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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (339082)	6/1/2007 10:38:23 AM
From: Jim McMannis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575854

RE:"I've never understood why Florida doesn't legalize casinos" Me either. We already have legalized gambling now, the lottery, Indian casinos (don't get much from that), JaiLai, Poker tables, Dog Track, Horse racing. I suppose it goes back to the criminal element, Maffia fear. But if the state runs them it's just government corruption. BTW, would you vote to repeal SOH? Then local govies get even more money to waste. Who reins them in and cuts millage? Rolls back local government spending? OTOH, If home prices collapse then it solves some of the problem. If property taxes repealed, home prices skyrocket as do insurance costs.

To: Road Walker who wrote (339082)	6/1/2007 11:47:28 AM
From: bentway	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575854

"I've never understood why Florida doesn't legalize casinos." Florida should legalize prostitution and drugs too, and outdo Vegas. It would become a worldwide "destination". I'd move there!

To: Road Walker who wrote (339082)	6/3/2007 2:05:55 AM
From: Elroy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575854

Published: 03/06/2007 12:00 AM (UAE) Minister backs brief marriages to curb illicit sex Agencies gulfnews.com Tehran: Iran's interior minister faced criticism from women activists on Saturday after advocating the practice of temporary marriage as a way to meet the needs of young people in the Islamic state, which bans extramarital sex. "Is it possible that Islam is indifferent to a 15-year-old youth into whom God has put lust?" newspapers quoted Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who is also a cleric, as telling a religious seminar this week. Temporary marriage, or sigha, is an agreement between a manand a women to get married for a specified time, even for just afew days. It has long been practised by Shiite Muslims, who are dominant in Iran, even though it is unclear how common it is. Sunni Muslims say it is illegal and akin to prostitution, but some Shiites scholars say it reflects the reality of human nature and provides for the rights and responsibilities of both the man and the woman. "Although temporary marriage has always existed in our law, it is considered improper by Iranian culture," Shadi Sadr, an Iranian activist for women rights, told the ISNA news agency. Pourmohammadi spoke on Thursday in Qom, Iran's religious centre, and his comments were carried mainly by reformist dailies on Saturday. They also published reaction, mostly from opponents of the practice but also from some clerical backers. "Islam is a comprehensive and complete religion and has a solution for every behaviour and need and temporary marriage is one of its solutions for the needs of the youth," Pourmohammadi said according to the Sharq daily. "For fulfilling the sexual desires of the youth who do not have the possibility to get married a decision should be taken." A temporary marriage is easy to arrange. A couple will agree on how long they will get married - it's usually anywhere from a day to months - and on financial matters. Couples often go to a Shiite cleric for approval of the contract. The practice is believed to have pre-dated Islam among the tribes of the Arabian peninsula. "A great number of women who agree to have temporary marriage do it because of their problems and financial need," another women activist, Fatemeh Sadeghi, told ISNA. The Ham Mihan daily quoted a receptionist at a hotel in Tehran as saying it accepted couples with documents showing they were temporarily married and that it had about 100 such guests per week. "Our clients are young men with older women," he said. Both Sunni and Shiite scholars agree that the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) did at certain times allow it. But Sunni scholars say the Prophet later banned it. Most Shi'ites say he didn't. "In this kind of marriage there is no force, therefore we can not say it is violating women's rights," one Iranian cleric, Hojjatoleslam Ahmad Ghabel, told Sharq. But a female former parliamentary deputy, Fatemeh Rakei, suggested that entering into a temporary marriage made it difficult for young women to later find permanent husbands and also expressed concern about the future of children from such marriages. "We should expect violations and repercussions if we do not practically respond to young people's sexual needs," the centrist Kargozaran daily quoted Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi as saying. Seminary study Pourmohammadi said Iran should seek to promote the practice with "boldness" and urged seminary scholars to study the matter and come up with ways to "execute God's command in society". "We should not be afraid of promoting temporary marriages in a nation that is being governed by the rule of God." Critics condemn 'sigha' as tantamount to prostitution, but clerics argue it is merely a more spiritual way of addressing basic human urges. Sixty per cent of Iran's population is under 30 years of age and the average age of marriage has risen to 30 for men and 26 for women, according to unofficial estimates.