Kids, Sex Ed, Obama Throws, Romney Ducks

Best article I could find on the topic was the ABC News version entitled "Sex Ed for Kindergartners?" (via Drudge).

Here's the rundown:

• Obama reaffirms an issue almost 4 years old with Planned Parenthood, stating "age-appropriate" sex ed should begin in kindergarten.
• Romney's all "No one in my state said there wasn't enough sex ed."
• Someone points out Massachusetts has sex ed plan that can begin in pre-kindergarten
• "We had not awareness, no input and certainly did not promote these curriculum frameworks," said Fehrnstrom, who served as Romney's communications director all four years that he was governor.
• Obama, sitting in his living room quietly whispers "Ooh, snap. I'm good."

As Obama stated, kids knowing the difference between good touching and bad touching is a good thing, and that would fall under sex education. Back in 2004: "If they ask a teacher 'where do babies come from,' that providing information that the fact is that it's not a stork is probably not an unhealthy thing. Although again, that's going to be determined on a case by case basis by local communities and local school boards.'"

Personally, I had the "puberty/boys 'n' girls/basic sex/ask me anything" talk with our daughter when she was in 3rd grade, just after she turned 9.

Take your moment to gasp. (Oh, the humanity!)

Why would I do such a thing? Because kids in 3rd grade are already talking about it, trading horribly incorrect information, whether from older siblings or something misinterpreted on Skinemax. Little girls in 5th grade are giving little boys in fifth grade blow jobs. It's not happening everywhere, but it's happening, and it only gets worse in Jr. High. And if you have kids, YOU need to be established as an approachable expert and authority concerning sex NOW.

We no longer live in the world where I grew up, where 7th grade started the bra boom, and we're eons from the reality in which Obama or Romney copped their first feel.

But if Mitt Romney wants to remain oblivious to reality around him and tell these children, their minds being torn asunder by hormones and emerging sexual identity, that they should just not have sex, to just say no to naughtiness, then that is his prerogative.

Personally, I'm not too worried. Should by some Joseph Smith revival miracle of asshattery Mitt Romney actually win the presidency, the best way to tell how a person will act in the future is to look at their past actions; he was so absent-minded and ineffective concerning sex ed policies in one state, how is he going to effect change in 50?

Synopsis: Obama runs away with this one.

And in a totally underhanded and unassociated train of thought deliberately designed to alienate Mitt Romney based on his religion: Did you know Mormons wear funny underwear?



Okay, not entirely unrelated; perhaps that's how they can be so nonchalant about abstinence: no one's getting laid in those.

Bush Wants Kids Sick?

From WaPo:

The president said he objects on philosophical grounds to a bipartisan Senate proposal to boost the State Children's Health Insurance Program by $35 billion over five years.

From WaPo: Bush struggles over waterproof keyboard - "Under water - so why don't it float?" he quipped, drawing attention from his inability to type. No, I don't know why the retarded keyboard pic was used to demonstrate this bill.

Anyone who has this quizzical look on his face about a waterproof keyboard should not be making "philosophical" arguments about poor kids getting free health care.

The 10-year-old program, which is set to expire on Sept. 30, costs the federal government $5 billion a year and helps provide health coverage to 6.6 million low-income children whose families do not qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance on their own.

About 3.3 million additional children would be covered under the proposal developed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Republican Sens. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa) and Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), among others. It would provide the program $60 billion over five years, compared with $30 billion under Bush's proposal. And it would rely on a 61-cent increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes, to $1 a pack, which Bush opposes.

Damn.

Isn't the president supposed to keep our interests at heart?

Hahahahaha! Sorry. Just kidding.

Kucinich 2008

I'm getting more and more focused on the beauty of the Kucinich campaign, the real confrontations on the real issues, the "look at the root" as opposed to the dance-around and "let's treat the symptoms" talk, the anti-monarchy mentality that, well, Clinton and Edwards exhibit so wonderfully here (h/t to Blue Gal for this gem):



I've added a banner on my left (your left too) to nail home the point.

Put Kucinich on your list. He doesn't get off on this stop. We need him.

"I'm the kind of guy who believes I can win a rigged game."

