By Ralph R. Reiland
Monday, August 11, 2008
The craziest news from the Government-Knows-Best department is that the morals police in Saudi Arabia have now made it illegal to sell dogs or cats as pets, or to walk them in public, in Riyadh, the nation's capital and largest city.
The problem is that pets can be chick magnets, and the authorities have noticed a "rising phenomenon of men using dogs and cats to make passes at women," according to Othman al-Othman, the top-dog in the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.
Othman is right. Take the morning Trib and a cute golden retriever to Starbucks and see which one attracts the most women.
The new law, based on an edict from the Council of Senior Islamic Scholars, will be enforced by the 5,000-man vice squad of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice -- the same gang that stopped young girls in Mecca from leaving a blazing school building in 2002 because they weren't wearing correct Islamic dress.
Fifteen girls died in that fire.
Better dead than a temptation, fleeing a fire without the proper head gear.
The BBC reported that one witness said he saw "three policemen beating young girls to prevent them from leaving the school because they were not wearing the abaya," i.e., the black robe overdress required by the kingdom's version of Islam.
Other witnesses said the religion cops stopped men who tried to save the girls by warning that it was "sinful to approach them," according to the Saudi Gazette.
"The father of one of the dead girls said that the school watchman even refused to open the gates to let the girls out," reported the BBC.
"The school was locked at the time of the fire -- a usual practice to ensure full segregation of the sexes."
With this nuttiness for purity now extending to pets, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice says that all furry companions spotted in public will be confiscated by agents of the religion police.
Any man (the ban doesn't include female walkers of pets) caught with a dog or cat in public will be required to sign a document pledging not to repeat the act.
And what if you're old and not flirting and carrying a pooper-scooper?
It doesn't matter. One size fits all.
A loophole? How 'bout a big, red parrot on a guy's shoulder, one that says "Hi sweetie" and whistles "Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing?
That's still unrestricted and probably a far better babe magnet than a humdrum poodle or a schizo cat.
In other Government-Knows-Best news, closer to home, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously on July 29th to ban all new fast-food restaurants from South L.A., one of the city's poorest areas, for one year because the residents are too fat.
Viewed in terms of class, the poor in South L.A., according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, are roughly twice as fat, measured as a percentage of the population, as the more affluent residents of the city's high-end areas.
Specifically, the Department of Public Health reports that 30 percent of adults in South Los Angeles are obese, compared with 14 percent in affluent Westside.
Additionally, Community Health Councils reports that 73 percent of the restaurants in South L.A. are fast-food outlets, compared with 42 percent in richer West Los Angeles.
The argument is that supply creates the demand, rather than vice versa.
The moratorium on new fast-food restaurants will cover a 32-square-mile area with a population of approximately 500,000 people.
The legislation includes a provision that allows the city council to lengthen the fast-food freeze by way of two six-month extensions.
On top of prohibiting the opening of any fast-food restaurants, the decree also forbids any current fast-food facility from expanding or remodeling.
This ban on building was passed two weeks after the Los Angeles Business Journal reported that unemployment in Los Angeles County was up 44 percent over last year, with construction posting the largest drop in jobs.
My guess? The nuts won't stamp out sex in Riyadh and the Crips are going to do just fine pushing crack and cheeseburgers on the street. "Yo, puffer, you want some fries with this baseball?"
Ralph R. Reiland is an associate professor of economics at Robert Morris University and a local restaurateur. He can be reached at rrreiland@aol.com.
Monday, August 11, 2008
The craziest news from the Government-Knows-Best department is that the morals police in Saudi Arabia have now made it illegal to sell dogs or cats as pets, or to walk them in public, in Riyadh, the nation's capital and largest city.
The problem is that pets can be chick magnets, and the authorities have noticed a "rising phenomenon of men using dogs and cats to make passes at women," according to Othman al-Othman, the top-dog in the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.
Othman is right. Take the morning Trib and a cute golden retriever to Starbucks and see which one attracts the most women.
The new law, based on an edict from the Council of Senior Islamic Scholars, will be enforced by the 5,000-man vice squad of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice -- the same gang that stopped young girls in Mecca from leaving a blazing school building in 2002 because they weren't wearing correct Islamic dress.
Fifteen girls died in that fire.
Better dead than a temptation, fleeing a fire without the proper head gear.
The BBC reported that one witness said he saw "three policemen beating young girls to prevent them from leaving the school because they were not wearing the abaya," i.e., the black robe overdress required by the kingdom's version of Islam.
Other witnesses said the religion cops stopped men who tried to save the girls by warning that it was "sinful to approach them," according to the Saudi Gazette.
"The father of one of the dead girls said that the school watchman even refused to open the gates to let the girls out," reported the BBC.
"The school was locked at the time of the fire -- a usual practice to ensure full segregation of the sexes."
With this nuttiness for purity now extending to pets, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice says that all furry companions spotted in public will be confiscated by agents of the religion police.
Any man (the ban doesn't include female walkers of pets) caught with a dog or cat in public will be required to sign a document pledging not to repeat the act.
And what if you're old and not flirting and carrying a pooper-scooper?
It doesn't matter. One size fits all.
A loophole? How 'bout a big, red parrot on a guy's shoulder, one that says "Hi sweetie" and whistles "Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing?
That's still unrestricted and probably a far better babe magnet than a humdrum poodle or a schizo cat.
In other Government-Knows-Best news, closer to home, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously on July 29th to ban all new fast-food restaurants from South L.A., one of the city's poorest areas, for one year because the residents are too fat.
Viewed in terms of class, the poor in South L.A., according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, are roughly twice as fat, measured as a percentage of the population, as the more affluent residents of the city's high-end areas.
Specifically, the Department of Public Health reports that 30 percent of adults in South Los Angeles are obese, compared with 14 percent in affluent Westside.
Additionally, Community Health Councils reports that 73 percent of the restaurants in South L.A. are fast-food outlets, compared with 42 percent in richer West Los Angeles.
The argument is that supply creates the demand, rather than vice versa.
The moratorium on new fast-food restaurants will cover a 32-square-mile area with a population of approximately 500,000 people.
The legislation includes a provision that allows the city council to lengthen the fast-food freeze by way of two six-month extensions.
On top of prohibiting the opening of any fast-food restaurants, the decree also forbids any current fast-food facility from expanding or remodeling.
This ban on building was passed two weeks after the Los Angeles Business Journal reported that unemployment in Los Angeles County was up 44 percent over last year, with construction posting the largest drop in jobs.
My guess? The nuts won't stamp out sex in Riyadh and the Crips are going to do just fine pushing crack and cheeseburgers on the street. "Yo, puffer, you want some fries with this baseball?"
Ralph R. Reiland is an associate professor of economics at Robert Morris University and a local restaurateur. He can be reached at rrreiland@aol.com.
