SEX & RELATIONSHIPS  
AlterNet / By Karen Dolan
comments_imageCOMMENTS: 281

How My 7-Year-Old Learned About Pre-Marital Sex from John McCain

I wholly believe in educating my child about contraception. But given that he is 7, I could have waited a few years for that particular talk.
September 3, 2008  |  
 
 
LIKE THIS ARTICLE ?
Join our mailing list:

Sign up to stay up to date on the latest Sex & Relationships headlines via email.

 
 
Advertisement
 
Ok, yes, you can credit or fault me as a mother for allowing my 7- year-old to suffer under the blissful ignorance of believing that one needs to be married before one gets pregnant. Or you can credit or fault me for answering my child's matter-of-fact questions about how babies are made even though he is only 7. But all credit and fault goes to John McCain and Sarah Palin for exposing all children who have a TV to the news that Palin's unmarried teenage daughter is indeed 5 months pregnant.

Seeing this "Breaking News" on TV when trying to catch news of Gustav and the Republican Convention, my son immediately asks me "But how can she be pregnant if she isn't married?" and "Does a girl get pregnant every time she has sex with a boy?" Thus ensues the revelation that sex is possible before marriage, and how condoms and birth control pills can prevent pregnancy and HIV. I wholly believe in educating my child about contraception. But given that he is indeed 7, I could easily have waited another year or two for him to be older for that particular conversation. I sorta liked the sweet illusion of the "sex is for grown-ups in committed relationships" thing ... don't most parents of elementary-age children?

I don't judge the Palins for having a pregnant teen daughter. I do think that it reinforces the need for frank sex education and the distribution of condoms in middle and high schools. I do think that the "Breaking News" of this unfortunate pregnancy points to the need of options for teens beyond the highly un-contraceptive "promise ring" that is the rage with certain Christian families these days, promising God the purity of their children until after that ring is replaced with a wedding ring. But I don't judge the child or her parents for the current situation, all too familiar to many families nation-wide. Each year a million girls under the age of 20 become pregnant in the U.S.

But the hypocrisy of so-called Conservatives in touting this circumstance as proof of family values, of conservative values, really roils me. The AP recently reported that John McCain not only has opposed federal spending on teen-prevention programs, he has also voted to oppose education and federal spending on contraceptives. Palin's own record shows the same at the state level. The idea that once a teenager, deprived of an education which teaches contraception, finds herself pregnant, is then expected to allow the embryo to come to term, to then either give it away or marry the father regardless of who, what or how he is doesn't rank among my values. To celebrate such practices as values to which we all should aspire, strikes me as worse than Palin's corruption charges and her petition to sue the government in order to keep polar bears off of the endangered species list.

How many times have we heard the likes of Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly decrying the flash of a bra-strap from 15-year-old Mylie Cyrus or the danger that sex education in Middle School will expose our children to too much information about sex too young? Well, Senator McCain and Governor Palin, I just wanted you to know that this particular mother would have preferred to wait a bit before having to explain to my 7-year-old that a latex covering over a penis should be worn to keep the semen from fertilizing the egg during sex if teenagers, such as the one broadcast all over the news yesterday, decide to engage in such activity before being mature enough to actually parent a baby.

In a way though, McCain and Palin have done us all a favor as they now have removed the chastity belt which hampered honest discussion on sex education in schools and realistic, effective ways to prevent teen-pregnancy and STDs. Maybe my 7-year-old could have held on a bit longer to his innocent notions of Trojans simply as Greek Warriors; but the McCain/Palin ticket has only reinforced the idea that pre-pubescent children and teens here and around the globe deserve nothing less than a government-provided box of the wonderful little things, complete with classroom sex-education courses.

Now we're talking values.
Karen Dolan is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington D.C. and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus. She directs the Institute's Cities for Progress project.
Email
Print
Share
Post on reddit
Post on stumbleupon
Post on facebook
Post on digg
Post on twitter
Post on delicious
LIKED THIS ARTICLE? JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST
Stay up to date with the latest Sex & Relationships headlines via email
See more stories tagged with: sex, abstinence, mccain, contraceptives, sex ed, palin

comments COMMENTS ( 281 )
READ COMMENTS
LOGIN OR REGISTER TO POST A COMMENT
 

Comments are closed-

Morals?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: EinMD on Sep 3, 2008 12:40 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Bah... Republicans don't need no stinking morals! As long as there are bathrooms to troll for sex in, congressional pages to bed and stupid easily lead people to manipulate and steal money from they'll be just fine.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Morals? Posted by: smaart

Comments are closed-

A joke
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Jeanne on Sep 3, 2008 6:11 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
But, sad to say, the low-information voter, and those die-hard fundamentalists won't get it. Just explain how you sell the unintended pregnancy of a 17-yr old as "family values" in the same breath that you admit your opposition to sex education (except for abstinence only -- do you see the irony here?) and birth control. Despite the fact that the young father's MySpace page proclaims "no kids in my future," they will be getting married. No pressure there. So, this makes it a wholesome, family values moment because the premarital, pre-adult parents are going to make the baby "legal." All we need now is the expose on the pot-smoking, alcohol drinking, and coke snorting (I'm making that up ... or am I?).

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Oh, I doubt that Posted by: Beck
» Pan equals Satan Posted by: bottom-line
» RE: Pan equals Satan Posted by: sbaran
» RE: Pan equals Satan Posted by: Cybershaman
» RE: Pan equals Satan Posted by: bottom-line
» POT KETTLE BLACK! Posted by: crashgrab
» RE: POT KETTLE BLACK! Posted by: bottom-line
» RE: Geez! Posted by: Cybershaman
» RE: POT KETTLE BLACK! Posted by: crashgrab
» RE: A joke Posted by: mercury613
» RE: A joke Posted by: OneliaG

Comments are closed-

down, down, down
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Spot on Sep 3, 2008 7:49 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
babies=never-ending responsibility=dependence on your job=corporate power.

young mothers don't have the time to grow up, they don't usually have the time to get educated, they don't have the time to know any better before its too late.

and that's just how the republicans want it.

how can you claim to be pro-life if the lives you touch are destroyed?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Actually, "homo-" means Posted by: truthlover

