Protect Yourself from John McCain

I should have posted this a couple of weeks ago, but better late than never ...

Before I went off to Denver in August for the Democratic National Convention, regular Blast Off! commenter "D.P., Clearwater WingNut," my BRF*, asked me to bring him an appropriate souvenir from the Democratic National Convention. A couple of weeks ago, I finally remembered to deliver the gift -- or, more accurately, gifts -- I'd obtained for D.P., and I presented them at a brief ceremony at our pre-game tailgate party in Tampa before the Buccaneers took on (and defeated!) the Green Bay Packers.

I could think of nothing more appropriate than four condoms, packaged in pink and labeled, "Protect Yourself from John McCain (in this election)." Each one even bore a different message on the back -- or, I should say, rear -- of the package, describing Huggy Bear's lack of support for sensible sex education and a woman's right to choose.

Here, D.P. proudly displays his souvenirs from the DNC:

Let's see ... four condoms ... for D.P., that should be about three years' supply.

Anyway, congratulations, D.P., and enjoy the next eight years under President Obama's leadership! (And see you Sunday ...)

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* Best Republican Friend

For rise in teen pregnancy, thank the Bush crime syndicate

I really haven't been following that Gloucester, Mass., 17-pregnancies-in-the-high-school story very closely. However, a column by the Miami Herald's Leonard Pitts today reminds me -- and all of us, hopefully -- that whether or not the "pregnancy pact" is fact or fiction, the profound increase in teen sexuality and pregnancy in recent years can be attributed to one key catalyst: abstinence-only education, as championed by the GOP nannies in power and the Chief Nanny himself, Drunky McStagger.

The Gloucester story unfolds in the context of troubling recent news about teen sexuality. In March, a federal study reported that one in four American girls between the ages of 14 and 19 -- and nearly half of all African-American girls in that same age range -- are infected with at least one of four sexually transmitted diseases: human papillomavirus, chlamydia, genital herpes and trichomoniasis. In June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a steep decline in teen sexual activity through the 1990s leveled off between 2001 and 2007. And after years of decline, the teen birth rate rose by 3 percent between 2005 and 2006.

Some will seek to blame this disturbing news on Juno or Jamie Lynn Spears, but the trends predate both. They do not, however, predate the Bush administration's abstinence-only policy, which requires that any groups or states receiving federal funds for pregnancy prevention not discuss contraception and must teach that sex outside marriage will lead to harmful psychological and physical effects. In other words, they cannot talk about sex or help children who do have sex to protect themselves. They can only tell them to say no. Who can argue against saying no? What parent isn't pro abstinence? But abstinence only? Anyone who thinks a teenager will never do a thing because she has been forbidden has never met a teenager. Common sense -- and a 2007 study by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy -- tell us abstinence-only does not work. But since when does President Bush let common sense and fact trump ideology?

Gloucester is an aberration, but it might be an omen, too. And if it is, if these troubling numbers prove the leading edge of a new teen baby boom, we will have to answer many tough questions, but one won't be tough at all.

We already know where it started. We already know who the father is.

There's an old joke that has to do with George Washington being the literal "father of his country" (although he has no direct descendants). Apparently the current George holding the office of president doesn't limit his literal readings to the Bible, either.

You were fifth grade, I was sex ... I mean, sixth*

Oh, boy, get ready for the fireworks that you just know are coming. Palm Beach County schools will be teaching about contraceptives in sixth grade. Most wingnuts, especially the fundie variety, would prefer not to know anything about sex at all, even as adults -- let alone contraceptives. Indeed, many of them probably have never heard of contraceptives in the first place.

So prepare for the "outrage" as the crazed fundies try to figure out how to resist the inexorable onslaught of science yet again.

"Florida is the sixth-highest in the nation for pregnant teens, and that tells us we need to get information to our students" well before they enter their teenage years, said Judy Klinek, who oversees health education for the district.

Previously, students in sixth grade - typically 11- and 12-year-olds - learned about sexually transmitted diseases and how to resist pressure to have sex by focusing on goals to help them remain abstinent. But details about diseases were scant, and there was no mention of condoms. Now students will get more detailed lessons about how contraceptives help prevent disease and pregnancy.

One of the lessons for seventh-graders [sic] gives tips on how to store and use condoms and encourages teachers to invite a medical professional to demonstrate their use. Students also will be told where to get more information on contraceptives. Students will have the choice to opt out of the class.

