Abstinence message goes beyond teens

Sharon Jayson reports in USA TODAY:

The federal government's "no sex without marriage" message isn't just for kids anymore.

Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs, which include millions of dollars in federal money that will be available to the states under revised federal grant guidelines for 2007.

You've GOT to be kidding me.

Abstinence only programs are a case of wishful thinking on the part of it's proponents.

According to a 2005 American Academy of Pediatrics study, Abstinence only programs cause an increase in teen pregnancy. Sex ed programs that include contraception information, accurate STD information and Abstinence caused the greatest reduction in teen pregnancy.

National Right to Life, without any research to support the claim, insists that providing any sex education other than Abstinence only causes teen pregnancy rates to skyrocket.

Here is an article about that American Academy of Pediatrics study:

Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2005 American Academy of Family Physicians

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently published a clinical report on the state of adolescent pregnancy in the United States. "Adolescent Pregnancy: Current Trends and Issues" can be found in the July 2005 issue of Pediatrics and is available online at http://www.pediatrics.org.

Recently the percentage of adolescents who are sexually active has decreased; however, more than 45 percent of current high school-aged females and 48 percent of high school-aged males report having had sexual intercourse. The average age at first intercourse is 16 years for males and 17 years for females.

According to the report, use of contraception by adolescents is increasing, but 50 percent of all adolescent pregnancies occur within six months of first intercourse. In 2003, almost one half of sexually active adolescents reported not using a condom the last time they had intercourse. many adolescents who reported using prescription contraceptives indicated a gap of at least one year between the time that they first had intercourse and the time that they visited a physician to seek a prescription contraceptive.

The United States has the highest adolescent birth rate among industrialized nations. Nearly 900,000 U.S. teenagers become pregnant each year, according to the report, and four in 10 women have been pregnant at least once before 20 years of age. Approximately 51 percent of adolescent pregnancies end in live birth, 35 percent in induced abortion, and 14 percent in miscarriage or stillbirth. Twenty-five percent of adolescent births are not first births, and the risk for pregnancy increases after an adolescent has had one infant.

Significantly more adolescents who live in poverty become pregnant than do those from higher-income families. The total percentage of adolescents who live in low-income families is 38 percent; however, 83 percent of adolescents who give birth and 61 percent who have abortions are from low-income families. Similar to adolescent mothers, adolescent fathers are more likely than their peers to come from low-income families, have poor academic performance, drop out of school, and have decreased income potential.

The report indicates that in 2001, almost 79 percent of all adolescents who gave birth were unmarried, a statistic that has been rising since 1971. more than 90 percent of pregnant patients 15 to 19 years of age said their pregnancies were unplanned.

Pregnant patients younger than 17 years have a higher risk of medical complications than do older patients. Compared with adults, adolescents give birth to twice as many low birth weight infants, and the neonatal mortality rate is three times higher. Although still low, the maternal mortality rate is twice as high for adolescents. Adolescent pregnancy is associated with poor maternal weight gain, prematurity, pregnancy-induced hypertension, anemia, sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse, and poor nutritional intake. Adolescent pregnancy also causes psychosocial problems such as interruption of school, persistent poverty, limited vocational
opportunities, separation from the child's father, divorce, and repeat pregnancy. The children of adolescent mothers are at higher risk for developmental delays, academic difficulties, behavior disorders, substance abuse, early sexual activity, depression, and adolescent pregnancy.

The AAP reports that the most successful programs to prevent adolescent pregnancy include the promotion of abstinence along with information on and dissemination of contraception, sexuality education, school-completion programs, and job training. Parents, schools, religious institutions, physicians, social and government agencies, and adolescents themselves all should be a part of successful prevention programs. Research shows that discussion of contraception does not increase sexual activity, and programs that promote abstinence along with contraception do not decrease contraceptive use.

Thomson Gale Document Number:A138654652

Emphasis Mine

Breakfast time for Cheyenne

Echo and Bean attack some Dandelion Greens

Dr Ruth was a sniper..?

The diminutive Dr. Ruth, whose family was killed in the Holocaust, was trained as a sniper in the Israeli Military.

"When I was in my routine training for the Israeli army as a teenager, they discovered completely by chance that I was a lethal sniper. I could hit the target smack in the center further away than anyone could believe. Not just that, even though I was tiny and not even much of an athlete, I was incredibly accurate throwing hand grenades too. Even today I can load a Sten automatic rifle in a single minute, blindfolded." -Dr. Ruth

The Office + Heroes

The Office + Heroes = This

Iraq War De-escalation Act

Bush failed to define the conditions under which US Troops would leave Iraq.

One of the vital preparatory steps for a war is to define "Victory" so you know when you can leave. Bush has failed to do this for "The War on Terror" and the Iraq war.

The Democrats are in favor of creating specific milestones for when troops leave Iraq, and have outlined those milestones a number of times. The claim that the Democrats "Have no plan"or "Lack Specifics" is an absurd one, based more on Pundit talking points than reality.

The specifics are spelled out in the "Iraq War De-escalation Act" which is discussed at a high level in a recent Barak Obama Podcast.

End Times Rant

I'm Christian, and I'm tired of all the lunatics who are focused on the "End Times."

Ever since Christ was Crucified, there have been splinter groups sitting around waiting for his return. It's been 2,000 years and he hasn't come back yet.

Here's a clue for ya'all. He probably won't come back within the next 2,000 years. Spending your time focused on "The Return of Christ" or "the Rapture" does nothing but distract you from doing Christ's work on Earth NOW.

