The Fundamentalist Right: an oxymoron

We’ve learned a lot from this election. We’ve learned that Jerry Springer airs on PBS in Oklahoma. We learned that we should post signs on the side of the highway when you cross the Mason/Dixon line that say, 'Caution: Minds Narrow’. We learned that we must never forget that there is a large section of the country where the terms “cousins once removed” and “coitus interruptus” are pretty much the same thing. We learned that “compassionate conservatives” are most conservative with their compassion. We learned that the reason they call it America’s Heartland is because clearly the brain is not there. But mostly we have learned that if we’re not extra special very careful, America is going to hang itself with it's Bible Belt.
I know that for the next four years we’ll have to get used to seeing the clock set back on many of the advances we’ve made over the last century. These changes will be accompanied by odd ironies and logic that just don’t make sense to those of us who live outside of the faith-based community.
And come 2008 Americans will ask each other, “Are you better off now than you were 400 years ago?”
The fundamentalists want to eliminate sex education in the schools. Abstinence is the answer. Ever notice most of these folks who preach abstinence as a way to temper appetites are 75 pounds overweight? Go to Disneyland just to be sure.
Masturbation is a sin and will be outlawed. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop. Masturbation is “self abuse”. Masturbation is “abuse” and boxing is a sport. I personally only once suffered a knockout, but I was in training.
They don't want teenagers to have condoms, in that "Silence of the Lambskins" campaign they’re running. Then they still try to blame teen sex on rock and roll music. Teenagers have sex because they're horny and because of peer pressure. If you're going to peg teen sex on rock and roll, why don't we just blame incest on Country and Western?
Regarding a woman’s right to choose, everyone is entitled to their beliefs; this is America. My belief happens to be that life begins when you start minding your own fucking business. I have a theory that the religious right wants to haul all of the coat hangers out of the closet to make room for the gays they want to shove back in. Remember, class: "Sodomy is evil". Unless it's a Glow Stick up an Iraqi prisoner's ass, lighting the way for Freedom across the globe. Then it's a Toby Keith song.
And, finally, they refuse to believe in evolution. That part I can understand, actually. Because if you subscribe to the theory of evolution, well then, there's a tacit obligation to PARTICIPATE in evolution. For some people that's a little too much pressure. Many of the righteous can’t recognize that Faith is a way to avoid responsibility. It’s always the people with recessive genes who don't believe in evolution. “I believe in Creationism,” they’ll say. Really? I believe in critical thought. But then, my reading matter is a little more up to date than yours.

Mike Dugan-C&L

Prose before Hos: Average Assets of Americans compared to Presidential Candidates.

Al Qaeda in Albuquerque: Run on W's record, or run on the Constitution

pm carpenter's commentary: Mitt Romney -- a greased slab of elaborate demagoguery in motion"

Edicts of Nancy (satire): Dinosaurs had teen pregnancies, too, which proves to white trash "Christianists" that the earth is 6,000 years old.

Debate Tracker has clips from all the debates thus far.

If this isn't enough links for you, by pure coincidence my own humble blog is hosting Carnival of the Liberals today. Ten more great liberal blogs to choose from. I'll be here all week try the veal and send tips to bluegalsblog AT gmail DOT com .

The WaPo reported the other day that at least 14 states have “either notified the federal government that they will no longer be requesting [sex education] funds or are not expected to apply,” because the Bush administration mandates abstinence-only lessons in public schools receiving the funding.

“We’re concerned about this,” said Stan Koutstaal of the Department of Health and Human Services, which runs the program. “My greatest concern about states dropping out is that these are valuable services and programs. It’s the youths in these states who are missing out.”

Actually, that’s backwards. The youths are better off with actual sex-ed.

Teenagers who have had formal sex education are far more likely to put off having sex, contradicting earlier studies on the effectiveness of such programs, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

They found teenage boys who had sex education in school were 71 percent less likely to have intercourse before age 15, and teen girls who had sex education were 59 percent less likely to have sex before age 15.

Sex education also increased the likelihood that teen boys would use contraceptives the first time they had sex, according to the study by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Whaddaya know; giving young people reliable, accurate information about sexual health leads to safer, more responsible behavior. Maybe someone get pass word along to the Bush administration.

