The fig leaf speaks

"Independent Democrat" Joe Lieberman once again carries GOP water and obediently parrots their usual boogeyman routine:

"Our enemies will test the new president early," said Lieberman. "Remember that the truck bombing of the World Trade Center happened in the first year of the Clinton administration. 9/11 happened in the first year of the Bush administration."

Maybe if I'm extra good this year, Santa will bring me a few more Democratic pick-ups in the Senate so they won't be beholden to "Rape Gurney" Joe for their majority. That way, they can finally strip this worm of all his committee posts without fear of reprisal. For years, he's been the GOP's pet Democrat that they trot out to claim "bipartisan support" for whatever egregious war-related abuse they want to perpetrate on the American people.

After Connecticut Dems dumped Joe for Ned Lamont in the last election, the Republicans threw their own candidate under the bus so they could keep their fig leaf/lapdog. A few more seats, and then they can have him, outright.

Oil, shmoil. Put everything you have in smelling salts

There's going to be a HUGE run on them inside the Beltway:

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be President.

The hysterics that follow will be the stuff of legend. Not only did someone question St. McCain, but he dared to do it in terms of the part military service plays/doesn't play in being Chief Executive. Though we assuredly won't know it from the firestorm of coverage that will follow, that statement wasn't made in a vacuum:

Bob Schieffer: Well you, you went so far as to say that you thought John McCain was, quote, and these are your words, "untested and untried," And I must say I, I had to read that twice, because you're talking about somebody who was a prisoner of war. He was a squadron commander of the largest squadron in the Navy. He's been on the Senate Armed Services Committee for lo these many years. How can you say that John McCain is un- untested and untried? General?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Because in the matters of national security policy making, it's a matter of understanding risk. It's a matter of gauging your opponents, and it's a matter of being held accountable. John McCain's never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in Armed Forces as a prisoner of war. He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility. That large squadron in Air- in the Navy that he commanded, it wasn't a wartime squadron. He hasn't been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn't seen what it's like when diplomats come in and say, 'I don't know whether we're going to be able to get this point through or not. Do you want to take the risk? What about your reputation? How do we handle it-'

Bob Schieffer: Well-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: ' -it publicly.' He hasn't made those calls, Bob.

Bob Schieffer: Well, well, General, maybe-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: So-

Bob Schieffer: Could I just interrupt you. If-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Sure.

Bob Schieffer: I have to say, Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down. I mean-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be President.

Bob Schieffer: Really?!

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: But Barack is not, he is not running on the fact that he has made these national security pronouncements. He's running on his other strengths. He's running on the strengths of character, on the strengths of his communication skills, on the strengths of his judgment. And those are qualities that we seek in our national leadership.

So, in reality, Clark lauded McCain's service and was discussing legitimate qualities of Executive office when Schieffer tried to frame POW status as some sort of leg up on Obama, despite it having nothing to do with the duties of the president. Clark called him on it, and rightly so.

No one mocked McCain (purple band-aids, anyone?) and no one derided him, or his service.

Clark made a statement of fact about McCain's experience in uniform and, without invective or insult, questioned what about it made him a better candidate for the presidency. Doubtless Johnnie Mac's barbeque buddies in the press will dutifully clutch their pearls and dive for the nearest fainting couch, propagating the pundit/campaign spin that this was some sort of egregious slight, when nothing of the sort actually occurred.

Saturday Shuffle

Joey - Concrete Blonde
Life on Mars? - David Bowie
Milk - Garbage
Addicted - Amy Winehouse
Liar - The Sex Pistols
Walking in Your Footsteps (live) - The Police
Get Up - R.E.M.
High - The Cure
Going to Happen - Koufax
Mother's Little Helper - The Rolling Stones

Wednesday McCaineurysm

This really has been a banner week for the inanity/insanity of ol' McCranky. After (again) reversing himself, this time to give a big thumbs-up to offshore oil drilling, he concedes it really won't do anything to help the Americans being crushed by energy costs, but insists that it's still a good thing:

"I don’t see an immediate relief, but I do see that exploitation of existing reserves that may exist — and in view of many experts that do exist off our coasts — is also a way that we need to provide relief. Even though it may take some years (until 2030, to be exact, Johnnie Cakes -- V.), the fact that we are exploiting those reserves would have a psychological impact that I think is beneficial.