Comments are closed-

Mike Males
[Report this comment]
Posted by: mmales on Sep 3, 2008 9:13 PM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What awful columns and comments in Alternet on Palin's daughter, teens, and pregnancy. The American Left is truly dead on youth issues. Gone. Smugly indulging pre-1960s racism and sexism masked as demeaning teenage girls. First, teenage girls can be perfectly competent parents, as Rosalynn Carter (and millions of others) proved. Frankly, American adults who sport a 60% divorce rate and mammoth rates of unplanned pregnancy are in no position to criticize teens. Second, girls are not so stupid as to suddenly go out and get pregnant because of Palin, McCain, Juno, or other pop-culture junk that seems to obsess commentators (you're the ones who should be protected from pop media). Girls respond to their own lives, including poverty, the need to escape abusive families, rigidly exclusionary education systems, and other ills they know far more about than you do and which the Left no longer talks about. Third, how many adult women would appreciate being vilified and condescended to the way you're demeaning Palin's daughter? Take this example: It's far more sensible for Palin's 17-year-old daughter to have a baby than her 44-year-old mother. Sarah Palin, in middle age, was hundreds of times more likely to give birth to a baby with devastating defects that would condemn it to suffering a tragically short and horribly miserable life. Yet, Palin carelessly got pregnant anyway at a risky age, by all accounts failed to pursue rigorous prenatal care, and defiantly insisted on becoming a mother yet again at huge public cost when she could have used contraception or abstinence to avoid becoming one. Does the previous sentence strike you as cruelly judgmental? Good. That's how ignorant and condescending the rest of you sound to me talking about teenaged mothers and youth in general. http://www.YouthFacts.org

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Mike Males Posted by: emmas
» RE: Mike Males Posted by: mmales
» The risk is more like 1 in 50 Posted by: ReallyBearish
» RE: The risk is more like 1 in 50 Posted by: bottom-line
» You are making things up. Posted by: crashgrab
» DON'T FEED THE DAMN TROLLS! Posted by: kimbari
» RE: Mike Males Posted by: betsy99

Comments are closed-

Palin's Private Choices and Public Policy
[Report this comment]
Posted by: AlexLawyer on Sep 4, 2008 1:28 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
One might think that Sarah Palin, having herself been pregnant at the altar, would have understood the need for comprehensive sex education instead of the nonsensical, discredited abstinence-only programs she promotes. Even her daughter's pregnancy doesn't teach her this important lesson. Her decision to bear a Down Syndrome child doesn't give her the right to demand that all women do so, or even have to bear the children of sexual abusers or rapists.

Palin claims to be pro-life, but she's really pro-embryo and fetus. Her neglect of children's healthcare and her gleeful support of our slaughter of children in Iraq and Afghanistan prove that she is not, in any consistent sense, pro-life.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» DON'T FEED THE DAMN TROLLS! Posted by: kimbari
» Well, there's no zero. Posted by: Beck
» Bottom Line makes us smug and lazy Posted by: AdamSelene40

Comments are closed-

Karen Dolan's 7 yr-old Exposed To Pregnancy
[Report this comment]
Posted by: ownersedge on Sep 4, 2008 4:17 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If they're old enough to ask, they're old enough to learn. And it's allllways sooner than the parent expects she is ready for ... The Talk. You were lucky.

Simple answers will suffice at age 7, but keep the conversation open as he encounters more exposure.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» My 1st asked at 3. Posted by: MamaPantz

Comments are closed-

Short memory
[Report this comment]
Posted by: sgauntt on Sep 4, 2008 11:16 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
haha, you're a trip.

What about Jamie Lynn Spears or the "pregnancy pact" just a few short months ago up in Massachusetts that was all over the news? You've got to try harder than this...

Stephen

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Whats new
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Andrew_S on Sep 4, 2008 5:00 PM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I have 4 and 5 year old's practicing felatio. It is OK though it's family court approved since the Mother is gold. yet it's my fault, even with minimal contact. My goodness what this nation values as acceptable. But then again since feminism has the primary role in raising children or not, as an option, we males are kind of left wondering. I actually should restate that as I realize that children are only a means to an end, especially with the newer 'no childs behind left intact' for education. You go girlz.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Drunk? Troll? Whaaaa? Posted by: leighsure
» he'a a forced birther troll Posted by: goatini
» Yeah, Your Government Loves You. Posted by: bottom-line
» claire Posted by: brer
» What a sense of humor!!! LOL!!! Posted by: countingdaisies

Comments are closed-

How can she be pregnant if she ain't married?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: LouisLouis on Sep 5, 2008 1:45 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If your child asks, how one could be pregnant and not being married - then you better hurrry and explain: There's no connection between the two. Easy as that. Oh my god, America..... If there's a God he will shake his head in unbelief for centuries. Seems very bad luck being born in the states, these days.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Never Too Soon
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Naoma on Sep 5, 2008 2:30 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
My daughter is now 40. At 3 she asked me
questions and I answered them truthfully. So,
she knew the "facts of life" at that age. Big
deal.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

My Sympathies to this Mom
[Report this comment]
Posted by: FilmDog on Sep 5, 2008 3:22 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The author's discomfort with telling her 7 year old the facts of life is understandable. And it is indeed an irony that the Republican Party, the party of prudery and denial of human sexuality, is responsible for her having to give her child an earlier than anticipated lesson in separating sex from love and/or marriage.

However, another irony of American society is that the puritan prudes have so successfully suppressed portrayal of mature sexuality in the media and mature sexual development throughout our culture that we live in a state of perpetual teasing and arousal.

Our culture engages in constant "heavy petting" while denying the necessity of sexual release. The corporate owners of the mass media make a bundle off of tits-n-ass titillation, and the hypocritical censorship that limits exactly what they can show keeps their audience constyantly juiced up and hungry for more.

The ridiculous notion of the virtue in virginity is just one way the prudes make sure that much of that audience stays in that jacked-up state. And let's not forget that Joycelyn Elders, MD, the Surgeon General under Pres Clinton, got fired for suggesting publicly that kids would be a lot better off if we worked to remove the stigma from masturbation. Nope, nothing drives consumption of immature sexual images better than keeping everyone perpetually aroused with as little relief as possible.

A little rule of thumb is that the more sexually repressive a society is the more everything becomes sexual. The orthodox of every major religion are caught in a trap of their own making. The more they cover women from head to toe the more they sexualize the few centimeters that remain visible.

Add commercial motives to that kind of system and you've got a society that's flooded with images that satisfy the law but nevertheless arouse the viewer.

Good luck to our young mother, the article's author. She's fighting an uphill battle to let her kid grow up on a timetable that is based on normal developmental pressures and capabilities. Our prudish and sex-obsessed society "hurries" our children into forms of excitement for which they are ill-designed.

A scientific orientation toward sex combined with a simple ethic based on the "Golden Rule" would set us and our children free from a kind of enslavement. That's the last thing we might expect from a political party that is proud of its ignorance, that treats scientific principles and facts as optional elements in decision-making, that is free to ignore the evidence of the catastrophic effects that their position on all things sexual has had on families, whom they to "value" so much.

Good Luck to this mom, and all mothers and fathers, and God help us all if we get another 4 years of these fascists in power.

FilmDog

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» You're the ignorant zealot Posted by: crashgrab

Comments are closed-

The Death Culture Screams for Sex Ed from Kindergarden, But Not Anymore. Make up your mind!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: bottom-line on Sep 5, 2008 3:28 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Such utter hypocrisy. These are the same people who scream about the abortion signs that show the mangled bodies of the aborted babies, that they don't want their children to see it, and now their children are ruined for life because they got to see a picture of an aborted baby.

