[millie58]

Abstinence doesn't work.... In a perfect world, abstinence could be preached and hoped for. Not this world. Daughter and baby's father are getting married. do they want to?? If not, look out for the divorce. Is the kid better off with his/her parents having been married, only to divorce??

[manni28]

I don't put much stock into the college degree in general anyway. I mean, Lincoln was homeschooled and didn't attend college but he's seen as one of our greatest Presidents ever.

Yeah, but that was then, this is now. I work in higher education and when I see that a student has been to more than two colleges, it's a red flag. in regards’ to a college degree, you need a degree in today's workforce, it makes you able to compete with others.

Do you know an AA (minus an AA in nursing) is equivalent to a high school diploma; a B.A/ B.S. is equal to an AA and a Master's is equivalent to a BA/BS?

Stormster:

I agree that the president of the US needs to be well versed and very sophisticated in world events, Palin does't have that. Obama I worry about being "too soft" when it comes to terrorism. I don't think the U.S. should negotiate with terrorists.

[sbaglio]

Originally Posted by millie58

Abstinence doesn't work.... In a perfect world, abstinence could be preached and hoped for. Not this world. Daughter and baby's father are getting married. do they want to?? If not, look out for the divorce. Is the kid better off with his/her parents having been married, only to divorce??

Abstinence DOES work. It's the only 100% sure-fire way of avoiding unwanted pregnancies and STIs. I think we have to give people credit for having the good sense to keep their pants zipped up when they should. Look at how the emphasis on Abstinence turned the tide of HIV infections in Uganda.

If you're speaking about abstinence-only programs, however, I completely agree that they do not work (in the long run) as well as comprehensive sex education programs. The other parts of the ABC Program in Africa were "B" (Be Faithful) and "C" (Condomize), preferably in that order.

As for Condie running on the Republican ticket...I'm not generally a fan of hers. But having her on a presidential ticket would be very exciting, even for me. She is more than qualified to be VP of the United States, or President. Heck, if he wanted a female running mate, how about Todd Whitman, Elizabeth Dole, Olympia Snowe, Kaye Bailey Hutchison, Susan Collins?...McCain really dropped the ball.

[tanmansmom]

Being from Texas, I am a KBH fan, but she wants to be governor one day. I know there was talk of her, but I think she wants to be in Austin rather than DC. There has been talk of both VP's being dropped. I think it would be okay if it were true. I would love to see Rice added to the Rep. ticket and I truly think that if Obama tagged Hillary, they would be unbeatable. But since I don't want him to be unbeatable, I hope he stays with JB

[coachmur]

Let me clarify: I was not in any way referring to Obama with my "silver spoon" statement. In my personal experience anyone who's parents paid their way through college was pretty much born with a "silver spoon" in their mouth.

I come from a large, dirt poor family and if any of us wanted to go to college we paid our way. Our parents helped as much as they could but we all had to get jobs and take care of ourselves. I believe in hard work, pull yourself up by the bootstraps kind of living. I believe the person who has to work to earn their way is a much happier person than the one who is just handed everything their hearts desire. I don't believe a good job, a big house or a lot of money will ever make a person happy. True happiness comes from inside us. To be content with what we have been given is a choice.

In regards to the upcoming elections I must say that I will be glad when they are over. I think Obama is a very intelligent, well meaning man. I think when he made the decision to run for president it was an honorable decision. I appreciated how he stuck up for Bristol Palin when the mud first started being slung over her pregnancy. I will not vote for him because for me Mcain is the better choice and that is what politics and freedom is all about. We should all be thankful we get a choice.

[BrockBaby]

what she preaches about sex ed isn't really what she practices at home,

Ummmmmm, she wasn't the one "practicing" it was her daughter!!! And so every time a
child does something contrary to what the parent taught, say..they lie, cheat, steal, show disrespect to someone in authority,ect ect...let's make sure to say that the parent isn't praciticing what they preach. THAT reasoning makes absolutely no sense. Children make choices, often VERY contrary to what they've been taught, ect....does that make it wrong for the parent to teach them what they feel is the 'right' way. I am sorry, but i don't see how someone can agrue that abstitance is not something worth teaching. And I agree with sbaglio about education beyond abstitance.

