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Finally, over the strenuous lobbying of the conservative groups leaching off this particularly insidious form of "bleed the beast" wingnut welfare, Federal funding for abstinence-only sex (mis)education is being cut:
A controversial federal program that stresses abstinence outside heterosexual marriage has been chopped by $28. million.Previously, under the Republican Congress, the federal government spent about $50 million annually on abstinence-until-marriage education.Participating states then provide $3 for every $4 they get from the federal government. Eight states decline to take part in the grant program.
Critics have repeatedly said they don't believe the programs are working.
In April a Mathematica Policy Research study found that students who participated in sexual abstinence programs were just as likely to have teen sex as those who did not. (story)
It would be better news if the funding could have been cut altogether, but that'll take a few more GOPers to get booted out in '08 (and maybe a few DINO primary challenges, too.). In the meantime, the money that's been cut is going to be applied to a program that actually works and makes sense, the Ryan White CARE Act.
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Bada bing?
PW!
Still $22M too much. Do they disburse this kind of money without any sort of analysis at all?
I thought the GOP prides itself on not having the government interfere with your life. Right.
… and maybe a few DINO primary challenges, too.).
Do we have anyone onboard yet for either the House or the Senate besides Donna Reed?
PW: Love the headline. Irony is alive and well in bloglandia.
Alternate title..)
BREAKING: Democrats Move To
Cutcircumcise Wasteful Spending!spurious @ 3
This has been an ideological boondoggle from the beginning. Scholar’s who have attempted to study abstinence only programs on rudimentary questions such as “how is abstinence defined?” have suffered interference, funding cuts, etc, and intimidation, i.e. incendiary accusations sent to school administrator’s and what not.
I don’t think the point was ever for it to actually work. For some ideological purity is more important than consequences; for others, its a sweet way to make some serious cash.
Eureka Springs @ 7
Heh ;-)
LoudounLib @ 9
BREAKING: Democrats Move To Circumcize “Dick” Branch of Government….
LS @ 4
But to the Goopers, ANYTHING they do is only to save us so that we may find jeebus while ANYTHING we do is to advance some heathenish cause.
After all, they feel that just saying “I BELIEVE” is all that’s needed to be saved, actions be damned.
Alfred Kelgarries @ 10
Oooohhh, excellent!
Anyone know what bill number this was.. I want to look up individual votes?
It’s a start but it’s a drop in the ocean of fundie welfare. The billions of unaudited “faith-based” dollars have to be shut off. Driving around the country for the past few years has shown me where that money is spent. The growth of church infrastructure is amazing. The new churches and associated family life centers are almost always some sort of Assembly of..or Bible Church of..never RC or methodist or Episcopalian etc. There is no way that the communities associated with these churches have the money to fund these buildings.
Alfred Kelgarries @ 10
CIRCUMCIZE DICK!
Would make a great bumper sticker.
Abstinence only education is a fraud and a money sync. It has no useful effect and is actually harmful.
To clarify, I believe that kids should wait until they are emotionally, mentally and financially ready to deal with the consequences of their actions if they engage in sex. But that is an unrealistic expectation. Nothing wrong with telling them that they really should wait. But not educating them in the particulars how reproduction works, what STD’s are and what they do and why to use protection and so forth is just plain irresponsible. Any parent who supports that sort of curriculum has a delusional, unreasonable and unrealistic view of their child. It’s a choice between their child finding out about pregnancy and STD’s the hard way, or finding out about it from a professional who can answer their questions so they can protect themselves.
This is something that right wingers have a hard time understanding because like many issues they throw money time and effort at - they don’t understand the problem and therefore can never ‘fix’ it.
The bottom line is, no amount of pledges, purity dances or silver rings are going to change human nature. People of all ages have always had sex. People of all ages enjoy sex. People of all ages will continue to have sex and if you don’t educate your kids about it they’re the ones that are going to suffer because of it.
They should immediately cut all funding for this nonsense and put it to a more useful goal. Like providing the HPV vaccine to all girls in the nation with an opt out clause for right wingers. If they want to watch their children die from cervical cancer who are we to stop them.
Well, it’s a start. Certainly a bit of a waste of money. How about addressing the biggest waste of money there is - the war in Iraq? How about cutting back on the gargantuan waste in the Pentagon budget? $50 million is chump change in Washington. It’s like passing a non-binding resolution calling on the Bush administration to respect the Constitution.
Hey Congressional Democrats, how about fulfilling the obligation of your oath of office by impeaching Cheney and Bush and restoring Constitutional government?
