Tuesday, January 16, 2018

The truth about teenagers









A teacher who I used to work with once made the comment that teenagers do everything that adults do – and she is absolutely right.

They drive cars.

They drink alcohol.

They use illegal drugs.

They smoke cigarettes

They vote.

They have sex.

Due to stricter laws, a smaller percentage of 16 year olds drive then when I was 16 years old. In fact, there are increasing numbers that have no desire to ever get their license.

Due to stricter laws, and increased awareness of the dangers of alcohol, there is less underage drinking now than there was when I was a teen.

Despite the fact that marijuana is more readily available (due to legalization) than it was when I was a lad, marijuana use by teens has decreased to its lowest level in 20 years. Only 6.5 % of teens use marijuana on a monthly basis.

Like society in general, teens smoke less than they used to. If they smoke at all, they are more likely to smoke a joint than a cigarette.

I was not able to vote until I was 21, but that changed with the passage of the 26th amendment in 1971. There ARE some seniors that turn 18 before they graduate. In fact, Arizona law allows teens with special needs to stay in high school until they are 21. Most of them are well aware of today’s political issues, and many of them DO vote. Oddly enough, though, out of state college students in Texas are not allowed to vote in the state, but an individual with an expired gun permit from Arkansas has all the proof he needs to vote.

Sex?

You bet.

According to the Huffington Post, 70% of today’s high school students will have had sexual intercourse at least once by the time they are 19 years old.


Some of them get pregnant.

There are two ways to prevent teenage pregnancy.

1) Provide comprehensive sex education starting in elementary school, and make birth control readily available

2) Pretend that there is NOT a problem with teenagers having sex, and provide no sex education at all other than teaching abstinence, which happens to be what the majority of the states in the Bible belt do.

Just saying “no”, naturally, does little to discourage a 17 year old boy with a hard on, which is why the states that rely on abstinence training have the highest rates of teen pregnancy.

New Mexico tops the list, followed by Mississippi and Texas. The link below will provide the complete list.


Abortion has long been a controversial issue, and my post of 1/27/2011 provides more details:


What should be very obvious is that abortions were still performed in this country before abortion was legalized in 1973. Outlawing alcohol did little to diminish the consumption of alcohol, but the 18th amendment made Al Capone a very rich man.

The “war on drugs” that was started during the Reagan administration did little to reduce the use of illegal drugs, but it made Pablo Escobar one of the richest men in the world for a period of time.

The number of abortions performed in this country is now at the lowest level since Roe V. Wade was passed in 1973, a fact that should be good news for both people that are “pro-life” as well as those who are “pro-choice”, but their approach on how to deal with it differs significantly. In my opinion, the Republic approach to abortion is not only wrong-headed, it is simply WRONG. In fact, the last time the number of abortions INCREASED was when George W. Bush was president.

I know at least one person who voted for Donald Trump (the man who has spoken over 2000 lies since being elected) because she said he was the only candidate who opposed abortion (overlooking the fact that he once changed his position 5 times in a 3 day time period). There are also a LOT of people who did not vote for Hillary Clinton because the Democratic Party supports abortion. In the words of Bill Clinton, abortion should be safe, legal, and RARE.



The artist who painted the picture above, Illma Gore, has been punched in the face. She also has been threatened with rape, death, and lawsuits, which means that Hillary Clinton was right. Some of Trump’s supporters ARE deplorable.


 The 1976 Hyde amendment made if illegal for taxpayer money to be used for abortions, so I am not why how Bruce Rauner, the REPUBLICAN governor of Illinois recently signed a bill that allows taxpayer in his state to do exactly that. Ironically, Henry Hyde, the man who introduced the bill, was a Congressman from Illinois.

A favorite target of the Republicans is Planned Parenthood, even though only 3% of the services provided by the organization are abortions. Because the organization provides sexual education, along with birth control, they have actually REDUCED the number of abortions in this country far more than any “pro-life” politician (many of whom have had extra marital affairs).

In Arizona, Cathi Harrod, the president of the Center for Arizona Policy, has introduced 156 bills in the legislature since her organization was founded in 1998. Not surprisingly, a lot of the bills were aimed at Planned Parenthood. She cares little about the fact that only 3% of the services provided by Planned Parenthood are abortions, and she also cars little about the fact that the vast majority of the services are related to health in general, in addition to BIRTH CONTROL, which prevents unwanted pregnancies.


9 of the top 10 states that have the most abortions performed are, to no one’s surprise, “blue” states (Florida is the lone exception.) They also happen to have lower rates of teen pregnancies.


Coincidence?

I don’t think so.

The name “Stormy Daniels”  became known a few days ago when it was revealed that our “pro-life” president paid her $130,000 in hush money to cover up a sexual encounter that he had with her a year AFTER  he married  Melania.. The is the same guy who married Marla Maples two months AFTER their daughter Tiffany was born.





My favorite quote about “pro-life” Republican was uttered by Sister Joan Chittister, who said this:

“I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think that in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there.  That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.”

Consider these facts for a minute:

In July of 2017, the number of people receiving SNAP benefits (food stamps) had decreased to its lowest level since 2010. To a certain degree, that’s good news, since it means that more people are working, and have less need for food stamps. However, it has also happened because states have imposed stricter eligibility requirements, which makes it harder for people to apply for the benefits. Donald Trump has long been a critic of SNAP, and he has proposed a budget that would cut $193 billlion from the program over a 10 year period.

Funding for the Children Health Insurance program (which provides coverage for nearly 9,000,000 children) expired on September 30. The renewal of funding for the program has become a bargaining chip in the current discussion about funding the government.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/us/politics/government-shutdown-immigration-childrens-health.html?ref=todayspaper

Although folks who live in smarter states have increased funding for education in the last decade, Arizona (under Republican governors) has cut K-12 funding more than any other state from 2008 to 2015. As a result, Arizona is now spending 13.6 percent less on students than it did in 2008.

Dr. Ben Carson grew up in an impoverished area in Detroit, and understands the importance of providing adequate housing for those who are unable to pay for it themselves. Now that he is the head of HUD, he controls a budget of $46 billion. Donald Trump’s 2018 budget would cut HUD funding by $6 billion.


According to Galllup, 80% of Republicans support the death penalty, but only 58% of the Democrats do. Texas leads the nation in the number of people who have been executed, even though not all of the people who were executed were actually guilty of the crimes they were killed for.

When I lived in Illinois, Governor Pat Quinn eliminated the death penalty due to that fact that far too many people on death row had been wrongfully convicted,

On average, thee are nearly 13,000 gun homicides a year in the United States, but the last meaningful gun legislation that was passed by Congress was the 1994 assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, and was not renewed. During the 2016 election, the NRA spent $50.2 million on various races across the country, and only lost one race. The biggest chunk of that money was the $30.3 million that they spend to get Donald Trump elected. As long as Republicans control Congress and the White House, there will not be any meaningful gun legislation passed, in spite of the fact that the Las Vegas shooting in 2017 was the deadliest mass shooting in our countries modern history.


Are Republicans pro-life?

If you review the facts listed above, you’ll readily agree that the term "pro-life Republican" is actually an oxymoron.

Even today’s teenagers would agree with that.







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