With all due respect, those folks who continue pushing abstinence-only education as the only acceptable form of sex-education are total and complete flaming idiots. Social conservatives and members of the Christian right that keep pounding the myth that simply telling kids to not have sex will actually make kids stop having sex should absolutely be beaten about the head with blunt objects, dumped into a burlap sack and dropped off of a pier.

Abstinence-only sex-education is taught in the state of Florida. Not very surprising considering the former and current Governor in that state... Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist respectively. Both are Republican tools that suck up to the Religious Right at every opportunity. And one of the pet projects of the Religious Right is making sure that any sort of comprehensive sex-education is eliminated from our schools in favor of waving a finger at the kids and telling them to not have sex.

Study after study has proven, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that abstinence-only education DOES NOT WORK. Period. No matter how many countless millions of dollars Republicans continue pumping into those programs. To think otherwise is sheer idiocy. Studies prove that kids subjected to abstinence-only education are just as likely to engage in sexual activity as those that receive a comprehensive sex-ed program. The only difference is that those kids receiving abstinence-only "education" are having sex completely ignorant to the consequences of their actions.

And now a survey of students in Florida has been released that show just how dangerous promoting this sexual ignorance truly is.

A recent survey that found some Florida teens believe drinking a cap of bleach will prevent HIV and a shot of Mountain Dew will stop pregnancy has prompted lawmakers to push for an overhaul of sex education in the state. The survey showed that Florida teens also believe that smoking marijuana will prevent a person from getting pregnant.

This is what happens when there is a void of real information... myths and urban legends take the place of real knowledge. Bleach? Yeah, bleach can prevent HIV/AIDS... primarily because it can freaking kill you. And yet Republicans, social conservatives, Christian activists continue touting the "success" of abstinence-only education. They are apparently using the same measures of success that Bush is using in regard to Iraq.

Proponents of abstinence-only education argue that public schools should not be dictating "morality" to the students. But this is a completely false, misleading and invalid argument. While I agree that it should be up to the families to teach morality to their kids, providing a comprehensive sex-education is NOT teaching or dictating morality to the students. It's equipping them with the knowledge to understand the risks of engaging in sexual intercourse be it pregnancy, disease or even death. Teaching these kids that if they are going to engage in sexual intercourse to be smart and use protection does not teach morality, it does not promote promiscuity, it teaches these kids to think and be smart about it. And yet these whackjobs on the right would rather the kids remain in ignorance, without a real comprehension of the ramifications of engaging in risky behavior.

These groups that cry and wail about teaching comprehensive sex-education do not utter a peep when it comes to groups like S.A.A.D, M.A.A.D or D.A.R.E coming onto campus to teach about the consequences of drinking and driving or drug abuse. Not a peep. So what then, is the difference? The goal of teaching these kids about the dangers inherent in alcohol and drug abuse is the same as teaching these kids about the dangers inherent in engaging in unprotected sex... to arm and equip them with the knowledge and a genuine comprehension of the consequences of their actions and to help them make sound and informed decisions.

Schools are supposed to be helping prepare their students for life beyond those classrooms. Yes, morality should be taught at home. But how are we preparing them for the "real world" when we deny them knowledge that is vital to making good decisions? Leaving them in total and complete ignorance, which is what abstinence-only education does, does not prepare them for life and it does not teach them to use sound judgment when it comes to sex. How many teen pregnancies, how many single mothers, how many sick and dying teens could have been prevented had a comprehensive approach to sex-education been taken? Abstinence should be taught as a component of sex-education in our schools, but it should not be the only form of education given to the students.

Regardless of what the social conservatives and the Christian right continue to natter on and on about, they are the biggest reason so many teens today wind up pregnant or exposed to some horrible disease because they refuse to pull their heads out of the sand and acknowledge that only through comprehensive education can these problems be solved.

Abstinence-only education does not work. It never has and it never will. It's pure stupidity to believe it can. But until such a time that these ignorant bastards wake up, smell reality and realize that real education is the best form of prevention, teens in America will continue believing that drinking bleach will prevent disease, smoking pot and drinking Mountain Dew will prevent pregnancies and it's actually the stork that brings babies, not sex.

Ahhhh yes... News Dump Friday, that time honored tradition of our government. The theory is that by slipping stories potentially damaging and/or embarassing to the Administration into the Friday afternoon news cycle, it'll mitigate the fallout. The assumption is that we'll have the weekend to forget about it, we'll be too busy to keep up with the news or it will just sort of blend in with the normal news cycle and we'll never see it. Errrrrr... yeah. So you can well imagine that this Administration has used News Dump Friday very, very extensively.

One of the big stories in this installment of News Dump Friday is... are you ready for this? Are you sure? Get ready.... Abstinence-Only Education doesn't work! I know, I know, contain your shock and disbelief. Stunning news, isn't it? A study, ordered by Congress into the $175 million dollar a year program and conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. has found that students who took part in sexual abstinence programs were just as likely to have sex as those who did not. Additionally, those that attended Abstinence-Only courses reported having a similar number of sexual partners as those that did not. The report goes on to say that Abstinence-Only students had sex for the first time at roughly the same age as non-Abstinence-Only students... 14.9 years old.

"I really do think it's a two-part story. First, there is no evidence that the programs increased the rate of sexual abstinence," said Chris Trenholm, a senior researcher at Mathematica who oversaw the study. "However, the second part of the story that I think is equally important is that we find no evidence that the programs increased the rate of unprotected sex."

But of course, Bush Administration officials were quick to say that we shouldn't draw any sweeping conclusions from the study. Gee, sweeping conclusions like what? That 175 million of our tax dollars are being flushed straight down the toilet each and every single year? Of course, flushing tax dollars down the toilet and perpetually pushing failed programs and policies is a staple of this current Administration.

This report comes as Congress is set to consider renewal of the block grant for Abstinency-Only education this summer.

"This report should give a clear signal to members of Congress that the program should be changed to support programs that work, or it should end when it expires at the end of June," said William Smith, vice president for public policy at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States.

Here's an idea... how about using that $175 million a year on programs that actually work? How about acknowledging the reality that wagging our fingers and telling kids to not have sex isn't working and providing some real education about things like pregnancy and disease? If it's so important for advocates of abstinence-only to teach morality, maybe they should try teaching it at home. It's quite obvious that it's not working in the schools, so why continue pouring money down a useless hole? I think that $175 million a year could do a lot of good in a lot of different areas.