And maybe if we clap extra, EXTRA loud, the car will just keep rolling down the road on the power of our happy thoughts, eh?

After his ridiculous gas tax holiday idea went over like a lead balloon, Johnnie Mac continues with his shameless pander bear routine. When families have not only ruled out their usual road trip, but are finding themselves, paradoxically, working to cover their commuting costs, exactly how much psychological comfort do you think they're deriving from the knowledge that their government is working to achieve a price dip 28 YEARS, hence?

Maybe that DOES seem "beneficial" to you, John, but the rest of us who aren't living off our sugarmama's millions can't really afford to think that way.

Projection

ABC's Political Punch:

"Even if you never met him, you know this guy...He's the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by." -- Karl Rove on Sen. Barack Obama, 06.23.2008

Turdblossom's losing it.

Trying to paint the African-American candidate, who grew up with nothing, as a country club-going boor is just pathetic on its face. You might be able to throw the Yale legacy manchild into a cowboy costume and get people to want to have a beer with him, but this analogy is an impossible sell.

Matt Yglesias expertly kneecaps Rove:

"How many Americans have had the experience of being at a country club and watching some dude with a beautiful date hold a martini and smoke a cigarette? Certainly I haven't. Rove assumes that 'you know this guy' but unless 'you' are a wealthy person from the past, you probably don't know a guy like that."

Indeedy.

The class-divide that Rove is trying to exploit, here, has another stmbling block: The Joe and Jane Sixpacks out there likely have a few bits of conventional wisdom about the country club set. One might be snide arrogance, but "whites only" is a close second.

Nice try, though.

Must be tough trying to get the salt of the earth to feel solidarity with a guy who owns his own lake.

"After the stop at the gun shop, Mr. McCain’s traveling press secretary, Brooke Buchanan, said that Mr. McCain would use his new fishing rod on the artificial lake at his 10-acre Arizona spread in Sedona."

Tuesday McCaineurysm

These things are getting debilitating. And disgusting:

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December was an "unfortunate event," says (McCain chief strategist, Charlie) Black. "But his knowledge and ability to talk about it reemphasized that this is the guy who's ready to be Commander-in-Chief. And it helped us." As would, Black concedes with startling candor after we raise the issue, another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. "Certainly it would be a big advantage to him," says Black.

Unfortunately, that's the nature of the media's ring-kissing relationship with St. McCain: though running on the continuation of the policies that ALLOWED us to get hit again, the aforementioned attack would be presented as a showcase for his "experience."

And that plays right into his toady's confession of the ghoulish political calculus surrounding dead Americans. So confident are they, that there will be no blowback from such an admission, that the alleged "chief strategist" for the campaign doesn't even bother with a perfunctory statement decrying considerations of politics when discussing this kind of tragedy.

Monday McCaineurysm

McCaineurysm, n. - The feeling, often accompanied by stabbing pain behind one or both eyes, that one's head is about to explode after exposure to the words of John Sidney McCain or his campaign surrogates.

In case this isn't familiar, I've kindly supplied the following to test susceptibility to this affliction. From Fortune, via Mercury Rising:

What is the gravest threat to the U.S. economy?

Obama: If we don't get a handle on our energy policy, it is possible that the kinds of trends we've seen over the last year will just continue. Demand is clearly outstripping supply. It's not a problem we can drill our way out of. It can be a drag on our economy for a very long time unless we take steps to innovate and invest in alternative fuels. The market can accomplish a lot of that, but it's very important for the federal government to have a role.

McCain: The absolute gravest threat is the struggle that we're in against radical Islamic extremism which can affect - if they prevail - our very existence. Having said that, I would say that at this moment it's probably our dependence on foreign oil, affecting our climate and hurting fixed-income Americans the most.

Hurts, don't it?

Johnnie Mac has yet to meet an opportunity to play the "Muslims! Booga! Booga Booga!" card that he didn't like. At this point, it's not just the first club out of the bag, it's clearly the ONLY club in his bag.

