The true nature of the Republican party. You can't, but we can.

lol...as if anyone didnt know that those two were shoved together at gunpoint and told to smile for the cameras...guess 'family values' only work when people actually believe them instead of just talking smack to a microphone all day good link

"Do as I say, not as I do."

Politicians have been living this mantra since they came into existence. Good to keep track of, but not at all surprising.

Now a hundred years ago, this wouldn't have happened, the couple would have been forced to marry BEFORE the birth to prevent the kid from being a 'bastard' and the family would be forced to exist in a joyless, but functional and social acceptable family unit.

So yay for progress and the ability to choose your mate in spite of social pressures.

Good for the kids, I say, for not staying in a relationship they wouldn't be happy in.

Addendum:

As for Sex-Ed; I'd rather not see it in schools, but let me explain why.

As a child, I went through SEVEN YEARS of Sexual Education.

SEVEN YEARS. Seven years of stupid unrealistic films, of 'Gee willikers!' kids going to the librarian or their local zookeeper for advice on their bodies. Seven years of 'a penis is kind of shaped like a banana' and a 'a vagina is a little hole'.

So yeah, totally made no sense.

If I had relied strictly on sex ed for my...well.. sex ed, I'd be a wreck. As is was, I never saw a penis until my first boyfriend, and I was horrified of it. Make for a very interesting 'first time'. And by interesting I mean traumatic.

I was lucky enough to have a mother who was enlightened enough to give me sexual education before puberty, privately, at home, because she knew the public system would really and truly screw it up.

American society has us tangled up in this messy web that says that sex is bad, and so the sexual parts of your body are bad. For god sake, they won't even show a breast on television... And that is so stupid! How can a breast traumatise a child? Especially one that was breast-fed?

It's not the idea of sex, the observation of sex, or the nude body itself that makes it traumatising, it's the reaction of adults. By example, adults teach children that their bodies are bad even through the subtleties of censorship. Kids are smart, they pick up on these things. They're designed to, so that they can easily integrate into adult life.

American society has 'sterilized' childhood, for the so-called sake of 'protecting the children'. The more a child knows about sex BEFORE puberty, the better. But I certainly don't trust a society that sees anything sexual as 'bad' to teach it to MY children, when I decide to have them.

I'm teaching my own kids about everything. BEFORE Sex Ed. Pictures and all. Because if you don't understand something, how can you be responsible for it?

My mother taught me, and not only do I not have any kids, but I have the wisdom to understand what I need before I have them to make a safe and secure environment to grow up in. And I also know what I need to do for them as a parent.

Teach it well, or don't teach it at all.

Seconded!

Seriously, whats the point in teaching sex ed if the schools are scared stiff *chuckles* of showing an actual penis.

We can talk about it all we want, but we can't show it to you.

Thats the equivalent of telling someone to watch out for bears in the woods when they don't know what a bear looks like. Even if they saw one, how would they know it?

It is pretty retarded. Thankfully, like you, I have a mother who was smart enough to take sex ed into her own hands. However, most parents are scared to death of teaching their children. Let the school do the hard stuff, right? (sarcasm)

I'd be fine with sex ed in school if they would stop sniveling and start teaching it properly!

regardless of whether you took the classes seriously or not, you learned from it

unless your parents are doctors how can they know about every std or everything that you might need to know. its important to have someone with professional knowledge at least warn you about the dangers


but kids do what they want to do. you can only give them information to make more educated choices

Actually, no I didn't learn anything in those classes.

Maybe you had a school with a decent program, but when you're in a small town where the teachers can't even bring themselves to SAY 'vagina' I challenge you to tell me again that it is a worthy program.

And no, my parents were not doctors, but they grew up through the sixties when all these sexual diseases became known. My mother did not teach me on a daily basis, no, but she knew where to get good information and provided me with it.

I used my sex ed classes basically as a free period, because most of the fools in those classes just sat around poking fun at the material.

Now take me, and stand me next to all of my graduating class.

Hmmm...

Something interesting happens! I am the only student, of my graduating class, whom has 1.) NEVER had an STD, OR 2.) has NEVER gotten pregnant.

The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

well i did say a professional. a professional can say vagina.

those classes are there for the kids who's parents DONT teach them or wont teach them, so that everyone has an understanding.
like it or not. not everyones parents teach they're kids ANYTHING at all. whether they pay attention and take something out of it is of their own consequence.
you cant force someone to learn anything if they're too ignorant to realize its something they need to know

You're completely missing my point.

You're saying a haphazard education, like the one that my classmates got, resulting in STD's and pregnancies, is better than none at all?

A bad program makes things worse. The kids wind up even more confused.

thats not at all what i said.

This is where i wish I could fav journals

lol