Bush uses "Sex Education" to spread outrageous lies!

[ClintCooper2003]

The following is a commentary given by Andrew Sullivan (from AndrewSullivan.com)

THEOCRACY WATCH I: There's been a mild and partial debunking of the Waxman investigation into "abstinence-only" programs funded by the feds here. But the broader point remains. Under the guise of sex ed, the Bush administration is using public funds to spread an ill-informed, half-baked evangelical message. Your tax dollars are being spent to tell kids that "a 43-day-old fetus is a 'thinking person,'" that "HIV can be spread via sweat and tears," and that "condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in heterosexual intercourse."

This crap is bad enough. Then we find this:
Some course materials cited in Waxman's report present as scientific fact notions about a man's need for "admiration" and "sexual fulfillment" compared with a woman's need for "financial support." One book in the "Choosing Best" series tells the story of a knight who married a village maiden instead of the princess because the princess offered so many tips on slaying the local dragon. "Moral of the story," notes the popular text: "Occasional suggestions and assistance may be alright, but too much of it will lessen a man's confidence or even turn him away from his princess."

We're spending hundreds of millions of dollars to spread James Dobson's gospel to kids in public high schools. I have no problem with abstinence education. I have no problem with churches teaching kids how to live sexual lives responsibly. But I do have a problem with spreading fear, ignorance and chauvinism with my tax dollars. But when you hand over government social policy to religious groups, what do you expect?

[LostInAnomie]

1. Anderson Cooper had a couple of women from those groups that...

... produced some of the booklets. They were truly sickening people. One of the booklets cites a stat that says "5-10% of all women will never become pregnant again..." or something like that. Most teenagers will read that and think "Oh my god, I could become sterile" and Anderson called the woman on it and asked if 5-10% become sterile. She said "No. That is not what it says. It says that they will never become pregnant. That means that they will never decide to have children again..." When asked if she thought it was misleading she said "Not at all."

Another group put a stat that said that 41% of all sexually active teen aged girls have AIDS with a tiny * beside it. So the average teen will read it and think that there is about a 50/50 chance of getting AIDS if they have sex. The asterisk led to a citation that says basically in the most complicated language possible that the 41% are sexually active teenagers who are already infected with HIV have AIDS. They are purposefully hoping that teens don't look at the citations, and if they do they are hoping that they don't know the difference between HIV and AIDS.

These people are disgusting.

[murielm99]

2. Sounds like my daughter's biology teacher in high school,

who said he hoped that they did not find a cure for AIDs, because a cure would only lead to "more perverted sexual practices."

[izzie]

3. Pretty funny when you think about it.

Didn't one church used to use patten leather shoes to scare girls? What boy has not used the thing that he must have sex. This is just to funny to be true but I will watch and see how silly it gets.