Why You Don't Want Rick Perry Making Decisions About Your Sex Life (Illustrated)

Update: Perry and the HPV Vaccine: Selling Women's Health (and Everything Else) to the Highest Bidder more

Why You Don't Want Rick Perry Making Decisions About Your Sex Life

The belief that sex is "immoral" pushes Conservatives to support abstinence-only, sex-is-immoral education and policy, even though it is proven to be harmful.
By Amanda Marcotte
August 22, 2011

Governor Rick Perry of Texas has thrown his hat into the presidential contender ring, and his nascent campaign has quickly came to demonstrate why the blurring of the distinctions between church and state are so dangerous, especially to women. His campaign has surprisingly been even more of a demonstration of this than that of Michele Bachmann’s, even though the mainstream media consensus is Bachmann is more of a theocrat. Part of the reason is that Perry has been the governor of Texas for over a decade now, and his experience and power as an executive has simply given him more chances to blur the lines….and more reasons to be called out for it.

The incident that got the most attention was Perry’s prayer rally in Houston, TX, where Perry, in what many (including myself) consider a flagrant violation of the First Amendment, led 30,000 evangelical Christians in a day of prayers for the state and the nation. Perry’s contempt for constitutional restrictions on government establishing an official religion throws into stark relief how much the anti-choice movement, to which he is currently pandering as hard as he can, is basically just one arm of an overall theocratic movement in the U.S. to wed state to a very particular interpretation of the Bible.

To begin with, Perry did show some sign of willingness to separate church and state while governor, when he issued an executive order requiring girls in Texas entering the 6th grade to be vaccinated against HPV. This is how it should be. Regardless of one’s personal religious convictions about female sexuality, when you’re the governor, your job is not setting the religious dogma for the state, but prioritizing the public's health. HPV is a public health issue (just because you personally may feel contracting HPV is just desserts for having sex, the people you pass it to may not be burdened with such anti-sex superstitions) and Perry acted like an executive handling this public health issue, and not a theocrat foisting his own sexual judgments on his citizens.

From a previous comment of mine:When I started reading about Perry's stance on the HPV vacine, (£300/$600 per patient) I thought, he's being a bit progressive here, until that was, I read about his connection to Merck.

Of course he had to take it all back, claiming it was all a mistake and that he should have left the decision to the legislature, knowing full well the fundamentalist-heavy state legislature would have killed the requirement. The fact that Perry feels he has to apologize for putting the health of Texas girls ahead of fundamentalist over-the-top hatred of female sexuality--hatred that now runs so deep that they support letting 4,000 women a year die of cervical cancer rather than do anything that could be construed as accepting that sex happens---is just one example of how much the theocrats have taken control of our political process. And how they intend to flex that power by attacking the very concept of a healthy sexuality.

Also indicative of the problem was Perry’s response to a question about sex education in light of empirical evidence that abstinence-only doesn’t work. Perry, unable to deal with the conflict between the demands of fundamentalists that secular government promote their dangerous views of sex as deeply sinful and the demands of public health, flubbed the question. Paul Waldman of the American Prospect explained the flub:

Liberals may think that conservatives support abstinence education because they believe it will reduce teen pregnancy, when the truth is that stopping teen pregnancy is at best a minor consideration for conservatives. If there’s going to be any discussion of sex in school at all, they believe it ought to express the categorical moral position that sex is vile and dirty and sinful, until you do it with your spouse, at which point it becomes beautiful and godly (you’ll forgive a bit of caricature). The fact that abstinence-only education is far less effective at reducing teen pregnancy than comprehensive sex-ed isn’t something they’re pleased about, but it doesn’t change their conviction about the moral value that ought to be expressed……

Not sure if this guy has aspirations to become a Republican Governor, but he certainly seems qualified for it when you read the details of his manifesto.

So while it’s true that Rick Perry is not a particularly smart guy, the difficulty he has here comes from the fact that his stance on sex education is about 95 percent moral and 5 percent practical.

