Write the DC Council about the South Capitol Street Tragedy Memorial Act

   The South Capitol Street Memorial Act of 2011 will create an intrusive government bureaucracy and will ask teachers to take on an extra workload to do mental health evaluations. 
We need more family strengthening and less government intrusion.  The inability of the District's Youth and Rehabilitative Services Agency as well as the Child and Family Services Agency to properly care for those under their respective jurisdictions should give us pause in creating yet another government bureaucracy.
   Also, with a budget shortfall, how can this monstrous bureaucracy be funded?
This bill should be killed now, and more effort given to supporting community based education to prevent risky behavior among our youth.  Studies show that behaviors such as being suspended from school are related to other risky behaviors, such as sex outside of marriage.  A character based, abstinence affirming sexual health education alternative to the condom based approach now used in DC would be a good place to start in reducing risky behavior among DC youth. 

Use the ULTRA Teen Choice email tool to contact all DC Councilmembers, key staff, and Mayor Gray.

The South Capitol Street Tragedy Memorial Act of 2011 is bad legislation

Through the promotion of same sex marriage and sexual exploration of all kinds through the David Catania sponsored sexual health report , Catania promotes the weakening of families.   Now Catania wants even early head start pre-schoolers up to 12th grade students evaluated for mental health issues (as if they don’t have enough to do already).  School teachers and the DC Government should not be asked to step in to replace the role of parents.
The fact that the outside of marriage birth rate in DC is 55 per cent, and in Wards 7 and 8 is 85 per cent has a severe effect on crime and violence.  Even in crime-ridden neighborhoods, 90 percent of youth who grow up in safe, stable two parent homes do not get involved in delinquent behavior.  This statistic should inform us that we need to create policies that encourage parenting within two parent families.  We should not attempt to supplant the role of parents with a mental health bureaucracy.  And especially not with a bureaucracy that does not honor the role of parents, self control, and sexual abstinence,  as evidenced by Catanias sexual health report.
Anytime the government gets involved, there is a loss of personal freedom.  Look at the absolute mess at the DC Child and Family Services Agency, which has been under Court ordered supervision for years.   Also look at the mess at the Catania overseen department of health, where $5.8 million  were funneled to convicted drug kingpin Cornell Jones  who was supposedly renovating the property at 2127 Queens Chapel Rd. NE to be a job training center.  However, at the same time a liquor license was reserved for the same property, which is now the Stadium (strip) Club, as reported in the Washington Times.  This is a great example of why we should not entrust the care of our children to the government bureaucracy set up by Mr. Catania..    This bill is a bad idea and needs to be killed NOW!  Call your Councilmenber and all the at Large Councilmenbers as well as Catania’s office to tell them that you want programs funded that strengthen families by promoting childbearing within two parent families and sexual abstinence before marriage, and that you do not want the government to take over your role as a parent.  Delinquency is clearly linked to family breakdown.  Youth who grow up without a father in the home are much more likely to be involved in delinquent behavior.  Yet Catania’s bill does not address the crucial issue of encouraging childbearing after marriage.  The two parent family is the best structure to support the healthy growth and development of children. 
It is not surprising that Catania does not support the strengthening of the two parent family,  since he is the one who introduced and promoted the same sex “marriage” bill in DC.   The DC Council should promote what I call the Bill Cosby formula for success in life;  1) Graduate from high school, have children after you marry and don’t marry before age 20.  Those who do all of these things have an eight percent chance of living in poverty.  Those that do none of these things have a 79 percent chance of living in poverty. 
This means children also need to be taught to abstain from sex before marriage.  Yet Catania’s sexual health report promotes sexual exploration, and under Catania oversight, the department of Health pushes condoms but does not spend anything to encourage abstinence.
Call and emal your Councilmembers now (click here for phone numbers and emails) and tell them that you will parent your children, not the DC government and Mr. Catania. 

Mayor Gray denies responsibility for South Capitol Street Murders

Mayor Gray, through a spokesperson as reported in the Washington Times on June 24, said the District Government “Bears no responsibility in her (Brishnell Jones) death.  As such, the Office of the Attorney General, at the appropriate time, will move to dismiss this action”.  This was in response to the lawsuit filed by Nardyne Jefferies, Brishnell’s mother.

I think that the mayor has a lot of gall to have that position.  The District routinely lets dangerous criminals out on the streets prematurely.  Sanquan Carter, the person who started the chain of retribution, was wanted for armed carjacking.  Why was he released?  Why are violent youth routinely housed together with less serious offenders at DC facilities, such as the New Beginnings correction facility in Laurel.  Frequently, youth there have been out of control as well, as evidenced by the recent guard beating and escape. 

