Teen Pregnancy Rate Highest in Rural (Conservative) Areas

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Just as the evangelical Christians who blather the most about the "sanctity of marriage" have the highest divorce rates of any religious grouping in the country, so too rural - translate Republican - areas have the highest teen pregnancy rates.  Obviously, the children of the Bible beaters are not heeding their parents' supposed beliefs on chastity until marriage and the abstinence only sex education course so favored by the Christofascists.  And then there's the lack of availability of contraception and women's health clinics in these areas where they Christofascists seek to drive away programs that would provide meaningful means to reduce unwanted pregnancies.  The Des Moines Register has coverage on the findings of a new study.  Here are excerpts:

Nationally, the birth rate for U.S. teens has plunged to record low levels, but a new analysis shows that a disproportionate share of teen births are in rural communities.  In 2010, the birth rate for girls ages 15 to 19 in rural counties was 43 per 1,000, nearly one-third higher than the rate for metropolitan counties (33 per 1,000), says a report released Thursday.

"The prevailing stereotype is that teen parenthood is primarily an urban and suburban phenomenon," says Bill Albert, chief program officer for the Washington, D.C.-based non-profit. In fact, "the landscape of teen childbearing is more open spaces and fresh air than gridlock and high-rises," he says.

The results indicate that "the rates are far, far higher in rural areas compared to other parts of the country," he says. That suggests a greater need for efforts directed at helping rural teens avoid too-early pregnancy and parenthood.  Among findings from the analysis:

- Between 1990 and 2010, the birth rate among teens in rural counties declined by 32%, far less than in major urban centers (49%) and suburbs (40%).

- Rural counties account for one in five teen births; only 16% of teen girls live in rural counties.

- The teen birth rate is higher in rural counties than major urban centers for all ethnic and racial groups

What's behind the high rural teen birth rate? One factor is that even with all of the improvements in birth control methods, availability "lags far behind availability for teens living in urban and metro areas,"

Once again the lesson is clear:  if the Christofascists were serious about reducing teen pregnancies and abortions, they would support comprehensive sex ed programs and making contraception widely available.  Instead, they whine about the unborn while perpetuating the problem and typically not giving a damn about children once they are actually born.   Pretending in one's delusional mind that teens aren't having sex simply doesn't make it so.

GOP's Ted Cruz Claims Communist Allegations Are True

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I noted in a post yesterday how Texas GOP U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (pictured above) seems to want to reprise the Joseph McCarthy era of the 1950's by brandishing about claims that people who disagree with his far right extremist views are communists.  A piece in the New Yorker looked at Cruz's unfounded allegations.  Now, in a follow up article The New Yorker is reporting that Cruz's office has said that his labeling of Harvard professors and others as communists is true.  Of course, his claims are false, but what else can one expect from today's Republican party.  It's the same mindset that labels women who use contraception as sluts and whores.  Here are excerpts from the latest New Yorker story:

Senator Ted Cruz has responded to The New Yorker’s report that he accused Harvard Law School of having had “twelve” Communists who “believed in the overthrow of the U.S. Government” on its faculty when he attended in the early nineties. Cruz doesn’t deny that he said this; instead, through his spokesman, he says he was right: Harvard Law was full of Communists.

His spokeswoman Catherine Frazier told The Blaze website that the “substantive point” in Cruz’s charge, made in a speech in 2010, was “was absolutely correct.”

She went on to explain that “the Harvard Law School faculty included numerous self-described proponents of ‘critical legal studies’—a school of thought explicitly derived from Marxism—and they far outnumbered Republicans.” As my story noted, the Critical Legal Studies group consisted of left-leaning professors like Duncan Kennedy, who is a social democrat, not a Communist, and has never “believed in the overthrow of the U.S. Government.”

Cruz’s spokesman called it “curious” that The New Yorker would cover Cruz’s speech “three years” after he gave it. But Cruz’s hostile questioning of Obama’s nominee for Defense Secretary, Chuck Hagel, and insinuations about Hagel’s loyalties had provided a fresh context for looking more closely at the nature of the accusations he has leveled at political opponents. Observers like Senator Barbara Boxer wondered if they were seeing a revival of McCarthyism. Judging from Cruz’s speech—and, now, his defense of it—it’s a good question.

