Author: R J Adams

“US students attending sexual abstinence classes are no more likely to abstain from sex than those who do not, according to a new study…….”

So begins a BBC report into the effects of so-called “abstinence classes” instigated by religious organizations throughout the US and funded to the tune of $176 million per year by the US government.

Why?

Why is it so important that American teenagers should abstain from sex until they marry, given that half of US marriages end in divorce, and most likely another 25% persevere in circumstances detrimental to both partners and their offspring?

Right-wing America wants to keep its teens ignorant of sexual matters, fearing sex education could encourage them to experiment sexually, with the devastating result of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

In the 21st century it is hard to imagine anyone believing ignorance more acceptable than education. After all, wasn’t it ignorance that created the racist intolerance of the fifties? Isn’t ignorance the excuse for virtually every racist, sexist, hate crime committed in this country since time immemorial?

Education equals knowledge, and knowledge is truth – not to be confused with indoctrination, which is someone else’s truth. Therein lies the crux of this matter, and many others.

This has more to do with the parents than their offspring. It’s about their ego-based guilt and fear, rather than truly caring for the child’s welfare.

Let’s face it, sexually transmitted disease is a relative rarity in western nations and sex education is the finest way to teach prevention. Everything we do carries some risk, and that includes having sex. Teaching kids how best to minimize those risks is sensible. Attempting to enforce abstinence is not only ineffective, but stupid. The resultant ignorance means more possibility of pregnancy or STD’s, when the abstainer buckles under the weight of his/her natural desires.

And, let’s be honest, what we are discussing here is exactly that – natural desires. Probably the strongest natural desire we ever experience. Those who advocate “abstention” are telling their children to suppress the strongest emotions they will ever have, at a time when those desires are approaching their zenith.

That parents are prepared to force their offspring into such a guilt-ridden and confusing situation, says little for the love the parent holds for the child, but an awful lot about parental fears and insecurity.

Filed under: Mis-information

Looking for evidence of corruption in the White House? Look no further than George Bush’s bolstering of the head of the World Bank – old pal, Paul Wolfowitz – in his corrupt hour of need.

Has anyone noticed how Bush’s appointees continue to be supported by the US president, even when it is perfectly obvious they are either corrupt or incompetent?

Who will ever forget that infamous line from a devastated New Orleans – “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job…….” or the misguided support offered to Harriet Miers, or more recently, Alberto Gonzales?

Let’s face it, Bush couldn’t pick a working snowflake in a Colorado blizzard. “Jobs for the boys” is his criteria, and nothing else matters – least of all, qualifications and experience. Wolfowitz was simply part of the strategy.

Having ‘their man’ in charge of the World Bank would have been expeditious, given the expected easy victory in Iraq. Poor old, bankrupt, Iraq would have benefited from World Bank money to rebuild the infrastructure ready for the oil moguls to move in. Unfortunately, the insurgency – oops, sorry, “terrorists” – put paid to that. Of course, the ever optimistic Mister Bush is still hopeful his “surge” will solve the Administration’s problems and render Wolfowitz’s position useful once more.

It was remiss of Mister W to assist his girlfriend in a leg-up to a tax-free $193,000, particularly as he is hated and despised by all the Bank’s employees, who were champing at the bit for any opportunity to shop him to the Executive Board.

There is no doubt Wolfowitz is guilty of a corrupt act. Why else would he apologize so profusely?

Is it not reasonable for America to expect its highest official to condemn such actions? Why, then, is the President of the United States supporting the continued presence of this dishonest individual in a position of such authority?

Surely, this advocation of admitted corruption can hardly be described as the act of a moral president?

Filed under: Moral degeneration

I really wasn’t going to mention it. In fact, I’d made up my mind it truly wasn’t worth spending precious time writing of such a triviality. But, he wouldn’t let it rest. Tuesday night, he not only fixated on the issue for fifteen precious minutes – of a news program, that runs barely twenty once the advertising is removed – but he was at it again for another eight minutes tonight.

It’s just too much.

Brian Williams and NBC Nightly News have developed yet another obsession. All because some geriatric, so senile he can’t tell his ass from his elbow, spouts a comment about a few female basketball players.

Is this reality or have I fallen down Alice’s rabbit hole into some weirdly grotesque nightmare?

