Civilization comes to North Carolina

[Scooter]

The number of North Carolinians supporting marriage equality is on the rise, according to the results of an Elon University poll, which is widely referenced in the state.

At this time last year, the poll found that 28% backed marriage equality, then that number rose to 33% in November, and it has reached 36% in February. But marriage equality isn't on the ballot in May.

Voters must actually decide whether to ban same-sex marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships in one fell swoop via an amendment to the state constitution. The Elon poll found 54% of North Carolinians opposed to such an amendment, while 38% said they support it.

link

[Sue U]

Civilization has been coming to North Carolina for a while; it's not the backwater tobacco plantation of yesteryear (well, not entirely, anyway). Asheville is a rising star among small cities, artsy and decidedly gay-friendly; Charlotte has become much more sophisiticated with the growth of the financial industry, and the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Triangle has been raising the collective IQ for half a century.

That said, there is still a hell of a lot of retrograde right wingism on display among the populace.

[Scooter]

I was being somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but the taste of Jesse Helms is still somewhat fresh in my mouth.

(uh, I think that might have come out not quite how I intended it)

[BoSoxGal]

Maybe the rural folks believe marriage equality will extend to first cousin and sibling marriage?

[Sue U]

I was being somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but the taste of Jesse Helms is still somewhat fresh in my mouth.

(uh, I think that might have come out not quite how I intended it)

I was amending my post as you wrote!

[Sue U]

Maybe the rural folks believe marriage equality will extend to first cousin and sibling marriage?

These are people who think "inter-racial" means "both NASCAR and dragster."

[Crackpot]

I didn't think of it till you mentioned it and I really wish you hadn't.

(I thought it was Helms that was sucking the devils cock...)

[Sue U]

Then again, as if to prove the point, there's this bit of idiocy out of NC this week:

Cape Fear Watchdog$
New Hanover Commissioners choose not to accept family planning funds

Monday, March 12, 2012 at 4:00
by Shannan Bowen

Following opinions on public funding of contraceptives, the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to turn down a state family planning grant that would cover contraceptive supplies along with other medical services related to family planning.

Commissioner Rick Catlin, who represents the commissioners on the county’s health board, said he also voted against accepting the funds when the item was on the health board’s agenda.

He said he was concerned with answers to questions he asked about the funds.

“The answers that I got were that there were patients that were not being responsible with existing family planning that was being offered and that this would provide a more reliable solution for those people,” Catlin said at Monday afternoon’s commissioners meeting.

He added that he had an issue with “using taxpayer dollars to fund someone’s irresponsibility.”

The county’s health department was awarded $8,899 in family planning funds that would “provide medical services related to family planning including physician’s consultation, examination, prescription, continuing supervision, laboratory examination and contraceptive supplies,” according to a budget amendment item included in documents for Monday’s commissioners meeting. The county was not required to match the state grant.

Chairman Ted Davis said he thought it was a sad day when “taxpayers are asked to pay money to buy for contraceptives” for women having sex without planning responsibly.

“If these young women were responsible people and didn’t have the sex to begin with, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” Davis said.

Commissioner Jonathan Barfield said he was “one of those abstinence guys” and agreed with Davis’ comment.

No one made a motion to accept the funds. Instead, Catlin made a motion not to accept the funds.

Catlin said during the discussion that his views had nothing to do with discussions about contraceptives on the national level, which have included whether religious institutions should be required to offer birth control coverage.

http://watchdogs.blogs.starnewsonline.c ... ing-funds/

[Scooter]

We have a mayor (who is now facing court over a conflict of interest issue) who wanted to do basically the same thing, turn down provincial money to pay for public health nurses to do family planning work and bedbug checks. "I don't care if they're giving money away, there's only one taxpayer, blah, blah blah..."

[dgs49]

Just for the fun of it, I wonder if any of the "enlightened" people who delight in finding all sorts of statistics to support their positions could find statistics verifying that the widespread availability of birth control and abortion has reduced illegitimacy, poverty, and child abuse. Or that if government only provided these things "for free," we would have less of any of them.

Seems to me like the only people who systematically avail themselves are the ones who have the resources to have kids, but simply don't want them (the middle class).

[Scooter]

The fact that the birth rate has dropped dramatically over the past several decades should be evidence enough that birth control is working as intended.

[Grim Reaper]

here's a big pile of statistics for you dgs49.

The increased availability of contraceptives has decreased unwanted pregnancies. Increased education about contraceptives would help even more. Instead we get stuck with "abstinence only" initiatives that do more harm than good.

[rubato]

Just for the fun of it, I wonder if any of the "enlightened" people who delight in finding all sorts of statistics to support their positions could find statistics verifying that the widespread availability of birth control and abortion has reduced illegitimacy, poverty, and child abuse. Or that if government only provided these things "for free," we would have less of any of them.

Seems to me like the only people who systematically avail themselves are the ones who have the resources to have kids, but simply don't want them (the middle class).

Roe v Wade is the most important driver in the huge drop in crime between 1992 and 2000. During this period crime dropped to the lowest levels since the early 60s. Steven Levitt* published an extensive study on this connection. The theory (well supported) is that the generation of young men, late teens to late 20s, who are the largest contributers to crime were effected because a lot of disproportionately unfit mothers were able to get abortions and thus reduced their numbers.

You don't actually read much, do you?

http://works.bepress.com/john_donohue/8/

http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewconten ... 20crime%22

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/a ... 1/art00008


yrs,
rubato

* Winner of the Clark medal. A strong predictor of the Nobel in economics and more difficult to get since it is only awarded every two years.

[rubato]

Just for the fun of it, I wonder if any of the "enlightened" people who delight in finding all sorts of statistics to support their positions could find statistics verifying that the widespread availability of birth control and abortion has reduced illegitimacy, poverty, and child abuse. Or that if government only provided these things "for free," we would have less of any of them.

Seems to me like the only people who systematically avail themselves are the ones who have the resources to have kids, but simply don't want them (the middle class).

I stated a different thread with a post about how women's incomes were higher in areas where birth control was more available than where it was less.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5723

The ability to control their fertility is central to the economic health of women and to society as a whole. That is why only countries who ignore Catholic teachings on birth control and abortion are not poverty-ridden hellholes.


yrs,
rubato