These same people allow their kids to watch anything on TV, and have Garbage Pail bubble gum that shows little kids hanging from spikes and other evil things. They don't mind the schools teaching them that homosexual buggery is something to be respected and appreciated. But somehow or other they think they can keep their children living with sugar plum fairies dancing in their heads about the realities of life in America today -- where everybody is doing it, and shouldn't be.

These are the same people who scream about abstinence teaching in the schools, as though they WANT their children to engage in sex -- as long as they wear a condom. These are teh same people who put their daughters on the pill, and give them shots for Guardicil (sp).

These are also the same people who see nothing wrong with schools sneaking people's teenagers off to the abortion mills so their parents will never know their child was pregnant, who think they have the right to lead somebody's child into murder of their own child and the grandchild of somebody else. They take people's property taxes and use the money to corrupt their children and murder their grandchildren.

These are the same people who demand that sex education be (mis)taught in the public schools in the crude and corrupting way that it is because they whine that parents aren't doing their job to inform their kids. Now they are blasting Sarah Palin for having brought them a teachable moment in their own living rooms. So what did this author tell her child -- that he needs to use condoms? Figures. This is the essence of "sex ed" for the people who promote it in the schools, along with abortion as a solution to unplanned or unwanted pregnancies.

Get used to having it in your face, this subject about where human beings come from, and what happens to those who are not wanted. Be prepared to explain to your young children how fortunate they are that nobody decided to kill them when they were growing in the womb. And while you are defending abortion, be also prepared to answer your young children's same question, Mommy, would you have aborted ME if you weren't married?

Problem is, so many of these women have ALREADY aborted a baby or two, that now when they look into their children's eyes they are eaten up with guilt, and don't want their surviving children to know how close they came to being snuffed out.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Idiot Troll ! Posted by: GrannyBgood

Comments are closed-

Go Play the Lotto
[Report this comment]
Posted by: theVRWCwhodatesLiberals on Sep 5, 2008 3:32 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Because Detroit Mayor (D) just went down in a sex scandal. New York State (D)'s has also been getting very sexy. I can keep going on the Democrat Party's sexiness however I did not even know it was a issue with the left side of the aile. I know the Democrat Party dose not have any rules but traditions however leave the rest of America alone. Relax, its going to be a fun ride to November.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Go Play the Lotto Posted by: LionHeart
» How did so many TROLLS Posted by: uluro
» I heart Liberals Posted by: theVRWCwhodatesLiberals
» RE: Alright... Posted by: Cybershaman
» RE: How did so many TROLLS Posted by: LionHeart
» Jim McGreevey is freaky Posted by: theVRWCwhodatesLiberals
» RE: Jim McGreevey is freaky Posted by: LionHeart
» Uh, yes he was. Posted by: Beck
» Uh, no I wasn't. Posted by: bottom-line
» Yea you speaking about Larry Craig Posted by: theVRWCwhodatesLiberals

Comments are closed-

Liberals crying about anything
[Report this comment]
Posted by: LionHeart on Sep 5, 2008 3:36 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
are you kidding, Palin's teen age daughter?

..what about Britney Spears sister and countless other celebs flaunting pregnancy while not married.. Your child has seen much worse if you let them watch TV.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Liberals crying about anything Posted by: losingmyliberties

Comments are closed-

claire
[Report this comment]
Posted by: brer on Sep 5, 2008 3:54 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Conservatives don't want people who sin to be happy. They want them to be punished. So, to them, it doesn't matter that the father never wanted kids. Now you have one. Deal with it!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: claire Posted by: bottom-line
» RE: claire Posted by: Dboy
» RE: claire Posted by: crashgrab
» RE: claire Posted by: melissa29

Comments are closed-

Republicans Double Standards
[Report this comment]
Posted by: saadasim on Sep 5, 2008 3:58 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If it wasn't for Republicans double standards they wouldn't have any standards.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

WOW
[Report this comment]
Posted by: littlewing on Sep 5, 2008 4:39 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
that's all...just wow

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

If you people are sick and tired of sex scandals and hypocrisies, vote 3rd party !
[Report this comment]
Posted by: maxpayne on Sep 5, 2008 6:16 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
'nuff said.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Go Take a Nap, bottom-line
[Report this comment]
Posted by: oregonox on Sep 5, 2008 6:47 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
maybe you can dream up some more sick shit.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Go Take a Nap, bottom-line Posted by: bottom-line
» RE: Go Take a Nap, bottom-line Posted by: maxpayne
» More like Go Take a Pill Posted by: Karina

Comments are closed-

Wonderful essay!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: fluffmuffinmom on Sep 5, 2008 7:24 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It perfectly sums up my own teeth-grinding frustration with this little "family values" charade. thank you!!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Lessons for a 5-year-old
[Report this comment]
Posted by: frthinker on Sep 5, 2008 8:09 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Aaaah... this takes me back to the last Presidential election when my kids were 5 and 8. They both said to me that the kids at school were saying John Kerry kills babies. What?! I couldn't believe that so many parents were teaching their little kids about abortion and from such a hateful and slanted point of view. And what must my kids have thought about their mother sporting a John Kerry bumpersticker on her car? I never would have imagined talking to my kids about abortion until middle school, but there I was (thank you, members of the "moral" majority) explaining this stuff to a 5-year-old.

Homosexuality was also a hot topic during that election season. The personal relationships of other people do not matter to me in the least, but such discussions do bring up the subject of sex, which I am uncomfortable discussing with young kids. I was, however, quite impressed with their comments after our discussion. They shrugged their shoulders and asked, "Why is it anyone's business? Who cares?" Yeah, kids!

While we may resent the far right now for the issues it brings to our children, I can't help thinking we'll come out ahead in the end. Our kids are going to be better informed than we ever were, and just imagine how much room there will be in their open minds for learning and for changing the world.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Let's discuss the lifelong consequences!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Wordpecker on Sep 5, 2008 8:23 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Just like Clinton – who “normalized” blowjobs for our young – we can now thank Sarah Palin and her daughter Bristol for “normalizing” out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancy. I wish the same folks that sqawked so long and loud about Clinton would now develop the honesty, courage and decency to come forward and admit that a blowjob does not quite carry the same impact and lifelong consequences that an unwed teenage pregnancy does… now does it?!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Sick Society
[Report this comment]
Posted by: LiveFree on Sep 5, 2008 8:32 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Just reading a few of the comments on this reasoned, calm response to a Republican politicized unwanted pregnancy reminds me how sick our American society is today.
Many cannot discuss any issue without imposing judgments on the values of their "opponents" and/or issuing complaints or cussing him or her or someone else. Part of the Bush/Cheney/Rove legacy?
People taking responsibility for themselves is something Republicans rant and rave about as long as it does not apply to themselves. Ever notice how extremists accuse others of doing exactly what they themselves do? It is part of the fascist thinking process - to blame others for problems we ourselves have caused for society.
The only way to deprive the Republicans of their political power over the public fantasies is to describe current reality as counterpoint to their preoffered dream scenarios - as this article so artfully accomplishes.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Never vote for anyone who thinks you're going to Hell.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Beck on Sep 5, 2008 8:48 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Maybe that needs to be a bumper sticker.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

opininated
[Report this comment]
Posted by: opinionated on Sep 5, 2008 9:31 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Apparently your 7 year old does not watch the Disney channel or Nickelodean. My 8 year old certainly learned a lot with the preganancy of Jamie Lynn Spears. But since the door was open we had the opportunity to talk about it. Was I happy, no - but my children were also not yet able to understand when there was semen on Monica Lewsinsky's dress either - There's another conversation....