Once again, good old Yankee hypocrisy rears itself to full height and explodes in a shower of pompous self-righteousness.

Let’s get real here.

MSNBC has been broadcasting old Imus for one reason only – it makes them money. American radio is chocker-block with pretentious jackasses like Imus – take Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck as perfect examples. Anywhere else on the planet this shower of redundant has-beens would be sweeping the streets or cleaning public toilets, but it seems many Americans get a kick out of hearing plonkers like these shout their mouths off, belittling others usually better than they are.

For many Americans it plays to their sagging egos; bolsters their weird insecurities.

Anyone unfortunate enough to have their radio dial suddenly stick on any of the above aging infantiles, has to wonder what caused such a rumpus over Imus’ prattish comment about the Rutger’s basketball team being a bunch of “nappy-headed hos”. Far worse is daily masticated, swallowed, then ejaculated in a jet of verbal toxins on the inappropriately named “Talk Radio” shows disgorging around this nation.

Of course, the real culprit here was the media itself. Had NBC and other outlets done their job and focused on events that really mattered, any controversy surrounding Imus would have died rapidly. After all, kids all over America use this kind of verbiage constantly. Believe me, I drive a bus load of grade school kids every day. But no, America loves to be flogged up into a self-righteous frenzy, and God help any poor fool who gives the media chance to wield the whip. Throw in a good handful of black religious zeal, a la Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton – always ready to jump on any publicity bandwagon – and the whole nation, it seems, is poised for the lynching.

Personally, I don’t need to waste my time watching Brian Williams and cohorts giving their impression of a bunch of “….ever so ‘umble…” Uriah Heaps. If I tune to a news program I expect news.

Thankfully, prior to NBC’s watery offering each evening, the BBC manages to hone in on what really matters to the rest of the human race.

For those unfortunates unable to receive what little BBC news the American government allows over its borders, here are a few minor matters NBC missed while dissecting Don Imus:

1. The UK International Development Secretary Hilary Benn has said the World Bank must act on climate change. Meanwhile, the World Bank (remember a man named Wolfowitz?) is arranging deals catastrophic both to the planet’s climate and the poor beings victimized in the process.

2. The International Red Cross published a report today stating, “the situation for ordinary Iraqis is getting steadily worse”. This, despite US and UK politicians pretending that matters are improving.

3. George Bush is desperately trying to find a “war tzar” but no-one wants the job. One man approached, General John Sheehan, told the Washington Post: “The very fundamental issue is they don’t know where the hell they’re going.” Basically no-one wants the job while Cheney’s still around. I can’t say I blame them.

4. The Oxford Research Group, a prestigious and independent UK think tank, reports that British and US policy towards Iraq has “spawned new terror in the region”. Their spokesman said: “We are looking at a highly unstable global system by the middle years of the century unless urgent action is taken now.”.

America has forgotten Darfur. The rest of the world has not. The BBC reports from Darfur regularly. Nothing has changed; nothing has improved. Children are dying of starvation, women continue to be raped, whole villages are still being burned to the ground by the despicable janjaweed, on orders from the Sudanese government. You, America, labelled it “genocide”, but you are doing nothing. You don’t even remember. You prefer the thrill of debating Don Imus.

While America obsesses over the careless ranting of one old and rather sad individual, in other areas of the world thousands are suffering immeasurable hardships and death. Much of the catastrophe at the root of that suffering is directly or indirectly caused by the sick policies of the United States. America loves to be introvert. It will happily ignore all that goes on outside its boundaries – unless, of course, it happens to be American lives that are being lost. This is not a new phenomena. On the 11th September 2001, it took a catastrophic and terrifying series of events perpetrated on American soil, to force America to look up and recognize there is a world beyond this continent. Instead of realizing why 9/11 happened, this nation perpetrated a brutal and lasting revenge on innocents who had nothing to do with 9/11. It goes on to this day.

But America is bored with Iraq and Afghanistan. The “shock and awe” have long worn off. CNN is no longer exciting. Americans are once more turning their backs on the world outside, reverting to that old self-centered introversion.

The tale of Don Imus and the Rutgers women’s basketball team is just one more example of that old US self-obsession.

Will it take another 9/11?

Filed under: Memory loss