Saturday, June 18, 2005

Boy’s bogus boast used as grounds for school pregnancy test

Amanda Marcotte points to this story of a 15-year-old girl and her father who have filed a federal lawsuit claiming that a high school nurse forced the girl to take a pregnancy test: 

Nurse Dyanna Eastwood called the girl to her office Jan. 11 and told her that a student at another school had claimed he impregnated her, according to the lawsuit, which claims the girl’s privacy and constitutional rights were violated.

The girl denied that she was pregnant and said she never had sex with the boy, but Eastwood insisted that the girl take the test, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Austin. The girl’s lawyer said she was not pregnant.

The story quotes the nurse:

“Search and seizure—alrighty then,” Eastwood said Thursday when reached at her New Braunfels home.

“I remember the incident,” Eastwood said. “Is that how it went down? No, of course not.”

She declined to comment further, saying she wanted to seek legal advice.

And what of the principal?

When the girl’s father asked Principal Chad Kelly about the pregnancy test, the father was handed a piece of paper indicating that “the nurse performed the pregnancy test pursuant to the school district’s interpretation of section 32.003 of the Texas Family Code,” the lawsuit states.

Part of that section states that a child may consent to medical treatment by a licensed physician if the child “is unmarried and pregnant and consents to hospital, medical or surgical treatment, other than abortion, related to the pregnancy.”

NY GOP woes

While Pataki dawdles, the NY GOP squabbles:

With Mr. Pataki lying low, the intraparty tensions have largely centered on the strategy of his handpicked and relatively untested state party chairman, Stephen J. Minarik III, a blustery conservative with a knack for bruising egos. While some party officials say they are energized by Mr. Minarik’s opinionated style, others see worrisome shades of Howard Dean, the Democratic national chairman, in Mr. Minarik’s remarks linking Democrats to terrorism and suggesting that some Republicans are B-list politicians.

I’ll let the Dean swipe pass (NY Republicans should be so lucky) and move on to Jeanine:

Privately, some Republican officials have also expressed concern about Mr. Minarik’s enthusiasm for Ms. Pirro, whose standing in Westchester has been increasingly uncertain. They say she could lose crucial votes from conservatives because of her support for abortion rights and gay rights, not to mention the previous conviction of her husband, Al Pirro, on felony tax evasion charges.

They also wonder if powerful Republican consultants have used their clout to aid Ms. Pirro, mentioning Kieran Mahoney, a longtime adviser to Mr. Pataki who is now working for Ms. Pirro. Mr. Mahoney lost a contract with the state party last year, however, so it is unclear how much influence he has there. Mr. Mahoney declined to comment for this article.

They’d do well to pass on Pirro.

What would Jesus ride?

In The Future of Freedom, there’s a compelling and well argued chapter entitled “The Death of Authority.” In it, Fareed Zakaria sees a populist evangelicalism that coddles its flock. “People are praised, comforted, consoled, but never condemned,” he writes.

Zakaria follows the evolution of Billy Graham from a “fiery preacher of perdition to a benign father figure” that coincides with his rising popularity and move to radio and television evangelizing, the development of Jerry Falwell’s megachurches modeled on shopping centers to “attract the massed to the gospel,” and Bill and Tammy Fay Bakker’s “Christianity should be fun” hedonism, to illustrate the populist democratization and rising politicization of evangelicalism:

What remains of the old Protestant fundamentalism is politics: abortion, gays, evolution. These issues are what binds the vast congregation together. But even here things have changed as Americans have become more tolerant of many of these social taboos. Today many fundamentalist churches take nominally tough positions on, say, homosexuality but increasingly do little else for fear of offending the average believer, whom one scholar calls “the unwashed Harry.” All it really takes to be a fundamentalist these days is to watch the TV shows, go tothe theme parks, buy Christian rock, and vote Republican.

A story from the Faith and Values section of the AJC today (which also features an interview with Southern Baptist Convention president Bobby Welch in which he calls Jim Wallis an “ignoramus who is wedded to socialist-mandated policies") asks, What would Jesus ride?

It’s hard to be still at Atlanta Fest, a high-spirited, fist-pumping Christian youth festival that combines roller coasters, rock ‘n’ roll and more than 20,000 young people for three sweltering days every summer at Six Flags Over Georgia. The festival, in its 19th year and its 13th at Six Flags, started Thursday and ends today. It draws about half its attendees from Georgia, the other half from about 12 states, mostly in the Southeast.