Waldman's right, but the problem runs even deeper than liberal empiricism vs. conservative “morality.” (I question a “morality” that hates something as life-affirming as sex, and believes that it’s so sinful it should result in disease, life destruction, and even death for people who engage in it outside of their incredibly strict parameters.) The problem goes right to the separation of church and state. The belief that sex is “immoral” isn’t a standard-issue moral belief shared across cultural or religious differences, unlike other moral beliefs such as the wrongness of murder or stealing. This is a question of religious freedom, and whether or not religious beliefs that sex is wrong should be imposed on minors. Standing with religious freedom means standing with comprehensive sex education and mandatory HPV vaccines, on the grounds that people who get these things will still be free to believe sex is wrong. In fact, whether or not your religion teaches that sex is dirty, you still benefit from vaccination and education---that way, if you slip up and have sex, you can have a clean, pure guilt trip of self-hatred without having a bunch of unnecessary health problems. And if you ever get over your commitment to such a misanthropic, sex-phobic faith, you will be able to start your new, sex-positive life with a clean bill of health.

But even more for the rest of us, we should have secular, evidence-based policy instead of fundamentalist faith-based policy not just because it has better health outcomes for everyone, but also because the belief that church and state should be separate was baked into our Constitution right from the beginning. Alternet

Amanda Marcotte co-writes the blog Pandagon. She is the author of It's a Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable Environments.

Footnote: I need to check out the full HPV story in Texas. The connection to Merck link that I posted only mentions Perry instigating the program and little else.

Update: If you check out the claiming it was all a mistake (video) link above, all is explained. But what did strike me about Rick's grovelling performance was just how Romneyesque he was. Hard to tell the buggers apart. You will find previous Mitt Romney under the Mormon tag.

For my sentiments on the subject there is this.

Human Papilloma Vaccination For All UK Schoolgirls

This is how socialist medicine works, it works well, and it works even better when the pious and the sanctimonious, who should be more concerned with their daughters health than with her maidenhead, don't enter into the equation.

Given the high cost of the three injection course, £300/$600 for every girl in the country this has to be one of the best examples of preventive socialist medicine in the entire history of the National Health Service.

It is government action like this that rekindles a little of my long lost national pride. more

H/T Maren

Just What We Need, Another Bleedin' Saint

You'd think they would have enough of 'em by now, it's not as though the Catholic Church is exactly short of saints is it, they've got the buggers coming out of their ears?

And there does appear to be a question or two about the validity of Popey's miracle.

There has as yet been no independent assessment of the medical evidence for Sister Marie's inexplicable cure. Another miracle will have to be certified by the Vatican before Pope John Paul II can be declared a saint.

The thinking behind the reason for requiring evidence of miracles performed by a new saint is that this is the proof that he (or she) is already in Heaven. There have been reports that Sister Marie has fallen ill again since her "cure" and that her diagnosis with Parkinson's Disease may have been incorrect.

Ah those miracles, they can be a bit of a bugger at times, but what are details like that when you're on the fast track to saintliness. When people talk miracles, I'm always reminded of Richard Dawkins exposing the nonsense surrounding Lourdes, where he asks if anyone had ever grown a new leg?

John Paul II beatification: Politics of saint-making
By John L Allen Senior correspondent, National Catholic Reporter

John Paul II's beatification is the quickest of modern times - what does it take to be fast-tracked to sainthood?

Catholics may believe there is something supernatural about their Church, but as the 13th Century theologian St Thomas Aquinas taught, it is not exempt from the normal realities of human nature - including the laws of psychology, sociology, and even politics.

If that is true of the Church writ large, it is also true of the business of declaring saints. That fact was on clear display on 1 May, when Pope John Paul II was beatified, the final step before sainthood, in a ceremony in Rome that drew hundreds of thousands of people to St Peter's Square.

What is beatification?

Beatification, the final step before sainthood, arose as a way of authorising veneration to a candidate in the local area where she or he lived. It entitles the candidate to be called "Blessed". After 1 May, Catholics in Poland and in Rome will celebrate a feast in honour of "Blessed John Paul II" every year on 22 October. In a special decree issued in April, the Vatican has also given Catholics all over the world one year to celebrate Masses in thanksgiving for the beatification of John Paul
Canonisation is the formal act of declaring someone a saint in the Catholic Church

John Paul's beatification comes just six years and one month after his death in 2005. The perception of haste has puzzled some observers, especially those inclined to question the late pope's record on combating the scourge of clerical sexual abuse.

Formally speaking, the Vatican's explanation is that all the traditional criteria have been met. There is a popular grassroots conviction that John Paul was a holy man - an exhaustive four-volume Vatican study concluded that he lived a life of "heroic virtue" - and a miracle has been documented as resulting from his intervention.