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Mikmo6
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Mikmo6 on Sep 5, 2008 11:03 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Two things -- (1) McCain obviously picked this vapid geriatric pin-up known as Sara Palin as running mate knowing she had a pregnant teen daughter for the hip movie tie-in ("Juno" which features Ellen Page resembling young Ms. Palin quite a lot). McCain figures this is a shoe-in to get him in with young voters

(2) As to all the Right Wing lunatics who have commented on this page who say the Republicans are no more evil than the Democrats you obviously have had your head up your ass for the last 14 years (spanning the era of the Republican Revolution Congress and the two Bush Administrations).

The Republican party represents Big Guns, Big Business and Big Religion, and if you don't think that in itself is a lethal combination which makes the GOP inherently evil you ought to be locked up in the damn asylum.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Mikmo6 Posted by: ladyoracle

Comments are closed-

Palin
[Report this comment]
Posted by: GreyFoxThree on Sep 5, 2008 1:20 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Well it seems to me that if Palin cant keep a lid on her own teenager, then how is she to lead the Country? I dont get it really.

Jiff
Ultimate Anonymity

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

I disagree with the author
[Report this comment]
Posted by: AMerrickanGirl on Sep 5, 2008 2:43 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
But given that he is indeed 7, I could easily have waited another year or two for him to be older for that particular conversation.

No, no, no. It's never too early to start talking about sex with kids. Many parents make the mistake of waiting too long and then it gets awkward.

This was an opportunity to educate the kid, and thankfully the author overcame her discomfort and rose to the challenge. But in my opinion, if the kid is old enough to ask the question, he's old enough to hear the answer.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: I disagree with the author Posted by: countingdaisies

Comments are closed-

It's not an issue
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Hans B on Sep 5, 2008 3:49 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I can understand the need to attack the Republicans on non-issues, since they don't want to fight on the issues, but this is ridiculous. Almost 4 out of 10 children in the US are born to unmarried couples or single women.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: It's not an issue Posted by: crashgrab

Comments are closed-

My Party is Better than Yours. Nah, nah, na, na, nah!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: bottom-line on Sep 5, 2008 5:10 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Both of the parties are evil. They both prop each other up. One party comes in and wrecks things real good until people get sick of it. Then the next party comes in and picks up where the other one left off. Then back and forth.

This is how the Luciferians get away with destroying our country. Their dream is to see us all dead and a tyrannical world government that will make utter robot slaves over the few million they decide to keep around to be their slaves.

We're all going to die. Wake up.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Amazing
[Report this comment]
Posted by: LionHeart on Sep 5, 2008 5:37 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
How could one not be amazed at the level of hate and sexism in the left wing side of politics. I guess thats why they are so violent in their demonstrations.

I've never seen a group go after a women like this group.. first Hillary now Palin...

what a bunch of losers!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Rightwing ASSHOLE. Posted by: jwverez

Comments are closed-

love the tongue-in-cheek-iness
[Report this comment]
Posted by: ladyoracle on Sep 5, 2008 7:10 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This article made my day a little bit brighter although I am sorry that your son found out more of the birds and bees than was appropriate quite yet. You make a fabulous argument as a mother for what's wrong with the media's reaction to Palin's daughter's situation, in context of her mother's own misconceived ideas about teens and sex ed.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

The Oil Companies Hate Governor Sarah Palin
[Report this comment]
Posted by: bottom-line on Sep 5, 2008 7:20 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
She wants to be energy independent. Good for her. She says, Keep your ANWAR, we don't need it. We've got enough oil in the rest of Alaska to float the world away for 1,000 years. The oil companies are going nuts. She says, you don't wnt to build a pipeline? Fine, I'll build one myself. So she did.

The fact of the matter, the oil companies are financing the big environmental groups. Because THEY DON'T WANT TO DRILL. The less oil there is, the more the price goes up. So the oil companies are busy keeping the lid on the oil, turning off the spigot, squelching any oil finds, of which there are many huge finds. They either buy the owners or wildcatters out, or they kill them.

Sarah Palin stood up to these tyrants, these monsters, and she's got more guts than all the politicians in Washington. She is not corrupt, not afraid, and the Illuminati must be having total fits that McCain got off his leash and went and tapped her to be his running mate.

I think it's hilarious. God is so good!

Go Governor Palin. You are definitely the most qualified person to come along in decades to run for office, and you make all three of the others -- McCain, Biden and Obama -- look like total jerks.

What a pleasant surprise to have dropped on America as Russia turns its nukes on us, and our economy is ready to fall into the abyss.

Sarah will shake up Washington. They better leave her alone. We are sick of the assassinations by the Zionists and Luciferians, the Bush cabal and its criminals. May God be with her and her wonderful family, keep them safe, and bless Governor Palin.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» PURE BULLSHIT ! Posted by: jwverez

Comments are closed-

GREATDANES
[Report this comment]
Posted by: greatdanes on Sep 5, 2008 7:57 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
WHAT HORSE SHIT!!!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: GREATDANES Posted by: jwverez

Comments are closed-

Birht control
[Report this comment]
Posted by: OneliaG on Sep 6, 2008 8:52 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Why didn't the parents put this hormonal teenager on some type of birth control or sitting down and explaining that getting pregnant is not a duty just a handicap from her life don't I know.. so what do you think by allowing boys in your daughters life like you do not care

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

From Karen--Thanks! and clarification for some
[Report this comment]
Posted by: kdolan on Sep 6, 2008 10:25 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
thanks for engaging all these viewpoints. Did want to clarify for some of you, that yes, my child too has known about sex and how babies are made since he was three. I am not quite prudish enough to deny him that basic knowledge ;-). He developed on his own this rather innocent notion that one has to be married to get pregnant. Its common with kids. I remember thinking the same thing. I was a bit surprised by it frankly. But what irritated me was that its the whole "family values" crowd that forced the contraception discussion on us while also whining that sex education in middle school exposes their poor kids to too much knowledge about sex! Not a big point, just mainly venting frustration at their idiotic hypocrisy. Thanks again for the comments!
karen

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

I don't know
[Report this comment]
Posted by: pickles8314 on Sep 6, 2008 5:24 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I know you said the jewelry promise rings are all the rave with christian parents. I think there is a good point to that they wear a promise on their finger all day that reminds them to make good choices.