Look not to the end of time, but to the end of your own life. You will die, we all will. Those who babble about "The Rapture" are living in a fantasy land. Yes, Revelations describes the faithful being taken to Heaven "In the twinkling of an eye" but if you READ the book, you see it happens AFTER the tribulation and the rise of the Anti-Christ.

Read the New Testament and take a look at how Christ told us to live, and then try to live that way. Stop the mental masturbation of focusing on the "End Times." All it does is distract you from being a Good Christian HERE and NOW.

Besides, if your soul is prepared for your own Death, you'll be ready for the End of the World anyway.

On a lighter note

Crossing Jordon fans will be amused to learn that Nigel has a Blog.

Not the actor who plays Nigel (Although he may have a blog) but NBC has a blog for the character.

To make things even more amusing, the episode premiering the first Wednesday in March will feature his Blog as a plot point, and if you check out his blog, you can see references to the "Serial killer taunting Nigel" that will be the villain of the episode.

Why are all these ducks pecking me?

The Good

So the morning started off with a Whuffle deciding I needed to have Beanbag plopped on the bed with me.

This is a very pleasant way to wake up, as I get to clear the cobwebs from my head by scritching a bunny, and Beanbag tends to be rather cuddly.

Just before I left for work, I noticed the answering machine had a message. It seems Whuffle had called me ask me to program the VCR to record Crossing Jordan tonight. I checked the NBC web site and found that the schedule change happens NEXT week. I didn't program the VCR, but I did get to see a hilarious deleted scene featuring a Wardrobe Malfunction (SFW)

Things Get Annoying

I left work in a fairly good mood, if a bit late. Then I got pulled over by a cop. It seems going with the flow of traffic had put me close to 20 miles over the speed limit. I gave the officer my license and registration and he got a very sour look on his face.

"Any relation to the Matt Miller on Sea Street?" he asked.

"Not that I know of," I honestly replied.

"How long have you lived here?"

"Since Mid December."

He then visibly relaxed and became very friendly. He asked if I'd been pulled over before, I said no, he told me a bit about the traffic enforcement in the area and let me off with a warning.

The whole stop took close to half an hour. While I only got a written warning, I did get the unpleasant information that I apparently have the same name as someone who lives nearby and is NOT a favorite with the local police.

Would you like a cup of water that once saw a single coffee bean?

I wanted some coffee when I got to work. I'll spare the details and skip to the executive summary. The coffee maker at work is leaking. I thought it was the carafe, and switched it, but it's the device itself. The actual coffee goes out onto the counter while the carafe gets lukewarm water that has a vague coffee flavor. The cup of coffee I managed to get out of the debacle is the single most tepid, watered down excuse for coffee I can remember having. It's downright Homeopathic and it took 20 minutes and half a roll of paper towels to make.

Oh, and the foam plates the company provides melt when you put a freshly toasted bagel on them.

Would John McCain work to end abortion as president?

onenewsnow.com has a Poll up asking "if you believe John McCain would sincerely work to end abortion if he is elected president". 65% of the readers voted "Absolutely."

I find their faith in him amusing, as there isn't a snowball's chance in hell of him actually trying to end Abortion. He might get a few laws passed to restrict it, but that's it.

He's a politician, and abortion is an issue that can be used to whip voters into a frenzy. What's more, it's a "Litmus test" issue for many people. As long as he's vocally against abortion, millions will vote for him regardless of any other factor.

If abortion were eliminated, many Conservative Politicians would have to earn the votes of a block that's already in their pocket.

Think about it. If The Republicans were as against abortion as they claim, why was a constitutional amendment to end it never even proposed in the six years that the Republicans controlled the White House, the Senate and the House?

A new Republican stragegy for getting out of Iraq

GOP congressman: U.S. troops should not be policing Iraqi 'civil war'

As I said on digg.com's link about this article:

This is a clever strategy to "win" in Iraq.

1. Declare that the US should only be dealing with insurgents, not the civil war violence.



2. Ignore all violence committed by Sunni, classifying it as part of the civil war. Since most the insurgents are Sunni, this allows the US to classify the insurgents as part of the Civil War that the US isn't supposed to be involved in.



3. Declare the insurgents crushed, and offer lip service and condolences to the Iraq government on it's inability to deal with it's Civil War, which the US shouldn't be involved in anyway.



4. Leave, all the while tsk tsking at the Iraq government for their failure to deal with their own Civil War, despite all the US training and weapons.



5. When the Iraq government falls, moan about Islam being hostile to Democracy, and toppling a perfectly good government for the sake of religious hatred. remember, this is Iraq being defeated by internal strife, not the USA being defeated.

It's a brilliant strategy and downright Machiavellian in it's operation. It lets the USA declare victory without actually accomplishing anything more than toppling Saddam. As long as the subsequent government sells Oil using the US Dollar and not the Euro, the US won't invade again. (What, you thought we invaded Iraq over WMDs or a Bush family Grudge?)

A Bumper sticker for the 2008 elections

from blipbits.blogspot.com

Cheyenne, curious and snuffling

Cheyenne, a view from above

Conspiring Bunnies Part II

This morning, the trio were once again nuzzled together apparently plotting some devious act. This time however, they started breaking up the meeting as soon as I walked over, so I didn't get any photos of them huddled.

I decided to break up the meeting with some greenery. In retrospect though, I'm not sure if I derailed their conspiratorial plots, or if I merely provided refreshments.

Conspiring Bunnies, Echo Notices They're Being Watched!

Conspiring Bunnies

More memories of Winnipeg

Base of the three story fountain, taken from the second floor

A photo of the three story tall fountain in a Winnipeg, MB Mall

Compensating much?