The miracle involves the healing of a 49-year-old French nun from Parkinson's disease, the same affliction from which the late pope suffered.
Five fast-track factors

Without questioning any of that, it is probably fair to say that institutional dynamics and even a degree of politics also help explain the rapid result.

John Paul reformed the sainthood process in 1983, making it faster, simpler, and cheaper. The office of "Devil's advocate" - an official whose job was to try to knock down the case for sainthood - was eliminated, and the required number of miracles was dropped.

The idea was to lift up contemporary role models of holiness in order to convince a jaded secular world that sanctity is alive in the here and now. The results are well known: John Paul II beatified and canonised more people than all previous popes combined.
File picture of Josemaria Escriva Opus Dei's Josemaria Escriva had a powerful lobby pushing his cause

Since the reforms took effect, at least 20 cases qualify as "fast track" beatifications, meaning the candidate was beatified within 30 years of death. Taking a careful look at that list, aside from lives of holiness and miracle reports, at least five factors appear to influence who makes the cut.

First, successful candidates have an organisation behind them with both the resources and the political savvy to move the ball. The Catholic movement Opus Dei (of Da Vinci Code fame), for instance, boasts a roster of skilled canon lawyers, and they invested significant resources in their founder's cause. St Josemaria Escriva was canonised in 2002.

Second,...more



Q&A: John Paul II's beatification

The Vatican has hosted its biggest event in years - the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II.

.........How does the Vatican justify beatifying the late Pope?

The CCS has interviewed hundreds of persons who knew the late pontiff, and carried out exhaustive enquiries into his reputation for holiness. Pope John Paul II himself created more new Saints and Blesseds that any of his predecessors.

Vatican experts, including Pope Benedict's own personal physician, have also examined the medical evidence for an allegedly miraculous cure - that of a 49-year-old French nun, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre Normand, in 2005 from Parkinson's Disease, the same malady which afflicted Pope John Paul II in his later years.

Sister Marie claims that she and her fellow nuns prayed for the intercession of Pope John Paul II after his death. Her sudden cure had no logical medical explanation and she later resumed her work as a maternity nurse, the Vatican says.

Do we only have the Vatican's word for the miracle?

There has as yet been no independent assessment of the medical evidence for Sister Marie's inexplicable cure. Another miracle will have to be certified by the Vatican before Pope John Paul II can be declared a saint.

The thinking behind the reason for requiring evidence of miracles performed by a new saint is that this is the proof that he (or she) is already in Heaven. There have been reports that Sister Marie has fallen ill again since her "cure" and that her diagnosis with Parkinson's Disease may have been incorrect.




Could John Paul II be declared a saint?

This depends on the results of the further examination of his personal record over the clerical sexual abuse crisis which hit the Roman Catholic Church on his watch from the 1990s up to the time of his death. The first reaction of the US-based victims' association Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests (Snap) was to criticise what it described as a "hasty drive to confer sainthood on the pontiff under whose reign most of the widely documented clergy sex crimes and cover-ups took place".



Despite what the Vatican calls his "imposing fame for holiness", the late pontiff also appears to have been duped by the former head of the Legionaries of Christ, a Mexican priest called Fr Marcial Maciel Delgado. This man, who had access at the highest levels inside the Vatican for many years, has been exposed as a swindler and perpetrator of serious sexual misconduct including the fathering of two children who allege that he sexually abused them. More Q&A Vatican.

Related: Hold The Halo. Maureen Dowd
Don't let 'miracles' trump science

Only in America Folks, Only in America

More Creationist nonsense from the One Nation Under God

I should write a little more on Noah and his boat, it is after all my pet subject, but I guess I don't feel very creative today.

Just a couple of indisputable facts though about this mythological boat, leaving all the other nonsense aside.

1 It wouldn't float, it would fall apart, it's too big to be constructed out wood, there ain't enough strength in timber to support a vessel anywhere near this size.

The first ripple, let alone hundred foot waves for forty days and forty nights, would have seen the thing in bits. And if if could have floated; leaks, what about all the leaks? ask any man who has ever owned a wooden boat about leaks and see what his answer would be.

And how many were crewing this here boat? eight I believe. They say no one bails faster than a drowning man with a bucket, but let's be sensible about things.

