How many times do we need to read it and how many times are we going to continue funding these ridiculous programs. If Christian conservatives want to experiment with their own kids, go for it and live with the consequences but no need to subject everyone else to this rubbish. What makes it worse is that the US is exporting these half-baked ideas across Africa and the rest of the world.
"Vast sums of federal monies continue to be directed toward these programs. And, in fact, there is evidence to suggest that some of these programs are even harmful and have negative consequences by not providing adequate information for those teens who do become sexually active," Dr. Margaret Blythe of the American Academy of Pediatrics told the committee.
These programs, backed by many social conservatives who oppose the teaching of contraception methods to teenagers in schools, have received about $1.3 billion in federal funds since the late 1990s. Currently, 17 of the 50 U.S. states refuse to accept federal funds for such programs.
Why do the Democrats let the GOP walk all over them only to get a swift kick at the end? I know the majority is slim, but to give more money to one of the worst programs ever funded by Congress was downright stupid. To get it vetoed afterwards is just salt in the wound.
To entice Republicans to support the bill, the House of Representatives agreed to increase money for abstinence-only sex education by $28 million, to a total of about $200 million a year. Abstinence-only courses, the only form of federally financed sex ed, teach that sexual activity outside of marriage is likely to cause psychological and physical harm.
If that were true, our health care system would be not only broken, but besieged. A 2002 survey found that 93 percent of American adults had had premarital sex by the age of 30.
In addition to provoking shame about a nearly universal activity, abstinence-only sex education is ineffective and dangerous. Last April, a 10-year study found that students who took abstinence-only courses were no more likely to abstain from sex than other students. Previous studies revealed that abstinence-only students avoid using contraception.
Abstinence-only is dangerous both in America and overseas where our tax dollars fund the theories of the flat-earth lunatics. There's no reason to offer compromise if the GOP refuses to compromise. Good grief, when will the Democrats ever learn?
On Friday there will be a formal display of the full flowering of fundie creepiness in Daddy Dobson's territory (Colorado Springs) - a father/daughter purity ball -- complete with a dinner dance, ballet performance, live chamber music, a procession of the young women who will lay white roses at the foot of a huge wooden cross they and their fathers will dance in the ballroom -- and daddy with participate in a covenant signing ceremony pledging to protect her virginity.
In a "counter-cultural" event, fathers and daughters from across the nation are gathering tomorrow for the annual Father-Daughter Purity Ball in Colorado Springs.
Created in 1998 by Colorado Springs parents Randy and Lisa Wilson, the event has birthed a "purity ball" movement across the nation that has attracted international media attention. Journalists from Britain, Canada, Italy, Finland and Norway will cover Friday's gathering at the Broadmoor Hotel.
"This event is about restoring fatherhood one of the most critical issues facing our culture today," said Randy Wilson. "Research shows that the most important man in a daughter's life is her father."
The fathers will stand before their daughters and recite a pledge together:
"I, (daughter's name)'s father, choose before God to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the areas of purity. I will be pure in my own life as a man, husband and father. I will be a man of integrity and accountability as I lead, guide and pray over my daughter and my family as the high priest in my home. This covering will be used by God to influence generations to come."
There's not much left to say after this, is there? An obvious matter to point out -- is that we don't see any ceremony of this kind between mother and son, since I guess junior is either supposed to be chaste by default -- certainly he's not spilling any seed, right?
Unfortunately for dear old high priest dad, purity pledges aren't exactly keeping little Janie from carnal exploration. In March 2006, Byron Weathersbee, a chaplain at Baylor University in Waco, Texas (a school affiliated with the conservative Southern Baptist Convention), conducted a study on the effectiveness of abstinence ed and virginity pledges in Christians.
* 100 percent professed faith in Christ * 99 percent attended church * 84 percent grew up in church * 87 percent grew up in a two-parent home * 62 percent of males had premarital sex * 65 percent of females had premarital sex * only 27 percent of fundies surveyed managed to stay completely chaste, not engaging in intercourse or Clintonian "non-sex" acts.
