^ How do we know Faarax's wife does not weigh 800 lbs and they have not been intimate for 4 years? Huh? What if the new woman is 5' 9", (36-24-36), is 10 years younger and loves him to death as well? Now what? I'd say we have the old wife cook and clean for the new couple during their extended honeymoon. This way, they get to eat and she gets to lose weight and compete with wife numero deux. What do you say?

^ Hold it there Ms. Bobbit. No need for amputations here. These things happen. We fall in love and we fall out of love. Let us discuss the merits of each and how we can help Faarax have his cake and eat it too.

^ I suffer from a few ailments none of them is tribalism.

^ Group hug anyone?

Callypso, yes, the female "burden" and evolutionary rewards seem to be a paradox of sorts. I won't throw in an ignorant explanation but will "look" into this and get back to you. Atheer Chocolate, it's not just in men's genes, it's in women's as well. The propensity to stray is as strong in women as it is in men, if not stronger. Females have an even bigger incentive for they have a larger investment in the male they mate with. They carry and raise the offspring therefore theirs is a two-fold incentive. One of good quality offspring and another of needing assistance to raise that offspring. Finding high quality males with excellent caregiver qualities is not easy, obviously. It isn't because high quality males are, you guessed it, in high demand. Where low quality males would then compensate by becoming good caregivers. That's what I meant to say. The limitations placed on women in society, however, make it seem as though men have a free pass. They don't.

^ Atheer Callypso, it is not an accident that a man would have upwards of 50,000,000 sperm in one stroke of the hand (pun intended). These huge numbers are certainly not just a motorcade or an entourage for the one lucky junior farax that fertilizes the egg. They have many different roles, not the least of which is checking for and destroying any remnants of another man's little soldiers. Sperm count, motility and speed have all been shown to increase when the male suspects his mate to be cheating. In turn, increasing the odds of fertilizing the female egg. On the other hand, women have one egg every 30-day period and some downtime as well. Yes. Women are unavailable for intercourse for a few days every month and up to 2-3 months after giving birth. What is a man to do during that downtime? Turn off the plumbing and watch ESPN? No. It doesn't work that way. Nature, therefore, has provided facility and enough evolutionary rewards for those who stray. In a sense, if you don't stray, you're setting yourself and your tribe up for extinction, albeit slowly. The same incentive that exists for men also exists for women in that they are likely to look for a good man (not necessarily the best genes) to help them raise their offspring but will fool around with a lousy caregiver (but with excellent genes) to create offspring.

Men (and women) stray because, on some level, they're hard wired to do so. Morality and religion came late in a game where evolution and its refinements have had a very long head start. From a species' evolutionary point of view, there are tangible benefits to straying: exploration of a different, potentially better, gene pool and ensuring all the "eggs" are not kept in one nest (or home) are two of the most obvious benefits. Do we really know why Allah has made having multiple wives halaal? It could be that we were meant to stray (biologically) and to lessen the burden of that urge, that avenue was opened. We all know that Allah does not put a burden on us we cannot bear. Let us not be naive and scream its wrong, wrong, wrong without exploring the deeper issues at play here. Our biggest (and least used) sexual organ is our brain so ladies and gentlemen, start your engines.

^ Atheer Hagar, drop this drunken alley, and not so funny, gag of yours. Rape: The crime of rape (or "first-degree sexual assault" in some states) generally refers to non-consensual sexual intercourse that is committed by physical force, threat of injury, or other duress. A lack of consent can include the victim's inability to say "no" to intercourse, due to the effects of drugs or alcohol. Rape can occur when the offender and victim have a pre-existing relationship (sometimes called "date rape"), or even when the offender is the victim's spouse. Even when there is no ability to say no, it's still rape. Lying flat on a gurney in a deep coma, it's rape. Wearing niqaab, it's rape. In a bikini, it's rape. And none of it has a woman's fault. Not 0.5% or even 0.00001%. It is entirely the fault of the rapist. Entirely. Completely. Fully. Exclusively. Unequivocally. Absolutely.

^ You'd be surprised atheer how real this is. Gabaati is hardly the problem. It's having your cake (first wife) and eating it (the lover) too. Yes, sounds naughty and kinky but it's a major dilemma. Femme, women fall in love and cheat about as often as men do. And yes, I've got evidence to support this but hijaking topics is not my thing. Women, however, are far more evolved than men and are very discreet about their matters of the heart (and other body parts).

^ It's an option because some people do not adhere to the teachings of Islam as they should. And I always blame men for all the ills of all mankind.

^ The incentive to cheat is always there. Curbing corruption is a never ending battle and some corruption will go undetected. The goal is not to have it as the standard operating procedure. I did math at UBC and took comparative religion and anthropolgy as electives. The economics of power and hegemony is a recent passion of mine.

^ Divorcing the first is often out of the question, specially if kids are involved. There are but two ways to go about this, the halaal way and the haraam way. There's no third.

Fair, atheer Viking. I got the impression you agreed with the poll and that's why I asked. I reject the assertion regarding the blame being shared between the rapist and the victim. And I don't care much for polls. Remember right before the invasion of Iraq, 4 out of 5 Americans believed Iraq was behind 9/11? This polling business is rubbish.

^ Would this not be a good situation to make use of what Allah already made halaal, i.e. having multiple wives?

^ Relieved? That's good. Until the next time, eh?

