Teen pregnancy, taxes and climate change: Evidence matters
It is one of the great under-reported success stories of our time.
Twenty years ago, roughly 62 out of every 1,000 teen-age American girls were giving birth. Here in Georgia, the numbers were much, much worse. At the time, we had the highest teen-age birth rate in the country, at 126 births per 1,000 teen-age girls, twice as high as the national average.
The good news is that by 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the national teen birth rate had fallen to 39.1 births per 1,000 females, a 37 percent decrease and the lowest rate ever recorded in this country. (It’s still among the highest in the Western world.) Here in Georgia, the decline was even more dramatic. By 2009, the rate of teenage births here had fallen to 47.7 per 1,000, still above the national average but a startling reduction of 62 percent.
That’s a lot of individual lives that have been saved and changed. It’s a lot of money saved for the taxpayer as well. Those improvements have been pretty broadly based as well. As the Centers for Disease Control reports, “During that period, the birth rate decreased 50 percent among black teens, 41 percent among white teens, and 33 percent among Hispanic teens.”
However, the problem has remained more persistent in some areas than others. Texas, for example, has the third-highest teen pregnancy rate in the country. At 60.7 pregnancies per 1,000 teen-aged girls, its rate is more than three times higher than that of Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, which have the lowest teen pregnancy rates in the country.
In Texas, that means three times more girls at risk of dropping out of high school and never attending college. It means a lot more abortions. It means a lot more children who are being raised by children, often without benefit of a nuclear family. It means premature babies, more low weight babies, more infant mortality and more dependence on government social programs.
In its sex-ed programs in public school, Texas relies upon a curriculum of abstinence-only, an approach that has been shown to be ineffective in multiple studies. Gov. Rick Perry was asked about that fact last year in a televised interview with Evan Smith of the Texas Tribune, who read Perry a question submitted by an audience member:
Here’s a transcript of the relevant exchange:
SMITH: Governor, why does Texas continue with abstinence education programs when they don’t seem to be working? In fact, I think we have the third highest teen pregnancy rate in the country.
PERRY: “Abstinence … works.”
(audience laughter)
SMITH: “But we have the third highest teen pregnancy rate among all states in the country. The questioner’s point is, it doesn’t seem to be working — abstinence education.”
PERRY: “It, it, it works. Maybe it’s the way it’s being taught, or the way it’s being applied out there, but the fact of the matter is it is the best form of — uh — to teach our children.”
SMITH: “Can you give a statistic telling me that it works?”
PERRY: “I’m just going to tell you from my own personal life, abstinence works …”
We’ve seen that attitude in a lot of policy areas. Tax cuts increase government revenue, even though repeated experiments have proved otherwise. Global warming has been revealed as a hoax, even though every investigation of the data has upheld its accuracy (the most recent is here).
And as Perry stubbornly insists, abstinence works.
This is faith and ideology that is immune to evidence. It is the assertion that belief should trump outcome. And as the teen-birth statistics demonstrate, the consequences of elevating faith over fact in the public policy sphere can be tragic.
(As an aside, it’s hard to watch that clip and not be struck by the uncanny similarity in body language and speaking cadence between Perry and former President George W. Bush. It’s actually kind of weird. My wife’s family is from Texas and my brother has lived there for 30 years — it’s not as if every male in the state has those mannerisms.)
– Jay Bookman
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849 comments Add your comment
Keep Up the Good Fight!
August 24th, 2011
2:24 pm
so when Dave writes about Obama and calls uses one of those idiotic TM phrases he likes to believe he originated, he is wordsmithing and trying to belittle the President to marginalize him and reality has nothing to do with it. Which is why Dave can make claims that are untrue like the President said unemployment would not exceed 8%….Dave’s not really objective. He’s belittling.
The inability of Dave to not recognize that which is staring him in the face when he looks in that mirror is astounding but I am sure he’ll deny it and tell you how he is above it all, etc.
Kamchak
August 24th, 2011
2:24 pm
Try listening to more Kid Rock or Eminem
Can’t I just drive red-hot railroad spikes through my ears instead?
Liberal Larry
August 24th, 2011
2:25 pm
Debbiedoright,
I don’t speak gutter dialects. I have my own linguistical nuances. That is what makes me so fantastical. In your case you can just call it Larribonics and be done with it.