Download | play Download | play (h/t Heather for vids)

On Tuesday's Live with Dan Abrams, Dan discussed with Air America's Rachel Maddow and National Abstinence Education Association's Valerie Huber (who has faced criticism for her anti-gay and religious overtones in pushing abstinence) the recent findings that the teen birth rate has risen:

In a troubling reversal, the nation's teen birth rate rose for the first time in 15 years, surprising government health officials and reviving the bitter debate about abstinence-only sex education.

The birth rate had been dropping since its peak in 1991, although the decline had slowed in recent years. On Wednesday, government statisticians said it rose 3 percent from 2005 to 2006.

However, some experts said they have been expecting a jump. They blamed it on increased federal funding for abstinence-only health education that doesn't teach teens how to use condoms and other contraception. Read on...

Add to that the rise in sexually transmitted diseases among our teens and you've got a Republican recipe for disaster for our kids.

Firedoglake has more... (thanks to Nicole for her assistance)

Those who are concerned with reality probably didn’t need more evidence that abstinence-only programs don't work, but we have some anyway. The nonpartisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy released the results of its latest research project this week.

“At present there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence or reduces the number of sexual partners” among teenagers, the study concluded. […]

The study found that while abstinence-only efforts appear to have little positive impact, more comprehensive sex education programs were having “positive outcomes” including teenagers “delaying the initiation of sex, reducing the frequency of sex, reducing the number of sexual partners and increasing condom or contraceptive use.”

“Two-thirds of the 48 comprehensive programs that supported both abstinence and the use of condoms and contraceptives for sexually active teens had positive behavior effect,” said the report.

You mean, simply telling teenagers not to have sex doesn’t work? And quality, comprehensive education does? And the Bush administration insists on supporting the prior while rejecting the latter? You don’t say.

In the humble opinion of a this midwestern blogger (I was born in Ohio of Illinois stock) you can't really understand the Midwest or sex without watching every single episode of the "Midwest Teen Sex Show." Don't worry, like much of the Midwest, there's no actual sex in it.

But it is very informative about sex. And the Midwest. Hey, we all have areas where we need to learn.

Open Thread below. Happy hump day Wednesday.

I noticed that Oliver Willis wrote last night, "National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez has a Rick Santorum moment and says the reason a bestiality case happened in Massachusetts is because of gay marriage."

I thought he was kidding. He wasn't. Under a headline that read "Slippery Slope?" Lopez, wrote:

Just a coincidence that this happened in Massachusetts?

Sherborn teen charged with bestiality

(And no I'm not equating men and dogs.)

No, she was equating gay marriage with bestiality. Lopez has since apologized, but what kind of worldview leads someone to draw such a conclusion in the first place?

There you go...The Aqua Teen hunger Force caused havoc in Boston...I happen to like Robot Chicken.

Turner's Statement:

The "packages" in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger. They are part of an outdoor marketing campaign in 10 cities in support of Adult Swim's animated television show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. They have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Parent company Turner Broadcasting is in contact with local and federal law enforcement on the exact locations of the billboards.

We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger.

Update: Here's the story

None of the Republican leaders will answer any questions after they issue their statements:

"I know Denny Hastert. I meet with him a lot. He is a father, teacher, coach who cares about the children of this country," Bush said. "I know that he wants all the facts to come out." Bush took no questions. And as he stepped toward his motorcade, the president ignored a shouted question directly asking whether Hastert should resign.

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Bush supports the guy who is supposed to protect the kids. He knew about Foley for a long time and did nothing. That's leadership! Remember Abu Ghraib? It was just a few lowly nobodies that went rogue on us.

Digby:

Dennis Hastert's office was warned that this was an issue. (According to this morning's interview on CNN, he was warned about it in the context of "campaign issues" which is telling in and of itself.) As the Speaker of the House, the buck stops with him. He can try to rationalize his behavior all he wants, but the fact is that he was told that there was suspicion that a congressman was preying on the teen aged congressional pages and he failed to ensure that it was fully investigated and dealt with. (He allowed the guy to continue to co-sponsor the child abduction and abuse legislation that was signed into law just last July.) Come on....read on

King of Zembla: The death, three years ago, of British weapons inspector David Kelly smelled at the time. It stinks now.

Democrats.com: Republican hypocrisy on teen pregnancy

Confined Space: Unions petition OSHA to deal with a slow-motion chemical disaster.

Orcinus: That head-scratchin' right-wing logic

The Poor Man Institute: Your professional pundit class in action

Take a look at this powerful video from Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America