One of the few places of relative tranquillity was the Prayer Labyrinth, a covered picnic area in the shadow of the Scream Machine..."The irony is to have this beautiful place in all the chaos of the theme park,” said Nancy Thompson, Atlanta Fest’s director of Christian education. “It’s all very focused on the Word of God, and the responses of the kids overwhelm you.”

[...]

Not all the Christian teens go to the labyrinth; some have a more freewheeling approach to a three-day bash at an amusement park that’s coupled with marathon evening concerts with their favorite Christian rock bands, including Audio Adrenaline and Third Day.

“Everybody gets so distracted with the rides and everything,” said Kayla Chambers, a freshman at Rockmart High School in Rockmart.

“Some people are just here for the girls in bikinis,” added her friend Anna Burnette.

Indeed they are.

UPDATE: Another example, today in the NYTimes:

Brian Racer is pastor to Laura and Dave Clark and a local opinion shaper on social issues. He is a tall, rangy 43-year-old man with a big mustache and a conversational style that is casual but enormously self-confident. Racer has a vigorous Christianity-in-society approach, which is illustrated by a recent move he made. When Mel Gibson’s movie ‘’The Passion of the Christ’’ came out in February 2004, he, like many ministers around the country, booked a whole theater in the local multiplex to accommodate the members of his church. But the venue itself—comfortable seats, good acoustics, convenient location—clicked for him. He worked out a rental arrangement with the manager of the theater. So now the Clarks and their fellow congregants worship at the Open Door Bible Church in Theater 24 in the Muvico multiplex at the Arundel Mills Mall. ‘’The teens think it’s pretty cool,’’ he said. ‘’After service they can go have lunch at the food court, then come back to the theater and see a movie.’’

Frist is a liar

Talk Left:

Why is no one calling on Senator Bill Frist to apologize to Senator Dick Durbin? Sen. Frist, repeating a false headline in the Washington Times, accused Sen. Durbin of saying Guantanamo is “a death camp.” (Frist’s statement, in two parts, is here and here. (pdf)) Read Senator Durbin’s remarks (pdf). He never said that.

Frist also falsely claimed that Durbin said our service members are “committing genocide and war crimes.” Durbin never said that either. Most outrageously, Frist essentially accused Durbin of encouraging suicide bombers… Read on.

Operation Yellow Elephant

From the genius of Jesus General, The rationale behind OPERATION YELLOW ELEPHANT:

I suppose that a number of you are wondering if I’ve been co-opted by the French. After all, one could reasonably assume that OPERATION YELLOW ELEPHANT is designed to embarrass College Republicans. Nothing could be further from the truth. I’m actually trying to help them.

I learned in the last presidential election the importance of turning a weakness into a strength. I think we were all amazed to see a man who had gone AWOL from an undeployable National Guard unit defeat a decorated war hero because he was perceived to have more credibility as a military commander. We can do the same for the College Republicans… Read on

BRIEFING:

Objective: To motivate the College Republicans to vigorously defend the vital work they’re doing defending the homefront by holding affirmative action bake sales, immigrant hunts, and subsidizing the Scaife funding of Ann Coulter, David Horowitz, and Michelle Malkin (see post below for more detail).

Method: Embarrass the College Republicans by challenging them to volunteer to fight in the war they demanded.

Mode: Nonviolent Leaderless Creative Expression

Target: 56th College Republican Biennial Convention
June 24-26, 2005
Crystal Gateway Marriott
Arlington, Virginia

TASK: Ask the College Republican leadership to pass the following resolution at their convention:

WHEREAS, the College Republican membership has always fully supported the war in Iraq;

WHEREAS, we have encouraged the notion that the degree of one’s patriotism is directly proportional to their support for the war;

WHEREAS, by word, by deed and by support of Ann Coulter, David Horowitz, and Michelle Malkin we have decreed that dissent against the war is the equivalent of treason;

WHEREAS, the military continually falls far short of meeting its recruitment needs resulting in a manpower crisis;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

The College Republicans organization is officially disbanded until the end of the war;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT:

The College Republicans membership immediately volunteer for military service as infantrymen. Read on.

Support the general. Buy the merchandise; use the stickers.

Via The News Blog.