The Washington Post reports the following, under the headline "Abstinence-only programs might work, study says": Sex education classes that focus on encouraging children to remain abstinent can persuade a significant proportion to delay sexual activity, researchers reported Monday in a landmark study that could have major implications for U.S. efforts to protect young people against unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted … Read More
Anne Frank, Pornographer
It takes a very special sort of stick-up-the-assness to ban The Diary of Anne Frank as being too suggestive ("sexual explcit material" and "homosexual themes") but damned if a town in Virginia didn't do it.
A Power Couple
Two seniors from UNC were awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University this weekend — which only went to 32 recipients. The cool thing is that they are boyfriend and girlfriend.
Has-Been Kirk Cameron’s Latest Hijinx
The former Growing Pains star, who has gone full-blown creationist now that the plum roles are no longer coming his way, has teamed up with other anti-evolutionists in what he imagines to be a clever ploy to teach people about how bad evolutionary science is: The ‘Growing Pains’ alum released a video last week announcing that on Nov. 19, he and other … Read More
Memo To Hollywood
The Texas State Board of Education needs to be made into a situation comedy a la The Office. Just sayin'.
Vox Idiot
Just something random I saw: My child is home today. She will not be forced to endure Obama's speech, given by Obama. I read it, printed it off, and I will discuss it with her. Then as we discuss it, I'll tell her the reasons I did not want Obama or the school district deciding that we HAD to hear … Read More
It’s Like He’s A Child Molester…
From Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, (where Obama is delivering his indoctrination into socialism speech this morning):
Obama Scheduled To Turn All Schoolchildren Into Socialists
Less than two hours away. The best write-up on this non-issue comes from Forbes writer Tunku Caradarajan in an article aptly titled "Too Many Kooks": The Silly Season ceases to be "silly" when what passes for political debate in America turns not merely stupid or witless, but certifiably demented. I write of the kooky reaction of many conservatives–politicians, citizens and … Read More
Thoughts Of The Day Re Obama’s Indoctrination Speech
How long did it take the right to go from: "if you criticize the President you are a traitor" to "School children should not trust the President." But seriously, what IS it with the objection to President Obama talking with school children and encouraging them to study hard and learn and do well? I mean, it's not like he's going … Read More
The Latest Rightwing Freakout
On September 8, President Obama will speak to schoolchildren throughout the country. He's going to convey a rather standard message. In an August 26 letter to principals, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan described Obama's September 8 speech as being about "the importance of education" and "persisting and succeeding in school." Duncan also offered K-12 "classroom activities" to "engage students and … Read More
Texas Board of Education At It Again
These guys kill me: The [Texas] State Board of Education has appointed “review committees” made up largely of active and retired school teachers to draft new social studies curriculum standards as well as six “expert reviewers” to help shape the final document. The standards, which the board will decide next spring, will influence new history, civics and geography textbooks. The … Read More
North Carolina Perspective On Obama
Perhaps some of my friends up north don't understand why I blog so often about the birthers. And that might be because the birther movement truly is fringe up north. But not here in North Carolina. According to a Public Policy Poll released yesterday, only 24% of self-identified Republican voters in North Carolina believe Barack Obama was born in the United States. … Read More
Graphing Youth Sex Habits
I pulled some interesting charts from the today-released CDC report on STDs among youth. Apparently, there was an increase in teen pregnancies and youth STDs during the Bush years. Here are the charts: TABLE 22. (Continued) Estimated number of cases and cumulative rates* of persons aged 10–24 years living with acquired immune deficiency syndrome, by age group and area of … Read More
A Beauty Pageant Queen I Can … Uh… Get Behind
What with Miss South Carolina trying to answer a question about "US Americans" lack of geographic knowledge, and Miss "I forgot I posed naked" California's getting all "gays are ungodly" in our face, I've done a fair share of beauty-pageant-winner bashing on this blog. So I'm more than happy to read (and report) this: After winning the Miss Georgia title Saturday night … Read More
Scientists Go To Creation Museum: “It’s Rather Scary”
Amusing story in the New York Times: PETERSBURG, Ky. — Tamaki Sato was confused by the dinosaur exhibit. The placards described the various dinosaurs as originating from different geological periods — the stegosaurus from the Upper Jurassic, the heterodontosaurus from the Lower Jurassic, the velociraptor from the Upper Cretaceous — yet in each case, the date of demise was the … Read More