News opinion 2008-07-07 Andanh.com

Teen pregnancy as a TV series, are you serious? Mon, 7 Jul 2008 10:57:16 -0500
When did teen pregnancy become entertaining? You know, the stuff of a break-out summer comedy, an Oscar-winning independent film, and now the ABC Family series “The Secret Life of the American Teenager.” Nothing quite says “a new kind of family” - the network’s slogan - like a 15-year-old’s unplanned pregnancy. It’s only a matter of time before some artist makes “Large Times at Gloucester High.” Apparently, pregnancy provides a better plot device than abortion, especially since the procedure has become one of culture’s dirty words. In “Knocked Up,” one pothead slacker is so uncomfortable he calls it schmabortion, putting a lie to Hollywood’s leftist tendencies. Teen pregnancy is on the rise for the first time after a 14-year downturn. In real life, misguided teens think pregnancy is a wondrous adventure - that is, until they have to care for a baby on a daily basis. “A teenage pregnancy immediately turns the odds against mother and baby,” says Dayle Steinberg, president of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania. Teens believe they’re superheroes when it comes to birth control and health care. Young expectant mothers, the poor ones not depicted in Juno or on ABC Family, are more likely to risk unhealthy behavior (smoking, drinking) and less likely to receive prenatal care, putting mother and child at risk. A baby proves a powerful hindrance to schooling, while tethering young mothers to government services and financial dependency. Education, not family income or background, is the great indicator of economic success. Those 17 knocked-up girls of Gloucester didn’t simply make a pregnancy pact but an agreement that stagnates education, obstructs future career choices, and clogs income. “Hollywood entertains and Planned Parenthood prevents,” Steinberg says. “Responsible behaviors aren’t promoted enough.” Studies show teenagers aren’t receiving adequate information at home or in the classroom about sex and reproductive health. Abstinence-only sex education, granted substantial federal funding in recent years, teaches the fallibility of contraception and inaccurate information about abortion, according to a congressional investigation. The lessons have had no effect on curtailing teenage sexual activity, which nearly half of all 15- to 19-year-olds experience. Meanwhile, one in four teenagers contracts a sexually transmitted infection. They represent a fourth of the sexually active population, but half of those people with sexually transmitted infections, suggesting a laxity when it comes to prevention. Last year, an 80 percent increase of gonorrhea cases occurred in Delaware County, Pa., for example, more than a quarter among teenagers. But that doesn’t exactly make for entertainment, does it? “Secret Life” offered a public-service announcement on teens talking to adults, though the show seems more likely to boost pregnancy-test sales. Scenes from future episodes suggest that the heroine will continue school and get help from her mother. If only. Teenagers come to Philadelphia’s Women’s Medical Fund when life doesn’t work out like that. “These are teens who can’t tell their parents, and they don’t have any money and don’t have access to help,” says executive director Susan Schewel. Recently, the Women’s Medical Fund helped a 16-year-old obtain an abortion. She felt she couldn’t tell her mother - her father isn’t in the picture, and the father of her child isn’t, either. “By making my decision,” the girl wrote to the fund with her $25 contribution, “I am now able to move forward in my life and continue my schooling, knowing I can still reach for the stars.” There’s a secret life of an American teenager you don’t tend to see in movies or on television.

Pinning the donkey Mon, 7 Jul 2008 10:57:16 -0500
Hoping that the third time really is the charm, the McCain campaign has had yet another staff shakeup. As befits a press corps and Republican professional class always eager to gain favor and access to the newest man in charge, the accolades for the latest campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, are nothing short of superlative. The argument that Schmidt is the right man for the job centers on the fact that he’s a no-nonsense type who enjoys taking the fight to the enemy. That’s good news given how much nonsense has come out of the McCain campaign so far. For example, when retired Gen. Wesley Clark seemingly belittled McCain’s military service as poor preparation for the Oval Office, the McCain campaign blundered by attacking the messenger, Clark, and not Clark’s candidate, Senator Obama. Whether or not commanding a Navy squadron or rallying brutalized American POWs in the Hanoi Hilton is qualification for the presidency, surely this was a missed opportunity to ask whether voting “present” in the Illinois Legislature nearly 130 times is a superior qualification. The hard truth for the McCain campaign is that this election will ultimately be a referendum on Barack Obama. A McCain presidency will be the consolation prize of an Obama defeat. The majority of voters want to vote for a Democrat and for Obama. Hence, if they feel comfortable with the Democratic nominee, he will win. If they don’t, he’ll lose. This is bad news for McCain because he is congenitally discomfited from attacking his political adversaries (while emotionally buoyed when attacking his natural political allies). As many have noted, it’s ironic that Obama supporters who profess to want bipartisanship are indisputably voting for the wrong guy. There’s next to nothing in Obama’s record that suggests he’s better equipped to reach across the aisle and work with the opposition party, against the wishes of his own party’s activist base. Obama is bipartisan on popular issues, not on controversial ones. Meanwhile, that’s McCain’s whole schtick. What’s more ironic is that bipartisanship wouldn’t be an issue for a president Obama. If, as expected, the Democrats win large majorities in the House and Senate, Obama won’t need Republicans for anything, and there’s no reason to expect he would find common cause with the GOP against the base of his own party. In the Illinois Legislature, Obama was a pliable creature of the corrupt Democratic machine. Why, McCain might ask, should we expect that he will be otherwise at the national level? Obama may be moving rapidly to the center, embracing faith-based initiatives and backpedaling on Iraq and NAFTA, but he is not “triangulating.” He has not picked any serious fights with his base, no doubt in part because he doesn’t think he has to. This is a potential opening for McCain to exploit. Obama’s thin record offers little ammo for McCain. But the Democrats who would truly run the country if they controlled both the Congress and the White House do indeed have a long record. The McCain campaign tried to label Obama “Dr. No” (no to drilling, no to nuclear, no to this or that) to little effect. The real issue is that Obama would be a Dr. Yes for the left-wing base of the Democratic Party, some of whom, for example, have recently called for nationalizing the oil industry. Would Obama say “no” to Maxine Waters? To Nancy Pelosi? Or would he respond to their entreaties with his trademark slogan (borrowed from Cesar Chavez no less): “Yes We Can!” Going after Obama as the front man for the Democratic peanut gallery might divide the Democrats. It would certainly put issues in play that Obama has scrupulously kept out of the debate, from partial birth abortion to racial quotas. Obama may spin a lot of nuance when describing his own position, but the positions of his political patrons are far less malleable. Such a strategy might also let some voters off the hook by putting the blame for voting against Obama on Congress and not on the candidate himself. Last, by attacking Obama as, at minimum, a would-be rubber stamp of a Democratic Congress - which has an even lower approval rating than President Bush - the McCain campaign could also distance itself from the Bush years. Who can deny that many of the GOP’s manifest blunders stemmed from unified Republican control of the government? Meanwhile, John McCain, the proven bipartisan legislator, could run as what he is: the stodgy grown-up in the race who knows how to say no to Democrats and, when he thinks it’s warranted, “Yes we can.”