And it is probably a given that the parents are telling them about sexual choices and consequences when they give it to them.

Since I think your assuming the don't can I get the statistic you found on it?

Signature
Pickle Head
http://www.jewelrypromiserings.com

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Why are people responding to trolls?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Brian Charles on Sep 7, 2008 9:28 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This entire discussion seems to have been dominated by one individual making wild assertions of satanic conspiracies. I fully support her/his right to hold any beliefs s/he wishes but do not see any point in responding to them.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» THANK YOU!! Posted by: kimbari

Comments are closed-

bottom-line, LionHeart, MikeMale et al
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Opinionator on Sep 9, 2008 5:41 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Your frenzied attacks on Pro Choicers, Democrats and other sensible people would be amusing if they weren't so sick and violent. I would advise you all to take tranquilizers until this election is over.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Alternet Comments:

Comments are closed-

Morals?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: EinMD on Sep 3, 2008 12:40 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Bah... Republicans don't need no stinking morals! As long as there are bathrooms to troll for sex in, congressional pages to bed and stupid easily lead people to manipulate and steal money from they'll be just fine.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Morals? Posted by: smaart

Comments are closed-

A joke
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Jeanne on Sep 3, 2008 6:11 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
But, sad to say, the low-information voter, and those die-hard fundamentalists won't get it. Just explain how you sell the unintended pregnancy of a 17-yr old as "family values" in the same breath that you admit your opposition to sex education (except for abstinence only -- do you see the irony here?) and birth control. Despite the fact that the young father's MySpace page proclaims "no kids in my future," they will be getting married. No pressure there. So, this makes it a wholesome, family values moment because the premarital, pre-adult parents are going to make the baby "legal." All we need now is the expose on the pot-smoking, alcohol drinking, and coke snorting (I'm making that up ... or am I?).

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Oh, I doubt that Posted by: Beck
» Pan equals Satan Posted by: bottom-line
» RE: Pan equals Satan Posted by: sbaran
» RE: Pan equals Satan Posted by: Cybershaman
» RE: Pan equals Satan Posted by: bottom-line
» POT KETTLE BLACK! Posted by: crashgrab
» RE: POT KETTLE BLACK! Posted by: bottom-line
» RE: Geez! Posted by: Cybershaman
» RE: POT KETTLE BLACK! Posted by: crashgrab
» RE: A joke Posted by: mercury613
» RE: A joke Posted by: OneliaG

Comments are closed-

down, down, down
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Spot on Sep 3, 2008 7:49 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
babies=never-ending responsibility=dependence on your job=corporate power.

young mothers don't have the time to grow up, they don't usually have the time to get educated, they don't have the time to know any better before its too late.

and that's just how the republicans want it.

how can you claim to be pro-life if the lives you touch are destroyed?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Actually, "homo-" means Posted by: truthlover

Comments are closed-

Mike Males
[Report this comment]
Posted by: mmales on Sep 3, 2008 9:13 PM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What awful columns and comments in Alternet on Palin's daughter, teens, and pregnancy. The American Left is truly dead on youth issues. Gone. Smugly indulging pre-1960s racism and sexism masked as demeaning teenage girls. First, teenage girls can be perfectly competent parents, as Rosalynn Carter (and millions of others) proved. Frankly, American adults who sport a 60% divorce rate and mammoth rates of unplanned pregnancy are in no position to criticize teens. Second, girls are not so stupid as to suddenly go out and get pregnant because of Palin, McCain, Juno, or other pop-culture junk that seems to obsess commentators (you're the ones who should be protected from pop media). Girls respond to their own lives, including poverty, the need to escape abusive families, rigidly exclusionary education systems, and other ills they know far more about than you do and which the Left no longer talks about. Third, how many adult women would appreciate being vilified and condescended to the way you're demeaning Palin's daughter? Take this example: It's far more sensible for Palin's 17-year-old daughter to have a baby than her 44-year-old mother. Sarah Palin, in middle age, was hundreds of times more likely to give birth to a baby with devastating defects that would condemn it to suffering a tragically short and horribly miserable life. Yet, Palin carelessly got pregnant anyway at a risky age, by all accounts failed to pursue rigorous prenatal care, and defiantly insisted on becoming a mother yet again at huge public cost when she could have used contraception or abstinence to avoid becoming one. Does the previous sentence strike you as cruelly judgmental? Good. That's how ignorant and condescending the rest of you sound to me talking about teenaged mothers and youth in general. http://www.YouthFacts.org

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Mike Males Posted by: emmas
» RE: Mike Males Posted by: mmales
» The risk is more like 1 in 50 Posted by: ReallyBearish
» RE: The risk is more like 1 in 50 Posted by: bottom-line
» You are making things up. Posted by: crashgrab
» DON'T FEED THE DAMN TROLLS! Posted by: kimbari
» RE: Mike Males Posted by: betsy99

Comments are closed-

Palin's Private Choices and Public Policy
[Report this comment]
Posted by: AlexLawyer on Sep 4, 2008 1:28 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
One might think that Sarah Palin, having herself been pregnant at the altar, would have understood the need for comprehensive sex education instead of the nonsensical, discredited abstinence-only programs she promotes. Even her daughter's pregnancy doesn't teach her this important lesson. Her decision to bear a Down Syndrome child doesn't give her the right to demand that all women do so, or even have to bear the children of sexual abusers or rapists.

Palin claims to be pro-life, but she's really pro-embryo and fetus. Her neglect of children's healthcare and her gleeful support of our slaughter of children in Iraq and Afghanistan prove that she is not, in any consistent sense, pro-life.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» DON'T FEED THE DAMN TROLLS! Posted by: kimbari
» Well, there's no zero. Posted by: Beck
» Bottom Line makes us smug and lazy Posted by: AdamSelene40

Comments are closed-

Karen Dolan's 7 yr-old Exposed To Pregnancy
[Report this comment]
Posted by: ownersedge on Sep 4, 2008 4:17 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If they're old enough to ask, they're old enough to learn. And it's allllways sooner than the parent expects she is ready for ... The Talk. You were lucky.

Simple answers will suffice at age 7, but keep the conversation open as he encounters more exposure.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» My 1st asked at 3. Posted by: MamaPantz

Comments are closed-

Short memory
[Report this comment]
Posted by: sgauntt on Sep 4, 2008 11:16 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
haha, you're a trip.

What about Jamie Lynn Spears or the "pregnancy pact" just a few short months ago up in Massachusetts that was all over the news? You've got to try harder than this...