I noted yesterday that Cruz even looks a bit like McCarthy who is pictured below.  Judge for yourselves:

Was the Pope’s Resignation Connected to Network of Gay Bishops?

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OK.  In a prior post I referenced the rumor that Benedict XVI resigned because of blackmail and a cabal of gay cardinals and bishops within the Vatican and thought I'd say no more.  But the topic is just too much fun to pass up.  Especially, with the new allegations against Britain's highest ranking prelate.  Combine all of this with the world wide conspiracy to protect predatory priests, allegations that  Cardinal Dolan of New York hid money while in the Milwaukee archdioceses to protect it from pay out to sexual abuse victims and the Vatican bank's suspicious transactions and the Mafia begins to look pretty straight forward and upstanding.  John Allen, a long time Vatican reporter at the National Catholic Reporter looks at the increasingly bizarre picture of the goings on at the Vatican.  Here are article excerpts:

I've received numerous requests to comment on the sensational story in an Italian newspaper Thursday suggesting the existence of a shadowy "gay lobby" in the Vatican, linking it to the prospect of blackmail and suggesting that such dark forces may have factored into Benedict XVI's decision to resign.  For what it's worth, I'll lay out my initial reaction here.

First of all, the paper that carried the story, La Repubblica, is not a scandal sheet. It's the largest circulation daily in the country, with a center-left editorial stance. It's sometimes critical of the church, but it's not the National Enquirer.

In terms of the story's specifics, I don't know whether it's accurate that a commission of three cardinals created by Benedict XVI to investigate the Vatican leaks affair, composed of Cardinals Julian Herranz Casado, Jozef Tomko and Salvatore De Giorgi, actually considered possible networks inside the Vatican based on sexual preference, but frankly, it would be a little surprising if they hadn't.

Here's why. In 2007, Msgr. Thomas Stenico in the Congregation for Clergy was suspended after being caught on hidden camera making contact with a young man posing as a potential "date" in gay-oriented chat rooms, then taking him back to his Vatican apartment. In 2010, a "Gentlemen of the Pope" named Angelo Balducci was caught in a wiretap trying to arrange sexual hookups through a Nigerian member of a Vatican choir. Both episodes were highly public and caused massive embarrassment.

In that context, it would seem odd if the cardinals didn't at least consider the possibility that somebody with a big secret to hide might be vulnerable to pressure to leak documents or spill the beans in other ways.

It also doesn't stretch credulity to believe there are still people in the system leading a double life, not just in terms of their sexual preference and activities, but possibly in other ways as well -- in terms of their financial interests, for example. Whether they form self-conscious cabals is open to question, but they may well naturally identify with each other, and it's not out of the realm of possibility that trying to chart such networks was part of what the three cardinals tried to do.

Among many cardinals, it's become a fixed point of faith that the Vatican is long overdue for a serious housecleaning, and certainly the furor unleashed by the La Repubblica piece is likely to strengthen that conviction.

However, it's probably a stretch to draw a straight line between all of this and Benedict's resignation. For the most part, one has to take the pope at his word: He's stepping aside because he's old and tired, not because of any particular crisis.

That said, I don't believe you can completely discount the cumulative impact of the various meltdowns over the last eight years on Benedict's state of mind. Read Benedict's anguished letter to the bishops of the world back in 2009, at the peak of the frenzy over the lifting of the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop, and it's crystal clear he was both pained by the criticism it generated and frustrated the Vatican hadn't handled the whole thing more effectively.

If you want to understand why Benedict is tired, in other words, part of it is because he knows that putting things right inside the Vatican will take a tremendous investment of administrative energy, which he doesn't feel he can supply, and which probably isn't in his skill set in any event.

No, Benedict didn't quit under the pressure of a "gay lobby." But the perceived disarray in the Vatican, which may well be one part perception and one part reality, probably made resignation look even better.

