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 Texas
are not allowed to vote in the state, but an individual with an expired gun
permit from Arkansas
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.
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 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
9 of the top 10
states that have the most abortions performed are, to no one’s surprise, “blue”
states (Florida
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
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 Arizona
Dr. Ben Carson
grew up in an impoverished area in Detroit
According to
Galllup, 80% of Republicans support the death penalty, but only 58% of the
Democrats do. Texas
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
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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