Teen pregnancy and syphilis up sharply during
Bush years

post from AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth on 20 July 2009 11:42:00 PM. © AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth

Oh those traditional family values. If only there were a few more purity balls, all of this could have been avoided. And some have the nerve to say the Bible was better than using science.

Teenage pregnancies and syphilis have risen sharply among a generation of American school girls who were urged to avoid sex before marriage under George Bush's evangelically-driven education policy, according to a new report by the US's major public health body.

In a report that will surprise few of Bush's critics on the issue, the Centres for Disease Control says years of falling rates of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease infections under previous administrations were reversed or stalled in the Bush years. According to the CDC, birth rates among teenagers aged 15 or older had been in decline since 1991 but are up sharply in more than half of American states since 2005. The study also revealed that the number of teenage females with syphilis has risen by nearly half after a significant decrease while a two-decade fall in the gonorrhea infection rate is being reversed. The number of Aids cases in adolescent boys has nearly doubled.

The CDC says that southern states, where there is often the greatest emphasis on abstinence and religion, tend to have the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and STDs.

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Polling and Political Wrap-Up, 7/20/09

post from Daily Kos on 20 July 2009 11:40:05 PM. © Daily Kos

As the Dog Days of Summer get into full swing (is there ANY PLACE in America that is not ridiculously hot right now? If so, let me make some airline reservations...), we have a full plate for a Monday.

NATIONAL: Democrats Easily Outpace GOP in Committee Fundraising
June turned out to be a good month for Democrats at the cash register. Not only did the individual campaigns do very well (check out my Sunday Kos feature on that subject right here, but it appears that the House and Senate committees also easily outpaced their right-wing rivals. On the House side, the DCCC took in $7.2 million for the month of June, easily outpacing the NRCC, which limped in with $3.1 million. On the Senate side, the DSCC nearly doubled up the NRSC, raising $6.2 million to $3.4 million for the GOP. This is especially interesting because June was the month of the much hyped Palin-Gingrich fundraiser, which the GOP claimed brought in $14 million for the committees. Fuzzy math, indeed.

ME-Gov: New Democratic Candidate Emerges In Open Seat Gov Race
The potentially competitive Democratic Primary in Maine grew a little more crowded this morning, as Portland business owner Rosa Scarcelli entered the race. Scarcelli joins former state House speaker John Rowe in the race, as well as state Rep. Dawn Hill. Democratic Governor John Baldacci is term-limited.

NJ-Gov: Christie Names His GOP Running Mate For Fall Election
When he wasn't busy scouring Spanish dictionaries for the translation of the word Republican (more on this later this week), Chris Christie got around to naming his Lt. Governor nominee for his campaign against incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine. She is Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno who, like Christie, is a former U.S. Attorney.

NV-Sen: Ensign Becoming Less Loved, But Majority Oppose Resignation
On the polling front, here is an interesting tidbit from the team at Mason-Dixon: John Ensign's approval rating continues its precipitous slide in the wake of new and damaging revelations about his extra-marital tryst. His approval now stands at just 31%, with 38% disapproving of the Senator. That is a marked contrast from May, when his numbers stood at 53/18. Interestingly, a majority still believe that he should not resign (although that number did slide from 62% last month to 54% this month). Even more intriguing: a slight plurality favor his running for re-election. Now, this doesn't mean that he is FAVORED in that race, some folks may, after all, want him to run so that they can have the pleasure of voting him out.

NH-01: Guinta On the Cusp of Another Scandal?
Great catch by Dean Barker over at Blue Hampshire: apparently, Manchester Mayor (and much hyped NRCC recruit) Frank Guinta was delinquent on sewer taxes earlier this year. In itself, this is a small deal, especially in a rotten economy where lots of Americans are trying hard to make ends meet.

The problem for Guinta--even as he was shorting the local government of a few hundred bucks, he was also loaning his Congressional campaign a cool twenty grand. Voters can accept the occasional error in home finances by a candidate. But when said lack of payment is accompanied by lavish spending on one's own campaign? A much tougher sell. I'd have to imagine that Democratic incumbent Carol Shea-Porter will have something to say about this one.