They BOTH suck
August 24th, 2011
2:25 pm
“And I want to see at least one hair outta place every once in awhile.’
Forget hair out of place…… I’m going to get real suspcious on how bad he wants to be GWB if in a debate he just so happens to have a “crease” down the back of his shirt that by mere coincidence apears to be a wire of some sort ………………
Bosch
August 24th, 2011
2:26 pm
md,
Ewwwwwww….I just had the smell of onions waft through my nostrils for some reason.
Iran Air? What WERE you thinking?
md
August 24th, 2011
2:26 pm
“Does this make my butt look fat”?
And every guy knows that question only has one answer………………….and if he doesn’t know that……he will.
Bosch
August 24th, 2011
2:27 pm
Liberal Larry,
Well, okay, if you are related to a certain Rightwing Nutjob, tell him hello from Bosch and I miss him.
Bosch
August 24th, 2011
2:28 pm
“And every guy knows that question only has one answer”
My answer to that has always been, “No, it’s your butt that makes that look fat.”
md
August 24th, 2011
2:31 pm
“Iran Air? What WERE you thinking?”
Holiday weekend…..only flight with seats……….
Learned that if it ever happened again I’d stay home………..
getalife
August 24th, 2011
2:32 pm
My answer to that has always been, take it off so I can compare.
Kamchak
August 24th, 2011
2:32 pm
My answer to that has always been, “No, it’s your butt that makes that look fat.”
You and the OB sleep in separate beds?
Liberal Larry
August 24th, 2011
2:33 pm
And can you repugs prove that Rick Perry didn’t knock em all them girls in Texas and raise the teenage pregnancy rate? Ya’ll always gettin in some kinda trouble from chasing male pages to airport bathroom stall solicitations. ya’ll nasty.
DebbieDoRight
August 24th, 2011
2:34 pm
Kamchak – For you. Why? Well, it could be because i like you. It could be because you are A-OK, or it could be because I’m EVIL…. take your pick!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt84J7U75e0
md
August 24th, 2011
2:34 pm
Was recently at the mall when some believers of other cultures wandered in……….cleared that store in a hurry………..
Guess they should change the signs to read: no shoes, shirts or showers…..no service.
Kamchak
August 24th, 2011
2:35 pm
My answer to that has always been, take it off so I can compare.
Much success with that line?
I would bet so.
Maybe their question is a signal.
Liberal Larry
August 24th, 2011
2:36 pm
Ya’ll haves fun now. I’m going to check out some Tejas girls on my match.com. Later.
getalife
August 24th, 2011
2:37 pm
Kam,
Works for me.
Makes them laugh and forget about the question.
Kamchak
August 24th, 2011
2:37 pm
DDR
That was just WRONG!
Bosch
August 24th, 2011
2:37 pm
getalife,
Kamchak,
Nope. It helps that the OB isn’t fat and has only asked that a couple times, and both times I obviously said it as a joke so as to not suffer permanent brain damage or a sexless existence.
1811/0311
August 24th, 2011
2:38 pm
“Less than two months after WND broke the story about a plan that would have Delta Air Lines impose Saudi Arabia’s Islamic rules on Americans in Washington and New York in order to fly directly to the Muslim kingdom, officials for Delta have promised not to ask anyone about their religious affiliation.
A statement from the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles reports that the airline, following a meeting with center officials, wrote in a letter to the center that, “Delta employees do not currently and will not in future, request that customers declare their religious affiliation. We would also not seek such information on behalf of any Sky Team partner or any airline.”
DebbieDoRight
August 24th, 2011
2:38 pm
And every guy knows that question only has one answer………………….and if he doesn’t know that……he will.
Depends on the man.
If he’s Black or Hispanic – Answer: Not big enough.
If he’s Islamnic – Answer: Can’t see it through your hijab
If he’s French – Answer: I never notice your butt, only the beauty in your face.
If he’s Italian – Answer: Well, no answer from an Italian, just a pinch.
If he’s White or Oriental – Answer: What butt?
@@
August 24th, 2011
2:39 pm
Why am I not surprised? Too many will avoid any conversation about the root cause in preference for “the root” or rut, if you will.
It’s what we, as a society, do. Like children, you make jokes.
