Misguided priorities

As I work on a regular basis on Sunday mornings, one of the things I miss is reading the paper. Often in the past the paper has been a wonderful source of things to blog about. As I was catching up on Sunday's news a little ditty that caught my eye came from The Land of Fruits and Nuts. And this just seems to fit coming from its capital, San Fransisco. (Not the state capitol, the LOFANS capital).

Apparently a group has succeeded in getting enough signatures to put in motion a bill to ban circumcisions on boys. Whoever these folks are, they believe this procedure is akin to mutilation, that removing the foreskin of boys is completely unnecessary. While I agree this is not a medical necessity, it does have over two-thousand years of religious tradition behind it. This is a significant step in the Jewish religion and if I am not mistaken, Muslim as well.

I have two issues with this group. Not only have they succeeded in getting noticed they have also sparked a similar following in another LOFANS city. My first peeve is their use of the term mutilation. Males do not suffer any further sexual or medical issues later in life. This in no way can be compared to the ritual circumcisions performed on women in many parts of Africa. Women endure pain the rest of their lives because of this practice. Circumcisions on males is ritualistic, something they seem to fail to understand. If they believe true harm was being done to these children then anyone supporting this petition who has pierced their child's ears to put in a stud has done at least as much damage to the child as a male circumcision. That is no less mutilation and serves no legitimate purpose, medical, religious or otherwise.

The second issue I have is, you've got nothing better to do with your life than this?