This week’s radio commentary…

A momentum has been building over the last six months—a growing sense of urgency and outrage over the liberties our elected officials are taking with our liberties.  Thank goodness this is an election year, and it starts this very next Tuesday, February 16, with the Spring Primary for Wisconsin. This primary is anticipating our spring non-partisan general election on Tuesday, April 6.

Our system of government demands a knowledgeable and responsible constituency—but it is often difficult to find out about candidates and the issues at election time. This is especially true for local races such as mayor, city council, town supervisors, county board, judicial positions, and school board.

Click here to read/listen to the rest…

About 500 pro-lifers withstood the bitter cold on Saturday to thank the Lord that the Madison Surgery Center (MSC) has yet to perform one abortion, and continue to protest the plan to provide late, 2nd-trimester abortions at the MSC.

Yesterday the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Life Sciences Communication published the results of a poll of Wisconsin adults on the issue of stem cell research.

I haven’t seen the actual poll results, methodology or the text of the questions, but the results are intriguing (and probably fairly representative, despite the small sample size, the possibility of UW science community bias, and the narrow context–the 2006 Wisconsin gubernatorial race).

The researchers found that what motivated Wisconsin adults to “participate” in the stem cell issue was the promise of economic benefit and an “interest in progressive science policy outcomes” (i.e., more taxpayer dollars for UW stem cell research).   How thrilling for the UW Department of Life Sciences.

According to researchers, they could not find any significant relationship between religiosity and the stem cell issue.

What did influence voters on the stem cell issue?  Mass media coverage and the “portrayals of patients who might be aided by advances in stem cell research. “   I can believe that.  Who can forget the Michael Fox issue ads from the 2006 race?

Given the influence, I guess I’m not surprised that economic benefit and “progressive science policy outcomes” were the motivating factors, if the poll is in fact representative.  If the truth were told (not necessarily the specialty of the mass media), voters might be more influenced by the ethical dilemmas and economic waste of human embryonic stem cell research.

The truth, for instance, that over a decade of human embryonic stem cell research has yet to produce one successful treatment for disease while adult stem cell research has been used to successfully treat over 70 diseases and conditions.

>> more information on adult stem cell research

>> more information on human embryonic stem cell research

Yesterday researchers published the results of a new federal study indicating that abstinence education does indeed work. The timing on this is interesting, to say the least.

The study, conducted between 2001 and 2004, followed African American public middle-school students. The purpose was to find out how effective, or ineffective, abstinence education is compared to comprehensive sex education.

The results?

Just under half of the students in the study who received sex-education classes that included information about contraceptives went on to have sex in the next two years. But only one out of three students in the study who received abstinence-only education did.

That’s pretty significant.  Researchers, activists and advocates from all over the ideological spectrum are paying attention to the study’s findings.  They agree with us that policymakers need to stop writing off abstinence education and instead allow it as a viable option for lowering the incidence of teen birth and STDs/STIs.

Of course, we said that over and over and over again to our own set of policymakers at the State Capitol during the course of the last few months, to no avail–AB 458 will be on its way to the governor’s desk shortly.

Instead, we heard repeatedly how “abstinence-only” education is a complete failure.  Au contraire!  Perhaps this study will help convince WI legislators that abstinence-centered education (which AB 458 will outlaw in Human Growth and Development programs) is not a “just say no” approach, but a viable, proven option for truly responsible sexual education.

>> read more

Dems looking to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy…

Both the U.S. House and the Senate will hold hearings on homosexuals serving in the military.

Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin is scheduled to hold a hearing tomorrow.

Rep. Susan Davis, D-Calif., said her subcommittee will hold a hearing on the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on March 3.

>>read more

This week’s radio commentary…

In matters of policy and politics, a healthy dose of reality is a necessity. Here’s the reality: what the state legislature calls the “Healthy Youth Act” is anything but healthy.

Last Thursday, the State Senate passed the so-called “Healthy Youth Act,” AB 458, along party lines, 18-15, with all the Democrats in favor and all the Republicans opposed. The Assembly passed the bill last fall. To us, this is the “Unhealthy Youth Act,” because the bill’s provisions will do more to harm and misinform our youth than to promote their health and well-being.

Read/listen to the rest here…