I’ve long admired the way young people are instructed in sex education in other countries. Apparently, in different countries in Europe, sex education is available for young people from elementary school, through high school. It’s not treated as something that would be taboo, scary or bugaboo. They’re given facts, treated intelligently, know where they can information, and behave responsibly, with very low rates of unwanted pregnancy.

Whereas in the U.S., despite years of federally-funded, obviously failed program of abstinence-only sex education, along with their mythologies about failing condoms, marriages ruined because of premarital sex, homosexuality being “abnormal”, etc., there are simply calls for more of the same.

God forbid we should be so humble as to question why another system actually works…

And what alternatives do gay kids have under the abstinence-only “sex education” program? None, really, other than to be informed that it is “unnatural”. That’s right. I’m sure that takes care of it for them.

So, when you think about it, is it really coincidental that three of the Republican nominees running for the office of the Presidency have stated they don’t believe in the theory of evolution?

And the whole notion of civil commitment…continuing to serve yet more time, after one has served one’s term…is simply barbaric. Basically, they are transferred from a prison, to a hospital with bars.

Periodically, a psychologist will examine them in the facility, purportedly to check for progress of the prisoner, but since pressure is on them not to green light the release of anyone who might even, remotely, re-offend, many psychologists simply, by rote, examine everyone, and say they are not yet ready for release.

You have to wonder how someone, in such circumstances, perhaps without any finances or family, gets by, for years at a time. Are they are being mistreated, or put on some type of medication, perhaps for no real reason, and without their consent, and how could they communicate that to anyone on the outside?

It’s my understanding that in some jurisdictions, all convicted sex offenders are now given civil commitment, regardless of the offense. So, potentially, someone who would slap the butt of an underage teenager (at her request) would be treated in the same manner (civil commitment after incarceration) as another person who would kidnap a three year old child from a preschool and rape her.

Of course there are seriously dangerous, and mentally ill people, who would be best served, and so would the public, by their being permanently removed and cared for. That such treatment seems to be going on routinely, these days, affecting so many people, many of whom aren’t even remotely deserving of it, is simply not merely wrong, it’s barbaric.

The practice has to be stopped.

There was also an interesting interlocutory appeal by the government. The district court ruled that 3 of the images were not admissible after being asked to review them. The appellate court reversed, but in a concurring opinion, Judge Torruella pointed out that the majority’s description of the images were inaccurate, and he adopted the district court’s description. Shows how tenuous and subjective the “lascivious” charge can be.
http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/pdf.opinions/05-2034-01A.pdf (pg.35)