Sex-Ed

Whether conservatives want to admit it or not our current thinking on sex-ed is failing miserably. It's as effective as leaving two very horny teens alone in a room for a weekend after wagging your finger and saying "Behave yourselves". It just ain't working.



The story about the teens at Gloucester High School in Gloucester, Mass. is really a sad commentary on what should be a very straight-forward discussion. Clearly talking abstinance is not working. There is more to this than just sex and a lack of birth-control. When we have far reaching issues in a community that are not being addressed, and are not easily fixed, they still can't be ignored. The Superintendent of Gloucester School released a statement saying that the 7 or 8 freshman and sophomore girls found out that they were pregnant and made a pact to stay in school and raise their babies together. This is the complete opposite of what the school nurse reported when she said that girls came in several times to take pregnancy tests and were disappointed when the results were negative. What matters is that there are girls in the community who need help and some real solutions. Clearly the abstinence bit is not cutting it.

Of course, Gloucester does not want this kind of attention. No Mayor wants this kind of egg on her face. The Mayor should wear that egg and try to look for a real solution rather than trying to wag the dog and put a different spin on this. There is no spin. The city is in trouble. The families are in trouble. The kids are showing the symptons. You cannot wag that.

Zimbabwe Election

The opposition sought safety at the Dutch Embassy, and his closest aide fled to Johannesburg. Think about how times have changed, an African fleeing to South Africa. Is this Robert Mugabe's claim to fame, his legacy. After thirty years, he lost an election to Morgan Tsvangirai. The election was contested and now that they are nearing the runoff, the violence against Mr. Tsvangirai's supporters has become unbearable.

Mugabe's hubris is throughout his regime.

Boniface G. Chidyausiku, the United Nations ambassador from Zimbabwe, said that
neither the statement from the Council nor the call by Mr. Ban to postpone
the
vote would affect the timing of the elections.
“The Security Council
cannot
micromanage elections in any particular country,” Mr. Chidyausiku
told
reporters. “As far as we are concerned, the date has been set.”
He
accused
Britain and its allies of pushing for “regime change” and said Mr.
Tsvangirai’s
decision to drop out of the election was a ploy to attract
international
sympathy. He also said the opposition in Zimbabwe was
exaggerating the violence.
“These are M.D.C. tricks that should be seen for
what they are,” he said in
a speech, referring to the Movement for
Democratic Change. “The British
government’s hidden hand in all these
political developments is evident and
clearly visible.”

There may not be enough support within the 14 countries that make up the Southern African Development Community. And, with the unwillingness to hear the United Nations it looks as if the people of Zimbabwe will not see a free and fair election to take place. They will not see the man they had already elected take office. Their voices are being choked out of them.

I hope the world will sit up and take notice.