[Daisy1339]

Originally Posted by BrockBaby

Ummmmmm, she wasn't the one "practicing" it was her daughter!!! And so every time a
child does something contrary to what the parent taught, say..they lie, cheat, steal, show disrespect to someone in authority,ect ect...let's make sure to say that the parent isn't praciticing what they preach. THAT reasoning makes absolutely no sense. Children make choices, often VERY contrary to what they've been taught, ect....does that make it wrong for the parent to teach them what they feel is the 'right' way. I am sorry, but i don't see how someone can agrue that abstitance is not something worth teaching. And I agree with sbaglio about education beyond abstitance.

AMEN!

It makes me NUTZ!! when people have that opinion. I just don't get it. You do the best you can to instill what you believe to be right in your children, but at the end of the day they will make their own decisions. That doesn't mean that you didn't "practice what you preach" at home.

I mean, there is a point in that logic somewhere, I guess, because Palin preached abstinence but obviously didn't get through to her daughter. But for crying out loud, word it that way.

[lovemy2boys]

Originally Posted by BrockBaby

Ummmmmm, she wasn't the one "practicing" it was her daughter!!! And so every time a
child does something contrary to what the parent taught, say..they lie, cheat, steal, show disrespect to someone in authority,ect ect...let's make sure to say that the parent isn't praciticing what they preach. THAT reasoning makes absolutely no sense. Children make choices, often VERY contrary to what they've been taught, ect....does that make it wrong for the parent to teach them what they feel is the 'right' way. I am sorry, but i don't see how someone can agrue that abstitance is not something worth teaching. And I agree with sbaglio about education beyond abstitance.

I agree with you here.

I absolutely disagree with her stance on sex ed...

But I also don't believe that she should be held accountable for her daughters decision to "ehem" have relations...

[Stormster]

I agree with that too. We do the best we can with our kids. It's how we deal with the stuff that inevitably comes up that shows our character not how well we control them. Because they aren't puppets.

[BethanyB]

As soon as I heard of this situation my first reaction was, it shouldn't matter. Her daughter had sex like the many other teens out in the world. You can teach your child a lot of things but you can't ensure they will listen.

However my problem came later when I found out that Palin does not want sex education in the schools. She believes that abstinence only education should be taught. So Palin believes that abstinence education works and is enough for all of our kids. That is what she would want in the schools. And then her own daughter becomes pregnant? That is just insane. Not that her daughter got pregnant but that Palin is not open to other methods of education.

I will certainly tell my kids that the best thing to do is abstain from sex but you can bet I will follow up with, "If you do decide to have sex please do x,y and z." Then at least I can feel okay in that I gave my child the information they need to make wise choices to stay safe and hopefully avoid becoming pregnant at an early age.

[Stormster]

You do have a point but people should be clear when the criticize her that that is their reasoning.

Hey did you see the SNL with the "game show" between public school kids and home schooled kids? It was kind of funny

[BethanyB]

No I didn't see it. I will check to see if there is a clip online. Sounds funny.

[Vogi2002]

I think it's just as ironic as those that believe in sex ed who have children that get pregnant - and there are certainly plenty of those out there also.

Plus didn't bristol go to a school that taught sex ed so she DID in fact get taught sex ed? So it wasn't the abstinence only program to blame if she was taught it.

[Betelnut]

Originally Posted by coachmur

Let me clarify: I was not in any way referring to Obama with my "silver spoon" statement. In my personal experience anyone who's parents paid their way through college was pretty much born with a "silver spoon" in their mouth.

Not necessarily, at least not for people of Palin's (and my) generation. I went to the University of Texas in the 1980's. Our tuition was a mere $4.00 an hour. That meant my tuition (with fees, etc.) was only around $250-$300 a semester.

If that was being born with a silver spoon in my mouth, I would like to have that silver spoon removed so I can pay some bills with it!

[BethanyB]

I think it's just as ironic as those that believe in sex ed who have children that get pregnant - and there are certainly plenty of those out there also.

Yeah but at least people who teach both are covering all bases. For someone to want to change our what our schools teach based on the theory that abstinence works, you would think we would see that example in her family.

Again, I don't think it's her fault that her child got pregnant. It could happen to anyone of us however I do not want someone like her taking sex ed out of schools. There are enough kids getting pregnant while they have sex ed. I can't imagine how many more we would have if we did not educate our kids.