It's time to do what you can do to save the earth Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:28:00 EST
You've heard the terms "global warming" and "climate change" for several years, and maybe you are waiting for the government, corporations, churches or someone to do something to correct the problem. The response to that is: These entities are doing something, but not enough.

Readers' opinions on rising oil prices Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:31:00 EST
In his recent visit to Japan, President Bush said, "We need to be less dependent on imported oil." The correct statement should have been that we need to be completely independent.

GED testing cutback has grave cost Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:30:00 EST
When The Courier-Journal story on budget cutbacks by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System appeared on June 16, writer Stephenie Steitzer failed to include some important information. Jefferson Community and Technical College has chosen to eliminate the GED Testing program, currently housed at JCTC, after this December.

Uncle Sam and Iraq's oil reserves Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:02:00 EST

No 'East End' in sight Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:32:00 EST
The Courier-Journal reported on June 19 that the Minneapolis bridge that collapsed last August is near completion. I can't help but wonder how Minneapolis can build a new bridge in 437 days or less, while little has been accomplished in the construction of the East End bridge.

Weapons at work Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:24:00 EST
Dateline: Henderson, Ky., June 25, 2008. "Six shot dead in Kentucky plant rampage." As terrible as this incident was — and we all share in offering our condolences to the victims — this headline is not as rare as one might think.

Meeting expectations Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:23:00 EST
The most dramatic stories in any field of competitive endeavor are those that recount events that almost never happened. It's the scoreless ballgames that end with a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth that linger in the psyches of winners and losers. So it is in politics and government.

Big Three sales Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:59:00 EST

Go back to drawing board Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:09 EDT
We are concerned about the financial risks to the Urban County Government and the missed opportunities inherent in the CentrePointe proposal.

In the interest of common sense, we endorse Vice Mayor Jim Gray's call for a design competition. There are many ways in which a new development could address the city's functional needs and respond sensitively to the physical conditions surrounding the site. And a competition would open our eyes to opportunities and approaches not now envisioned. Here is one possibility:

We envision a plan that would preserve at least four buildings for adaptive reuse: the Dame building, its Main Street neighbor on the north corner of Upper Street, the Rosenberg building and its immediate neighbor on Upper. Development along Main would respect the texture and character of existing facades. The farmers market would be housed in a year-round facility along Vine Street.

Along the full length of the Limestone side, a new building would house public offices, including facilities for the Urban County Government. This mid-rise would command views of Phoenix Park and Courthouse Plaza and would complete the establishment of a vibrant physical center for civic life downtown that was initiated by construction of the library and the new courthouses.

This plan would not break up Phoenix Park to accommodate parking. Instead, it would exploit the park as a kind of frontispiece for the civic building and provide space for the police department and Fayette County Clerk's office.

TIF good deal for Lexington Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:22 EDT

In previous decades, when a developer in Kentucky would embark upon a large economic-development project, such as CentrePointe, the city and state would agree to build the .public infrastructure. or to pay the .publicly owned. part of the expense related to the project.

However, as city and state budgets have become leaner, tax increment financing has been increasingly used as a mechanism to help spur economic development in the urban core without relying on the city or the state to jump-start the development with an infrastructure investment.

Since Kentucky's new TIF law was enacted in April 2007, Louisville, Newport and Bowling Green have embarked on ambitious TIF projects. In fact, the Louisville Metro Council has approved four TIF projects over the last few years.

Why do these cities embrace TIF as a mechanism to pay for public infrastructure? Their local governments understand that if they don't use TIF, the new tax revenue coming from the local project will be sent to Frankfort and disbursed across the state. Conversely, if the cities used the new TIF law, for every $1 dollar they use in local government tax revenues to pay for public infrastructure, Frankfort will send back $5 to $10 of state tax money to pay for the cost of those local public facilities.

Chinese Dir