IL-07: Prepare For a New Democratic Open Seat
This one ain't all that likely to set off alarm bells over at the DCCC, but it is worth noting that Chicago Congressman Danny Davis is trading in his slot in Congress for a 2010 bid for the office of Cook County Board President. The incumbent there is controversial Democrat Todd Stroger. The district is sure to stay in Democratic hands, as it went for Barack Obama by a mere 88-12 margin last year.

KY-Gov: Beshear Taps Big-Name Democrat for Lt. Gov Post
Never too early to think about 2011, which is why Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced a replacement for Lt. Governor Dan Mongiardo, who voluntarily gave up his slot, as he is in the middle of a bid to be the state's next U.S. Senator. Beshear went for a big-ticket Democrat, naming longtime Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson as his running mate. Abramson, in his early 60s, has been occasionally talked up for statewide office.

IL-Sen: Kirk Into The Race (No, Really!!)
At his boyhood home in the Chicago suburbs, Mark Kirk made it official today that he will be a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2010. It appears that behind-the-scenes efforts in the last two weeks to clear the field for Kirk (who originally balked, amid criticism from some of his fellow Republicans) were successful. The campaign arm for the Senate Democrats, the DSCC, wasted no time whatsoever in "welcoming" Kirk into the race, highlighting the facade of moderation of the new Republican candidate:

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-Wrap-Up,-7-20-09

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Nouriel Roubini: "A Sub Par Recovery"

post from MyDD on 20 July 2009 11:38:48 PM. © MyDD

When Doctor Doom speaks, I listen. "The recovery is going to be subpar," Roubini said. "I see a one percent growth in the economy in the next few years. There will also be 11 percent unemployment next year and the recovery is[...]

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Nouriel Roubini: "A Sub Par Recovery"

post from MyDD on 20 July 2009 11:38:48 PM. © MyDD

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Open Thread

post from Crooks and Liars on 20 July 2009 11:30:54 PM. © Crooks and Liars

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What if everyone on the Senate Judiciary Committee took a Jack Nicholson pill?

Open Thread below...

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Health Care: We're not in 1993 Anymore

post from Open Left - Front Page on 20 July 2009 11:14:40 PM. © Open Left - Front Page

I've been poring through the 2008 GSS Results running through query after query (the query engine[...]

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-not-in-1993-anymore

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C Street House

post from MAL Contends . . . on 20 July 2009 11:05:00 PM. © MAL Contends . . .

Jeff Sharlet has a piece at Salon, Sex and power inside "the C Street House," A-class hypocrisy by that summarizes today's Republican Party and the "invisible fundamentalist group known as the Family."

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Late Night: Mishugeh in Missouri

Obama's gonna take away yer guns! Get 'em while you can![...]

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One Small Step

On this historic day, NASA planetary scientists Alan Stern has an editorial at Space Review well worth reading:

But in my view, the greatest achievement of Apollo is something more important, something that took decades to be recognized, and which is only now coming into focus. As I see it, the greatest achievement of Apollo is the inspiration that Apollo’s bold, quickly-paced, and futuristic accomplishment generated in so many baby boomers, whose hearts were captured by the tsunami of new technologies Apollo generated and the sheer exuberance for invention that space exploration inspired.

Where where you and what are your thoughts on the days of Apollo 11 and Cronkite?

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C&L's Late Nite Music Club - The 50 State
Strategy with Ray LaMontagne (ME)

Title: Let It Be MeArtist: Ray LaMontagne
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(Thanks to reader Stephanos for this tip!)

This week's installment of the 50 State Strategy brings us acoustic singer/songwriter Ray LaMontange of Lewiston, Maine. There is a lot of heart coming from under the massive beard of this Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young disciple. Check out more at his MySpace.

Every Monday night, C&L's Late Nite Music Club will feature an act from every state, alphabetically by state, as part of LNMC's 50 State Strategy. Know a band or artist that you think is the best in their state? Email suggestions to latenitemusicclub [at] gmail.com. Next week: Maryland.