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Columns and Articles by Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman

August 31, 2013

Darwin Awards: People Who Should Not Be Part of the Gene Pool

Periodically, I assemble items from around the world in which people make decisions that warrant removal from the gene pool.

•Banning Female Farting in Indonesia

No, this was not a joke. I checked. An Islamic city council in Aceh, Indonesia, has banned female citizens from passing gas loudly. The city’s mayor explained that farting aloud violates the Islamic values of modesty---not all farting, of course, just female farting. The mayor said that farting loud (sic) makes a woman sound like a man. Perhaps they need a change of diet?

•Nigerians Clash Over Marrying Adolescents
Once more, Nigeria’s secular and (Muslim) religious laws are clashing over the taste of certain men for underage wives. A senator had just married a 14-year-old girl, divorcing another wife when she turned 17 (whom he had married at 15), to remain within the only four-wives-at-a-time permitted in Islam. He filibustered against a constitutional amendment that girls must be over 18 to be the age of consent. He claims Sharia Law permits marrying even prepubescent girls (it does).

However, a former Nigerian Cabinet minister condemned the weak-kneed lawmakers for trying to accommodate this outrage: “…what the Senate did the other day was to compromise with and cater to the filthy appetites and godless fantasies of a bunch of child molesters and sexual predators.” Our then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also weighed in by rebuking this senator for “child slavery.” He had paid the child’s father (his driver) $100,000 for the girl. No, she does not get a cut.

•Woman “Pardoned” For Being Raped
The United Arab Emirates in Dubai “Pardoned” a Norwegian businesswoman who had been working in Dubai, a country that pretends it is western friendly, from being imprisoned for reporting her rape to the police. She was raped in her hotel, and when she told the management, they were astonished that she wanted the police called. The police followed Islamic law and arrested her for “adultery.” After all, the woman must have tempted the rapist, they think. It took an international outcry to reverse this sentence. Her rapist, a 33-year-old Sudanese, was also pardoned. The basis for his release is unclear. However, had her rapist been a native UAE subject, it is doubtful that he ever would have been arrested.

•Texas’ New Abortion Law
The social-issues wing of the Republican Party is still trying to pass legislation that will make abortion difficult or, better yet, impossible. They shorten the period of time that an abortion can be performed; pass legislation that forces women’s clinics that perform abortions to shut down; and vow to continue what they call their “humanitarian efforts” (concern for the unborn).

Women with financial means can afford to leave the state to get these still-legal services elsewhere. Poor women can only seek a dangerous illegal abortion or have children that they cannot afford to rear. Isn’t forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy against her will “involuntary servitude,” which has been against the law since the end of slavery?

These legislators are apparently too stupid to be serving the public interest. They should be forced to adopt all unwanted children resulting from this law.

•Hero or Hypocrite?
Edward Snowden, the fugitive National Security Agency leaker of classified documents, has already demonstrated candidacy for a Darwin Award. This so-called believer in freedom of speech has sought refuge from a raft of unsavory countries that do not recognize press freedom. Russia should suit him just fine. They will let him whistle blow against Russian gays.

•Double Darwins for the Weiners
Anthony Weiner not only lost his congressional seat because of sexual exhibitionism but has continued his bad habit while running for NY City Mayor. The other puzzle is how someone as brilliant as his wife could have married him in the first place, and then defended him in public. A Darwinian mystery, that!

•Youtube Idiot
Hannah Sabata of Stromsburg, Nebraska uploaded a video to Youtube announcing she had robbed a bank and stolen a car! She posted a picture of herself with her wad of stolen money. She is our Darwin Award winner.

683 words

Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author of How Do You Know That? You may contact her at Lfarhat102@aol.com or www.globalthink.net.

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