I wonder, among those "fixed-income Americans," with whose well-being the benevolent St. McCain is so deeply, deeply concerned, how many would say that Islamic extremism is the economic worry that's keeping them up at night?

What is more likely to affect THEIR existence: Teh Terrorist, or gas that's $4+ per gallon?

Insurgents, or not being able to find a job?

"Islamofascism," or a house that's worth less than what you owe on it?

When it comes to "out of touch" with the American people, you don't get much more textbook of an example than this beer fortune-backed, beltway-beholden, ersatz "maverick."

Shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker & tits...

George Carlin

1937 - 2008

Saturday Shuffle

Coffee and Cigarettes - Lagwagon
On the Evening Train - Johnny Cash
Naked Burn - Mastodon
Hummer - Smashing Pumpkins
It Ain't Me Babe - Bob Dylan
Children of the Grave - Black Sabbath
The Sounds of Science - Beastie Boys
Emma (live) - Alkaline Trio
Black Wax - Valis
Shaking the Tree - Peter Gabriel

The McCain - McCain Debates

Indeedy.



I have to say, The Jed Report is turning into one of my favorite reads. There is no more effective take-down than the sort seen above. Despite the fact that everything these candidates do is on tape and, likelier than not, readily available on the web for anyone to find, it speaks volumes that no "established media" types take the time to check out the veracity of these sweeping--and, all too frequently in the case of McCranky--indignant claims. A guy with a youtube account and some half-assed video editing capability is doing more legitimate journalism than most outlets' Washington bureaus, combined.

Court stenographers, one and all.

The unintentional comedy of the McCain campaign

As spotted in the WaPo:

"Senator Obama is a perfect manifestation of a September 10th mind-set ... He does not understand the nature of the enemies we face," McCain national security director Randy Scheunemann told reporters on a conference call.

Well, if Randy, here, is the one responsible for keeping John "Iran is training Al Qaeda" McCain hep to "the nature of the enemies we face," I'm thinking he can turn in his resignation any day.

And, thanks for serving that one up on a tee for the O-Man to knock out of the park:

"These are the same guys who helped to engineer the distraction of the war in Iraq at a time when we could have pinned down the people who actually committed 9/11," the presumed nominee told reporters aboard his campaign plane. "This is the same kind of fear-mongering that got us into Iraq ... and it's exactly that failed foreign policy I want to reverse."

Y'see, Randy, you might not want to invoke the tragedy of 9/11, claiming you're the only ones who "get it" when the one guy you were supposed to get is still walking around, laughing at you.

Good news for a change

A long time coming, so I won't sully the day by dwelling on those whose first response to these people's happiness is the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments.

Hundreds of Same-Sex Couples Wed in California
By JESSE McKINLEY

SAN FRANCISCO — With a quiet pride and a sense of history, hundreds of gay and lesbian couples across California wed on Tuesday, giving a human face to a landmark court decision and a powerful opening salvo in what is expected to be a bruising fall campaign here over the issue of same-sex marriage.

The marriages here and in many counties began just after 8 a.m. Pacific time, with the opening of the clerk’s office. But unlike 2004, when San Francisco broke state law to wed thousands of gay couples in a mad rush, many of Tuesday’s ceremonies had a sense of calm and permanence for gay newlyweds.

“It was so legally ambiguous last time,” said Lorie Franks, 43, who had come to City Hall to marry her partner, AnneMary Franks, in 2004 as well. “It was really touching, but we kind of knew it was on thin ice. This time, to me, feels more real.”

...In San Francisco, Del Martin, 87, and Phyllis Lyon, 84, longtime gay rights activists, were the first and only couple to be wed on Monday, saying their vows in the office of Mayor Gavin Newsom, before emerging to a throng of reporters and screaming well-wishers.

And, in a related story, NO heterosexual married couples spontaneously combusted.

A chyron shame

From "The Caucus" at the NYT:

Fox Forced to Address Michelle Obama Headline
By Jim Rutenberg

For the third time in less than three weeks, Fox News Channel has had to acknowledge using poor judgment through inappropriate references to Senator Barack Obama.

The network has released a statement saying it should not have referred to Mr. Obama’s wife, Michelle, as “Obama’s Baby Mama,’’ as it did on Wednesday in an on-screen headline commonly called a “chyron.”