Studies have shown that kids exposed to abstinence-only education are more likely to contract and transmit sexually infections, undertake sexual activity earlier and without protection, and move out of sexual naivete completely unequipped for their journey.
Abstinence is an important component of sex ed for kids. But abstinence-only ill-serves them. They get sick, pregnant, and exploited.
And please don’t get me started on the value of abstinence education for sexually active adults. Claude Allen and Tommy Thompson caused lots of HIV infections due to their early-21st century crusades. They are criminals and killers.
They built the wall one brick at a time. Same way we’ll take it down.
This was one of their loonier ideas from the beginning. Except as a vehicle to prop up support with the base and buy votes.
“Circumvent Dick”
(a taste of his own medicine)
1,555 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen Alfred Kelgarries and the Firepup Patriots:
BREAKING: Democrats move to cut off Dick’s branch (of government).
KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, THEY STILL GOT ALL OUR MONEY!!
NorskeFlamethrower @ 21
oh, that old saw?
punaise @ 22
circular logic
randiego @ 23
headline is from the Toledo Blade.
punaise @ 22
The jig is up..
1,555 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen punaise and the Firepup Patriots:
After they use the “old saw” on the branch, they can “stick” him with it.
KEEP THE FAITH AND DO IT TO THEM BEFORE THEY DO IT TO US AGAIN!!
1,555 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen punaise:
“Oh, that old saw?”
Let’s table it.
I don’t think I can cope with many more of these.
Eureka Springs @ 25
that dovetails nicely with a cabinet shakeup.
punaise: you know the drill so well.
I double dare the Democrats:
to cut the trillion dollar military budget.
There’s a reason it’s called the military-industrial-CONGRESSIONAL
complex
punaise @ 29
oh, that old saw?
The jig is up..
that dovetails nicely with a cabinet shakeup.
Indeed, but everything hinges on impeachment.
punaise @ 22
Come on, you can’t hack it. Quit pulling our chain and get off the table
What have we here Mr. Rove?
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003508.php
P J Evans @ 30
he likes to hammer the competition
randiego @ 35
I’d be lathe to admit that.
Affidavit suggesting Rove involvement:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.c.....age=1&
randiego @ 35
Ya gots to admit, he usually nails it.
RFK, Jr & Melanie Morgan on Hardball. Why, oh why, must they have her on? That woman tried to say that the environmental community had been in favor of MTBE’s!
axe-you-all, Lee
I’ve got to get back to work
[popping in]
Yay! At last, some sense.
Now, if they can restore (and veto-proof) the family planning funds to overseas services, we might be starting to get somewhere.
thanks, PW.
[popping back out, to work]
Edwards fights back rather effectively against NYT front page smear campaign:
http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.....y_programs
Lol,punaise strikes again.
Scwewy wabbit.
punaise @ 20
You mean the man who invented his own branch of government?
Snicker
And The Hits Just Keep On Coming:
Enemy Combatants For Gitmo “selected at random with no evidence”. Marvy.
According to Michelle Goldberg’s really excellent recent book about Christian Nationalists, the main purpose of the abstinence-only movement is to give fundies the opportunity to go into our public schools and preach to our kids one part of the Christian message (i.e., God loves you but He doesn’t want you to have sex of any kind until after you’ve become married to a member of the opposite sex).
Actually persuading kids to refrain from having sex, and helping kids avoid unwanted pregnancies and STDs, are merely secondary goals.
In other words, the movement is much more about spreading religion than it is about teaching science or giving kids practical advice.
So when someone asks the fundies, “Does abstinence-only sex ed actually work?”, their answer (which they might choose to keep to themselves) is likely to be, “Of course it works. We’re going into the schools and spreading the word of God, aren’t we?”
P J Evans @ 28
you miter swell try.
clamp Shooter and then screw him in before he gets out of the grips of his vice.
Ed*ard Teller @ 48
but do it quick before they can table the motion.
Republicans: Put the government between you and your doctor and nurse. For the party that wants to drown it in a bathtub, it sure fixates on sex. It wants to be the voyeur in the GYN exam room, dictating to physicians and nurses how to practice medicine and nursing. As for the abstinence-only nonsense; the US looks like a Victorian peasant throwback -Republicans are the Sairy Gamps of healthcare and public health policy.
Fasten-8ting theory.
punaise @ 40
If it’s an issue, here’s a bris, you
;>)
Ed*ard Teller @ 48
’tis true … Libby is a tool !!!
dakine01 @ 49
I may be ready to take on punaise. Just back from Lowe’s - getting a faucet connector hose - and I get back to Dick Cheney’s toolroom at fdl. socket to ‘em, pups!
