Morning No: Different Priorities

by: Natasha Chart

Wed Mar 31, 2010 at 07:09

- Obama finally makes some recess appointments. Craig Becker is in, labor should be happy. Dawn Johnsen isn't, more evidence the president thinks women's health care is icky. Islam Siddiqui, a notorious pesticide pusher from an industry association that freaked out about the White House organic garden, is in.

- In case you missed it, health insurance reform added back $250 million to abstinence-only education, a program known to have no lasting effect on teen sexual behavior besides to reduce condom and birth control use.

- If you follow environmental issues, you probably know that ExxonMobil has been a huge funder of climate science denial. Though as it turns out, Koch industries is the biggest supporter of climate misinformation, outspending Exxon Mobil by close to 3:1. If you don't follow environmental politics though, Koch's funding of Heritage, Cato and the Manhattan Institute probably puts a wrench in your day now and again, anyhow.

- KBR will finally have to face Jamie Leigh Jones in court after she was raped by several fellow KBR employees, locked in a shipping container and then told by the company that her contract barred her from suing them over it.

- Russia reels from a second set of twin suicide bomb attacks in Dagestan, a North Caucasus republic. A local police official is among the 12 dead.

- The systemic implications of peak oil are all very well and good, but peak copper?

- Pedophiles and their accomplices seem to have no end of enablers. Eeeew.

- The wingnuts, they're coming for your Social Security. And they might have plenty of friends at the president's deficit commission. Via Avedon.

- Here's the lowdown on government housing support programs, along with the bad news that not only might the market not be coming back, it might be headed for another dive.

- A small amount of chocolate every day may be good for your heart. I know what I'm getting at the store today.

Increase in teen birth rate AND abstinence-only lies

by: Amplify Your Voice

Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 14:00

Last week, Capitol Hill was deluged with false talking points from the abstinence-only crowd, as they held their annual "Abstinence on the Hill" Lobby Day. While I've gone over several of these falsehoods ("0%" of comprehensive sex education programs talk about abstinence, "0%" of unintended pregnancies would have been prevented with contraceptive access), one that was repeatedly mentioned and deserves some attention is their claim that comprehensive sex education receives more money than abstinence-only education. Several referred to the "fact" that it receives "double" the funding, or "ten times" the funding. All they wanted was "parity" in funding between the two programs.

Counter the abstinence-only Lobby on Capitol Hill today!

by: Amplify Your Voice

Wed Mar 11, 2009 at 07:30

This morning, the National Abstinence Education Association is holding its annual Capitol Hill Lobby Day. They will have meetings all day with legislators on the Hill, asking them to continue funding their abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Yes, this is despite the fact that study after independent study has shown abstinence-only programs to be ineffective, and that $1.5 billion of our taxes have already been thrown into this failure.

Tell Obama: send out the abstinence clowns!

by: Amplify Your Voice

Wed Feb 04, 2009 at 17:46

For the past three weeks, we have chronicled the sad tale of Derek Dye, the abstinence clown. Derek is employed by an organization that received an $800,000 CBAE grant in 2007 to promote abstinence-only until marriage sex education. He juggles, he misleads, he... frightens. And his qualifications for teaching middle schoolers about sex? A "Bachelor of Fun Arts" from Barnum Bailey Clown College, and an abstinence educator certification that can be purchased for $50. If you haven't seen the video yet, seriously.... check it out, it is amazing. Don't drink anything while watching it or you'll ruin your keyboard.

To date, we have spent $1.5 billion on these failed, ridiculous abstinence-only sex education initiatives. IT MUST. STOP. NOW.

Right now, President Obama is hard at work on his first budget for the fiscal year 2010, and this is your time to weigh in and make sure that he ZEROES OUT funding for this program.

Click here to TELL PRESIDENT OBAMA TO SEND OUT THE CLOWNS! Stop funding failed abstinence-only-until-marriage programs!

We know that President Obama has stated that he supports medically accurate, age-appropriate sex education to help young people make responsible, healthy decisions. But we also know that the president is under direct pressure from Republicans and conservative Democrats that have kept this funding alive in the past two years. They will do everything they can to keep funding these failed programs, and will also try to block funding for responsible, comprehensive sex education. (We all remember this HORRIBLE McCain attack ad from last year on Obama's sex ed policy "for kindergartners", right?)

This is why it is so important to let President Obama hear your voices right now. We must convince him to stand strong against the social conservatives and do the right thing.

TELL PRESIDENT OBAMA TO SEND OUT THE CLOWNS! Stop funding for failed abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, and fund comprehensive sex ed!

Derek Dye the abstinence clown is one person who we actually won't mind seeing in the unemployment line!