The New York Observer makes a damn good point!

This recent article entitled Baby on Board!-Palin’s Unhelpful Story has this money quote in the first paragraph:

Families deserve privacy about family matters, but families that want absolute privacy should probably stay out of politics. Sooner or later someone would have noticed the pregnancy of Bristol Palin, 17-year-old daughter of John McCain’s vice presidential pick, especially since everyone in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, seemed to know already. The question that remains is what, if anything, her plight may portend for the rest of us.

So yes, if privacy is what the Palin family wants and craves they should keep Sarah’s ass out of the political world. Joe Conason then goes on to make this point:

But such is life in the red states, where sensible sex education and availability of contraceptives are discouraged for adolescents, even though they are just as sexually active as teenagers everywhere else. Despite the supposed religious morality of the evangelical right-wingers who today regard themselves as the base of the Republican Party, rates of teenage pregnancy and divorce tend to be higher in their domain than elsewhere in America. To the extent that their values would dominate for another four years of Republican rule, those pathologies can be expected to prevail. During the past four years of the Bush administration, teen pregnancies have increased for the first time since 1990, when they began a 14-year decline.

Spot-on Joe! Its a great read, check it out. Conason is always on the money in my book.

Tags: Sarah Palin, Teen Pregnancies

Crossposted at Leftwing Nutjob.

Sphere: Related Content

EVANGELICAL NAVEL CONTEMPLATION:How Radical Religious Right theology Embraces Republican Social Darwinism

By PraetorOne

Sometimes I’m a little slow but it finally dawned on me–there are very real theological reasons why the Christian Right is so attracted to the Republican Party, and I suspect that part of it has to do with the fact that the Evangelical belief in “faith only” salvation goes hand in glove with Republican economic policies. In the past I have referred to Republican economic policies as “the law of the jungle,” “social darwinism,” and survival of the fittest, etc. Little did I realize that the right wing, evangelical belief in faith only theology is a suitable companion to Republican economics.

When you think about it the whole thing makes a certain degree of sense. Not only do many right wing evangelicals believe in faith only salvation, they also try very hard to keep the idea of works, good deeds if you will, out of their religious paradigm. Now why, one must wonder would THAT be the case? The answer is rather simple when you get right down to it. Once you place all of your emphasis on faith and eliminate acts of humanitarianism, it becomes much easier to excuse the greed and graft which has become the current incarnation of the Republican Party. Never act, never worry! If you emphasize faith over acts you find yourself in a position where it becomes easy to forgive–or worse yet–condone the idea of transferring wealth away from the lower classes while handing it to th nation’s wealthiest elite who clearly have no need for additional wealth. Worse yet, it becomes easier to blame the victims for their poverty–a tactic which many Republicans, both economic and evangelical, have become quite accustomed to. It works out very nicely for the right wing evangelical who wouldn’t lift a finger to help someone who he considers anti-christian anyhow. Why help all those non evangelicals out there who are so clearly condemned to go to hell anyhow? Why bother with social programs, environmental programs, and educational programs etc when God is only going to come in the End Times anyhow to destroy the whole bleeding planet anyhow? It’s much easier to follow a religious dogma which emphasizes faith over acts because an emphasis on faith will justify the very noisy navel contemplation which passes for evangelical worship. Although I have to admit, the only time that evangelicals EVER seem to get off their asses is when they want to convert the lowly heathens who they so clearly believe are below them in the theological pecking order. On those occasions the far right is only more than willing to extend a little time and energy on an act, but only because they believe it will provide them with the POLITICAL power that they crave–political power which, of course, will promptly be channeled into convincing people that the only things they need to do are believe and sit on their lazy haunches while the world around them goes to Hell in a hand car.

Ironically–or perhaps not so ironically now that I think about it–the right wing evangelicals, who can quote scripture at the drop of a hat–seem to have a very poor understanding of the Gospel of Christ. True, the New Testament does talk about faith and belief, but that doesn’t explain those portions of the New Testament in which Christ delivers specific instructions about the poor–about giving up wealth, but helping those who are less fortunate, healing and comforting the sick, offering guidelines by which we can live better lives. In the Evangelical dreamscape we are apparently supposed to believe that Christ issued these instructions because it was a boring Tuesday afternoon and he didn’t have anything better to do with himself. Welcome to the happy sappy nightmare world of the Christian Right where the only thing that doesn’t matter in the Gospel(s) of Christ are the teachings of Christ!

Read more

Sphere: Related Content