Karl Rove's War on the GOP's Lunatic Base

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Make no mistake.  I loath Karl Rove, not the least because he used anti-gay marriage hysteria to turn out the haters in 2004 to secure the reelection of George W. Bush and the horrible Dick Cheney.  But I do have to admit that I am savoring Rove's new declared war on the very lunatics that he helped empower nearly a decade ago out of what was short term expediency with no thought to the long term effects of rallying the Christofascists and allowing them to take over the GOP.  Rove helped crerate the GOP's Frankenstein Monster and now he is trying to kill it.  It will make for entertaining spectator sport.  A piece in The Daily Beast looks at the Rove's effort to use the equivalent of radiation and chemo therapy to rid the GOP of the cancer he helped metastasize.  Here are some column highlights:

What in the hell was Karl Rove thinking? This has been the question on the minds of many political observers since the Republican super-strategist opened up a nasty new front in the ongoing civil war between his party’s purists and its pragmatists.

The storm broke February 6, when Rove, via the front page of The New York Times, debuted his newest venture, the Conservative Victory Project: an aggressive battle plan for the midterms that involves his super PAC, American Crossroads, intervening in the GOP primaries to try to ensure that the strongest, most electable candidates—not necessarily the most ideologically pristine ones—prevail.
The plan itself seems sound. The widespread sense among Republicans is that the party blew an opportunity to retake the Senate last year as a result of several not-ready-for-primetime candidates—Todd “legitimate rape” Akin being the most notable—winning primaries.
Unsurprisingly, however, the purist wing takes exception to all the finger pointing in its direction. And following the unveiling of Rove’s project, it went ballistic. Tea Party types, as well as conservative radio hosts like Mark Levin and Steve Deace, lined up to take their swings at Rove for plotting to marginalize conservatives and, as a seriously miffed Deace told me, “rubbing our noses in it publicly.” In The New York fricking Times, no less! “There will be no fixing this,” asserted Deace. “The civil war has been brewing in this party” for a couple of years now, he said, and people are operating with “short fuses.” “What Karl is providing is a face to our frustration.”
As the Karl-versus-conservatives story line took hold, Rove launched a Fox News apology tour, hopping from show to show, explaining to Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity and Chris Wallace how his plan had been misconstrued, how he had nothing against hard-core conservatives
Many Republicans, meanwhile, clucked their tongues and marveled at why Rove had chosen to kick the hornet’s nest. As some strategists noted (mostly sotto voce), there are things in politics that you sometimes have to do but that you simply do not talk about. Mucking around in primaries is one of those things. Don’t announce it, just do it—and for God’s sake tread lightly, taking great care to work with local leaders and play nice with everyone.  .  .  .  .  By so indelicately trumpeting his plans, Rove seemed to violate this basic precept. With just a bit more tact, political watchers note, he could have avoided this whole nasty fight.

But what if, for Rove, the fight was key to the strategy?  Arguably no Republican had a deeper post-election hole to climb out of than Rove. His personal brand was badly damaged by his triumphal forecasts last cycle, including an embarrassing election night that found him on Fox News disputing the network’s decision to call the race for President Obama. More materially, American Crossroads and its sister organization, Crossroads GPS, failed to deliver. Big time.

Post-election, big Republican donors have been demanding answers as a condition of future support for various groups—and players in the money game report that there has been barking, profanity, and not-so-veiled threats.  .  .  .  .  .    Rove’s donors were no exception to this trend, meaning he needed to do something to unruffle their feathers. Fast. “This is all about the donors,” says another veteran strategist. And what better way to make a statement to donors than to formulate a brand-new strategy and splash it across the front page of the paper of record? Message: lessons learned. Course correction set.

As for the backlash among purists, some political watchers assume this too is all part of the larger plan. How better to reassure anxious donors that their distaste for Akin-like candidates is shared than to poke a stick in the eye of the party’s anti-establishment forces—and, for good measure, to do so in the newspaper that symbolizes all that hard-core conservatives despise?
 

