on one's definition.

[Taitertots]

40. No, the definition is without ambiguity....

Circumcision is mutilation by definition.

[CTyankee]

47. Plenty of circumcised men would disagree with you. Don't you know any Jewish men?

Is that the reason that people are so misinformed about circumcision?

[Codeine]

42. It has not been made "imperfect", it has been improved, IMHO.

Cutting my nails does not mutilate my fingertips.

The gross bit has simply been removed. Y'all are riding a very silly little hobbyhorse with this issue.

[Taitertots]

46. It is mutilation whether or not you like it

It is mutilation whether or not you think your foreskin is gross.

[cali]

48. by your definition, not by the commonly accepted one.

that's a fact. unlike your made up "fact".

[Taitertots]

51. Non-sense, I linked to the on-line dictionary that supplied the definition

Argue with webster if you don't like the definition of mutilation.

[NYC_SKP]

14. First, it was our Happy Meals...

Seriously, I am not a fan of performing such radical body modification on such young children.

It's unnatural, as unnatural as lopping off an ear or a digit.

I hope it passes, I'm in favor of the ban.

:patriot:

[rug]

18. Why can't Gabrielle Saveri do them?

[Canuckistanian]

23. I'm sorry

It's my GOD-GIVEN RIGHT for me to have the end of my son's John Thomas cut off.

If you're against me, you must be against FREEDOM.

[provis99]

27. they should keep their hands off of my circumcised prick!

[TransitJohn]

28. This is the kind of shit that will forever limit Democrats' electability in many places.

I guess choice only counts for abortion.

[ZombieHorde]

29. I agree, people should able to choose which body parts should be unnecessarily amputated as adults;

as opposed to having the "choice" forced upon them as infants. Personal choice over one's body shouldn't be limited to abortion.

[JackRiddler]

31. If you're pro-choice, that must mean you are against mutilating the genitals of infants. Good.

[JackRiddler]

33. Democrats, if you don't cut off the tip of every boy's penis, you're like Nader, helping Palin win!

The pro-mutilation arguments are getting pretty creative around here.

[TransitJohn]

35. That's quite a histrionic stretch you just made there.

I said no such thing. But, at least your passionate about other people's children. :eyes:

[JackRiddler]

41. I'm passionate about the rights of human beings to decide what happens to their own bodies, yes...

and there's nothing the least bit histrionic about calling you on your incredible bullshit. That is exactly what you said: that if someone makes an issue of circumcision, the ones who suffer politically will be the Democrats. Pure sophistry.

This issue has nothing to do with, and should never be associated with, Democrats, Republicans or any other party.

It is an open and shut question of human rights.

Adults can decide what body alterations they like for their own bodies. Infants cannot, and should not have irreversible damage done to their bodies even if the parents think it's good.

By the way, are you against compulsory education? I mean, no one has the right to tell other people to send their children to school, right?

[flvegan]

34. Almost 3 hours, and yet

this isn't engulfed in flames. I'm shocked. What's happened to DU? Who broke it?

[auntAgonist]

43. ...

I thought for sure this would be a hot topic.


:hi:

[Warren DeMontague]

44. FUCK!!!

Is it August, already???

[auntAgonist]

45. I think you have July and August mixed up there.

:rofl:

[Warren DeMontague]

53. How's that?

I was actually quite pleased with myself for the graphic I found for August, I think the google search was "warhead without a tip" :rofl:

[auntAgonist]

60. Actually, I thought

It was really good :)


Sorry, .. my attempt at humour

aA
kesha

[Warren DeMontague]

62. I thought maybe you meant that the giant Olive Garden blowout actually happened in August.

I don't remember, they all run together after a while...

Cheers. :toast:

[cali]

50. that's fantastic.

[blondeatlast]

56. You forgot TIPPING. Always good for cheerful insanity. nt

[MrsBrady]

61. i am so laughing out loud

over here right now...

OMG :rofl:

had to let you know.

only regulars will get that...I don't post a lot...but I'm a'lurkin' :)


:rofl:

[auntAgonist]

63. me too Mrs Brady!! The graphic is great ..

:hi:

:rofl:

[JVS]

57. Will this cause babies to die in botched back alley circumcisions, or do parents just take them...

out of town?

[Bonobo]

59. I have no problem with this IF....

they also outlaw the accumulation of smegma.

:spank: :spank: :spank:

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Courtesy Flush]

64. I had various surgeries as a child, without my consent.

I was born with orthopedic birth defects. I had several surgeries as a child, though my life was not in danger, and other children with the same birth defects did not have surgery, as there's no consensus on whether it's better to have it, or not.

I don't feel that I was violated in any way because of this. As a young child, I had to rely on my parents' discretion about what was best for me.

(I was also circumcised).