By Brian A. Burns

As long as there are recipients of large quantities of tax dollars there will always be proponents of failed ideas. After taking over a billion dollars, those who refuse to accept the fact that they have little control over the sexual activities of their teenage sons and daughters continue taking our money under the guise of “government assistance”, to wage their war against reality – the belief that abstinence is the only message to send our children. In trying to frighten teens into remaining celibate, the falsified information they spread is in direct contrast to the factual information received through a true form of sexual education, and not only does it fail to reduce the frequency in which our teens are engaging in sexual activities, but it makes them less likely to use contraceptives while doing so.

Through a congressional investigation in 2004 it was discovered that the groups who insist on the effectiveness of abstinence were reporting as scientific fact that a pregnancy occurs once in every seven times a couple uses a condom, when medical evidence shows that condoms are 98% effective. They have lied saying that condoms do not help in preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and have grossly distorted fact by claiming that contraceptives fail to prevent HIV 31% of the time. One group went so far as to state that HIV could be passed through sweat and tears. They have also lied about the risks of abortion, stating 5% to 10% of women who receive abortions will become sterile, and some have proclaimed that a 43-day-old fetus is a “thinking person”.

In all, the government gives away nearly $170 million per year to groups who seemingly believe that biology is the study of a god’s claymation project. But why would members of religious organizations willingly break one of their commandments and lie to our teenage population? They do this because they have to, for if they presented the evidence as they receive it they know their audience would abandon them completely, and with nearly $600,000 going to each of these organizations annually, they aren’t so willing to give up the hefty chunk of change they’ve grown to rely on.

While it’s true that the only way to fully guarantee a person never gets pregnant is to never have sex, these groups fail to admit that our teenagers are having sex and will continue to have sex, and just as the “Just Say No” message failed to stop people from taking drugs, the message of “Abstinence Only” seems to be as equally ignorant to the problem.

The fact that our children pass through puberty at or around the age of 12 is biologically meaningful, and with it comes message we’re so apt to ignore. Their bodies are proceeding through the physical changes that are the first signs of adulthood. As they move through this transformation so too are they passing through one that is psychological. Mentally, though unbeknownst to them, they are becoming aware of themselves, and are beginning to enter a stage where they feel more self-governance. For many, the ambitions that parents have always deemed as important, like academics, pale in comparison to the importance they place upon their social lives. Consequently, the effort they put into the activities where their parents still hold high expectations lessen in favor to their sociality which moves up in priority. They feel the urges that accompany their passing through puberty, and their interest in sexuality becomes real. They aren’t paying heed to the warnings from their parents, or teachers, or coaches, or even their spiritual advisors who are telling them, “Just say no!” Instead, they are listening to their urges, and they are experimenting with their new found curiosities.

There was a time in history when children were made responsible at a failry young age. They were given chores in and around the household, and some were even performing the role of “servant” by the age of seven. It was not uncommon for boys to begin life on their own at the age of 16, and with “women” being betrothed to them by the age of 12. Girls passed into “womanhood” when they experienced their menarche, and by that time were well accustomed to all of the duties necessary in maintaining a household. Contrary to what one might assume, most of these women did not start bearing children until the age of 16. The decisions they made in dealing with their sexuality were far more responsible than those of many of our children. In this day in age we tend to focus more on academics than we do on trying to ready our children for life beyond school. They are far less responsible than the children were then, and the age in which we feel they’re prepared to start life on their own is much older. This, however, does not mean that their bodies aren’t carrying the same sexual urges at the age of 12 and 13. Indeed they are.

When it comes to “growing up” America is one of the only countries that restricts the process so vehemently. While America has the highest rate of teen pregnancy of the westernized countries, we too are among those with the highest age level in consent laws, with our average at 16 and edging toward 17. The age of consent is 14 in both Germany and Italy, and their teen pregnancy rates are one-quarter and one-seventh that of ours respectively. And in Japan where the age of consent is 13 the percentage is even less, being around one-eighth.

Now I don’t mean to imply that we should let our kids run rampant having sex at the age of 13 and 14, but am only trying to prove a point that in nations where they don’t make taboo what we American adults may consider “vice”, they have less of a problem in all areas. Where we restrict even our war veterans under the age of 21 from being able to buy a beer in a bar so too do we have a high rate of alcoholism, whereas the countries that have no drinking age have far less an issue with the disease. We can see that in countries that don’t try keeping their biological urges locked behind parental denial and fear, their struggles with teenage pregnancy and STD’s are easy compared to our own.

