As usual, the drugs-sex-&-rock&roll brigade over at Reason is head-over-heels in love with the latest deformed offspring of American “democracy”-promotion, in this case the Iraqi election, with editor Nick Gillespie fawning — “some came on crutches” — over the fake “72 percent turnout” figure thrown out by Iraqi government officials and later hailing the corrected 60 percent estimate proffered by those same officials as “a pretty damn good turnout.” What he’ll do if and when it reaches 50 percent is anybody’s guess, but I can’t wait until he finds out that the Iraqi kingmaker, Ayatollah Sistani — who made the election happen in the first place, and whose endorsed slate seems destined to come out on top — is against cloning. And that’s not all he’s against….
According to the Ayatollah’s own website, which has a handy feature called “Ask the Ayatollah,” for those convicted of”slandering” Allah, “the ruling upon them is death.”
What else can we expect from the Sistani-approved electoral list? Well, here’s some more rulings from the Ayatollah:
Q: (Is it permissible) to play chess and backgammon without placing a bet?
A: It is not permissible to play them.
Q: What is the ruling on playing chess by using the customary pieces? Is the ruling any different in the case where the game is played by computer which employs symbols and shapes instead of the customary pieces?
A: Playing it (chess) is absolutely forbidden even without placing a bet. And there is no difference in this, whether it is (played) with customary pieces or by computer.
Q: Some people play with gambling instruments other than chess and backgammon for enjoyment and without placing a bet.
A: It is prohibited to play with all that is considered a gambling instrument even without placing a bet.
Q: Some electronic games that appear on TV with an apparatus called “Atari” and are played with buttons for enjoyment, without placing a bet.
A: If the pictures that appear on the screen are pictures of the instruments of gambling, then it is not permissible to play with them using the “Atari” apparatus, otherwise, it is permissible.
Oh, wait …. it looks like both anal and oral sex are okay— as long as the participants are married — so maybe the Reasonoids will cut the Ayatollah some slack…..