Hootinanny Yum Yum
August 24th, 2011
2:39 pm
Texas girls are way hotter than the girls of Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
That also explains why it is some much colder in those states.
Bosch
August 24th, 2011
2:40 pm
Scout,
And? So?
Bosch
August 24th, 2011
2:41 pm
@@,
Or maybe we discussed it the first 100 times you posted that story…or are just not that into you.
Message from Matti
August 24th, 2011
2:42 pm
Ladies & Queens,
Um… The validation of your hind region’s attractiveness is NEVER found by asking that ridiculous loaded question. Never let it escape your lips. For validation: use the mirror, shop your size, and strut it with ‘tude, Baby! They’ll come around to validate, and (Trust!) they won’t be toting a tape measure!
That is all.
getalife
August 24th, 2011
2:43 pm
@@,
I thought md’s question would get responses like Debbie’s.
You have to admit it is hilarious.
Smile @@.
1811/0311
August 24th, 2011
2:43 pm
Bosch:
Maybe you didn’t follow it earlier but they were identifying “Jews”.
DebbieDoRight
August 24th, 2011
2:43 pm
Why am I not surprised? Too many will avoid any conversation about the root cause in preference for “the root” or rut, if you will.
It’s what we, as a society, do. Like children, you make jokes.
@@ I read your comment — however it was too dead on for me to answer; IOW I was too close to the subject to answer. I spent 2 1/2 years as a Social Worker and some of the things I have seen done to children still give me nightmares. Your point was valid — just too “hard” to contemplate.
Kamchak
August 24th, 2011
2:45 pm
If he’s White or Oriental – Answer: What butt?
I’m not sure, but I think I’ve just been racially offended.
Joe the Plutocrat
August 24th, 2011
2:45 pm
Granny, “they smell better”? is that the best you can do? you’re an olfactory sexist!
Bosch
August 24th, 2011
2:46 pm
“you’re an olfactory sexist”
I know I am, but in a few minutes I will be orally impaired as I have a dentist appt. Yuck.
Later gators.
Paul
August 24th, 2011
2:47 pm
Bosch
“Life is circular I tell you, circular….”
Frak yeah. I’m in the middle of fracking country, remember? Even got a frakkin’ check for natural gas drilling.
Granny Godzilla
August 24th, 2011
2:48 pm
Joe
still waiting for your pick….
Midori
August 24th, 2011
2:48 pm
I miss MST3K
Joe the Plutocrat
August 24th, 2011
2:49 pm
Larry, so, when a white Christian woman accepts restributed wealth to care for other peoples’ children it’s different when a black woman accepts redistributed wealth to care for other peoples’ children (say; Grandma, if mom is in jail, or a drunk, or whatever, and dad is nowhere to be found?). man, I see your point, where can I find me one of them Michelle Bachman Ethical Hairsplitting giizmos? you would do well to find another example (Ron Paul, perhaps?)
DebbieDoRight
August 24th, 2011
2:50 pm
Matti: For validation: use the mirror, shop your size, and strut it with ‘tude, Baby
Or as Beyonce would say “Bootlycious”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyYnnUcgeMc&ob=av3e
Normal
August 24th, 2011
2:50 pm
All I know is that I and my clan hold the female sacred. Our earth is mother to us all, our natural mothers, sisters, and lovers are life givers and man can come no closer to God than when he is in phyical union with a woman. Besides that…women are really good cooks…
kayaker 71
August 24th, 2011
2:50 pm
Great interview with Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin. Apparently the state will go from a 3.5B deficit to a 400M surplus, in just one year. Predictions from the unions that schools would be destroyed and teachers would lose their jobs have not panned out. Schools budgets have been approved for the coming year and many will have a surplus in funds, allowing them to hire more teachers and lower the class size. The average property tax in the state will stay the same or, get this, be lowered from last year. Milwaukee schools are projected to have a 200M surplus for the coming fiscal year. The Republican legislature is intact as is the governor’s office. Teachers will survive the system based on the merit system which allows excellence to float to the surface and the best teachers being retained. Despite the dire predictions by all of those peace loving, gentile public servants, it appears that the system has survived and been made a good bit better. Life is good.
Normal
August 24th, 2011
2:52 pm
Wasn’t “frak” a favorite word of Starbucks in Galactica?
