Found at the excellent blog of Yellowdog Granny.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Texas Is Number One (Sadly)
Once again, Texas finds itself in the position of leading all other states -- but this number one ranking is not one that should make any Texan proud of the state. For the sixth year in a row, Texas leads the nation in the number of repeat teen pregnancies.
While Texas has gone from first to third in the number of teen pregnancies (still nothing to take pride in), it continues to lead the nation in repeat teen pregnancies. The statewide figure for repeat teen pregnancies is 23%. The figures were compiled and released by Child Trends, a Washington D.C.-based group.
The group also breaks the figures down by the 73 largest cities, and it shows the worst percentages are in the major urban areas. Here are the figures for Texas cities included in the report:
Dallas.......28% (leads the nation)
San Antonio.......26%
Fort Worth.......25%
Houston.......24%
Austin.......24%
El Paso.......21%
Arlington.......19%
Texas also leads the nation in another statistic -- the number of teen pregnancies for girls under the age of 15. Houston leads the nation in this statistic.
Why is Texas doing so badly in the area of teen pregnancies? Of course, part of the blame must rest with parents (or lack of parents), but I doubt that Texas is any different than any other state as far as parental involvement and responsibility is concerned.
But schools are another matter. Texas schools are doing something different. About 94% of all Texas schools are teaching their students absolutely NOTHING BUT ABSTINENCE! This is a shameful avoidance of their duty to educate their students about sex and contraceptives.
The religious fundamentalists control the state school board and most local school boards, and they are convinced that Texas students are stupid. They believe if you teach the truth about sex and contraceptives, then those students will all run out and have sex.
The truth is that these fundies have it backwards. The states that teach good sex education with instructions on the use of contraceptives, have much lower teen pregnancy rates that states that teach abstinence-only. Regardless of what they are taught (or not taught), teens will have sex when they are ready to do so. Those who have received real sex education will at least have the knowledge of how to protect themselves and prevent pregnancy.
As Robert Sanborn, president and CEO of Children at Risk, says, "The state of Texas needs to understand that what it's doing is not working." We should take religion out of Texas schools and let those schools educate their students about the real world (where they're going to have to live).
Finally - A Use For The Border Fence
The Bush administration, in its pandering to the racist immigrant-hating base of the Republican Party, wasted billions of dollars building an unnecessary fence on our southern border. The expensive fence has done nothing to curtail either drug smuggling or the entry of undocumented workers. Our weak economy has done more to slow down entry of the undocumented workers than the fence ever could.
What it has done is harm the border environment, economically devastate cities on both sides of the border and harm the relations between the United States and a friendly neighbor. We have simply thrown billions of dollars down the drain building what I have believed is a totally useless fence.
But maybe I was wrong. It seems that some enterprising Mexican nationals have found a use for the fence, or at least the materials used to build it. They think it makes great scrap metal.
The Tijuana Police have arrested at least six men who were dismantling the wall to sell it off as scrap metal. On Monday, they arrested two men they caught cutting sections from the fence, and then apprehended another on Tuesday who had 11 pieces of the fence. The U.S. Border Patrol notified them of three other suspects.
I think we ought to let them dismantle the fence and sell it for scrap metal. At least, the ridiculous fence would be doing some good for someone that way.
UTA Unveils New Logo
The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) has just unveiled their new logo. It seems they are trying to shake off their image as a regional university, so they decided they needed a new logo. The new logo (pictured above) makes the word "Texas" much larger than the word "Arlington".
UTA is a part of the University of Texas system, and has decided to play on that. After all, everyone has heard of the University of Texas, while not a lot of people outside the state of Texas has probably heard of UTA.
Jerry Lewis, UTA's vice-president of communications, says, "We're on a mission to become a major national research university. On a national stage, Texas has huge name recognition. We wanted to play up that angle."
UTA is an excellent school, and I hope the new logo and new emphasis helps them get where they want to go.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
U.S. Finally Uses The Protect Act
Six years ago, the United States passed the Protect Act. It was meant to protect the children in other countries from American pedophiles, but to date there has not been a single prosecution under the law. It looks like that's fixing to change.
The Justice Department brought three pedophiles back from Cambodia yesterday, and they will appear in federal court today. All three have previously been convicted of sex offenses in this country, and had traveled to Cambodia to engage in "sex tourism". They were apprehended due to information provided by human rights groups International Justice Mission and Action Pour les Enfants.
They are Ronald Boyajian (49), Erik Peeters (41) and Jack Sporich (75). Peeters and Sporich are both being charged with having sex with at least three minor boys over a several months period. Boyajian engaged in sexual activity with a 10 year-old girl.
A violation of the Protect Act carries a 30 year sentence for each child violated (and there is no parole in the federal system). Personally, I would like to see the three do 30 years in a Cambodian prison, but I'll settle for a maximum security federal prison.
Thank goodness the Justice Department is finally doing something about this disgusting pedophile "tourist sex". They need to make examples of these three so that others will be afraid to try the same thing.
Environment To Lose A Friend In Texas
It is well known that Texas dumps far more pollution into the air than any other state. In fact, if Texas was a country, it would be the seventh largest polluter in the entire world. There's no secret why this is true. It's because the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is populated entirely by Bush and Perry appointees.The TCEQ has final authority over air permits and environmental quality for the state, and the commission has repeatedly sided with businesses and corporations and against environmental interests. If a corporation wants a permit to dump tons of new pollution into Texas air, you can bet it'll be approved by the TCEQ.
At least two of the three commissioners will vote that way. The third commissioner is a bit of an anachronism. He is attorney Larry Soward. Even though he was appointed by Rick Perry, he has not sided with either the corporate interests or the environmental interests. Instead, he has tried to follow the laws and regulations as they are written.
That has frequently put him at odds with the other two commissioners (who are solidly on the corporate team and usually in opposition to federal guidelines). It has also made Soward a hero with environmental groups, who see him as a commissioner who does his job fairly and impartially.
But the Texas environment is losing that friend. Larry Soward (pictured) has officially retired from the agency. Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas, said, "It's a big loss to have the one independent thinker and environmental advocate that we had on the commission leaving."
You can bet that Rick Perry won't make the same mistake twice. I'm sure the person he appoints to replace Soward will be thoroughly vetted and known to be a corporate supporter.
This is just one of many good reasons why our state really needs a Democratic governor. I don't know how much more the Texas environment can take from these Republican appointees.
Mexico Sets Mariachi Record
The country of Mexico, and the city of Guadalajara, are the proud owners of a new world record. The world record is for the biggest mariachi band. At the International Mariachi Festival last Sunday, 549 musicians got together and played several songs including "Cielito Lindo" and "Guadalajara".
A representative of the Guinness Book of World Records (Stuart Claxton) was on hand for the event and made the world record official. The previous record was established in San Antonio in 2007 with 520 musicians.
I'm glad the record is now in Guadalajara, Mexico. It just seems right that the record should be held in the birthplace of mariachi music.
I realize this story is not an earth-shattering news event, but I happen to like mariachi music. It's hard to be unhappy when a mariachi band is playing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)