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Yet Bush continues to fund with federal dollars these types of program.  More than $1.3 billion dollars to be exact since 1990.

Experts, (not social conservatives) such as the American Public Health Association and the US Institute of Medicine have agreed that abstinence only programs taught to teens are counterproductive.  

“Some of these programs are even harmful and have negative consequences by not providing adequate information for those teens who do become sexually active” says Dr Margaret Blyth of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The POINT should be to teach kids that abstinence is the most effective way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases in addition to available forms of contraceptives and STD prevention.

17 of 50 states currently refuse to accept federal funds for such “abstinence only” programs.  Good for them.  Representative Henry Waxman of California said “We are showering funds on abstinence-only programs that don’t appear to work, while ignoring proven comprehensive sex education programs that can delay sex, protect teens from disease, and result in fewer teen pregnancies.”

What people (abstinence-only advocates) would like to believe and what actual is are two very different things.  What IS, is that one in four teenage girls has an STD and 30% become pregnant before the age of 20.  What all this money is going to, is to fund and educate those who are already being taught abstinence in their homes, in their churches, etc and alienating/ignoring those who need education because they’re going to have sex anyhow.  Church and State… keep em separate.

In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday, 28% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing; 69% disapprove. The approval rating matches the low point of his presidency, and the disapproval sets a new high for any president since Franklin Roosevelt.

The previous record of 67% was reached by Harry Truman in January 1952, when the United States was enmeshed in the Korean War.

Bush also holds the record for the other extreme: the highest approval rating of any president in Gallup’s history. In September 2001, in the days after the 9/11 attacks, Bush’s approval spiked to 90%. In another record, the percentage of Americans who say the invasion of Iraq was a mistake reached a new high, 63%, in the latest poll.

Views of Bush divide sharply along party lines. Among Republicans, 66% approve and 32% disapprove. Disapproval is nearly universal — 91% — among Democrats. Of independents, 23% approve, 72% disapprove of the job he’s doing.

Meanwhile, President Bush took time away from caring about anything to appear on the vapid “Deal or No Deal” television show the other night.  You’re doing a fantastic job Mr. President.

Their debut album comes out tomorrow.  They’ve released a couple of EPs and are quickly becoming one of my very favorite obsessions on heavy play rotation.  They hail from Chicago and were only signed last year.  They were trolling around Chicago for a few months and got immediately signed to Epic.  They’ve been touring constantly since being signed, joining the likes of Secondhand Serenade and a few others I’ve never heard of.  The song featured below is great, so is “Allow Me to Introduce Myself…Mr. Right” (also featured) and “Letdown” and “If I Fall” and “Scene Change”.  You can find one of their EPs on iTunes (Get In Where You Fit In) and the other, Scene Change (for free but lower quality) here.

I predict they’ll hit critical mass in less than 90 days then it’ll be up to them if they have sustainability.  Speaking of which… I was supposed to go to Panic At The Disco the other day but didn’t cause their sophomore album is terrible and while they are great performers… I can’t stand all but the single off their new album.  Wasted tickets… <sigh>

The White Tie Affair | Candle (Sick and Tired) & Allow Me to Introduce Myself…Mr. Right

Watch the video for these two songs here…

The latest from Suck UK.  Brilliant.

A failure… maybe of all time.  This is lovely, from US News… 

President Bush often argues that history will vindicate him. So he can’t be pleased with an informal survey of 109 professional historians conducted by the History News Network. It found that 98 percent of them believe that Bush’s presidency has been a failure, while only about 2 percent see it as a success. Not only that, more than 61 percent of the historians say the current presidency is the worst in American history. In 2004, only 11.6 percent of the historians rated Bush’s presidency in last place. Among the reasons given for his low ratings: invading Iraq, “tax breaks for the rich,” and alienating many nations around the world.

M83 is an electronic band formed in the early millenium in France.  This track is kinda just ambient and chill and whatnot.  They are actually pretty popular in their genre circles I think.  Who cares really… if it sounds good, it sounds good.

M83 | Sister [Part II]

In an interview with ABC News, in Crawford, Texas, President Bush rambled the following when asked why he has continued to scream “we’re winning” throughout the endless war in Iraq…

“Well, yes. I think we — and I wanted — that’s as much trying to bolster the spirits of the people in the field as well as — look, you can’t have the commander in chief say to a bunch of kids who are sacrificing either, “It’s not worth it,” or, “You’re losing.” I mean, what does that do for morale?”

That’s fantastic.  Selfish motives, self righteous ambitions… Such a charade, such a shame, such a despicable human being.

When analog TV converts to all digital in less than a year portions of the wireless spectrum will become available.  As such, the FCC just concluded an auction of this spectrum (the most valuable portion referred to as the 700 MHz C-Block) with Verizon being the big winner, and AT&T being the second in bragging rights.

Verizon paid nearly $10 billion for the largest piece of the pie and just released their plans to use it…

Below is their footprint/penetration prior to auction…

Here is what their footprint/penetration is POST auction…

Both Verizon and AT&T have announced plans for “open access” to their networks (which was also a requirement brought to the table by Google and forced by the FCC) which means that you’ll likely see many more very cool handsets.  Verizon has traditionally been the worst at allowing/preventing unlocked handsets to access their network.  That will all change by 2010 when their 4G (LTE, Long Term Evolution, supported by GSM governing body) network rolls out based on this new spectrum acquisition. 

No longer will you be tied to a specific provider because you want a specific phone/device.  You’ll see a lot more sophisticated gadgets which can connect to these new networks coming to the market.  In Asia their mobile handsets are much more advanced than ours because they aren’t restricted to getting the support of a service provider PRIOR to hardware manufacturing due in large part to a global wireless standard/protocol (GSM) which allows any handset to work with any service provider.

With wireless penetration like this, ambient devices which rely on always on, always connected technology will proliferate.  GPS and location based devices and applications will dominate the marketplace.  Imagine Internet connected cars able to stream your music from your home PC to your mobile handset… to your office computer… without interruption.  Internet connected cars which will alert you when you come within a barrier or trigger of 1 mile of the least priced fueling station… or your favorite ice cream is on sale at the grocery store you’re driving towards, or there’s a coupon for happy hour at a restaurant you’re approaching…  When everything can be connected, the possibilities are endless for what can be broadcast and received by anyone, anywhere, at any time.