@@
August 24th, 2011
2:52 pm
Bosch:
Show me the 100 times.
I couldn’t care less whether you’re into me. I’ve no doubt that many young girls would like to think you’re, at the very least, concerned about them.
It’s not a requirement. If you’re more comfortable with jokes, so be it. I’ll opt for concern.
Adam
August 24th, 2011
2:53 pm
Keep: The inability of Dave to not recognize that which is staring him in the face when he looks in that mirror is astounding but I am sure he’ll deny it and tell you how he is above it all, etc.
Or call you names. Like stalker. Even when it doesn’t apply.
Normal
August 24th, 2011
2:53 pm
Kayaker,
Who did the interview?
Keep Up the Good Fight!
August 24th, 2011
2:53 pm
Midori — you can see some episodes of MST3K on Netflix streaming…. I wish they would do a political version.
getalife
August 24th, 2011
2:53 pm
kay,
He will probably leave a mess.
Most gop do.
Message from Matti
August 24th, 2011
2:54 pm
Normal,
What do you want for dinner, Hon?
Thomas
August 24th, 2011
2:54 pm
The man gives away 20% or more of his income to charity and has given away millions in his lifetime.”
Yeah, funny how someone like Cheney who has worked in the government his whole life can have such millions like that to give away.
Response- yes, see Al Gore without the first part. Both are stooges.
Billybob
August 24th, 2011
2:55 pm
where does personal responsibility fit into your ideals bookman? easy question ………
Paul
August 24th, 2011
2:55 pm
Midori
Used to watch that show with my sons. Loved the humor. I gotta see if it’s on Netflix.
When I was in England Brit tv ran “the ten worst science fiction movies.” Attack of the Killer Tomatoes 9 From Outer Space made the list.
Good Saturdays -
marko
August 24th, 2011
2:55 pm
Read my lips, no new Texans.
Paul
August 24th, 2011
2:56 pm
Midori
Make that “and Plan 9 From Outer Space.”
Aquagirl
August 24th, 2011
2:56 pm
Wasn’t “frak” a favorite word of Starbucks in Galactica?
It was pretty much everyone’s favorite word.
Paul
August 24th, 2011
2:59 pm
Aquagirl
Frak yeah!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2nuHAFLqa0
Granny Godzilla
August 24th, 2011
3:00 pm
Read my lips, No new Texans
That’s very clever…
Can I use it please?
Keep Up the Good Fight!
August 24th, 2011
3:00 pm
Adam, Dave and Doom lack the ability to comprehend what real stalking is, in the cyber-world or the real world. But its all part of their failing schtik like his monkey schtik or Doomy’s winning or GLL’s “obessed with me” or “Jay only bans cons” whine….
Their weakness is demonstrated when the schtik comes out.
kayaker 71
August 24th, 2011
3:00 pm
Normal,
Who did the interview? A guest host on the Limbaugh program, Mark Belling who broadcasts a talk show on WISN in Milwaukee. He is a personal friend of Walker… they grew up together.
Joe Mama
August 24th, 2011
3:00 pm
Adam — “Or call you names. Like stalker. Even when it doesn’t apply.”
Indeed. Why just yesterday (paraphrase) . . .
Dave (to another poster) — ‘Your total ignorance of military matters renders you unworthy to ever again comment on this sort of topic!’
Joe Mama (to Dave) — ‘So, Dave, did you ever finish your research into the NATO Charter or were you just BSing me during our earlier discussion? Because you seem kinda ignorant on military matters yourself.’
Dave (to Joe Mama) — ‘STALKER!!!11!!eleventy!!’
md
August 24th, 2011
3:01 pm
I do have to say my answer was in context to my situation……..which means being asked by my better half……..vs females in general.
Haven’t had too many “females in general” ask me about their butts lately…………….
Joe the Plutocrat
August 24th, 2011
3:02 pm
Granny, by your standards, Michelle Bachman and Sarah Palin would be OK. what I mean to say is; I know lots of clumsy, oafish women who “smell nice” and I was even married to a clumsy oafish woman who did not smell nice – what was I thinking?
Dusty
August 24th, 2011
3:02 pm
Kayaker 71
That is really good news from Wisconsin. Shows that IT can really be done. That is :cut expenses and get out of debt.