Stephen

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Whats new
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Andrew_S on Sep 4, 2008 5:00 PM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I have 4 and 5 year old's practicing felatio. It is OK though it's family court approved since the Mother is gold. yet it's my fault, even with minimal contact. My goodness what this nation values as acceptable. But then again since feminism has the primary role in raising children or not, as an option, we males are kind of left wondering. I actually should restate that as I realize that children are only a means to an end, especially with the newer 'no childs behind left intact' for education. You go girlz.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Drunk? Troll? Whaaaa? Posted by: leighsure
» he'a a forced birther troll Posted by: goatini
» Yeah, Your Government Loves You. Posted by: bottom-line
» claire Posted by: brer
» What a sense of humor!!! LOL!!! Posted by: countingdaisies

Comments are closed-

How can she be pregnant if she ain't married?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: LouisLouis on Sep 5, 2008 1:45 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If your child asks, how one could be pregnant and not being married - then you better hurrry and explain: There's no connection between the two. Easy as that. Oh my god, America..... If there's a God he will shake his head in unbelief for centuries. Seems very bad luck being born in the states, these days.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Never Too Soon
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Naoma on Sep 5, 2008 2:30 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
My daughter is now 40. At 3 she asked me
questions and I answered them truthfully. So,
she knew the "facts of life" at that age. Big
deal.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

My Sympathies to this Mom
[Report this comment]
Posted by: FilmDog on Sep 5, 2008 3:22 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The author's discomfort with telling her 7 year old the facts of life is understandable. And it is indeed an irony that the Republican Party, the party of prudery and denial of human sexuality, is responsible for her having to give her child an earlier than anticipated lesson in separating sex from love and/or marriage.

However, another irony of American society is that the puritan prudes have so successfully suppressed portrayal of mature sexuality in the media and mature sexual development throughout our culture that we live in a state of perpetual teasing and arousal.

Our culture engages in constant "heavy petting" while denying the necessity of sexual release. The corporate owners of the mass media make a bundle off of tits-n-ass titillation, and the hypocritical censorship that limits exactly what they can show keeps their audience constyantly juiced up and hungry for more.

The ridiculous notion of the virtue in virginity is just one way the prudes make sure that much of that audience stays in that jacked-up state. And let's not forget that Joycelyn Elders, MD, the Surgeon General under Pres Clinton, got fired for suggesting publicly that kids would be a lot better off if we worked to remove the stigma from masturbation. Nope, nothing drives consumption of immature sexual images better than keeping everyone perpetually aroused with as little relief as possible.

A little rule of thumb is that the more sexually repressive a society is the more everything becomes sexual. The orthodox of every major religion are caught in a trap of their own making. The more they cover women from head to toe the more they sexualize the few centimeters that remain visible.

Add commercial motives to that kind of system and you've got a society that's flooded with images that satisfy the law but nevertheless arouse the viewer.

Good luck to our young mother, the article's author. She's fighting an uphill battle to let her kid grow up on a timetable that is based on normal developmental pressures and capabilities. Our prudish and sex-obsessed society "hurries" our children into forms of excitement for which they are ill-designed.

A scientific orientation toward sex combined with a simple ethic based on the "Golden Rule" would set us and our children free from a kind of enslavement. That's the last thing we might expect from a political party that is proud of its ignorance, that treats scientific principles and facts as optional elements in decision-making, that is free to ignore the evidence of the catastrophic effects that their position on all things sexual has had on families, whom they to "value" so much.

Good Luck to this mom, and all mothers and fathers, and God help us all if we get another 4 years of these fascists in power.

FilmDog

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» You're the ignorant zealot Posted by: crashgrab

Comments are closed-

The Death Culture Screams for Sex Ed from Kindergarden, But Not Anymore. Make up your mind!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: bottom-line on Sep 5, 2008 3:28 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Such utter hypocrisy. These are the same people who scream about the abortion signs that show the mangled bodies of the aborted babies, that they don't want their children to see it, and now their children are ruined for life because they got to see a picture of an aborted baby.

These same people allow their kids to watch anything on TV, and have Garbage Pail bubble gum that shows little kids hanging from spikes and other evil things. They don't mind the schools teaching them that homosexual buggery is something to be respected and appreciated. But somehow or other they think they can keep their children living with sugar plum fairies dancing in their heads about the realities of life in America today -- where everybody is doing it, and shouldn't be.

These are the same people who scream about abstinence teaching in the schools, as though they WANT their children to engage in sex -- as long as they wear a condom. These are teh same people who put their daughters on the pill, and give them shots for Guardicil (sp).

These are also the same people who see nothing wrong with schools sneaking people's teenagers off to the abortion mills so their parents will never know their child was pregnant, who think they have the right to lead somebody's child into murder of their own child and the grandchild of somebody else. They take people's property taxes and use the money to corrupt their children and murder their grandchildren.

These are the same people who demand that sex education be (mis)taught in the public schools in the crude and corrupting way that it is because they whine that parents aren't doing their job to inform their kids. Now they are blasting Sarah Palin for having brought them a teachable moment in their own living rooms. So what did this author tell her child -- that he needs to use condoms? Figures. This is the essence of "sex ed" for the people who promote it in the schools, along with abortion as a solution to unplanned or unwanted pregnancies.

Get used to having it in your face, this subject about where human beings come from, and what happens to those who are not wanted. Be prepared to explain to your young children how fortunate they are that nobody decided to kill them when they were growing in the womb. And while you are defending abortion, be also prepared to answer your young children's same question, Mommy, would you have aborted ME if you weren't married?

Problem is, so many of these women have ALREADY aborted a baby or two, that now when they look into their children's eyes they are eaten up with guilt, and don't want their surviving children to know how close they came to being snuffed out.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Idiot Troll ! Posted by: GrannyBgood

Comments are closed-

Go Play the Lotto
[Report this comment]
Posted by: theVRWCwhodatesLiberals on Sep 5, 2008 3:32 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Because Detroit Mayor (D) just went down in a sex scandal. New York State (D)'s has also been getting very sexy. I can keep going on the Democrat Party's sexiness however I did not even know it was a issue with the left side of the aile. I know the Democrat Party dose not have any rules but traditions however leave the rest of America alone. Relax, its going to be a fun ride to November.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Go Play the Lotto Posted by: LionHeart
» How did so many TROLLS Posted by: uluro
» I heart Liberals Posted by: theVRWCwhodatesLiberals
» RE: Alright... Posted by: Cybershaman
» RE: How did so many TROLLS Posted by: LionHeart
» Jim McGreevey is freaky Posted by: theVRWCwhodatesLiberals
» RE: Jim McGreevey is freaky Posted by: LionHeart
» Uh, yes he was. Posted by: Beck
» Uh, no I wasn't. Posted by: bottom-line
» Yea you speaking about Larry Craig Posted by: theVRWCwhodatesLiberals

Comments are closed-

Liberals crying about anything
[Report this comment]
Posted by: LionHeart on Sep 5, 2008 3:36 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
are you kidding, Palin's teen age daughter?