2 By the Creationist timeline, it was the stone age when Noah knocked this thing together. By a rationalist timeline, it was the bronze age.

In either case, what did Noah use for a saw? Add to that a saturated atmosphere that would drown you as you stood, if you hadn't already been crushed to death by the increase in atmospheric pressure. I won't go into the fact that water is a finite resource, I shall save that for the other blog.

The seaworthiness of the ark has been recently checked using sophisticated computer programmes. It was found to be as good as, if not better than, modern ships, and was able to withstand waves up to 100 feet high".

See below main text for more startling revelations of this nature.

In Kentucky, Noah’s Ark Theme Park Is Planned

Facing a rising tide of joblessness, the governor of Kentucky has found one solution: build an ark.

The state has promised generous tax incentives to a group of entrepreneurs who plan to construct a full-size replica of Noah’s ark, load it with animals and actors, and make it the centerpiece of a Bible-based tourist attraction called Ark Encounter.

A rendering of a park centered on Noah’s ark, seen below in a 19th-century woodcut, planned for Grant County, Ky. Besides the ark, it would include a Tower of Babel, a first-century village and a journey through the Old Testament.

Since Gov. Steven L. Beshear announced the plan on Wednesday, some constitutional experts have raised alarms over whether government backing for an enterprise that promotes religion violates the First Amendment’s requirement of separation of church and state. But Mr. Beshear, a Democrat, said the arrangement posed no constitutional problem, and brushed off questions about his stand on creationism.

“The people of Kentucky didn’t elect me governor to debate religion,” he said at a news conference. “They elected me governor to create jobs.”

The theme park was conceived by the same Christian ministry that built the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., where dioramas designed to debunk evolution show humans and dinosaurs coexisting peacefully on an earth created by God in six days. The ministry, Answers in Genesis, believes that the earth is only 6,000 years old — a controversial assertion even among many Bible-believing Christians.

Although the Creation Museum has been a target of ridicule by some, it has drawn 1.2 million visitors in its first three years — proving that there is a sizable paying audience for entertainment rooted in a literal interpretation of the Bible.

On Friday, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Kentucky’s second-largest newspaper, criticized Mr. Beshear in an editorial for a plan that it said would result in low-wage jobs and a poor image for the state.

“Anyone who wants to believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible has that right,” the editorial said. “However, the way the Beshear administration handled this makes it appear Kentucky either embraces such thinking or is desperate to take advantage of those who do.”

The developers of Ark Encounter, who have incorporated as a profit-making company, say they expect to spend $150 million, employ 900 people and attract 1.6 million visitors from around the world in the first year. With the Creation Museum only 45 miles away, they envision a Christian tourism corridor that would draw busloads from churches and Christian schools for two- and three-day visits.

“It’s our opportunity to present accurate, factual biblical information to people about a subject that they’re really interested in,” said Mike Zovath, a senior vice president of Answers in Genesis.

In the interest of verisimilitude, the ark is to be built with wooden pegs and timber framing by Amish builders, Mr. Zovath said. Animals including giraffes — but only small, young giraffes — will be kept in pens on board.

“We think that God would probably have sent healthy juvenile-sized animals that weren’t fully grown yet, so there would be plenty of room,” said Mr. Zovath, a retired Army lieutenant colonel heading the ark project. “We want to show how Noah would have taken care of them, taken care of waste management, taken care of water needs and food needs.”

Ark Encounter is designed to be a model of environmentally sensitive development, Mr. Zovath said, to minimize its carbon footprint. “I don’t believe in global warming,” he said, “but I do believe we’ve got to be good stewards of everything God’s given us.”

The park will include a 100-foot Tower of Babel, a first-century Middle Eastern village and a journey through the Old Testament, with special effects depicting Moses, the 10 plagues and the parting of the Red Sea. For children, there will be a petting zoo, live bird and animal shows and a play area with ziplines and climbing nets — all Bible-themed. Even the trainer, Dan Breeding, will present animal acts with a Gospel message about creation.

Under Kentucky’s Tourism Development Act, tourist attractions can get back up to 25 percent of their development costs over 10 years from sales tax generated at the facility. Ark Encounter stands to receive $37.5 million — a quarter of its investment.

The entry fee for adults would be somewhere in the middle- to upper-$30 range, said Cary Summers, the lead consultant, who has run large entertainment attractions in Branson, Mo., and helped expand the Bass Pro Shops into shopping and entertainment complexes.

