How-to manuals for teens?
Students who receive comprehensive sex education are half as likely to become teen parents as those who get none or abstinence-only sex education, according to researchers at the University of Washington.
There is substantial reliable evidence that abstinence-only programs fail to persuade young people to abstain from sex until marriage.
When youth schooled by abstinence-only programs do become sexually active,the programs’ anti-condom messages may actually discourage them from practicing safe sex, making the negative information the programs offer about contraception and disease prevention particularly dangerous. Such messages deny young people the opportunity to receive vital education to protect their health and well-being and, in particular, impede girls’ ability to avoid unwanted pregnancy and STIs to which they are more biologically susceptible.
Sen. Chuck Hagel wants to declare independence from party politics.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., suggests that the United States needs independent leadership and possibly another political party. "In the current impasse, an independent candidate for the presidency, or a bipartisan unity ticket ... could be appealing to Americans," Hagel writes in his new book, "America: Our Next Chapter," due in stores next week.
Is Hagel right? Does America need a viable, independent alternative to the Democratic and Republican parties?
A third party can sustain itself if it has a geographical base to work with because our elections are geographically based. So, it can win some states and develop some viability in that way. Barring that, it needs some kind of big personality to drive the campaign, to use media attention to reach its group of potential supporters, who are dispersed across the country. Without such a personality, the party lacks the resources to communicate its message -- and it goes nowhere.
Whether or not we need a third party is one of those questions that shows up every election cycle. The general perception is that, if neither the Dems or Repubs are offering intelligent policies, then a third party could. Unfortunately, a third party would still be a party – meaning even if it’s more “centrist” than the current parties, it’ll quickly succumb to the same internal power games and distasteful compromises that afflict our blue and red friends.
What we need, I think, is not a new party but a revitalized commitment to independence within the two major parties.
Which is better for you, and for the environment?
San Francisco has banned it. Chicago taxes it. Now Seattle has taken a small step against bottled water, banning the product from city facilities and events. Why?
It all comes down to one simple question: Who should we trust to make the decision of what products we can buy? Should we trust busybody environmental activists or individuals who pay the bills and must live with the consequences of their own decisions? It's a no brainer.
The big springwater companies tend to make their own bottles in their plants, just moments before they are filled with water--12, 19, 30 grams of molded plastic each. Americans went through about 50 billion plastic water bottles last year, 167 for each person. Durable, lightweight containers manufactured just to be discarded. Water bottles are made of totally recyclable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, so we share responsibility for their impact: Our recycling rate for PET is only 23%, which means we pitch into landfills 38 billion water bottles a year--more than $1 billion worth of plastic.
What's different about water, of course, is that it runs from taps in our homes, or from fountains in public spaces. Soda does not.
Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., wants a new "New Deal" for America.
With the financial market reeling from the collapse of investment banker Bear Stearns, public confidence in the U.S. economy continues to plummet. Three in four Americans now rate the economy as at least somewhat bad -- the highest percentage in more than 15 years -- and the same number say they think it is getting worse, according to a new CBS News poll.
It is safe to say Rahm Emanuel's New Deal continues in the tradition of FDR's grand central planning experiment we are staggering under today with a serious need for entitlement reform. The real question here is whether Americans are willing to give up more and more of their paychecks to fund more government interference in the market and possibly lose their jobs as US competitiveness erodes, or whether we'll find another Wendell Willkie to stand against the new New Deal and for economic growth.
First, we must reform the way we educate the next generation of workers to ensure that our nation stays competitive. We should require all students to receive one year of training and education after high school -- be it at a community college, technical school, or a four year university.
Second, we should ensure that all Americans have quality, affordable health care. Helping older workers and employers manage the health costs of early retirees will make it possible for entire sectors of the U.S. economy to get back on their feet.
Third, we must support the development of new, energy-efficient technologies that will make energy less expensive for consumers and businesses, help protect the environment, create millions of green-collar jobs, and make our nation energy independent.
Finally, we must become a nation of savers again with a universal savings plan.
Osama bin Laden: Everywhere and nowhere?
Is Osama bin Laden alive? Is he dead? Is he a myth? Well, he released a new recording on Wednesday, slamming the publication of drawings that allegedly insult to the Prophet Muhammad. In a new audio message, bin Laden warned Europeans of a strong reaction to come.
Any decisive effort to "get Bin Laden" must take the shape of intelligence operations within Pakistan itself. A large military force to "get him" will not be needed. What's needed is information. So how far are the hounds from Bin Laden? We are looking at a seven-month old episode in the ongoing hunt for OBL and one can only assume the game has moved on. Although Rahim's arrest has only now made U.S. news headlines, the article in the Pakistani Nation indicates that Osama must have known his inner defenses were breached as far back as August 2007, which is unfortunate.
Considering that Muhammed Rahim was an aide of long standing and must have known practically everyone in his inner circle the chore of building a wholly new network would have been extraordinarily difficult and in my view nearly impossible. The task is so hard I doubt whether Osama can long remain secure in Pakistan.
Osama bin Laden is not some obscure second-tier lieutenant to be pursued in the intelligence community's cat-and-mouse game. For more than five years now, Bush and Co. have been pooh-poohing the importance of killing the al Qaeda leader and perpetrator of 9/11.
Bin Laden not only is titular head of that organization, but he is also inspiration for hundreds if not thousands of terrorists. His survival in the face of the "war" against terrorism -- regardless of the deft Washington utterances that we're not really trying to get him -- symbolizes a hope on the part of many terrorists that they could succeed in taking down America and the West, just as they "defeated" the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
The most important issue for the next president is how to fight terrorism. Bin Laden is its leader, and every day he survives, false hope and grand delusions fuel our enemies.