Yoo hoo Washington….over here….in Wisconsin. It works! Try it!!
Midori
August 24th, 2011
3:04 pm
Paul and Keep – watching it right now on Google Video and laughing my butt off
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4328307743710470806#docid=3635881440453654020
bad werewolf, bad!!
Joe Mama
August 24th, 2011
3:05 pm
Thomas — “Response- yes, see Al Gore without the first part. Both are stooges.”
Al Gore went to Vietnam as an enlisted soldier. Dick Cheney got four deferments.
Better to be a stooge with some character and some backbone than to be someone like Dick Cheney.
Joe the Plutocrat
August 24th, 2011
3:05 pm
kayaker, and let’s just wait until next year before we pop the cork on the chamagne bottles (both in terms of any deficit/surplus, or the health of the schools). wouldn’t be the first time a politico made a bold (and baseless) prediction/projection. does “you’re doing a great job, Brownie…” or “mission accomplished” ring a bell.
md
August 24th, 2011
3:05 pm
Did I hear NATO charter? The worthless one?
May as well tear it up……..isn’t worth the paper it is written on…………………certainly not followed by the majority of members.
Kamchak
August 24th, 2011
3:06 pm
md
The word you want to use is callipygian.
Talking Head
August 24th, 2011
3:06 pm
Obama is losing to Romney, Perry, and Bachmann in Florida polls.
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2011/08/magellan-poll-obama-in-trouble-but-no-republicans-alighting-florida.html
Paul
August 24th, 2011
3:07 pm
Midori
I really need to work……….
But I can’t while I’m laughing….
Joe Mama
August 24th, 2011
3:08 pm
md — “Did I hear NATO charter? The worthless one?”
There’s more than one?
“May as well tear it up……..isn’t worth the paper it is written on…………………certainly not followed by the majority of members.”
Please, go on. What do you mean by all that?
md
August 24th, 2011
3:08 pm
“and I was even married to a clumsy oafish woman who did not smell nice – what was I thinking?”
Depends on which organ was doing the thinking………………….
God gave man a brain and a penis……………but only enough blood to power one at a time…………
DebbieDoRight
August 24th, 2011
3:09 pm
I’ve no doubt that many young girls would like to think you’re, at the very least, concerned about them. It’s not a requirement. If you’re more comfortable with jokes, so be it. I’ll opt for concern.
@@ some people use humor to diffuse talking about a subject that is just too hard and painful for them to talk about.
You know I used to be a Social Worker for DFACS in Augusta right? I once had a young girl who’d run away from an abysmal homelife and would come to Atlanta every few months. She’d live on the streets and fall into prostitution; pimped out by a 30+ y.o. man — she was 12. Four weeks ago, she was found with her throat cut and her body dumped in the garbage like trash and I went down to Augusta to her funeral. Looking in her casket was like looking at a woman who was in her 40’s or 50’s; she looked so old and worned down, but she couldn’t have been anymore than 20.
So yes, I know it’s a subject that need to be addressed, but right now, I’d prefer not to ’cause I couldn’t save her, no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t save her. She felt that whatever was out there in the streets was better than what was happening to her at home. You spoke of finding some girl on her knees behind the bleechers, that you admonished, but did you think about what might have drove her to that act? What her homelife must be like? Why she felt more love on her knees in front of 10+ men then she ever felt at home?
Did you find her parents and admonish them? Not trying to cast any blame your way, just want you to see there are so many shades of gray and so many “stories” out there, that our just talking about it on a blog might not help it.
Become a Big Sister — mentor a girl; show her some love and some hope, that’s the best thing that any of us can do for the next generation coming up.
md
August 24th, 2011
3:12 pm
I mean the worthless “all for one and one for all” bullcrap…………the member nations voted to make Afghanistan a NATO mission………….nowhere in that charter does it say “and the US shall provide the bulk of the troops and do most of the fighting in hostile areas”…..or “the Germans will be restricted to sitting on their butts in Kabul”……………..
Did I miss that in the Charter?
md
August 24th, 2011
3:16 pm
Kam……the word I use is a very soft “no”………or “absolutely not”……or a gentle shaking of the head from side to side…………..
I know who holds the keys to the kingdom……………….