Mr. Summers said the developers had options on 800 acres of land in Grant County, Ky. If all the approvals are granted, they expect to break ground next year and finish by 2014.

He said they had been offering the proposal quietly for two years, and also showed it to officials in Ohio and Indiana. But Kentucky was by far the most receptive and offered the most generous financial incentives, he said, because it sees tourism as a promising means of economic development.

Officials in Kentucky’s Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet said in a telephone interview that they examined the constitutional issues carefully before proceeding. They said that Ark Encounter is unlike the Creation Museum, which is run by the Answers in Genesis ministry and received no tax incentives.

Ark Encounter is owned by a profit-making company, of which Answers in Genesis is a part owner. The ministry will manage the park’s day-to-day operations.

William Dexter, general counsel for the tourism cabinet, said the most applicable precedent was American Atheists Inc. v. the City of Detroit Downtown Development Authority. A federal Court of Appeals found that Detroit could give grants to churches as well as businesses to encourage urban renewal.

“Our facts are quite similar, except that in our case it’s a tourism development by a for-profit corporation,” Mr. Dexter said.

But some advocates of separation of church and state say that by providing tax incentives to an explicitly Christian enterprise, Kentucky is violating the constitutional prohibition on government establishment of religion.

Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional scholar and founding dean of the School of Law at the University of California, Irvine, said: “If this is about bringing the Bible to life, and it’s the Bible’s account of history that they’re presenting, then the government is paying for the advancement of religion. And the Supreme Court has said that the government can’t advance religion.”

He added, “The fact that it’s an economic development plan doesn’t excuse it.” NY TIMES

Noah's Ark
September 4 2002

The fact that all the animals on earth could have entered the ark and lived on it or a year is well demonstrated in John Woodmorappe's "Noah's Ark: A Feasibility Study", Institute for Creation Research, 1995. The animals went in by twos or sevens (Genesis 7 v 2), and did not include sea creatures.

The following sentence appears in "True Science Agrees with the Bible", by Malcolm Bowden, Sovereign Publications, 1998 (p. 26):

"The ratio of length to breadth in the ark is 6:1 and it is only after years of trial and error and many experiments that ship designers have found this to be the most suitable ratio. The seaworthiness of the ark has been recently checked using sophisticated computer programmes. It was found to be as good as, if not better than, modern ships, and was able to withstand waves up to 100 feet high".

The folly of trying to convert the dimensions of the ark into metres is shown by the fact that in doing so, one of the Bible translations has thereby lost the exact 6:1 proportion referred to above.

Christ regarded the building of the ark as an historical event (as indeed He did the creation of Adam and Eve): "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered the ark" (Matthew 24 vv 37-38).

The after-effects of the flood can be seen in the layers of sedimentary rock which cover the globe, most of them laid down in precise horizontal layers, stretching up to dozens of miles in length in places (the Grand Canyon being a prime example). The flood entombed billions upon billions of animals as it progressed - leaving what are now known as fossils.

P.S. I am the joint author of "Evolution and Creation - Your Questions Answered". It answers 75 common questions on evolution and is written from a Biblical and 'recent creation' viewpoint. It's priced at £1.50 but I'm happy to send it free to anyone who asks.

Tony Bennett

http://www.network54.com/Forum/101350/thread/1028765457/last-1031150853/Weights+and+Measures+in+the+Bible

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The Law Of What! Stop Please I Beg You

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Were I to be entirely honest I would have to admit I'm struggling a tad to get back into the swing regarding blogging and calling the whole thing a day has passed my mind, but.

But when I come across the likes of what is writ below, a creeping sense of duty makes itself felt, and then for a while service to mankind overcomes thoughts of desertion.

And so today I serve you each individually, and mankind as a whole, by bringing to your attention something that is fundamental to our very existence and vital knowledge to be used in ensuring the continence of the human race.

On then! forward into enlightenment!

The Law Of Vibration

"This is the law of the first plane, and it governs all the atomic subplanes of each plane. It marks the beginning of the work of the Logos, the first setting in motion of mulaprakriti. On each plane the vibration of the atomic subplane sets in motion the matter of that plane. It is the key measure.

We might sum up the significance of this law in the words, "light" or "fire." It is the law of fire; it governs the transmutation of differentiated colors back to their synthesis. It controls the breaking up of the One into the seven, and then the reabsorption back into the One. It is really the basic law of evolution, which necessitates involution.

