Salon: No Sex, Please, or We'll Audit You

[kskiska]

Why are some nonprofit organizations that don't agree with the Bush administration's "abstinence only" philosophy repeatedly investigated by the government, while faith-based groups get a free pass?

Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, condoms: George W. Bush has a lot of enemies. And the question is finally starting to be asked, just what steps is his administration willing to take in order to silence them? Network anchormen and coffee-break pundits alike were abuzz over the did-they-or-didn't-they CIA leak scandal. But the outing of Valerie Plame isn't the only instance where the federal government has been suspected of using its resources in direct, if somewhat sneaky, retaliation against its political opponents. Ruining the lives of CIA agents may make for dynamic headlines, but recent evidence shows that the Bush administration also has much smaller fish to fry.

Take Advocates for Youth, a national nonprofit organization that provides teens with accurate and informative sex education. In 18 years as a federal grantee, it has never been subjected to a government financial audit. That is, until it was suddenly hit with three in less than a year (one by the Centers for Disease Control back in October 2002, a second by the General Accounting Office in early 2003, and the third just two months ago, by a different arm of the CDC). The organization is crying conspiracy -- saying that it's being unfairly targeted because of its negative views toward the administration's abstinence-only education policies -- and the claims appear to be more than just paranoia.

In July 2001 the Washington Post published a leaked memo from the Department of Health and Human Services in which Advocates for Youth was described as "ardent critics of the Bush administration." This charge apparently came as the result of several Advocates for Youth press releases that railed against the president's backing of the "global gag rule" that prohibited any funding to foreign agencies that performed or facilitated abortions. In the leaked memo, it was also suggested that the Advocates for Youth programs did not go over well with the HHS because "the secretary is a devout Roman Catholic."

more…
http://salon.com/mwt/feature/2003/10/28/abstinence/index.html

[lolly]

1. What's Next?

I'm waiting for the "Junior Anti-Sex League" to start holding rallies.

(Or have we had that already, with all those "I Love Abstinence" brainwashing extravaganzas?)

[alarimer]

2. well

Dubya is the best argument for abstinence there is!

[silverweb]

3. An excellent article.

I've emailed it to every parent I know.

[Democat]

4. Judicial Watch is a "non profit" - what is wrong with Democrats?

Republicans fight hard and dirty, yet the article says there are only a handful of Democrats even defending these groups.

Why aren't Democrats demanded audits of all of the right wing political groups that really are breaking the rules?

We need to be on the offensive if we want to win.