Birds, Bees, and McBush

That “straight talking maverick” exposes his utter cluelessness and laziness on the issues again here…

Q: "What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush’s policy, which is just abstinence?"

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) "Ahhh. I think I support the president’s policy."

Q: "So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?"

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) "You’ve stumped me."

Q: "I mean, I think you’d probably agree it probably does help stop it?"

Mr. McCain: (Laughs) "Are we on the Straight Talk express? I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception – I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it."

Q: "But you would agree that condoms do stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Would you say: ‘No, we’re not going to distribute them,’ knowing that?"

Mr. McCain: (Twelve-second pause) "Get me Coburn’s thing, ask Weaver to get me Coburn’s paper that he just gave me in the last couple of days. I’ve never gotten into these issues before."

What an embarrassment (I assume McCain is referring to Tom Coburn - case closed).

Linda Hahn of Planned Parenthood of Bucks County (from here, in a Guest Opinion spurred on primarily by the recent news that teenage pregnancies rose for the first time in 16 years after a period of steady decline, and the discovery that 1 in 4 - 1 in 4! - teenage girls have a sexually transmitted disease)…

There is no evidence that abstinence-only education, which stresses only the failure rates of condoms and prohibits teens from getting life saving information, reduces the rates of infection and pregnancy among teens; yet in the face of this failure, Congress has increased the appropriation for abstinence-only programs year after year.

…

That kind of thinking will land your son or daughter in one of our health centers, with some chance that they will already have an infection, because they might be playing Russian roulette with their health. They just don't know the facts and chances are that you as a parent might not have all the current information to give them either. Besides, even in the most highly functional, loving families, youth keep secrets from their parents. It is part of adolescent development and the separation/individuation stage in their maturing.

However, we as a community can positively alter these statistics. It is within our reach. Unfortunately, instead we have colluded with those who prevent comprehensive sexuality education from being presented in the public schools. In my 14 years as the CEO of PPABC, the number of schools that permit our expert teen sexuality education staff to work with their youth dwindles each year. Why? Because school superintendents and principals are afraid to offend those in the community whose religious beliefs demand that abstinence-only be taught.

God bless Ms. Hahn; every time she writes a column like this, the anti-choice zealots and Stepford Repugs who think that “this can’t possibly happen to MY child” come out in force to absolutely pillory her on the pages of the Bucks County Courier Times, but as a public service, she keeps fighting the good fight anyway.

And speaking of “Senator Honor and Virtue,” we all know how he feels about Roe v. Wade, don’t we?



Update 4/2/08: Would that this were a last-minute April Fools' joke...