It is analogous to the first movement the Logos made to express Himself through this solar system. He uttered the Sound, a threefold Sound, one sound for each of His three systems, and started a ripple on the ocean of space.

The Sound grows in volume as time progresses, and when it has reached its full volume, when it is fully completed, it forms one of the notes in the major cosmic chord. Each note has six subtones, which, with the first, make the seven; the Law of Vibration, therefore, comprises eighteen lesser vibrations and three major, making the twenty-one of our three systems. Two multiplied by nine (2x9), makes the necessary eighteen, which is the key number of our love system. Twenty-seven holds hid the mystery of the third system."

Taken from A Treatise On Cosmic Fire by Alice Bailey



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Quote Of The Day

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And it doesn't really matter who proffered this gem, does it?

For me it’s just a hobby…not a religious belief….I think of astrology ..the study of planets ...as a science….but I have not mastered it yet...

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Science News: Sea Reptile is Biggest on Record

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I have to admit when I read stories like this or perhaps some startling discovery in the universe that I get a bit of a grrrrrr moment.

Why so? well I cannot help think about all the stupid kids being home schooled by even stupider parents.

I used to wonder what kind of explanation these fundamentalist child abusers gave to their kids when say for instance a story like this came on the news.
As I have learnt more about home schooling that question has since been answered, the kids never get the opportunity to see or read anything that doesn't fit in with creation/young earth dogma.

How conceited, arrogant and demented can these wankers be, with a universe that is 156 billion light years across was put there for us, with us only in mind by some celestial all hearing all knowing super being.

It's criminal and the fuckers should be locked up for denying their kids, if not an education, then at least for denying them the truth and the wonders of evolution and the glory of science and the universe.

A fossilised "sea monster" unearthed on an Arctic island is the largest marine reptile known to science, Norwegian scientists have announced.

The 150 million-year-old specimen was found on Spitspergen, in the Arctic island chain of Svalbard, in 2006.

The Jurassic-era leviathan is one of 40 sea reptiles from a fossil "treasure trove" uncovered on the island.

Nicknamed "The Monster", the immense creature would have measured 15m (50ft) from nose to tail......................

"We have carried out a search of the literature, so we now know that we have the biggest [pliosaur]. It's not just arm-waving anymore," Dr Hurum told the BBC News website.

"The flipper is 3m long with very few parts missing. On Monday, we assembled all the bones in our basement and we amazed ourselves - we had never seen it together before."more

Thanks to Iomi for the uppermost and the timeline graphic, I came across her post Dinosaur Adventure land whilst looking for yet another picture, which kind of endorses my rant somewhat.

Well He Would Wouldn't He: Huckabee Endorses "Personhood"

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Boy oh boy oh boy, what a great choice for a republican nominee this election, a grey haired old man who is still pissed with the world over the bamboo shoots he had stuck under his fingernails or a batshit crazy Jesus freak who firmly believes Adam and Eve were real people and evolution never happened.

Surely to Christ it has to be a Democrat in the Whitehouse this time, surely?

Surely???

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Monday endorsed a proposed Colorado Human Life Amendment that would define personhood as a fertilized egg.

The former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister also supports a human-life amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Huckabee spoke favorably about the Colorado ballot initiative, sponsored by 20-year-old Kristi Burton and her Colorado for Equal Rights group, during his Friday visit to Colorado Springs.

On Monday, Huckabee lent official support to the measure.

"This proposed constitutional amendment will define a person as a human being from the moment life begins at conception," Huckabee said in a statement.

"With this amendment, Colorado has an opportunity to send a clear message that every human life has value," Huckabee said. "Passing this amendment will mean the people of Colorado will protect the sanctity of life from conception until natural death occurs."

Burton's initiative, if approved by voters in November, would extend state constitutional protections to every fertilized egg, guaranteeing the right to life, liberty, equality of justice and due process of law.

Approval would lay the foundation for making abortion illegal in the state.more

Previous

"There is not an outcry for, 'Teach us evolution.'"

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Sometimes, Allyn Sue Baylor doesn't teach evolution in her science class, even though the state requires it. She knows of other teachers who duck the issue, too.

They fear a backlash.