Instead of plugging our ears, slamming our eyes shut, and yelling to drown away the “evil word” that is truth, we need to first come to terms with the reality that teenagers will have sex, whether we like it or not. Then we might be able to teach our children how to be responsible with their actions at a much younger age, as opposed to dumping them into “adulthood” on the final day of their senior year in high school. Truly, the only words needing to be drowned away are “More money, please,” coming from the abstinence crowd, as that money would be far better spent on comprehensive sex education programs for our teens. One that starts with saying, “Just say ‘no’, but since many of you won’t listen and will have sex anyway, this is what you need to know, and here are some tools to help.”

photo courtesy of Rockefeller University

What looks to be an image of outer space is actually an image taken from the first viewing of a virus being born. It just so happens to be of the HIV virus which has taken over 25 million lives in the past 25 years. Using a technique called Total Internal Reflection Microscopy, a virologist and a biophysicist were able to watch as hundreds of thousands of HIV molecules gathered to form a single particle in a living cell.

Historically, the problem seemed to be that scientists could never view the surface of a cell.

Click here to read why penetration seemed to be what was screwing everything up.

Because of the slowness in their sexual maturation sharks and rays have a tendency to be overfished. Now, because the human palate finds the meat and fins particularly savory, over half of the various species of oceanic sharks are threatened with extinction.

Click here to read why Hooper, Brody, and Quint need to stay out of the water.

This Sunday, Mars will meet another robot from earth when the probe named Phoenix lands far north within the planet’s arctic region. With laser radars, small ovens, and sensors powered by solar panels, Phoenix will be testing to see if the ice discovered there in 2002 was ever liquid. After all, “This is where the history of life is preserved in its purest form — organic molecules and cellular bacterial microbes and so forth.”

Click here to read other quotes from the leader of the Phoenix expedition, and more about news that’s always getting buried beneath that of American Idol.

photo courtesy of EIA/Jordi Mestre

It turns out that the jawbone holding a few teeth found last year in a Spanish cave were actually once a part of the last common ancestor of Humans and Neanderthals – Pioneer Man.

Spanish researchers used three techniques to approximate the age of the fossil at 1.2 million years, a half-million years older than previously discovered humanlike fossils from the same region in the mountains of northern Spain.

Click here to read about the many colors in the homo rainbow.

It’s no wonder our children are lacking in their science studies these days. When one in six high school biology teachers believe in mythology over evolution I’d imagine it’s difficult to learn a subject so based in reality. Many of us would hope that religion could be taught in religious institutions, and that our children could get an education in science while attending high school science classes.

The National Academy of Sciences believe the study of evolution to be the “central concept of biology”, yet the teachers willingly overlook this since they tend to believe a god created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years. So, if the story of God has to be taught in a public school environment, maybe it would be best to teach it a carpentry class.

Click here to read why G.B. Shaw’s quote in “Maxims for Revolutionists”, “He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches,” is ringing louder in the public high schools of America today than it possibly ever has.

It isn’t so bizarre that humans survived all this time on medicine provided by Mother Nature. What is bizarre is how we’ve allowed ourselves to be convinced by pharmaceutical companies that homeopathic medicine is voodoo. Although when one considers how sheep-like we tend to be under the guidance of our elected officials it’s not so unbelieveable after all.

When our government bends to allow pharmaceutical companies to poison the population, like Ronald Reagan did when he forced the FDA to allow Donald Rumsfeld’s Aspartame on the market, we have to question how much these people truly care about the health and welfare of the people.

It appears the oil extracted from black seed, used medicinally by Middle Eastern people for over a thousand years, blocks the growth and kills over 80% of pancreatic cancer cells. Now we can only hope our government doesn’t ban it for not being able to capitalize on it.

Click here to read how we know the cure is there, but we just have to know which plant to ingest.

The UK Parliament voted to allow the creation of human-animal embryos in an effort to give scientists the necessary “tools” in stem-cell research. Due to a lack of donated human embryos, researchers believe the creation of these “admixed” eggs will allow them to continue to work at finding cures for some of our worst afflictions.

Some say it’s unethical, and one Catholic cardinal went so far as to deem it “Frankenstein science”, but it could be argued that tossing a perfectly good embryo into the bin that could otherwise have been used to possibly cure a person suffering from Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, or even cancer is truly unethical.

Click here to read about how our planet may one day have centaurs roaming freely beside, what could be considered completely immoral, human grocery stores called “Savior Siblings”.

Computer scientists have found two new tools to help parents communicate with their autistic children. With the horrible affliction upon 1 in every 165 children it is a much welcomed breakthrough.

Click here to read why sometimes it takes a personal experience to care enough to help.

After performing nearly 15 million pairwise tests with baker’s yeast, a group of Canadian researchers have observed the processes in the basic workings of life, bringing us closer to an understanding of how we evolved, and closer to a route to how we can cure humanity’s worst afflictions.

Click here to read how scientists are foregoing prayer in their efforts to cure cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s.