The Right is quick to try to legislate morality-sometimes.

Today's SCOTUS vote has the Right wetting their collective pants for joy. Read more…

I certainly hope an unfortunate turn of phrase by abstinence "education" flak Valerie Huber doesn't raise a firestorm in theocratic circles:

Democrats looking to curtail a program that grew 17-fold — from $10 million in 1997 to $176 million this year — when the Republicans controlled Congress.

Good news!

Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation promoting comprehensive sex education instead of abstinence-only curriculum. They want to send money to schools that stress abstinence while also instructing students about the health benefits and side effects of contraceptives.

The abstinence groups aren't planning on losing any of their federal funding without a fight. They've opened their own trade association near the Capitol.

Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, said the group's formation is not a response to Democrats taking control of Congress.

And now the money quote:

"It really has nothing to do at all with any current political climate, just the evolution of the field of abstinence education," [Huber] said.

Snicker. Read more…

Chimpy isn't paying attention, again. Looks like he's going to give the Democrats plenty of opportunities to show some spine.

But the Bush administration reiterated its support , calling the doctor a national expert on preventing teen pregnancy.

Meanwhile yesterday, scientists criticized Keroack's theories about human sexuality. In a 2001 paper prepared for a group called the Abstinence Clearinghouse, Keroack and a colleague said that having sex with multiple partners alters brain chemistry in a way that makes it harder to form relationships later in life. Read more…

British people: slap this shit down hard. Seriously. We didn't take them seriously enough when they got going over here, and look at the mess we're in now. Rings in schools today, pseudofascist warmongering theocrat national leaders tomorrow:

Heather and Philip Playfoot have spent almost two years in dispute with Millais School in Horsham, West Sussex, over their 15-year-old daughter Lydia's ring. While the school's uniform rules forbid jewellery, they argue that the rings - given to teenagers who complete a controversial evangelical church course preaching sexual abstinence - hold genuine religious significance.

'The ring is a reminder to them of the promise they have made, much the same as a wedding ring is an outward sign of an inward promise,' said Heather Playfoot.

'There are Muslim girls in the school who are allowed to wear the headcovering, although that isn't part of the school uniform, and Sikh girls who are allowed the wear the bangle although that isn't part of the uniform. It's a discriminatory policy. Read more…