“A producer on the program exercised poor judgment in using this chyron
during the segment,” Bill Shine, a Fox News senior vice president, said in a statement.

The chyron appeared during a discussion between the conservative columnist Michelle Malkin and the Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly about political attacks against Mrs. Obama. It read in full, “Outraged Liberals: Stop picking on Obama’s baby mama!” It was first publicized on Wednesday by Alex Koppelman of Salon.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the term as one “chiefly in African-American usage” that refers to, “The mother of a man’s child, who is not his wife nor (in most cases) his current or exclusive partner.”

Earlier this week, the Fox News anchor E.D. Hill had apologized for raising the possibility that the Obamas affectionate fist bump during the senator’s victory rally in St. Paul on June 3 was “a terrorist fist jab.’’ Two weeks prior, the Fox News analyst Liz Trotta said she regretted making a joke about a possible assassination of Mr. Obama.

Let's say we're both in the same, crowded bar. You're minding your own business and, the next thing you know, I bump into your arm and make you spill your drink. I apologize, offer to replace your beer, and we go our separate ways. 20 minutes later, you're talking to the people you came with, and someone spills a drink on your shoulder.

Me, again.

I, once more, apologize, maybe buy you a round, and melt back into the crowd...until a half-hour later when I put my cigarette out on the back of your neck.

Now I ask you: would you think it was an accident?

In a word, no. HELL, no, in fact.

It probably wasn't after the second time, and it certainly wasn't after the third. At that point, that's not a accident, nor a mistake, and it absolutely isn't "poor judgment." You wouldn't believe that when picking Marlboro embers out of your neck, and you certainly shouldn't believe it, here, either.

Lapses in judgment, alone, cannot account for the same network connecting the same individual to assassination, terrorism, and unwed black mothers/absentee fathers in a matter of days.

Whether in our hypothetical bar or Faux "News" studios, that's not coincidence, it's a pattern. And, given that the pattern, in question, covers murder, odious lies, and racist stereotypes, it's a particularly indefensible one, at that.

Given the source, there's simply no benefit of the doubt to be had. The only poor judgment here, is in thinking that excuse would work, at all...

Saturday Shuffle

Viginti Tres - Tool
Talula - Tori Amos
Sweet Tooth - Marilyn Manson
Passover - Joy Division
Things Done Changed - Notorious B.I.G.
Swamp Thing - The Chameleons
Hey Bulldog - The Beatles
Blur the Technicolor (Poker from Stud to Strip Mix) - White Zombie
Why Can't I Be You? - The Cure
Do the Dog - The Specials

Wow.

Timmeh.

 

WASHINGTON - Tim Russert, NBC News' Washington bureau chief and the moderator of "Meet the Press," died Friday after a sudden heart attack at the bureau, NBC News said Friday. He was 58.

Russert was recording voiceovers for Sunday's "Meet the Press" program when he collapsed, the network said. He and his family had recently returned from Italy, where they celebrated the graduation of Russert's son, Luke, from Boston College.

No further details were immediately available.

Rule of Law - 5, BushCo - 4

Uh-oh.

There's going to be some spittle-flecked outrage afoot:

Justices, 5-4, Back Detainee Appeals for Guantánamo

By LINDA GREENHOUSE

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday delivered its third consecutive rebuff to the Bush administration’s handling of the detainees at Guantánamo Bay, ruling 5 to 4 that the prisoners there have a constitutional right to go to federal court to challenge their continued detention.

The court declared unconstitutional a provision of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that, at the administration’s behest, stripped the federal courts of jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus petitions from the detainees seeking to challenge their designation as enemy combatants.

Oh noes!

Whatever will we do if we can't throw people into a black hole for years on end, until (and if) we feel like dealing with them?

We do what civilized societies have done for hundreds of years and hold the government to account for why someone is being jailed, then try the person, accordingly, that's what. Establish guilt before indefinite imprisonment; that's the long and and the short of today's decision and it's utterly unacceptable to many on the far right. In fact, well beyond "unacceptable," the heads of many of El Presidente's authoritarian cultist lackeys are positively ready to explode over this decision. Cue the slack-jawed Freepi:

"It is another reason that the left supports terrorist and the destruction of these United States."

