Caroline McCarthy makes some excellent points below. However, for me the crux of the issue is that Abstinence Education just doesn’t work. Denial of the thoughts and feelings that surge through pubescent human beings is just too much to expect. Its part of our nature as humans to procreate. I mean g— didn’t say:”Be fruitful, avoid multiplication!”
This whole situation that the first family of Alaska is in reminds me of something a great man once told me:
“Denali is not just a forest in Alaska”
caro:
I’d have suddently gained an extraordinary amount of respect for Sarah Palin, her daughter, and her family if they had come clean about the pregnancy and then said that Bristol would be putting the child up for adoption. There are thousands of wonderful American couples, gay and straight, who would make terrific parents and due to various issues are unable to have children of their own. And it would be a fantastic example for the scores of other 17-year-old girls in this country who also find themselves pregnant and do not want to seek abortions.
But going the Jamie Lynn Spears route and saying, “Oh, yes, she’ll be keeping the baby and marrying the father” is troubling. If this is what Sarah Palin thinks is an ideal route for young women in the 21st century, then I think we have just taken six thousand massive leaping steps backwards.
I’m in Maine right now, and about an hour ago David and I were driving in pursuit of tasty, yummy lobster rolls, with the windows rolled down as we sang along to Miley Cyrus on the radio (DON’T HATE, YOU KNOW YOU DO THIS TOO) and I thought about how sorry I feel for young women like Bristol Palin (and, to a lesser extent, Miss Jamie Lynn). David and I are 22 and 23. It pains me to think that there are kids much younger than us who believe the only choice they have is to be rushed into a marriage and raising a child. They have so many wonderful experiences ahead of them.
Who knows? Maybe all the girl has ever wanted to do is get hitched and start popping ‘em out. Which brings me back to how she got that mindset, and the aforementioned six thousand massive leaping steps backwards.
Newton / Leibniz so different, yet so good, each in his own right
I was in my local store (the Red Hook Fairway) and grabbed pictures of these cookies. (portraits courtesy of Wiki Commons) These guys were so different, like Chocolate and Fig spread but apparently they have a common bond in the supermarket aisle.
John B’s 2 cents: We need to pay attention to graphs like this. We need to be discussing this as a nation and not $4 a gallon gas.
this (a link to it) was left in the discussion of my “changes I want to see” post.
it refutes the supply side economics lies that have been told successfully by the republicans for hte past 30 years
via perotcharts.com
President of Planned Parenthood and daughter of late Gov. of Texas Ann Richards Cecile Richards (via whatcriscilikes) (via antikris) (via smartblonde)
I think that if chickens could vote for Colonel Sanders, they would. They have got to know how delicious they are!
(via onemoretimewithfeeling)