Deace and his team have, in fact, vowed to make Rove pay for his insults. “Anybody that he supports is toast,” says Deace. “Anybody Rove is attached to will get a scarlet letter. At this point a candidate would be better off getting Barack Obama’s endorsement than Karl Rove’s.”   Already the Iowa Senate race is shaping up to be an early test of this grudge match.

Of course, Rove isn’t the only one poised to benefit from this spectacle. Even as he pokes purists in an apparent effort to jumpstart his 2014 money machine, the purists are looking to fill their coffers by poking back. “They need their shiny ball strategy too,” observes the veteran strategist. “Everybody is trying to raise money.” And just like Rove, these groups play rough—at times a little too rough. Last week the Tea Party Patriots had to issue an apology for a help-us-fight-Karl-Rove fundraising plea that included a Photoshopped image of their target dressed as an SS officer.

You know it’s been a rough run when members of your own party start comparing you with Nazis. But don’t feel too sorry for Karl—or for those at war with him. As long as the dollars keep flowing in, both sides can walk away from this skirmish feeling like winners.

I hope this all turns into a blood sport with both sides seriously wounding each other.

More Spittle Fleck Craziness from The Christianists

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It seems no one goes out of their way looking for insults and a reason to spew batshitery that the Christofascists.  Especially when the source of outrage can be directed at the Obama White House and/or Hollywood.  Michelle Obama's surprise appearance at last night's Academy Awards is one source of flying spittle - especially given her apparent reference to gay rights.  The other source of outrage among the hate group crowd is a storyline on CBS's Criminal Minds, which featured an "ex-gay" serial killer who'd undergone abusive "sexual conversion therapy."Linda Harvey and ex-gay for pay Greg Quilan are simply beside themselves and vented profusely on World Net Daily, a/k/a Wing Nut Daily.  Here's a sampling of the spittle flecked hysteria:

Sparking the comments was a recent episode of “Criminal Minds” that featured a team of FBI profilers that investigates serial killers. In the Feb. 20 episode, titled “Broken,” a serial killer is murdering women and homosexual men in what appears to be a series of sex crimes.

The episode makes a startling claim as the killer is a person who received conversion therapy as a young man to overcome homosexual attractions. According to the characters in the show, the therapy caused him to believe that acting on his same-sex attraction is wrong. This belief causes him to violently attack people, because he is conflicted about his sexual orientation.

“This man can’t accept his same-sex desires, but he can’t fight them either,” one of the profilers explains. “He’s most likely been repressing all sexual urges for some time.   “He is trapped in a scenario with an impossible outcome. He can’t force himself to like women, so when he is unable to get aroused he becomes depressed again and lashes out in anger to the people he blames for his impotence.”

The show portrays members of the ex-”gay” community as ticking time bombs who are potential serial killers. In one scene, a computer screen shot features a report portraying “The Ex-Gay Movement.” The description states that cautioning children to not have homosexual thoughts was harmful and that individuals merely claimed they had changed their same-sex attraction.

Linda Harvey, founder of Mission America, says the episode is plain and simple discrimination.
“There is absolutely no evidence behind the premise of the show. It is total and complete propaganda,” Harvey said. “Not only is it discriminating against these individuals, they slam everyone who is attempting to overcome these feelings even though there is no evidence that these feelings are inborn and say your opinions on the issue don’t matter.”


Harvey said the episode is part of a larger movement to portray conversion therapy as hateful while portraying ex-”gays” as unstable people who are a threat to everyone around them.  “The homosexual lobby and its supporters are now deciding there is a desperate need to discredit people who want to partake in conversion therapy,” Harvey said.

The people who are desperate are, in my opinion, the mentally ill individuals like Quinlan and Harvey who make a living attacking gays and homosexuality.  They see the larger public realizing that they and their "ministries" are quacks - Harvey has ZERO credentials to qualify heras credible on issues of sexual orientation - and snake oil.  But for being "ex-gay," Qunilan has no marketable skills or talents. 

As for Michelle Obama, her cardinal sin last night - other than, of course being black - is that she made a positive reference to the gay community.  Joe Jervis summarizes as follows: 

The First Lady was the surprise final presenter at the Oscars, announcing the Best Picture winner via live video from the White House. In her presentation, Obama gave a nod to the gay community.