"Democrat perfidy, they are traitors. The President should defy this ruling!"

"Interrogate and eliminate. Simple."

"Exactly, best solution. Shoot them, kill em. Don’t ask any questions"

"Kill them on the field of battle and wrap them in pork. They’re a bunch of 7th century savages and should(n't) be treated the same as U.S. citizens. No prisoners, no exceptions."

"IF Bush had a spine, he’d announce that the Supreme Court overstepped its constitutional authority by interfering with C-in-C duties of the President. In a just world, the five ‘justices’ who issued the garbage opinion would be detained in Gitmo by the end of the day."

"No more f’ing prisoners. Kill every damned one of them! I hope that one or two of the homicidal maniacs who get off because of this ruling take the opportunity to visit Ginsberg or Kennedy or Souter and thank them in person."

"Let’s gather up all the Gitmo detainees and release them back to their place of capture. Slow the cargo plane down and toss their asses out at about 5000 feet. Then we didn’t kill them, the impact with the sand did. I’ll volunteer to come along and help pry their fingers and push them out."

“The President should defy this ruling!”...There’s better reason to defy this one than other presidents have refused to enforce. Where is Andrew Jackson when you need him?

"Bush should tell the so-called Supreme Court that if they want to do something about it, they should send their army to do so. Otherwise, take a flying leap."

And on and on it goes, through hundreds of such thoughtful comments: The detainees are deserving not only of imprisonment, but death without trial or hearing, and the SCOTUS justices, themselves, should be imprisoned, killed or, at the very least, arbitrarily ignored.

Try and grasp just how truly warped that mindset is:

Despite their professed reverence for our society's values and the idea that ours is the best system in the world, again and again, these self-proclaimed "patriotic Americans" advocate an imperial presidency that tramples underfoot the founding fathers' protections against tyranny.

Far from being patriots, these individuals' views reveal them to be, at their core, urine-soaked cowards who can't feel safe without a strong "Daddy" leader who rules with little more than a "because I said so." Talk about your creepy obsessions. And then to try and take your cringing devotion to a strong daddy hand, wrap it in the flag and question the loyalties of those who disagree?

As odious as I find the last several years' worth of accusations of insufficient patriotism, I have to ask, which position is truly the more un-American: Faith that, as they have for the past 230 years, the guiding principles of our government will see us through this difficult time, or the willingness--and, if truth be told--the outright enthusiasm to throw them away for a nigh-imperial leader?

When it comes to "the destruction of these United States," the latter is more damaging a blow than anything a thousand Gitmos-worth of detainees could accomplish.

Saying a helluva lot more than "Anything"

Since getting mailinglisted, I've been receiving a lot of MoveOn alerts, but this is one I'm glad I read all the way through. Johnnie Mac has embraced El Presidente in every sense of the word. The last eight years are his albatross, too, and he knows it.

His temper and lack of self control are well-known. I have no doubts if this rather plain truth gets brought up every time he issues a policy position that's little more than Bush 2.0, Mt. McCain will erupt and in a way that his barbeque-happy enablers in the press corps aren't going to be able bury and downplay.

In a nutshell (Updated and Bumped)

Last night (May 1, as it happens - V.), I was fortunate enough to find myself in a theatre for a live, satellite simulcast of NPR's This American Life with Ira Glass.

Years from now, when my son or daughter asks me about George Bush's war of choice that managed to destroy not only the invaded country, but the invading one as well, I'll have to point her to the story of Haider Hamza, a young Iraqi who worked with the Information Ministry at the start of the war.

Hamza eventually relocated to New York City where virtually everyone he met told him that they had been against the war. If that was the case, he wondered, then how did it happen? To find out, he traveled to the South to try and engage pro-Iraq War Americans about their feelings. (His set-up, a Peanuts-like booth with a "Talk to an Iraqi" sign, is priceless). He--and we--were treated to a perfect example of the thinking that got us where we are today.

While posted at a car dealership, a local man told Hamza that the war was to make him and his people free. Hamza told him of the strife that followed the American occupation and asked him what freedom was.

