I want to thank Liz Kruger for her recent post on the Healthy Teens Act (S.1342) which (to quote Senator Kruger):

...will create a system for providing grants to schools for the purpose of developing age appropriate, medically accurate sex education. The legislation also stresses that curricula be developed that encourages communication about sexuality issues between parents and their children.

This bill is one I have highlighted before and I want to back Senator Kruger on this one. My own State Senator, Velmanette Montogomery, has been pushing for this one for some time and has even hosted a program on BCAT on the issue.

And I got this some time back from NARAL via email:

New studies show that one in four teenage girls has a sexually transmitted infection (STI). In New York, 40,000 teens will become pregnant this year.

Our young New Yorkers deserve better.

This last weekend Joy and I attended two events of political interest to New York. First I want to mention that on Saturday Joy participated in the 3rd annual Center for Anti-Violence Education's Punch-a-thon held in a very wet Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park. The Center for Anti-Violence Education (CAE) teaches women, children, teens, and LGBT individuals verbal and physical strategies to protect themselves and break cycles of violence in their lives and communities. CAE has a commitment to serving low-income families and offer our violence-prevention courses on a sliding fee scale. Courses for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault are free of charge, and free childcare is available at all classes. The annual Punch-a-thon raises money to pay for self-defense and violence-prevention courses to those who can't afford it. I sponsored my wife in this event and she, like most of the participants, did 1000 punches. In all the event raised $5000 to date with more hopefully coming in. The political angle was that several elected officials had promised to show up.

I wasn't going to review this book, but the issues that it brought to mind by its conclusion were more than enough to inspire me to write about it.

I could have called this review My Lobotomy, which is the title of the book and which I know is eye catching. But for me, the question that is asked of the author after a groundbreaking NPR story was done on him gets to the heart of why the book is so important and why I am writing this review. "How could this happen?" This is, sadly, a question that can be asked of many aspects of our society and which is too rarely asked.

I was browsing at my local library and saw the title My Lobotomy. When you see a title like that it's like when you hear the screech of brakes and the sound of metal hitting metal. You know there is a car wreck and you know there's something you probably shouldn't want to gawk at but you just can't help yourself. The title of the book is like that. I had no idea what the book was, but I felt compelled to check it out.

Today, George Bush vetoed a bipartisan bill to extend healthcare to more American children. This bill was supported overwhelmingly by Democrats and moderate republicans (a dying breed, it seems), but was opposed by Bush and extremist right wing republicans.

Bush, the man who thinks American parents should use Emergency Rooms as their primary healthcare option for their children, once again shows he represents nothing but the most extreme right wing views.

The response from Families USA:

And MoveOn.org is leading the effort to get Congress to override Bush's mean-spirited, anti-families veto.

Awhile back I wrote about an effort by New Hampshire's Democratic Governor, John Lynch, trying to lead a bipartisan effort to ensure quality healthcare for American children. At the end of that article, I mentioned my own Governor, Eliot Spitzer, was threatening to sue George Bush over healthcare.

Well, Spitzer was true to his word. While Bush and the "drown America in a bathtub" Republicans try to cut healthcare for Americans even further, Eliot Spitzer, joined by Governor John Lynch of New Hampshire, Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland, Governor Jon Corzine of New Jersey, and Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, are suing the Bush Administration for its failure to follow the law requiring provision of healthcare for America's children.

From the NY State Governor's website:

Eliot Spitzer knows how to come back after a Republican smear attack. Go right for George Bush. Governor Eliot Spitzer of New York is threatening to sue the Bush administration to stop Bush's cuts to healthcare for kids:

“We are calling on President Bush to abolish these troublesome roadblocks to insuring our nation’s children,” said Governor Spitzer. “The President should invest in the health of America’s children and allow states like New York, and nearly 20 others, to implement programs that will help ensure that more and more children receive the healthy beginning they deserve.”

Way to go Eliot! And he isn't alone. New Hampshire Governor John Lynch is also calling on a bipartisan effort to help America's children get the healthcare they deserve.

It might be good for us all to contact our Congress Critters and tell them it is time that America protects its children. Support Governor Spitzer and Governor Lynch's efforts.