OK, So Here's the Good News . . .

Today is Friday! That's the good news!!

Oh, and one more bit of good news . . .

The Human Rights Commission in Saudi Arabia helped a 12 year old girl finally get a divorce from her 80 year old husband!

Despite the fact that many clerics feel that Mohammad's marriage to a nine year old girl sets a positive example, the Ministry of Justice in Saudi Arabia is considering raising the legal age limit for marriage. Because of the legal battle of this girl and her mother, officials are now forming committees to meet and discuss what the appropriate age of marriage for a woman should be.

Well, progressiveness doesn't happen over night. After all, disagreeing with Mohammad these days takes a lot of guts.

Even Some Penguins Oppose Proposition 8

Okay, so you won't see penguins marching around with picket signs protesting California's Proposition 8, but apparently penguins have been observed exhibiting homosexual behavior for some time now.

Interestingly, German zookeepers were monitoring a specific male couple that made attempts to mate with each other. This 'gay' couple also tried to take rocks and attempted to hatch them as though they were eggs.

Boy, they really wanted to start a family.

And even more interestingly, a heterosexual penguin couple abandoned their egg for whatever reason. The egg was given to the homosexual penguin couple. They cared for it until it hatched.

Now the male couple cares for their brand new little chick.

A happy family.

So is nature trying to teach us something?

Read the story for yourself here: 'Gay Penguins' Rear Adopted Chick

Passion Crimes

A married couple managed a local TV station together in Buffalo, New York, but their marriage appears to have been volatile. The wife filed for divorce after claiming to be abused by her husband.

But before the child custody hearing date arrived, the wife was found dead in the hallway of the local TV station where she worked with her husband.

The husband has turned himself in to police but has not confessed to committing the murder of his wife. No weapon has been found and the children are in the care of one of the husband's colleagues at the time of this blog post.


The wife has a sister who is on her way to New York to see what the courts will do with the children. She hopes she can acquire the two kids. She admits that she always felt that her brother-in-law would do something like this. She may have even heard the murder happen over the phone. While she was talking with her sister, their conversation was abruptly interrupted. She over heard her sister arguing with her husband on the other end. Then, she heard what sounded like a struggle. Her sister never came back on the phone line.

Another horrible case of domestic violence.

Or is there more to this?

The couple: Muzzammi and Aasiya Hassan

They are Muslim Americans.

Aasiya Hassan was brutally assaulted and beheaded. This method of her murder raises suspicion that she died due to Islamic fervor.

And the purpose of the local TV station? To broadcast shows that curbed negative stereotypes of Muslims.

What a dark, horrific irony!

So, is this domestic violence? Or is this an Islamic "Honor Killing"?

Muzzammi Hassan has been divorced before. He has teenage kids from a previous marriage.

I assume his former wife is still alive. No one has said so far in the media.

I am quite tempted to blame this on their religion. But, I hesitate. Often, we've seen parents ruthlessly kill their children; husbands kill their wives. Sometimes wives kill their husbands. Are we being unfair to insist that Islam has fueled this murder?

At what point do we say this is no different from any other member of any other demographic committing the same sort of crime?

Or, does the question even matter?

Regardless of our feelings on the matter, I hope justice prevails. I also hope the children find safety and can begin to heal at the loss of their parents.

Here are two stories to read for yourself:

U.S. Muslim TV boss 'beheaded wife'

'Monster decapitated my sister'

Almost Went to Jail for Kissing his Wife

Yep. You read that title right.

Dude in India almost went to jail for kissing his wife in public.
And of course, his wife would be jailed, too; It takes two to tango!

Just sitting there at a subway station . . . young married couple, minding their own business.
Arranged marriage or not, they seemed to truly be in love.

No matter -- apparently the public display of affection is taboo in Delhi, India.

So that's why couples never kiss in Bollywood movies!

But this rigorous standard comes from the culture that produced the Kama Sutra!

C'mon now . . . the Kama Sutra.

Their culture seems to be in desperate need of an Enlightenment movement!


Here's the story to read for yourself: Indian Couple's kiss 'not obscene'

Love and Marriage Pt. 2

In my previous post, I submitted the idea that marriage in the United States had nothing to do with god, from a legal perspective. Because of this, marriage doesn't make sexual activity moral in my opinion.

Legal -- yes. Moral -- not necessarily. A lot of unethical activities are "legal". And lot of illegal activities should be legal -- this is how the unethical suppression of civil rights is committed.

So then, if the the law only regards marriage as a contract between husband, wife, and the State -- how can the State ban homosexuals from marriage without being unconstitutional and discriminatory?

Remember that from the State's perspective, God has nothing to do with marriage. So, if religion cannot be the State's excuse for banning same-sex marriage --what excuse does the State have?

By the way, did you know that years ago interracial marriages were illegal?

Banning interracial marriage didn't have anything to do with God either.

Or did it?

Love and Marriage

Love and marriage, love and marriage | Its an institute you can't disparage
Ask the local gentry | And they will say its elementary

Song : Love and Marriage -- words by Sammy Cahn & Jimmy Van Heusen

Girls who made abstinence pledges after participating in abstinence-only programs had premarital sex just as often as girls who did not make such pledges. And interestingly, contraception use and safe sex practices were lower among the group that broke their abstinence pledges when compared to the group that never made pledges.

The popular conclusion: abstinence-only programs don't work. But programs that couple abstinence awareness with contraception awareness work best.

Die hard supporters of abstinence-only programs argue that higher moral values due to religion and family upbringing caused the abstaining girls of both groups to practice their abstinence until marriage.

After mulling this study over, I started to wonder:

Does does marriage truly make sex moral?

Consider that marriage exists in two forms here in the United States.

Marriage is first and foremost a secular contract between the you, your spouse and the State. God is not a true part of the marriage equation according to the State.

Don't believe me? Ask your pastor to give you a divorce. Won't work. The State will still consider you married until you use legal measures to get a divorce.

Still don't believe me? Ask your pastor to marry you and your mate. Either before or after the ceremony, he'll ask you for the marriage license. See what happens if you don't already have one.

Marriage as a religious union between God and a united couple has no legal weight.

A religious group can consider you married all day long . . . but you'd better not file your taxes together if you didn't get your marriage license signed.

Unless of course, you were married based on Common Law. But that's the "immoral" way to get married, right? That doesn't count before God. But Common Law matters to the State.

So again, what power does marriage have to make sex moral? Because, here in the United States, God has no real power over marriage.

If God does have power over marriage, then why does the State control marriage and divorce?

After considering this, my view is that consenting adults have committed no crime or immorality if they choose to have sex outside of marriage. Immorality begins when an adult takes advantage of an adolescent or another adult who is non-consenting.

And as for adolescents with adolescents . . . well, few parents want to condone this. But, this happens often. Some parents today may blush when they think back on their own teen years.

So then, be prepared for your adolescent to have premarital sex one day. Yes, teach him or her abstinence. But, also teach him or her to use a condom or birth control. Your teen just might yield to the temptation of premarital sex one day. In such a case, wouldn't you want your teen to practice safe sex?

Here are a few consider:

How Government Got Involved in Marriage
(This is a PDF file. But if you got this far, it's worth it!)

Husband and Wife