Uh, I don't know what to say to that, Al. I mean, theirs is a religious reason (unless I'm mistaken and, by all means, correct me if that's the case.)

In any case, let me be clear here, I'm not out to tell people that they should never ever circumcise their kids under penalty of pain or some such thing. I gave my opinion because it was asked, but I was genuinely curious about the motivation. What you or anyone else actually decides is your business, not mine.

Perhaps calling the lineage reasoning "lame" was a poor choice of words. "Not compelling" might have been better. My apologies for the misunderstanding.

Well tell that to the Jews. Lineage for circumcision(sp?) right there. And why are we still talking about this? I think it's just a personal decision that is no one elses buisness except your own.

Lineage seems to be a kind of lame reason. But that's just my bias.

Also, I don't know if everyone's seen this, but Mr. Soul Patch was on the Daily Show last night:

but it was also done to us before we could remember it.

thankfully.

That's one experience I'm glad I can't remember!

Well you just can't uncircumsize(sp?) someone. It was done to us before we could do anything about it.

I guess I'm the only one who would probably go with the scalpel. This decision is not based on any sort of scientific fact or pseudo-scientific statistic.

As eric pointed out to me: it runs by lineage.

Just a reminder to those I had a chance to talk to (and anyone else that might be interested) - we're picking players for the hockey pool at my place tonight (Wednesday) at 7pm.

And Paras - if you want me to pick a team for you, the offer still stands! (Bertuzzi, Pronger, Comrie, Avery... )

The only reason I can think of to be pro-circumcision are social - I'm under the impression that most boys get circumcised (am I wrong? I actually have no idea) and remembering how cruel junior high kids can be about differences, I was thinking why set a kid up for that kind of harrassment during gym class?

Having said that, I'm much more strongly opposed to unneccesary medical procedures, especially ones that are painful. And really, either a boy is going to be picked on or not, depending primarily on athletic ability, regardless of his, ah, appearanece.

But in the end, I suppose I'd voice a preference for no while leaving the decision up to the father.

In other news, I just got to eat a Korean Thanksgiving meal. Lots of very tasty vegetables! One of my student's moms brought it in.

I actually agree with you, Par... I just like pointing interesting information out.

from what I understand, it's a really painful procedure for any little'un (actually, I'm sure ANYONE) to go through, and as a parent, willfully inflicting pain seems a bit backwards.