The Rittenhouse Review

A Philadelphia Journal of Politics, Finance, Ethics, and Culture


Thursday, June 19, 2003  

RICK SANTORUM IS SPINNING IN HIS GRAVE
Except He’s Not Dead Yet

I’ll bet Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) won’t be happy to read this Associated Press report from India today:

A 9-year-old girl was married to a stray dog in a ceremony attended by more than 100 guests in a village in India’s eastern state of Bengal as part of a ritual intended to ward off a bad omen, newspapers reported Thursday.

The girl, Karnamoni Handsa, had to be married quickly to break an evil spell, according to the beliefs of her Santhal tribe in the remote village of Khanyan, the Hindustan Times said.

Karnamoni’s tooth had grown on her upper gum, which Santhals consider a bad omen.

The girl’s father, Baburam Handsa, a poor sharecropper, could not afford the expenses of marrying his daughter to a boy, so he saved money by making a street dog the groom....

[T]he ritual…does not interfere with the girl’s life. She suffers no stigma and is free to marry later. She doesn’t even need to divorce the dog.

No stigma? Is that moral degeneracy gone mad or what? And if she remarries without divorcing the dog, won’t she be committing adultery? And what about, you know, consummating the relationship? Will there be offspring? And if there can be no offspring is the marriage legitimate?

Make no mistake, people. Although this happened in India, it’s a vicious assault on the American family nonetheless. Sen. Santorum can’t be pleased. Or is he, what with this incident confirming his bizarre fixation on all that “man-on-dog” stuff?

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