Tsk tsk tsk. I leave you kids alone and you turn vicious on me. (”Vicious” — “vice” — get it? Hyuk hyuk hyuk.)
Oh well, I guess it’s better than you turning viscous on me.
punaise @ 40
Guess its time to shelve the knobby pineing.
Phoenix Woman @ 55
PW - in for a penny…
Phoenix Woman @ 55
Teacher! Leave those kids alone!
Phoenix Woman @ 55
that one developed like molasses
Phoenix Woman @ 55
Sloppy, just sloppy.
But it’s better than being at the DOJ:
Gonzo Aide Withdraws Name From Confirmation AFTER HEARING SCHEDULED when learns would have to answer questions about AG UNDER OATH! oopse!
Petrocelli @ 53
… he was Cheney’s Hatchet man …
Busted @ 43
Shouldn’t that be ’scwewy wabbet‘?
Well, maybe I should try a different tack.
From the All-The-Kings-Horses department:
Chimpy to get 103 person security detail after leaving office; poo flinging training already begun!
Maybe Michael Moore can examine the failure of the abstinence program in a sequel to Sicko. How about Dick? NO!
Alfred Kelgarries @ 63
Impeachment could wipe that out or dramatically reduce it, iirc. Besides the Hague has its own security.
OKAY! IT IS OFFICIAL! TONY BLAIR IS COMING OUT OF THE CLOSET AT LAST!
Wearing a Miter:
Blair Openly Converts To Catholicism, Has Been Secret Convert During Entire Public Career!
Can you say Hypocrisy, Mr. Blair? I thought you could.
Ed*ard Teller @ 54
And screw ‘em all down tight.
Alfred Kelgarries @ 63
I think this article misses the real picture … Chimpy will be tried for Treason,
even if it has to wait until he’s out of office.
He’s not going to need 103 Secret Service agents … and he ain’t gettin’ 72 virgins … where he’s going …
Eureka Springs @ 56
I’m getting board.
Note to self:
Do NOT throw pun grenade into waters of the Lake. Just Don’t.
(Suffering results of his own hubris..)
Alfred Kelgarries @ 66
Wouldn’t it be hilarious if his best friend W did the same thing!!!
I don’t think the Catholic church is going to look favorably on all the lies and the killing…oh, that’s right, he gets a clean slate at confirmation and all that…after that he can just confess…et voila…
or, Not Balling for Columbine?
Alfred Kelgarries @ 66
That’s going to play nicely with the Arabs who see Iraq & Afghanistan as modern day Crusades.
That dope Tony Snow wasn’t around today so the White House Press Briefing was conducted by his sub-moron Dana Perino.
Perino wouldn’t commit to whether Cheney was part of the Executive Branch but seemed to think he was complying with an Executive Order which said that he was to be treated like the President. She never got around to answering why the National Archives didn’t think he was, especially if it was all so clear and all.
Viceroy Cheney
LS @ 71
The point is, Poodle made a HUGE deal of his “christian” faith as a bonding link with chimpy. Talked it up all over england, used it to GET VOTES from english fundies (and yes, virginnia, there ARE english fundies) and to justify the war. And he was secretly taking communion and confessing to a catholic priest all the time.
Here in america, this is just weird. In england, it is tantamount to high treason. I am not joking. The laws of england REQUIRE the king and queen NOT BE CATHOLIC. Go read up on the wars for the british throne after henry the eighth at wiki and you’ll see why.
Talk about flipping off the entire english population, my ghod….
LS @ 71
… and the new Pope has been stirring the waters of hatred vis a vis the Islamic World … eep …
LS @ 75
More like Emperor Cheney … I hope he meets his Waterloo …
Petrocelli @ 77
DING. Cardinal Ratzinger may be the last pope if the fatima prophecy’s final chapter is to unfold in this generation. We’re primed for it…
Compliments to everyone, that was quite a chain of saws.
“MS. PERINO: What I said is that the Vice President’s office says that they are in compliance, and I can tell you on behalf of the President that we are in compliance with all matters regarding classified materials.”
That says to me that Cheney is mucho vulnerable, and they are circling the wagons around Bush.
Mount up!!
Alfred @ 76
Blair isn’t the king or the queen - and he isn’t in line of succession to the throne - so it doesn’t matter what church he belongs to.
Alfred Kelgarries @ 76
No wonder he wants a Z visa!!!