..what about Britney Spears sister and countless other celebs flaunting pregnancy while not married.. Your child has seen much worse if you let them watch TV.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Liberals crying about anything Posted by: losingmyliberties

Comments are closed-

claire
[Report this comment]
Posted by: brer on Sep 5, 2008 3:54 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Conservatives don't want people who sin to be happy. They want them to be punished. So, to them, it doesn't matter that the father never wanted kids. Now you have one. Deal with it!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: claire Posted by: bottom-line
» RE: claire Posted by: Dboy
» RE: claire Posted by: crashgrab
» RE: claire Posted by: melissa29

Comments are closed-

Republicans Double Standards
[Report this comment]
Posted by: saadasim on Sep 5, 2008 3:58 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If it wasn't for Republicans double standards they wouldn't have any standards.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

WOW
[Report this comment]
Posted by: littlewing on Sep 5, 2008 4:39 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
that's all...just wow

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

If you people are sick and tired of sex scandals and hypocrisies, vote 3rd party !
[Report this comment]
Posted by: maxpayne on Sep 5, 2008 6:16 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
'nuff said.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Go Take a Nap, bottom-line
[Report this comment]
Posted by: oregonox on Sep 5, 2008 6:47 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
maybe you can dream up some more sick shit.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Go Take a Nap, bottom-line Posted by: bottom-line
» RE: Go Take a Nap, bottom-line Posted by: maxpayne
» More like Go Take a Pill Posted by: Karina

Comments are closed-

Wonderful essay!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: fluffmuffinmom on Sep 5, 2008 7:24 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It perfectly sums up my own teeth-grinding frustration with this little "family values" charade. thank you!!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Lessons for a 5-year-old
[Report this comment]
Posted by: frthinker on Sep 5, 2008 8:09 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Aaaah... this takes me back to the last Presidential election when my kids were 5 and 8. They both said to me that the kids at school were saying John Kerry kills babies. What?! I couldn't believe that so many parents were teaching their little kids about abortion and from such a hateful and slanted point of view. And what must my kids have thought about their mother sporting a John Kerry bumpersticker on her car? I never would have imagined talking to my kids about abortion until middle school, but there I was (thank you, members of the "moral" majority) explaining this stuff to a 5-year-old.

Homosexuality was also a hot topic during that election season. The personal relationships of other people do not matter to me in the least, but such discussions do bring up the subject of sex, which I am uncomfortable discussing with young kids. I was, however, quite impressed with their comments after our discussion. They shrugged their shoulders and asked, "Why is it anyone's business? Who cares?" Yeah, kids!

While we may resent the far right now for the issues it brings to our children, I can't help thinking we'll come out ahead in the end. Our kids are going to be better informed than we ever were, and just imagine how much room there will be in their open minds for learning and for changing the world.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Let's discuss the lifelong consequences!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Wordpecker on Sep 5, 2008 8:23 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Just like Clinton – who “normalized” blowjobs for our young – we can now thank Sarah Palin and her daughter Bristol for “normalizing” out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancy. I wish the same folks that sqawked so long and loud about Clinton would now develop the honesty, courage and decency to come forward and admit that a blowjob does not quite carry the same impact and lifelong consequences that an unwed teenage pregnancy does… now does it?!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Sick Society
[Report this comment]
Posted by: LiveFree on Sep 5, 2008 8:32 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Just reading a few of the comments on this reasoned, calm response to a Republican politicized unwanted pregnancy reminds me how sick our American society is today.
Many cannot discuss any issue without imposing judgments on the values of their "opponents" and/or issuing complaints or cussing him or her or someone else. Part of the Bush/Cheney/Rove legacy?
People taking responsibility for themselves is something Republicans rant and rave about as long as it does not apply to themselves. Ever notice how extremists accuse others of doing exactly what they themselves do? It is part of the fascist thinking process - to blame others for problems we ourselves have caused for society.
The only way to deprive the Republicans of their political power over the public fantasies is to describe current reality as counterpoint to their preoffered dream scenarios - as this article so artfully accomplishes.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Never vote for anyone who thinks you're going to Hell.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Beck on Sep 5, 2008 8:48 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Maybe that needs to be a bumper sticker.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

opininated
[Report this comment]
Posted by: opinionated on Sep 5, 2008 9:31 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Apparently your 7 year old does not watch the Disney channel or Nickelodean. My 8 year old certainly learned a lot with the preganancy of Jamie Lynn Spears. But since the door was open we had the opportunity to talk about it. Was I happy, no - but my children were also not yet able to understand when there was semen on Monica Lewsinsky's dress either - There's another conversation....

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Mikmo6
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Mikmo6 on Sep 5, 2008 11:03 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Two things -- (1) McCain obviously picked this vapid geriatric pin-up known as Sara Palin as running mate knowing she had a pregnant teen daughter for the hip movie tie-in ("Juno" which features Ellen Page resembling young Ms. Palin quite a lot). McCain figures this is a shoe-in to get him in with young voters

(2) As to all the Right Wing lunatics who have commented on this page who say the Republicans are no more evil than the Democrats you obviously have had your head up your ass for the last 14 years (spanning the era of the Republican Revolution Congress and the two Bush Administrations).

The Republican party represents Big Guns, Big Business and Big Religion, and if you don't think that in itself is a lethal combination which makes the GOP inherently evil you ought to be locked up in the damn asylum.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Mikmo6 Posted by: ladyoracle

Comments are closed-

Palin
[Report this comment]
Posted by: GreyFoxThree on Sep 5, 2008 1:20 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Well it seems to me that if Palin cant keep a lid on her own teenager, then how is she to lead the Country? I dont get it really.

Jiff
Ultimate Anonymity

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

I disagree with the author
[Report this comment]
Posted by: AMerrickanGirl on Sep 5, 2008 2:43 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
But given that he is indeed 7, I could easily have waited another year or two for him to be older for that particular conversation.

No, no, no. It's never too early to start talking about sex with kids. Many parents make the mistake of waiting too long and then it gets awkward.

This was an opportunity to educate the kid, and thankfully the author overcame her discomfort and rose to the challenge. But in my opinion, if the kid is old enough to ask the question, he's old enough to hear the answer.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: I disagree with the author Posted by: countingdaisies

Comments are closed-

It's not an issue
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Hans B on Sep 5, 2008 3:49 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I can understand the need to attack the Republicans on non-issues, since they don't want to fight on the issues, but this is ridiculous. Almost 4 out of 10 children in the US are born to unmarried couples or single women.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: It's not an issue Posted by: crashgrab

Comments are closed-

My Party is Better than Yours. Nah, nah, na, na, nah!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: bottom-line on Sep 5, 2008 5:10 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Both of the parties are evil. They both prop each other up. One party comes in and wrecks things real good until people get sick of it. Then the next party comes in and picks up where the other one left off. Then back and forth.