"There are cases when parents have gotten really upset," said Baylor, who teaches at Palm Harbor Middle School in Pinellas County. "It's scary. You can lose your job."............

"In short, there are too many biology teachers who won't, or don't, or can't teach evolution properly," according to an editorial in the January edition of the American Biology Teacher.

Some may be glossing over the subject because of their faith. A 1999 survey of biology teachers in Oklahoma, for example, found that 12 percent wanted to omit evolution and teach creationism instead. A similar survey in Louisiana found that 29 percent of biology teachers believed creationism should be taught, while in South Dakota, it was 39 percent.

Others may fear being dragged into a battle over belief. In a 2005 survey by the National Science Teachers Association, 31 percent of respondents said they had felt pressured by students, parents, or administrators to include creationism, intelligent design or other faith-based alternatives to evolution in their curriculum. Thirty percent said they felt pressure to de-emphasize or omit evolution.more

Just Say No Kiddywinks

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Although this problem is nothing new this post makes a good companion for the previous article.

These sanctimonious gits are a danger, a real danger, they need to place their views on contraception between the pages of their Bibles and stick up there pious sphincters.

And they wonder why teenage pregnancy is so high and what did surprise me looking at the little chart that is with the article is that the pregnancy rate in the US is nearly twice that of the UK, I only say this because it seems every second fifteen year old you see on the street over here is pushing a pram.

All I need now is for there to be a Purity Ball in the news then we have the three card trick.

Chastity pressed on US teens
America's chastity movement may have lost one of its most famous role models after unmarried teen queen Britney Spears - for years a self-proclaimed virgin - divulged some of her more intimate secrets to a magazine.

But whatever the extent of Miss Spears' one-time contribution to the no-sex-before-marriage camp, it pales into insignificance against that of its now most famous benefactor - President George Bush, who has massively increased funding and support to the abstinence movement during his three years in office.



The movement has expanded from a collection of disparate groups into a centrally funded drive that seeks to tackle the country's teenage pregnancy rate - one of the highest in the developed world - by telling young Americans that contraception does not work and that the only safe sex is no sex..........

Under the terms of the multi-million-dollar fund which have been made available under President Bush for abstinence education, schools and groups can only claim federal money for sex education programmes if the classes have as their "exclusive purpose" the promotion of abstinence.

They must make clear that sexual activity outside of marriage is harmful, both mentally and physically. If contraception is mentioned, it must only be in the context of its fallibility.

The state of Louisiana, for example, has abolished all programmes providing what is known as comprehensive sex education - classes which give students information about contraception and abortion in addition to encouraging them to wait before entering into a sexual relationship.more

Andrew Morton's New Book: Tom Cruise Pissed

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Why am I running such crap? maybe it's because Cruise is such a fucking idiot.
Must be time to go back to bed.

Tom Cruise has become the de-facto second in command of the Church of Scientology, according to a new biography - which makes an extraordinary attack on the star by comparing his 20-month-old daughter Suri to the Devil's child in the film Rosemary's Baby.

Andrew Morton's unauthorised biography claims Scientology has taken over the 45-year-old actor's life, with its officials selecting many of the staff at his Hollywood mansion.

The biographer of Princess Diana alleges Cruise is consulted by Scientology leader David Miscavige on "every aspect of planning and policy" and is tailoring his career to fit the aims of Scientology.

Miscavige is said in the book to have gone to extraordinary lengths to charm Cruise, even ordering his staff to plant a field full of wild flowers at a Scientology base in California after Cruise had told him of his fantasy to run through a wildflower meadow with his then newlywed wife Nicole Kidman.

The relationship between the two men is so close that, according to Morton's book, Miscavige even joined him on honeymoon in the Maldives after his wedding to Katie Holmes in 2006.

Cruise denies each of the claims vehemently, and Scientology lawyers are believed to be drawing up a lawsuit seeking £50million in compensation from Morton's publishers, St Martin's Press.more

Arnold Mendez

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I don't really know how I ended up strolling down this path, perhaps it was talk of Ratzinger and his Satan hunt in a previous post, but then again it could be going through the archives to label previous posts.

No matter really, but I did end up totally revamping and adding a little more script to this cartoon. I could write a little story to go with it I suppose, but then I think the cartoon says it all really.

What I did though was to give Mendez a label all of his own, after all he is worthy of a dedicated spot on the blog being a bit of doozy on the science front n'all.