Of course, the fundies will say that we must teach abstinence, since the dirty, dirty act of fornication must never take place outside of marriage. At least, that's what Ted Haggard told me. Anyway, the problem is that abstinence programs aren't working:

This year, discussion of revamping sex education has begun on the state level. Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, is sponsoring legislation that would require public schools that get state funding to provide comprehensive sex education, citing studies that show parents and teachers feel schools aren't doing enough to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

Across the country, abstinence-only education programs are in jeopardy. Fifteen states have rejected federal funding for it.

Florida received the second-largest share of the funding in the nation, but it still has the second-highest annual HIV infection rate and the sixth-highest teen pregnancy rate.

Nationwide, studies show the programs may not be working. Last year a Mathematica Policy Research study found that abstinence-only programs don't reduce teen sexual activity or unprotected sex, and a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the teen sex rate had remain unchanged over five years.

But when have folks on the Right ever let facts deter them? The sound you'll be hearing very shortly is the collective explosion of wingnuts' heads all over Palm Beach County.

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* You won't get that title if you're under 40, I fear, but just look up Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons' song, "My Eyes Adored You."

Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder?

Yeah, right. But that doesn't stop the fundies from pushing abstinence on rational-Americans.

In St. Lucie County, the God Squad is up in arms about a sex education proposal that -- oh, noes! -- advocates the use of condoms to prevent AIDS.

No date has been set for board review, but the proposed curriculum has drawn fire from people who say it promotes the use of contraceptives over waiting until marriage and contains "graphic and sexually explicit" material, including instructions for the use of condoms.

They point to an exercise that asks students to find condoms at the drugstore - a lesson they dubbed the "condom field trip" - as an example of the "inappropriate" content.

"The majority of the curriculum does promote condoms," said Bryan Longworth, associate pastor at Covenant Tabernacle World Outreach Center in Port St. Lucie. "Yet it is portrayed to be a curriculum that promotes abstinence."

Longworth has been among the most vocal opponents of Get Real About AIDS. He has spoken against it at multiple board meetings, held one-man news conferences and started a petition in opposition to the program. He believes about 4,000 petitions have been collected; the district has received about 2,800.

[...]

Longworth said he agrees the health curriculum could be improved but believes a stronger abstinence program would be a better choice than one that promotes contraceptives, the use of which he considers similar to playing Russian roulette with children's lives.

He points to the failure rate of condoms as an example: Condoms fail to prevent pregnancy about 15 percent of the time with "typical use" and about 2 percent of the time with "perfect use," which is consistently and correctly each time, according to Planned Parenthood.

"If something fails 15 percent of the time, you don't tell people to use it," he said. "Nothing good is going to happen if teenagers become parents in high school."

Irony alert: Longworth would rather see kids learn about abstinence, which works 100% of the time ... until it doesn't anymore. That is, sure, you can prevent STDs and pregnancy by abstaining from sex, but the fact is, teens aren't abstaining from sex.

Sylvie Kramer, chief executive officer of Kids Connected by Design, a nonprofit organization that runs maternal and child programs in St. Lucie County, agrees, but believes sex education has to include more than abstinence, particularly since most Americans - nine of 10, according to the Guttmacher Institute - have sex before marriage and some choose not to marry at all.

"This is a health issue, not a moral one," she said.

"This business of abstinence-only doesn't work. There are studies after studies that show it doesn't work."

Welcome to the Clue Train -- next stop: Bryan Longworth.

Nine out of ten Americans have sex before marriage; therefore, 10% are abstaining. Condoms typically work 85% of the time and, when kids know how to use them, they work 98% of the time. I think 98% is better than 10%, Bryan. Maybe you don't tell people to use something that fails 15% of the time, Bryan ... but you're telling people to use something that fails 90% of the time. Do the math, dumbass.

You're entitled to your opinions, fundies. Just, please, keep them to yourselves.

UPDATE (12:40 am 8/13/07): If you're interested in a fuller comparison of abstinence-only versus sensible sex ed (yeah, I'm biased -- what of it?), go see what the lovely and talented Interrobang has to say about the subject, as she critiques the Mathematica report on abstinence-only education in the U.S.

Today's Daily Schadenfreude: Bill O'Reilly

This is great ... the master of the wankosphere, the titan of the talking points, Bill O'Reilly, had his ass handed to him by a high school student.

Let's go to the video:



The background on the whole situation is here, from the Daily Camera of Boulder, Colo. I guess because they're teaching sex education that's not all about abstinence, then it's okay for Bill to lose his shit on national TV and call a kid a "pinhead." Nice. Sounds "fair and balanced" to me.

Grab a falafel, Bill, and while you do, please accept my congratulations: today's Blast Off! Daily Schadenfreude is for you!