The WaPo reported that those virginity pledges touted by head-in-the-sand organizations like True Love Waits and the Silver Ring Thing are doing nothing to stop STDs either Among the 20 percent of kids that took a virginity pledge, 61 percent of the consistent pledgers and 79 percent of the inconsistent pledgers reported having intercourse before marrying or prior to 2002 interviews. Almost 7 percent of the students who did not make a pledge were diagnosed with an STD, compared with 6.4 percent of the "inconsistent pledgers" and 4.6 percent of the "consistent pledgers."
And look at the Lone Star State, bastion of abstinence-only education. It ranked among the 10 worst states in the nation on almost all factors related to teen pregnancy including: · Teen birth rate 47th · Percent change in teen birth rate 44th · Birth rate for younger teens 48th · Percent teen births that are repeat births 44th · Teen births as a percent of all births 40th · Percent of births to teens receiving late or no prenatal care 44th.
Hope they all have a great time at the fantasy purity ball.
The GOP favorite pet project that has failed miserably around the world should have been cut in Washington as well, but at least someone is introducing reality into budgets. Let the GOP experiment with themselves before they waste everyone else's money on these silly programs.
In April of 2004, Kaiser Networks Daily AIDS/HIV Report noted that Randall Tobias, serving as the Bush Administration AIDS Czar, was promoting abstinence and denigrating condoms:
Tobias, who was in Berlin for the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS' 2004 Awards for Business Excellence, said that promoting abstinence and monogamy are "far more effective" than distributing condoms for preventing the spread of HIV, according to Agence France-Presse. "Statistics show that condoms really have not been very effective," Tobias said, adding, "It's been the principal prevention device for the last 20 years, and I think one needs only to look at what's happening with the infection rates in the world to recognize that has not been working." PEPFAR has been criticized by AIDS advocates for placing "false hopes" on abstinence and monogamy prevention programs, according to Agence France-Presse.
That outrageous view held by the Bush administration was widely criticized by thinking people.
Today, ABC News reported that the married Mr. Tobias resigned from his post as Deputy Secretary of State after admitting he was a customer of a DC escort service
Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias submitted his resignation Friday, one day after confirming to ABC News that he had been a customer of a Washington, D.C. escort service whose owner has been charged by federal prosecutors with running a prostitution operation. Tobias, 65, Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), had previously served as the Ambassador for the President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief.
In a Ted Haggard-like admission, Tobias said he only got "massages."
Abstinence is for the little people, not the loyal Bushies. They don't have to practice what they preach.
Oh, this is rich. John McCain can't make the votes on Iraq -- the dominant issue of these times. No, McCain has more pressing matters on his plate. He's too busy working on his no-sex agenda. In McCain's effort to pander to the theocrats, he's reaching another new low. John McCain major policy is telling people who aren't married not to have sex:
Most presidential candidates are trying to get people to say "yes." Republican Sen. John McCain will be encouraging South Carolina students to say "no." The Arizona lawmaker is scheduled to speak Sunday night to about 1,500 middle and high school students about abstaining from premarital sex. Abstinence and abortion loom large as issues in this first-in-the-South primary state in the heart of the Bible Belt.
"Senator McCain has a long legislative record of supporting abstinence-based initiatives in his record in the U.S. Senate," said Trey Walker, McCain's South Carolina campaign director. "He thinks that abstinence is healthier and should be promoted in our society for young people."
So, if this is such an important issue, we must ask: What is the abstinence policy for the McCain staff? If one works for John McCain, must one sign a "I won't have sex" pledge...or does the no-sex thing only apply to other people. Does his "no-sex" policy apply to unmarried soldiers? And, what exactly are people supposed to abstain from? Everything? Is oral sex okay?
If McCain wants people to abstain from pre-marital sex -- and he opposes gay marriage -- does that mean McCain doesn't think gay people should ever have sex? Maybe one of the many gays working on his campaign can answer that question for us.
We dare some member of the press corps to ask John McCain if he really believes this crap. If John McCain really wants to make sex an issue to placate the right-wingers, John McCain should really have to answer questions about sex. He's making it an issue so make him explain his policy -- in detail.