You go, Dennis.

The Real News: The Promise

This is what I was hoping for in a YouTube format when I originally wrote on The Real News.

The idealism, the genuine heart, the need for this: it just about makes me weep.

Watch. Support. It's about damn time.

Blog Meme Tagging WTF? Okay, I'll Play.

I work all day on the internet (for that "real job" thing). I use Firefox and regularly CTRL-SHIFT-Click on links I see to "read later, or on lunch, or in ten minutes", often times with more than a dozen tabs open at once on this "I love it" memory sink we call a delightful browser.

Often times I lose track of sources.

Which is why I do not know how I came upon New Pairodimes (hey, Zeno's Pair of Doc's - sorry, really "When conservatives mention how much they love the 50's, they are referring likely to a time when blacks "knew their place" not to our tax structure." makes me want to pee myself), but there it was. And when I did (referenced in a previous post), I began reading and hit upon Tag You're It:

There is this evil scourge going round the internets, where you tag one another and force the other person to reveal things about themselves and then pass the tag along to eight other people. It's sort of like a chain letter, but for geeks.

And what are the rules? Basically, you list 8 things about yourself. Then you "tag" 8 people in comments to play the idiot game, whore your blog, etc.

Pairodimes puts the smackdown on the chain-blog-meme-stupid mess by refusing to hit eight other blogs. I agree, and I shall take this to the next level of listing 8 things about myself without ever being tagged...and ignoring the "tag 8 others" rule. Smartest supergeek ever.

Really, I just want to talk about myself.

Here we go:

1. When moving to Cincinnati this month, it is now the seventh Ohio city I've lived in. That makes me kind of sad.
2. When I was young, I wanted to be an astronaut and joined the Young Astronaut's Club in school. I still dream about traveling into space, but hope there is a better way, more like Stargate. Otherwise, only my children or grandchildren would live to see the destination (wouldn't that suck - being born on a ship as a sperm donor life bridge to get your great-great-grandchildren to a distant star? Talk about emo rage).
3. I met my wife in front of a community theatre stage. I broke 4th wall protocol after curtain call one night to propose to her in front of the audience. We got to pick our own audience over a year later when we were married on that same stage.
4. I am a licensed minister and practice reiki.
5. I stopped going to Catholic church when I was 16 and despite my lack of respect for organized religion, am neither an atheist nor agnostic.
6. I support the Cleveland Browns and Indians, but don't really like sports, yet I will spend at least two hours every winter Olympics watching Curling.
7. I was raised on reading and books - Mom would read to us or Dad, even though not home evenings, would record himself reading - and read the unedited version of Stephen King's The Stand in sixth grade. I remember deep lessons in humanity and the beauty gravity ads to boobs when a woman lies on her back. It took me 3 more years to verify that. I currently read 3 to 4 books at one time.
8. Cheese is my favorite food or food addition, but I can only eat it melted (best), a good mozzarella string stick (very good), or on something like crackers (tolerable); Chewing blocks of cold cheese makes me gag.

Love it long time. Hate it. You've got me.

And sign up, dang you, for the Feedblitz on the left.

Christ on a Bun! Ginormous Butter Jesus

Just to clarify: I did, in fact, say Ginormous Butter Jesus.

Travelling north on I-75 from Cincinnati to the middle of nowhere (Zanesfield) has few highlights: Dell distribution center, the skeleton of an emerging IKEA (amen!). But there it was. Mrs. Shambles had seen it before, called it the Butter Jesus. I was anxious; I had never seen a Butter Jesus and was imagining something low key like a smaller version of the Rio de Janeiro Jesus. Lord was I wrong:



Christ with a perm! Well, not literally, just as the Butter Jesus is not literally made of butter. It is "King of Kings," a Coriell Design for Solid Rock Church, standing 62 feet, which would put the Lord - should He so choose to rise out of the water like the Kraken in Clash of the Titans - at probably over 100 feet tall. That's a lot of Jesus, so much that He dwarfs the cross on which He was crucified.

I guess that's one way for a church to spend $250,000. Damn.

One more image with a little more perspective and a little less buttery goodness:



That's some good highway viewin'.

I never could've guessed.