When Mommy and Daddy (and conservatives) Don't Know Best

This week, health experts told the US congress something that should have been common knowledge for years now: "Abstinence only" sex education does not work.

Armed with scientific studies showing that not only is the "just keep your pants zipped" approach less effective than comprehensive curricula, it can actually be worse than no sex ed at all!

The organisations represented at the hearing included the American Academy of Pediatrics, the U.S. Institute of Medicine, the American Public Health Association, the American Psychological Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. They spoke with one voice: Sex education that does not include information on contraceptives like condoms does not lower the rates of teenage pregnancies and infections with STDs. Some of the those programs actually lead to higher rates in both cases.

Republicans in the House of Representatives were stunned and apologized for wasting $ 1.3 billion of taxpayer money on those ineffective programs since the late 90s, and for sabotaging successful HIV-prevention programs in countries like Uganda by tying financial aid to abstinence only programs.

No wait, they didn't. They don't give a damn about science and facts. As Stephen Colbert once remarked, reality has a well-known liberal bias. They want to hold on to programs that make America's youth sicker and put them in desperate situations. Family values, indeed.

My favorite idiot in this is Rep. John "John" Duncan, a Tennessee Republican, who according to Reuters said

that it seems "rather elitist" that people with academic degrees in health think they know better than parents what type of sex education is appropriate. "I don't think it's something we should abandon," he said of abstinence-only funding.

Yes John, they're a part of the country's elite. Because they are better educated than many, most certainly better than you. They are part of an elite that you should turn to for answers instead of trying to make "elitist" a slam the way you and your friends did with "liberal" years ago. Would you also claim that parents who raise their children on a diet of sugary sodas and cheeseburgers know better than nutritionists?

It's time to stop talking about values and actually standing for some, John. You're killing kids.

Dedicated to John Duncan, here is a pre-Thetan level Will Smith aka the Fresh Prince with DJ Jazzy Jeff and "Parents Just Don't Understand!"

DJ Jazzy Parents Just Don't Understand