This is how the Luciferians get away with destroying our country. Their dream is to see us all dead and a tyrannical world government that will make utter robot slaves over the few million they decide to keep around to be their slaves.

We're all going to die. Wake up.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Amazing
[Report this comment]
Posted by: LionHeart on Sep 5, 2008 5:37 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
How could one not be amazed at the level of hate and sexism in the left wing side of politics. I guess thats why they are so violent in their demonstrations.

I've never seen a group go after a women like this group.. first Hillary now Palin...

what a bunch of losers!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Rightwing ASSHOLE. Posted by: jwverez

Comments are closed-

love the tongue-in-cheek-iness
[Report this comment]
Posted by: ladyoracle on Sep 5, 2008 7:10 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This article made my day a little bit brighter although I am sorry that your son found out more of the birds and bees than was appropriate quite yet. You make a fabulous argument as a mother for what's wrong with the media's reaction to Palin's daughter's situation, in context of her mother's own misconceived ideas about teens and sex ed.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

The Oil Companies Hate Governor Sarah Palin
[Report this comment]
Posted by: bottom-line on Sep 5, 2008 7:20 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
She wants to be energy independent. Good for her. She says, Keep your ANWAR, we don't need it. We've got enough oil in the rest of Alaska to float the world away for 1,000 years. The oil companies are going nuts. She says, you don't wnt to build a pipeline? Fine, I'll build one myself. So she did.

The fact of the matter, the oil companies are financing the big environmental groups. Because THEY DON'T WANT TO DRILL. The less oil there is, the more the price goes up. So the oil companies are busy keeping the lid on the oil, turning off the spigot, squelching any oil finds, of which there are many huge finds. They either buy the owners or wildcatters out, or they kill them.

Sarah Palin stood up to these tyrants, these monsters, and she's got more guts than all the politicians in Washington. She is not corrupt, not afraid, and the Illuminati must be having total fits that McCain got off his leash and went and tapped her to be his running mate.

I think it's hilarious. God is so good!

Go Governor Palin. You are definitely the most qualified person to come along in decades to run for office, and you make all three of the others -- McCain, Biden and Obama -- look like total jerks.

What a pleasant surprise to have dropped on America as Russia turns its nukes on us, and our economy is ready to fall into the abyss.

Sarah will shake up Washington. They better leave her alone. We are sick of the assassinations by the Zionists and Luciferians, the Bush cabal and its criminals. May God be with her and her wonderful family, keep them safe, and bless Governor Palin.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» PURE BULLSHIT ! Posted by: jwverez

Comments are closed-

GREATDANES
[Report this comment]
Posted by: greatdanes on Sep 5, 2008 7:57 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
WHAT HORSE SHIT!!!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: GREATDANES Posted by: jwverez

Comments are closed-

Birht control
[Report this comment]
Posted by: OneliaG on Sep 6, 2008 8:52 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Why didn't the parents put this hormonal teenager on some type of birth control or sitting down and explaining that getting pregnant is not a duty just a handicap from her life don't I know.. so what do you think by allowing boys in your daughters life like you do not care

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

From Karen--Thanks! and clarification for some
[Report this comment]
Posted by: kdolan on Sep 6, 2008 10:25 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
thanks for engaging all these viewpoints. Did want to clarify for some of you, that yes, my child too has known about sex and how babies are made since he was three. I am not quite prudish enough to deny him that basic knowledge ;-). He developed on his own this rather innocent notion that one has to be married to get pregnant. Its common with kids. I remember thinking the same thing. I was a bit surprised by it frankly. But what irritated me was that its the whole "family values" crowd that forced the contraception discussion on us while also whining that sex education in middle school exposes their poor kids to too much knowledge about sex! Not a big point, just mainly venting frustration at their idiotic hypocrisy. Thanks again for the comments!
karen

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

I don't know
[Report this comment]
Posted by: pickles8314 on Sep 6, 2008 5:24 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I know you said the jewelry promise rings are all the rave with christian parents. I think there is a good point to that they wear a promise on their finger all day that reminds them to make good choices.

And it is probably a given that the parents are telling them about sexual choices and consequences when they give it to them.

Since I think your assuming the don't can I get the statistic you found on it?

Signature
Pickle Head
http://www.jewelrypromiserings.com

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Why are people responding to trolls?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Brian Charles on Sep 7, 2008 9:28 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This entire discussion seems to have been dominated by one individual making wild assertions of satanic conspiracies. I fully support her/his right to hold any beliefs s/he wishes but do not see any point in responding to them.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» THANK YOU!! Posted by: kimbari

Comments are closed-

bottom-line, LionHeart, MikeMale et al
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Opinionator on Sep 9, 2008 5:41 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Your frenzied attacks on Pro Choicers, Democrats and other sensible people would be amusing if they weren't so sick and violent. I would advise you all to take tranquilizers until this election is over.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

 
Advertisement
From The Blog
 
Is Greece the New AIG?
 
Confused About Nutrition? Eat Food!
 
Insurer Denies Life-Prolonging Treatment To Five-Year-Old Boy With Cancer
 
Budget Paranoia
 
Why Does the U.S. Assassinate Americans?
 
Jon Stewart: Why Does Sarah Palin Need a Cheat Sheet?
 
We Must Lift the Veil on US Troops in Pakistan
 
Pushing for “Zero Tolerance” on Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo
 
Updated: Obama Calls GOP Bluff on Health-Care Reform
 
The Tea Party Dumps Economic Populism: Where are the Progressives?
 
MORE 
ALL BLOGS 
 
 
Most Read
Most Emailed
Most Discussed
On REDDIT
On DIGG
 
  1. Why Are Americans Passive as Millions Lose Their Homes, Jobs, Families and the American Dream?
  2. 5 Ways Techno-Gadgetry Is Bringing Out the Worst in Humanity
  3. Why Has the FDA Allowed a Drug Marked 'Not Safe for Use in Humans' to Be Fed to Livestock Right Before Slaughter?
  4. Shadow Elite: How the World's New Power Brokers Are Upending Our Democracy
  5. New Poll Results Are Proof That Republicans Don't Think
  6. White "Savior-Afflicted" Christians, Black Haitian Babies: This Won't End Well
  7. Why I Had to Stop Making Hardcore Porn
  8. It's Now More Dangerous to Give Birth in California Than It Is in Kuwait or Bosnia
  9. Sarah Palin Aims to Bust Up the Republican Party -- And the Tea Party Movement
  10. The Newest Diet Trend: What Would Jesus Eat?
loading ...
POWERED BY DIGG'S USERS
ABOUT DIGG