How's that abstinence thing working out for you, Governor Perry?

From The New York Times (see link below):

Texas Governor Rick "Perry government is a huge fan of the deeply ineffective abstinence-only sex education. Texas gobbles up more federal funds than any other state for the purpose of teaching kids that the only way to avoid unwanted pregnancies is to avoid sex entirely. (Who knew that the health care reform bill included $250 million for abstinence-only sex ed? Thank you, Senator Orrin Hatch!) But the state refused to accept federal money for more expansive, 'evidence-based' programs.

'Abstinence works,' said Governor Perry during a televised interview with Evan Smith of The Texas Tribune.

'But we have the third highest teen pregnancy rate among all states in the country,' Smith responded.

'It works,' insisted Perry.

'Can you give me a statistic suggesting it works?' asked Smith.

'I’m just going to tell you from my own personal life. Abstinence works,' said Perry, doggedly."

Thank you for that, Governor Perry, but just because it works for you and the Mrs., doesn't mean it works for an entire state, even if that state weren't the size of Texas.

Link to original post:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/opinion/17gailcollins.html?src=me&ref=general

Two old dogs learn new tricks

Great news. There are two stories out right now, showing two people of former mind-sets have, in fact, changed those minds and are now in favor of climate change initiatives, on the one hand, and religious freedom in America--even in New York City. First up, the climate change guy: The world's most high-profile climate change sceptic is to declare that global warming is "undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today" and "a challenge humanity must confront", in an apparent U-turn that will give a huge boost to the embattled environmental lobby. Bjørn Lomborg, the self-styled "sceptical environmentalist" once compared to Adolf Hitler by the UN's climate chief, is famous for attacking climate scientists, campaigners, the media and others for exaggerating the rate of global warming and its effects on humans, and the costly waste of policies to stop the problem. But in a new book to be published next month, Lomborg will call for tens of billions of dollars a year to be invested in tackling climate change. "Investing $100bn annually would mean that we could essentially resolve the climate change problem by the end of this century," the book concludes. That's some great news. Then, back here in the States, there's this on the misnamed "Ground Zero Mosque": ThinkProgress's Alex Seitz-Wald has video of Hatch giving an interview to Salt Lake City's Fox 13 News, in which he offers up soft-spoken yet strong support for the Cordoba Initiative's Park51 project in Manhattan. HATCH: Let's be honest about it, in the First Amendment, religious freedom, religious expression, that really express matters to the Constitution. So, if the Muslims own that property, that private property, and they want to build a mosque there, they should have the right to do so. He goes on, unfortunately, to ask if it's "smart to do so" (build the "mosque" there and backtracks, not unlike the President a while back but still, he's saying it's all about religious freedom so good on him. If this keeps up, who knows? Maybe we can even gain back hope again. Have a great day, y'all.