Yes, the DC government has to take responsibility for its role in the death of Brishnell, and many other DC residents.  Dangerous criminals need to be behind bars, regardless of their age.  Those who wish to be reformed should have that chance.  Unfortunately, the DC department of Youth and Rehabilitative Services has not sufficiently distinguished between different types of offenders, and DC law has frequently allowed criminals who commit serious crimes with weapons to go free.  DC code needs to be tightened, and its enforcement increased, to protect all DC citizens.  Criminals or ex convicts do not have any “right” to reek havoc and terror on our community.  Ms. Jefferies is right to file her lawsuit, and her resounding victory will send  a clear message to the DC Council and agencies to protect all citizens and to reevaluate and reform the practices of the DC juvenile justice system.

Remembering on Memorial Day

I visited the 2nd Division memorial, which is on the Ellipse, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and the Korean War memorial today.   I spoke with soldiers who fought in Korea and Vietnam, and my own father is a World War II veteran.

Freedom is Not Free is inscribed on the Korean War Memorial.  More that 54,000 Americans and 628,000 United Nations troops lost their lives in that one conflict. I took pictures and reflected on some of the mementos left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Why did these soldiers and warriors gave their lives?  Was it just so we can live as we please and enjoy doing what we want.  Along with freedom comes responsibility.  When I think about the sexual abuse of children, sexual slavery and trafficking, and other abuses, I wonder, is this what these brave men and women died for?  Responsibility means using our freedom in a way that benefits and honors others.  There is nothing “free” or enlightened about licentious sex, meaning sex that is self seeking, gratuitous, and outside of a committed, loving, lifetime relationship.  Where is the sense of dignity and of seeing each individual as a child of the creator, God?  Where is the beauty and sacredness?

I think of all those who suffer from sexual abuse and the effects of broken families.  Let us protect children, youth, and all of God’s children of any age and honor the sacrifices of those who allow us to live in freedom by upholding the value and sacredness of of each person as a child of God and of their right to live free of sexual abuse and sexual licentiousness.

View my Picutres of the Memorials on Flickr

The Rubber Revolution?

Last November, the DC Department of Health (DOH) launched the Rubber Revolution website.  According to the site:

We want condoms in the hands of the men and women of DC to use for responsible and good sex.

Really?  If condom distribution is working so well in DC, why have rates of HIV infection and sexually transmitted disease infection been increasing?  Certainly not because there have not been enough condoms distributed.

Condom distribution in the District increased from 600,0000 in 2007 to 3.2 million in 2009.  Yet at the same time, the rate of HIV infection increased by 9.2 per cent.  So it appears that there is a correlation between more condoms being distributed and higher HIV infection rates.  Ed Green found the same effect in his research in Africa; using condoms seems to give a false sense of security.  Countries with the highest rate of condom use also have the highest rates of HIV infection.  Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa have the highest rate of condom distribution, and also the highest rate of HIV infection (20 percent to 35 percent among males ages 15 to 49)

Although 42 percent of DC high school students report never having had sex, and 69 percent have not had sex within the previous three months, the District does not spend any money to increase the number of youth who are abstaining from sex.

The vision of ULTRA Teen Choice is that

Every DC youth from upper elementary through high school will receive education about the benefits of abstinence, and will have the opportunity to hear from peers who believe in abstinence.
Accountability relationships, in person or through others means, will be set up between older youth or adults of the same sex who believe in abstinence:
Middle school youth will be STAR (Students Teaching Abstinence & Responsibility) Guides for upper elementary.
High school youth will be STAR Guides for Middle School.
College Youth will be STAR Guides for High School.
This will greatly reduce the rate of HIV, STDs, out of wedlock births, and heartbreak.

A condom-centric approach to stopping HIV and STD infection in DC has been a dismal failure.  It is time to form a youth HIV Prevention Corps that leverages the immense resource of youth who are abstinent or who have returned to abstinence.  Why are we wasting more of taxpayers hard earned money funding programs that continue to promote the same old failed methods?

A Surprising Prevention Success: Why Did the HIV Epidemic Decline in Zimbabwe?

A major study cites behavioral change, i.e. abstinence and especially faithfulness in marriage,spurred on by a fear of death caused by HIV infection and information received from interpersonal relationships, like friends, family and churches for the remarkable decline of HIV prevalence in Zimbabwe from 29% in 1997 to 16% in 2007

This mirrors the research of Ed Green about Uganda. It is interesting to note that little credence is given to the protective ability of condoms, although that is still presented as an "evidence based" method, although there is no evidence to support increasing condom distribution as a prevention method.

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000414;jsessionid=52D9029E44F1876D3BC759B4F634CC8D.ambra01