"These nine movies took us back in time and all around the world they made us laugh, they made us weep and they made us grip our armrests just a little tighter. They taught us that love can endure against all odds and transform our lives in the most surprising ways, and they reminded us that we can overcome any obstacle if we dig deep enough and fight hard enough and find the courage to believe in ourselves. These lessons apply to all of us no matter who we are or what we look like or where we come from or who we love."

 Needless to say, the wing nuts have gone berserk.
 

Is Freemasonry 'just as good' as Christianity?

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The Burning Taper received the following email a few days ago. Anyone like to take a shot at answering this woman's questions?

sir, as a Christian I've always been troubled with the mason being "yoked"as it would seem to non believers, which (to me) would give the non believer the inference that his religion is just as good as Christianity. The "all roads lead to the top" line would sorta fit in that category also would it not?.. Unless Jesus lied, His way is the only way to heaven, so why would the Craft allow the impression that there's more than one way? As such, how could a Christian remain in the bond with non believers without abandoning his stance on wittnessing,contending for the faith etc.?? curious.Appreciate any response. Because late in life my uncles ,for instance, finally had great difficulty remaining in the lodge ,especially, after their dedication to the church/knowledge increased.

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Guess who's coming to dinner?

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It seems many rank-and-file Masons, in many locales, are becoming more and more fed up with the actions of Grand Lodge leaders.

This short article was sent to The Burning Taper recently. The author wishes to remain anonymous, for fear of retribution for reporting events and expressing his opinion.

Arizona Grand Lodge Annual Communication began with the Royal Banquet on Wednesday evening, June 2, 2010 prior to the official opening of proceedings on Thursday morning.

The Head Table consisted of Arizona Grand Lodge officers and their wives. Seated near them were the visiting dignitaries representing various Masonic grand lodge jurisidictions. There were 13 listed on the list handed out to all attending members. Most were "line" officers representing their State or jurisdiction with two currently sitting grand masters.

The two grand masters attending the Banquet were Most Worshipful Martin E. Warren, Grand Master of Masons from the Grand Lodge, F&AM of Arkansas, and Most Worshipful Lewis R. Brent, Grand Master of Masons from the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Arizona. They were not seated at the same table.

When the Grand Lodge opened in Due Form in the 3rd Degree on Thursday morning the MW Lewis R. Brent from Prince Hall was present, but the MW Martin E. Warren was conspicuously absent. He was not seen in any of the subsequent tiled lodge meetings all day Friday or on Saturday.

It is the custom of the Grand Lodge that, when a pedestal officer (Grand Master, Senior Warden and Junior Warden) leave their stations during the proceedings that they place the Jewel of their office on one of the brothers in the room.

Several times during the proceedings on both days, the Senior Grand Warden Brook Cunningbrook chose a highly decorated Phoenix policeman, who is a member of one of the Arizona F&AM lodges and had been shot in the line of duty, to sit high on the chair located on a pedestal in the West to replace him temporarily. He is black.

There were two other black members of Arizona F&AM lodges present and the Senior Grand Warden had them also replace him in the West. It is quite an honor to do this.

In this case, in my opinion anyway, it was kind of an "in your face" type of gesture to some of the members of the Arizona jurisdiction who have moved to Arizona from one of the 10 states that do not recognize Prince Hall and have complained about having to sit in a lodge with a black man. Whether it was directed towards the Grand Master of Arkansas, I can only speculate.

What's interesting about this is that the Grand Master of Arkansas spent the money to fly to Arizona only to have dinner. Since it is customary for Grand Lodges to pay for the travel expenses of their grand masters, I wonder if the brethren of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas got their monies worth. Since he did not attend any of the business meetings by sitting in a tiled lodge with a black man but only attended the social functions, it seems to me that he spent a lot of money just for a free dinner and drinks, even if the cost came out of his own pocket.

This obviously was an example of the kind of “Imperial Leadership” prevalent in many jurisdictions and is not restricted to Arkansas alone.

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