You might check him out in the sidebar or Noah's Ark, another new label.

Update: I've just recapped the three "Baby Shaking" articles, (search Mendez label) start at the bottom of the results page and read and watch the clips in sequence, I think you might find the whole shebang worth watching.

Human Eggs! Stop Please!

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Staying with the subject of reproductive bits, I first reported this story last week, Beth Kohl over at Huffpo now gives us a more comprehensive take on what I can only call, given we are living in the twenty first century, the most bizarre proposal to be included on a ballot that I have ever witnessed.

I don't know if your average Joe American would look at this proposal with the same incredulity as I, or has same Joe public become so inured to all the batshit crazy stuff going on that this dilly of a proposal seems the norm?

Or heaven forbid, he might agree with it.

Human Eggs v. Colorado
If you happen to be a Coloradan planning to vote in November 2008, prepare yourself not only to select a presidential candidate, but also to consider an issue that concerns even more ill-defined beings.......


A proposed amendment to the Colorado Constitution would provide that the protection of inalienable rights, due process and the equality of justice as defined by the Colorado Constitution be extended to "any human being from the moment of fertilization." We're not just talking fetuses, mind you --we're also talking about their frozen, pre-fetal and, as the bill's proponents would frame it, equally unprotected yet valuable younger brethren.more

Thompson For President? Break Out The Coathangers

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I try not to listen or watch the wannabee Presidential debates, if I'm going to watch whores at work I like it to be those of my choosing, pretty girly ones, colour optional.
But the little I have seen has been a nauseating display of flip flopping and selling down the river of most everything the candidates have ever stood for. Whores for votes, every last one of them, and non more so than Romney, what a tart.

I could include mister 9/11 but I think Rudy has pissed on the bonfire by using tax-payer dollars to pay for his own whoring.

Let us look at the subject of abortion, particularly the far from unique views of the ultimate no-hoper Fred Thompson.

Any casual watcher of last night's Republican debate may have come away thinking that women don't have much at stake in this election......

The Democrats have Hillary as a candidate this year, which puts women front and center. For the Republicans, though, it's pretty much a choice between graying, gray or bald white men, all of whom seemed to nod in agreement on one breathtaking policy initiative for women that surfaced in last night's debate: the DIY abortion.

The question from the "young lady" was: If abortion is outlawed then who is the criminal, woman, doctor, or both? This has always been the sticky question for the anti-abortion side. Do they intend to start locking up women for murder? Fascinatingly, Fred Thompson, National Right to Life's endorsed candidate, said no. He suggested that some people will be able to perform abortions at any stage of pregnancy with no fear of prosecution: women on themselves.more

"Life Begins At Conception" Their Nose In Your Womb

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Why, without doing any research, would I feel comfortable betting the farm that ninety five percent of this "life is so precious" crowd voted for Bush, supported his war, and banged the big war drum, as did most of America. America, God bless her, doing what she is so very good at, dropping big bombs on the soft flesh of innocent children.

What a loathsome bunch of hypocritical sanctimonious arseholes.

DENVER -- Antiabortion activists in several states are promoting constitutional amendments that would define life as beginning at conception, which could effectively outlaw all abortions and some birth control methods.

The campaigns to grant "personhood" to fertilized eggs, giving them the same legal protections as human beings, come as the nation in January marks the 35th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.......

Wouldn't it be nice if these good Christian folks campaigned for something different...say... infant mortality, children's healthcare and poverty, all at shocking levels in God blessed America.

If successful -- and upheld by the courts -- the amendments could outlaw certain forms of birth control that prevent fertilized eggs from implanting in the uterus, such as the birth control pill or contraceptive sponge...........

What's next on the list, outlaw wanking?

Antiabortion activists hold out the most hope in Georgia, where the amendment has the backing of some legislative leaders. They're also optimistic in Colorado, where the campaign to collect signatures kicked off last week with a rally headlined by Alan Keyes, a Republican presidential candidate.

Ah yes Georgia, couldn't have a tale like this without Georgia being involved somewhere.
Colorado, didn't a chap named Ted live there, used to talk a lot about sin?

"It's not just Bible-thumping kooks or some Roman Catholic nuns" supporting the measure, Zastrow said. "There are a lot of moms and pops that are pro-life who are going to say, 'Why haven't we done something in our state?' More

No, of course not.
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