I actually was rooting for the Vikings on Monday night. Good effort and a deserved win. I'm also against the great white hope in the Packers' QB. Congrats Vikings' fans. Celebrate your W's when you get them.

Originally posted by Johnny B: Now , The question is, why a human adult has to drink milk ( a short term nutrient for new-borns ) from the WRONG mamal? What a fascinating question? I've never thought of it that way and I'd love to find out why it is so. Anyone have anything other than "we can"?

^ Very interesting indeed. So what you're saying here, JB, is that if the woman is willing, a rapist would walk away? In other words, the sex part of rape is not the goal but the violence itself is? Imagine that. I'd love to learn more about this for I believe there's some truth to it. Do you know if that report is in English somewhere? And I'm not being facetious atheer.

^ Rape here is rape there, atheer. Either women are partly to blame or they're not. This rubbish about dress is getting on my last nerve. If you have anything to prove dress makes rape more likely, present it. Otherwise, cut the nonsense and relieve of us your rhetoric. Fair, Viking?

^ Unfortunately, my spanish needs a lot of work. If capitalism with all this wealth is not head and shoulders above a puny economy (with an embargo no less) such as Cuba, then capitalism is inherently flawed as a system. That's what I've been trying to drive home. Originally posted by xiinfaniin: you’re indicting capitalism because America bi’isay soow maaha? Yes, this is my indictment. If the very best example of capitalism is the United States, if all that is good about capitalism can be seen in the US, then capitalism is a rotten and unsustainable system.

^ Sounding like a south Florida Cuban dissident, are we now? I should remind you that the state of Cuba, in the absence of the embargo, would certainly have been different than it is now. It would not have near the difficult economic issues that it needlessly faces now. Your claim that communism stifles 'individual incentive and invention' is a weak one at best. It's weak because it implies that the only reason for humans to invent is to get wealth out of it. That's not true and you know it. Be that as it may, would it be possible that such an embargo (as the one imposed on Cuba) is motivated, in part, by ensuring that socialist-communism is shown to not be a viable alternative to capitalism? Think about that for a moment. Now back to your feeble liberty/freedom issue. It is true that the US (as the symbol of modern day capitalism) boasts of individual freedoms and liberties. It is also true that such things as freedom of the press (though one could argue media consolidation in the hands of a few reneges on the freedom promise) and other forms freedoms do exist as well. Your (flawed) conclusion then is that all these freedoms must have led to this incredible wealth the US is enjoying at the moment. That is a very faulty cause and effect relationship for you are ignoring many facts. That over centuries of free labor (during slavery) and modern day economic (using currency, subsidies, the IMF, world bank, etc..) and military (invasion and occupation of resource-rich areas e.g. Saudi Arabia and Iraq) hegemony, the created (or robbed) wealth is maintained. But even with all that ill-gotten wealth, 45 million Americans (1 in 6) are without any health care or are under insured. The number of people living in poverty is constantly on the rise. The real wages of workers have been shrinking for decades and worker unions are virtually non existent. Of course, the natural outcome to all of this is GM announcing, just this week, lay offs of 30,000 manufacturing workers the week of Thanksgiving. Imagine that. Workers who had no input into the design, marketing or sale of the vehicles but will pay for the mistakes of the ruling elite who cannot and will not loose their livelihoods. That's just one example. Another about innovation is pharmaceuticals who continually charge exorbitant amounts of money for new medications (while they're conveniently under patent) claiming much went into researching them. Well, if the people who need these meds can't afford them, WTF was the point of discovering them in the first place? Of course, Canada (right next door) has affordable and universal health care and medication programs. Why? Because they've put limits on what corporations and individuals can do to affect the lives of their citizens. Though with continuous pressure from the US, Canada is slowly losing its people-centric system. We'll see. When there is a race for wealth accumulation, humanity gets into a race to the bottom. Individuals become consumers. Corporations (and their elite owners) become the producers. Though a predator and prey relationship is more accurate. I've said enough for today. A domani. P.S. I'd love to live in Cuba. And if I'm fortunate, insha Allah, I will.

^ Atheer, I wasn't poking fun at you. The mockery was aimed at how we Somalis, generally, view mental illness. For you, I was hoping you'd share with me (and us) where you get this idea from. Is there research you read? Personal experience? Anecdotal evidence you ran into? A study of some sort? A TV program? A website? Something, anything to show there is more and more fake illnesses coming up. I was further hoping to make this important topic last a little longer than the usual superficial discussion and into something educational and informative. Tahliil, didn't mean to scare you or anything. I've a weird and crude sense of humor that's unpopular around here. You'll catch on. By the way, I love that Chappelle "keepin it real" thing.

^ Yep, Somalia is very dangerous dude. Instead, go to Iraq. I hear the chicks are hot there. Watch out for GI's yelling STOP!

^ Tahliil-eey, waa lagaa dhex hadlayaa inaadeer. The views you hold are unbecoming a Somali. You need to exorcise your demons. Have a few sheikhs spit in your tea, add a couple of frog legs, a Mongolian spider, an embryo of a bat and some old man's pubic hair. Boil that potion for 5 minutes then bathe in it. You should then be cured of the illness you're suffering from and should start talking the nonsense the rest of your kin are talking.

Originally posted by NGONGE: Nowadays, it’s the fully covered woman that usually catches my eye (particularly if she’s sitting under a tree in a beach somewhere). Still, my wretched values prevent me from ever approaching her. Ilaahay afar cisho hayskakaa daayo, atheer.