Texas considers new sex-ed textbooks.

The 15-member Texas Board of Education is considering and will likely approve four books, all of which extol the virtues of abstinence. Three make no mention of contraceptives at all while one makes passing reference to condoms.

... one textbook under review advises that a good way a teen-ager can prevent a sexually transmitted disease is to get plenty of rest so he or she can have a clear head about sex and choose abstinence.

These are texts for high school students. Any wonder that Texas is up there near the top of the list of states with teenage pregnancies and has been there for many years?

Read the CNN article.

Fascism?

Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt recently wrote an article about fascism ("Fascism Anyone?," Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, page 20). Studying the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile), Dr. Britt found they all had 14 elements in common.

This site compares how the present administration 'scores' on those fourteen points.

It should also be pointed out that Dr. Lawrence Britt is the author of June, 2004, which depicts a future America dominated by right-wing extremists. His book is mentioned in the Free Inquiry article and virtually everywhere that it's been quoted, though I can't find the novel for sale.

Does he have a point, or is he just selling his novel?