BADA BING
August 24th, 2011
3:17 pm
Men and women differ when’ trying on clothes’. Men want to try on clothes with different people, while women want to settle down with the one they try on clothes with. It is good to have a variety when trying on clothes, because all clothes aren’t the same. Some clothes do things that other clothes won’t. Clothes come in different sizes and colors, some very exotic clothes can be found all over the world. Men like to take a nap after trying on clothes, while women want to ‘talk’.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
August 24th, 2011
3:20 pm
DDR — a sad story. It’s too bad that we dont see less “bumper sticker” mentality and more compassion for the true human condition. The world is full of grays and real human stories.
Kamchak
August 24th, 2011
3:22 pm
I know who holds the keys to the kingdom…
I thought the kids were calling it the Cambrian explosion nowadays.
@@
August 24th, 2011
3:22 pm
First on Modern Healthcare’s 2011 “Most Influential” list was Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the House Budget Committee. He even outranked President Barack Obama, who came in third.
Oh pooh
SCHNIRT
Paddy O
August 24th, 2011
3:23 pm
AmVet: Paddy, no sir, no ballerina moves.
You said “abortion is murder”.
I said that is patently false.
You now want to now change the question to one of morality.
Ain’t happening.
Show me any accepted definition of the word abortion that includes murder.
This whole passage is prima donna ballerina – denying the obvious only means that your morality has been castrated. Abortion does what to the fetus? Removes it? Kills it?
DebbieDoRight
August 24th, 2011
3:24 pm
Thanks Keep.
I’m out. Later gators.
Paddy O
August 24th, 2011
3:25 pm
debbie – pretending that there are NO immoral, unethical females AND/OR females is typical liberal utopianism; then extending what I believe to me a accurate comment to state that I hate all females is more typical female demonization/manipulation. Sorry, crap don’t sell that well. Try some reality.
Doggone/GA
August 24th, 2011
3:29 pm
“pretending that there are NO immoral, unethical females AND/OR females”
What’s the difference between “immoral, unethical females” and “AND/OR females”?
Joe Mama
August 24th, 2011
3:30 pm
md — “Did I miss that in the Charter?”
If you have a complaint with what the Charter SAYS, I’m all ears. Do you have a specific complaint with what the Charter says?
If, OTOH, you’re just moaning about execution, then I’d like to know if your complaint is actually directed at the Charter itself or at something else.
In other words, tighten up your shot group, because you’re aiming all over the place AFAICS.
Paddy O
August 24th, 2011
3:30 pm
debbie: “Pro-life BEFORE birth, after birth they are called, Pro-tests. See they protest free school lunches, they protest birth control, they protest food supplements, etc., etc., etc.,”
are you this ignorant a liberal? free for WHOM? The recipient who has ejected the husband and replaced it with a benevolent bureacracy? Or, do you think the makers/providers of this FREE stuff have donated? You really are in pollyanna utopianville. Socialism R US your favorite hang out?
Paul
August 24th, 2011
3:32 pm
PaddyO
Not sure AmVet’s here, but the operative word he asked you about is “murder.” Not ‘kills.”
Joe the Plutocrat
August 24th, 2011
3:33 pm
md, true, which makes my faux pas all the more disturbing, as my ex stimulated neither organ, so I can’t play the ‘blood supply’ card.
Adam
August 24th, 2011
3:33 pm
md: So when Obama decided to press for the U.S. not to be the bulk of the force involved in the Libya no fly zone, what did you think of that?
Adam
August 24th, 2011
3:34 pm
Paddy O: The recipient who has ejected the husband and replaced it with a benevolent bureacracy?
Do you actually think for yourself at all?
josef
August 24th, 2011
3:35 pm
Okay, the good news…Georgia has made great progress in dealing with this serious social problem. Just once, for a change, couldn’t we just be happy and go looking for how and why instead of turning this into a fry Perry opportunity. Okay, the bad news…Texas remains third lowest in confronting this serious social problem. Good, lambaste them and Perry, too, but why allow that to keep us from celebrating a success of our own? Cheap shot…
and..
“.it’s not as if every male in the state has those mannerisms”
What? Those of a Carpetbagger Prince and a butch-act secessionist… I should hope not…as the Texans so aptly put it, them boys are all hat and no cattle…
@@
August 24th, 2011
3:37 pm
Debbie:
You spoke of finding some girl on her knees behind the bleechers, that you admonished, but did you think about what might have drove her to that act? What her homelife must be like? Why she felt more love on her knees in front of 10+ men then she ever felt at home?
