Nosey Online

This really pisses me off. And I know it's only a small part of the unbelievable crap going on that we don't know about.

Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy," a congressional staff analysis has found.

Those and other assertions are examples of the "false, misleading, or distorted information" in the programs' teaching materials, said the analysis, released yesterday, which reviewed the curricula of more than a dozen projects aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.

In providing nearly $170 million next year to fund groups that teach abstinence only, the Bush administration, with backing from the Republican Congress, is investing heavily in a just-say-no strategy for teenagers and sex. But youngsters taking the courses frequently receive medically inaccurate or misleading information, often in direct contradiction to the findings of government scientists, said the report, by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), a critic of the administration who has long argued for comprehensive sex education.

This is just more of the same from the Administration that is seeking to undefine the word "fact." You know, things like locations of purported WMD's, al Qaida's link to Iraq, etc. Here's a few of the "facts" that are being taught in these classes.

• A 43-day-old fetus is a "thinking person."

• HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be spread via sweat and tears.

• Condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in heterosexual intercourse.

One curriculum, called "Me, My World, My Future," teaches that women who have an abortion "are more prone to suicide" and that as many as 10 percent of them become sterile. This contradicts the 2001 edition of a standard obstetrics textbook that says fertility is not affected by elective abortion, the Waxman report said.

Thank God our children are gettin' learned.

Of all of Bush's recent Cabinet nominations, I think Bernard Kerik is the only one who will do a really good job. I remember seeing a piece on 60 Minutes about a year ago that outlined his life. He doesn't strike me as a guy who would pull out a Yellow Alert at the drop of a hat. On the other hand, can we really trust anyone in Bush Cabinet v.2? All in all, I think it's safe to say that Kerik is way more qualified than Ridge was for this position. I guess since Pennsylvania went Blue on November 2nd, Ridge outlasted his usefullness.

Outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson had these wise words to say during his resignation statement.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson resigned Friday, warning of a potential global outbreak of the flu and health-related terror attacks. "For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do," he said.

He forgot to add "I double dog dare you!" Maybe it's another government psy ops conflagration.

Cry babies.

"You can have all the armor in the world on a tank and it can (still) be blown up," Rumsfeld said.

God, he really puts the compassion in compassionate conservative, eh?

When I'm wrong...

Bernard Kerik apologized to President Bush on Saturday after questions about the immigration status of a housekeeper-nanny he employed led the former New York City police commissioner to withdraw his nomination as homeland security chief.

See, eRobin, this is what happens when one stops paying attention to details. :)

Q: In Ohio, what does being against gay marriage, fighting a governor over tax increases, and overseeing the greatest voting debacle since Florida 2000 get you?

A: A ride to the top.

After high-profile crusades for tax cuts and against gay marriage, Secretary of State Ken Blackwell now leads the two other Republicans who want to be Ohio's next governor, according to a poll of GOP voters commissioned by Blackwell's campaign. [...]

Blackwell released the poll one year after a [State Auditor Betty] Montgomery survey showed 32 percent of GOP voters favored her candidacy. Blackwell placed second with 23 percent; Petro finished last with 17 percent.

Since then, Blackwell has courted his party's conservative wing by leading efforts to add a gay-marriage ban to the Ohio Constitution and arguing for lower taxes.

Oh, don't forget to add helping give the election to Bush by not having enough voting machines in traditionally poor urban Democratic precincts. Ohio is definitely not the state I grew up in. I don't know what has happened. The state loses more jobs then any other during Bush's first term, yet people still wanted to keep him around. I guess we can thank Fox News and Rush for all the brainwashing.

We now have a phrase to replace "Weapons of Mass Destruction program-related activities."

Last month, state media said China planned to launch more than 100 satellites before 2020 to watch every corner of the country.

A "large surveying network" would be set up to monitor water reserves, forests, farmland, city construction and "various activities of society", it said.

And we trade with these guys. Yikes.

I wanted to take a moment and wish all of my blog friends (Justin at AP, eRobin at Fact-esque, JasonC at The Game, Chepooka at Chepooka, and John at QandO, among others) a very Merry Chistmas and Happy Holidays. Rest assured, that while my career has taken away from my abilty to post and comment, I still read your blogs on a daily basis. Everyone who I have come across during the last year has been able to impart some sort of wisdom that I will take with me as time goes on. I, at some point, will begin to blog regularly. But until then, the random post will find its way to the front page. So from the editors of Nosey Online, we wish you safe and happy times with your families.