"So you can go outside and say what you want without fear of the government."

Hamza pointed out that, between carbombs and curfews, people can't go outside, period. While Saddam Hussein was in power, he said, at least that much was possible. The most pregnant of pauses followed, and the man finally said:

"But you weren't free."

Priceless.

UPDATE: I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Mr. Hamza ran across my little write-up here and took the time to send a few kind words, as well as a small correction: It's "Hamza" not "Hamsa," as spelled in the write-up I originally cited<. He further mentions that he's making plans to head out on the road, again, this summer. As the U.S. occupation of Iraq slogs into a crucial election cycle that pits--perhaps more thn ever--"new direction" v. "stay the course," this promises to be even more fascinating than his first trip.

Good luck, Haider. Hope to see you somewhere close to the Errport's runway.

Saturday Shuffle

Boys - The Beatles
Life in a Glass House - Radiohead
Empty Friend - Failure
Fell on Black Days (video version) - Soundgarden
Loco - 311
Today - Ride
When the Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin
Pressman (live) - Primus
The Dark End of the Street - The Commitments
Incident at 66.6 FM - Public Enemy

Not sure if it's global warming or El Niño

But it looks like Virgil and Dante can go sledding to the ninth circle this weekend:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will endorse Senator Barack Obama on Saturday, bringing a close to her 17-month campaign for the White House, aides said. Her decision came after Democrats urged her Wednesday to leave the race and allow the party to coalesce around Mr. Obama.

Howard Wolfson, one of Mrs. Clinton’s chief strategists, and other aides said she would express support for Mr. Obama and party unity at an event in Washington that day. One adviser said Mrs. Clinton would concede defeat, congratulate Mr. Obama and proclaim him the party’s nominee, while pledging to do what was needed to assure his victory in November.

About damn time.

Now to see if the divisive nastiness that she created dies with her campaign, or lives on like some political Frankenstein's monster to take down, first Obama's bid, then her legacy...

Desperation, party of one....

Well, Obama won, Hillary doesn't care and "isn't going to make any decisions tonight."

Pathetic.

She has now out-Nadered Ralph Nader on the egomaniac scale.

Worse, even if she did do the right thing, it hardly matters, because her earlier childishly short-sighted comments--as predicted--are now fodder for RNC attack ads against the REAL nominee:

Hours before the polls closed Tuesday in the final two Democratic presidential primaries, the Republican National Committee began circulating a video of Hillary Clinton questioning Barack Obama’s qualifications to be commander-in-chief, and acknowledging John McCain has this important presidential credential. “Senator McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign, I will bring a lifetime of experience and Senator Obama will bring a speech that he gave in 2002,” Clinton says in the one-minute video..."

It's really difficult to imagine a candidate conducting him/herself more awfully than Hillary has over the past few months. Somehow she managed to look at the scorched earth politics that El Presidente used to rise to and maintain power over the last eight years and say: "That's the strategy for me." For someone so intelligent, she seems oblivious to the fact that a "51% plan" falls apart when the prize, at hand, is already only 50% of the whole.

Jus' don' geddit

Think Progress picked up on a Feministing post about Kmart featuring abstinence merch for teens, namely, sweats emblazoned with the slogan "True Love Waits."

And?

While Feministing's Jessica Valenti has"no idea if the pants are in any way connected to the True Love Waits organization," she's "disturbed nonetheless."

Why?

While I follow both of these sites regularly, this is one of those cases where I really have to wonder about the people steering the respective ships. Of all the things going on that affect women in our society, this is about the least disturbing thing that I can think of. While there's certainly no shortage of information about the failure of abstinence-only sex education, the "only" is the relevant part.

Abstinence is only a dirty word if that's the full extent of your message.

"True love waiting" is a completely legitimate choice, as long as it's entered into with access to a comprehensive background of the relevant information and issues. With all the other messages and information available in the culture, I fail to see how this is part of some insidious plot to keep our young women (and men) in the dark about the choices they have before them. If it's the only thing you can hear in your school, THAT'S indoctrination. This is much closer to an "equal time" scenario.

Pick your battles, folks. If you don't, you risk looking more than a little ridiculous.