I’ve done the research. I know the causes.
Become a Big Sister — mentor a girl.
I had a friend who did that. I hate to sound cynical but when the Big Sister stopped providing material things, the young girl asked for a different mentor (Big Sister). I tried to tell my friend it wasn’t about stuff…it was about emotional support. She said she offered that too but the girl would accuse her of getting into her personal business. Maybe there’s an art to it. My friend was terribly discouraged.
I had the privilege of serving as liason between my church and the ChildTech (teenage mothers) program we sponsored. Loved it! Two of the girls have maintained contact with me…they’re doing well. The others? There wasn’t a connection…it wasn’t for my lack of trying.
I’m out for awhile. I find this place disheartening.
stands for decibels
August 24th, 2011
3:37 pm
Not sure AmVet’s here, but the operative word he asked you about is “murder.” Not ‘kills.”
whew. I was all skeered I was about to be tried for murdering those ants the other day.
Dusty
August 24th, 2011
3:37 pm
Joe Mama,
Hang you head!! Cheney is one of the smartest people we have had in our government for many a year. The brightest! Maybe that’s why Democrats so love to run him down. He’s smart enough to ignore trash. LIke the one Kerry tried to makebelieve about Cheney getting money from government contracts with Halliburton after he was vice President…
Cheney worked hard for this country and also spent five years as CEO of one of America’s larger companies, Halliburton. That is where Kerry went wrong. Cheney cut all ries with Halliburton to become Vice President. His contract bonus money from Halliburton was tabulated at the end of the fiscal year and then sent to him. He received no money for work after he joined the government.
So, once again, lies for political purposes, still being extended by Democrats who WANT to hurt anyone associated with Bush. They (here) say it here almost every day. Makes one wonder what else they have conjured up to suit their politics..
stands for decibels
August 24th, 2011
3:38 pm
also, just because: this.
Normal
August 24th, 2011
3:41 pm
Dusty
August 24th, 2011
3:37 pm
and the problem is, folks, she really believe that…
Have a great evening…I’m heading to Mom’s…
md
August 24th, 2011
3:42 pm
Article 5 Joe:
“The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all……..”
If their response in Afghanistan is any indication, we are in a world of hurt……………….in other words, I suspect they would respond a wee bit more forcefully had it been them that was attacked……and would expect the US to do the same.
If Berlin was attacked, think it would go over very well if the US parked itself in the relative safety of one city and restricted themselves to limited operations??
Talking Head
August 24th, 2011
3:43 pm
a likely scenerio explaining the high number of teen pregnancies in the state of texas could be the higher number of illegal immigrants in that state than most
it has been documented that illegal immigrants have a higher teen pregnancy rate than the rest of the population
Adam
August 24th, 2011
3:44 pm
stands: love it. Tea Party as an image of “We’re all Mad here…”
md
August 24th, 2011
3:44 pm
“md: So when Obama decided to press for the U.S. not to be the bulk of the force involved in the Libya no fly zone, what did you think of that?”
If you will recall Adam, I called for action in Libya from the get go………..so I have no problem with the situation……….and I definitely have no problem with those in Europe doing a bit more of the heavy lifting.
They’ve relied on our military spending for much too long…………
getalife
August 24th, 2011
3:45 pm
Good too see cheney is still alive.
He admitted torture .
It’s a tough call because we executed people for the same charge.
Adam
August 24th, 2011
3:45 pm
Talking Head: a likely scenerio explaining the high number of teen pregnancies in the state of texas could be the higher number of illegal immigrants in that state than most
We’ve been over this…. Start around page 5 I think.
Jay
August 24th, 2011
3:46 pm
Pretty funny, Josef.
First you chide me for a cheap shot, then you can’t resist the temptation to take a well-aimed shot of your own at Perry. Yet another example of why abstinence won’t work.
Fresh sheets upstairs.
Dusty
August 24th, 2011
3:46 pm
So Josef,
“them boys (in Texas) are all hat and no cattle”. Cute! But what we got in the White House now is all polish and no pith
We’ve already dashed the Hope. Let’s go for a Change!!!