Elvis Needs Goats

Jesse Walker | July 31, 2008

News from India:

Allies of India's ruling Congress party performed a massive goat sacrifice for the "well-being and stability" of the government to time with a confidence vote last week, a report said Thursday.

The regional Samajwadi party, which propped up the government after its left allies withdrew support, sacrificed at least 267 goats and 15 buffaloes in a prayer for the longevity of the government, the Times of India reported....

Samajwadi party politician Kishore Samrite apparently spent 1.2 million rupees (28,000 dollars) on the sacrifice that saw priests and temple devotees gifted with packets of consecrated goat meat, his aides and temple sources told the paper.

An assignment for the amateur anthropologists in reason's readership: List the equivalent rituals in American politics.