Speechless

I cannot summon the words to express my sadness and outrage at this particular news development.

Juneau County DA warns districts on sex ed law
Teaching curriculum could lead to criminal charges against teachers, he writes

Plus: Debra Haffner puts this disturbing story in a larger, even more disturbing context, but also offers a bracing response.

Alabama v. Berkeley

Salon's Kate Harding rebuts* the Times' Ross Douthat:

Money quote:

[O]ne really big problem with not encouraging Berkeley values in Alabama is that kids who grow up with Alabama values have babies at much higher rates. (Alabama has the No. 12 teen birthrate; California's No. 28.)

*One of my pet peeves is the use of "refute" in headlines when the word "rebut" is meant. But in fact it's my judgment that Harding didn't just rebut Douthat's argument -- she did refute it.

h/t DairyStateMom

Less sex ed, more pregnant kids

That's the headline on this Salon story: 'A 2006 spike in teen parenthood coincides with increased abstinence-only sex education.'

And this comment gets the prize for best comment ever.


And then, there's this story about so-called "sexting". It's horrifying.

I am not making this up

A public school in California contemplates banning a dictionary because it includes a definition for "oral sex."

Reminder to self: File this anecdote for the next Our Whole Lives meeting at church.

Update: Salon's Broadsheet says it best. Read all the way to the end. (h/t DairyStateMom)