LS @ 81
Could this be the revenge of the spooks? I would do it in a heartbeat if i was still in harness. Hmmmmm……
Alfred Kelgarries @ 76
… and he had non- procreating sex 5 times in one day during the last campaign …
P J Evans @ 82
Oh yes it does. he may “legally” be allowed to be catholic, just like a president can “legally” be an atheist. Just don’t try it in practice. Again, unless england has changed way more than I think it has, this is a big deal and will hurt the labor party badly unless they toss him out fast.
P J Evans @ 82
as a former subject of the commonwealth and baptised in the church of england, I can tell you this is a big deal.
Hugh @ 80
We came, we saw, we cut loose…
Alfred Kelgarries @ 84
AK, I’ve been saying all along, the patriots who lay their lives on the line (various intel networks) are going to bring these guys down, using Congress and the Constitution … it’s going to be beautiful to behold!
randiego @ 87
Thank you. I haven’t been to blighty in a decade or so, but my history lessons are clear and firm in my mind.
Petrocelli @ 89
AMEN, BROTHER! Where do i send my check?
P J Evans @ 82
Agreed, but he has misled the people on his religious preference by keeping this secret.
Interesting comments.
Alfred Kelgarries @ 84
Sounds to me like something strange is going on. Remember a week or so ago all the talk about the Bush camp vs the Cheney camp regarding Iran? Now, Cheeeeney claiming equality with the president, yet somehow falling outside of everything. 4th Branch sounds like he wants to override the President. He IS head of the Navy to some degree…think about Fallon…and the Gulf…and all the ships over there…also, all of the lawyering up on Bush’s side. Another thing, Cheney is close to Scalia should a power grab by the VP go to the SCOTUS (farfetched I’m sure).
P J Evans @ 82
True, but it raises the question of why he hid this fact, especially since he went out of his way to play up his religiosity. You might wonder why if Blair had no problem making his religiosity part of his public persona he bothered to hide this aspect of it. It’s not that he’s Catholic but why he thought he needed to hide it that’s the story.
Alfred @ #76,
Haven’t there been Catholic PMs in the past? Since they changed the oath of state for Disraeli, it doesn’t appear to me that there would be any hindrance for a Catholic to serve as PM. I can’t find a list of the religions of PMs of the UK. I suppose it would be mostly quite boring. Wellington was the first outside of the direct Anglican Communion, IIRC - he was Church of Ireland.
Alfred Kelgarries @ 66
He’s probably one of those who couldn’t hack the Anglican church’s decision to ordain women.
Alfred Kelgarries @ 91
The thing that really upsets me, is that the Dems have not gone to the MSM and raised this issue
… how many of our people have been tortured and/or killed because of the traitors that Libby is hiding from prosecution.
dakine01 @ 88
As ye sew, so shall ye rip.
Steve @ 14
While I totally agree with you Steve on “un-audited faith based dollars”, don’t you think it is a far stretch of the imagination to label as many churches, and demoninations as you have under the umbrella of “growth in infrastructure” implying that in some way they are getting money for their infrastructure from the government?
I can assure you that right now my church is in the process of building a $700,000. dollar activity center. And yes, we do have the money. Not one red cent is coming from any faith based initiative. And by the way my church is non-denominational.
My own personal philosophy is to keep government as far away from my faith as possible. No good can come of the two being intertwined for either. If I had my way there would be no faith-based initiatives of any kind. Period.
Maybe you can kind of tell that I am one of those big believers in separation of church and state. *g*.
For gawds sakes, AK, what are they waiting on?
dakine01 @ 88
“all we are is (saw)dust in the wind”
Ed*ard Teller @ 96
No ET, you are right and I think there have been. The difference, as noted above is that Blair LIED about it. That combined with the still present concern in english circles about papal interference will make this an important story in england, IMHO.
spurious @ 99
nice riff.
LS @ 94
Coup d’etat?
Eureka Springs @ 101
The right moment. When you have only one bullet, you have to make it count. been there, done that (bureaucratically speaking only).
Hugh @ 95
My mother couldn’t go anywhere near catholic boys growing up, and we’re not even English, we’re Australian. In England it’s a bigger deal. (note to catholics - i’m not religious at all and couldn’t really care less)
I don’t believe the prime minister is required to be protestant (remember Disraeli?). It’s probably politically better, but AFAIK the not-RC requirement applies only to the throne. (There are quite a few people who have been cut out of line for marrying Catholics.)
Donita’s in the spin upstairs