contraception

Reality Jokes from the 1950s


Q. What do you call couples who practice the rhythm method of birth control?

 A. Parents

Q. What do you call teenagers who are taught abstinence as the only acceptable form of birth control?

A.  Parents

Amazingly, according to some bible thumpers, some Republicans and a former Republican Party platform, only abstinence is to be taught in our schools to instruct our teenagers in birth control. That ignores the slam-dunk certainly of human behavior.

We humans are remarkably resistant to changing our natural behavioral tendencies. We have certain defaults, like survival of self and our species. Following puberty we have sexual urges. While it is undeniably true that our behavior can be and sometimes is curbed by societal norms, our urges remain and, in certain circumstances, societal norms are all but forgotten. Like in the back seat of a car.

While kids know not to have sex because of the risk of pregnancy, plus Puritanical legacy pressure, they’ve always done it and will continue to do so. Leaving them with nothing but abstinence for birth control is like dumping them in the ocean in a tiny raft with a spoon for a paddle.

Science has become a strange and forbidden topic for the far righties. They say and do things that suggest that they believe that nothing has been learned over the past 2,500 years, but science exists just the same.

To paraphrase the 1997 movie Men In Black, 2,500 years ago men knew that the Earth was flat. 500 years ago men knew the Earth was the center of the universe. 50 years ago men knew that the only form of birth control was abstinence. What do the bible thumpers and far-right Republicans know now?

According to a CDC study reported by CBS News, there was a 44% drop in American teenage pregnancies (ages 15 – 19) from 1991 – 2010 and there were fewer teenage mothers in 2010 than in any year since 1946. Better still, the teen pregnancy rate was at its lowest rate ever in the U.S. in 2022. The CDC reports that the dramatic decline is due to pregnancy prevention education, the pill and condoms.

What that says is that teaching about sex and pregnancy and supplying the necessary tools gives kids a better chance to avoid unwanted consequences. It says that science (like the pill) exists and is available to prevent pregnancy. That suggests that kids aren’t stupid and will learn to make better choices when they are told the truth and when they are given necessary tools.

Pretending that teen sex can be controlled by telling kids not to engage in sexual behavior or that they must not take advantage of better science is to ignore the reality of human beings. Same for adults.

Come to think of it, that Republican mania to deny reality seems to pop up in lots of areas, like global warming, honoring our obligations and stealing public money from public education and passing it along to private schools, saying that isn’t a violation of the First Amendment.

Here’s the thing about reality: we can deny it, but that won’t change what exists. And the longer we pretend, the worse our problems become.

For example, we can pretend that outlawing abortions will prevent them, but we have hundreds of years of experience that tell us with certainty that if abortions are made unlawful, they will continue to be performed just the same. Rich women will find a doctor to help them and all the rest in need will revert to what used to be called “back alley abortions.” Women will be mutilated and killed in the process. That is the reality even if some deny it.

Those jokes from the 1950’s weren’t particularly funny then (think: surprise babies) and they are less funny now. That’s especially true since Supreme Court Justice and right-wing billionaire moocher Clarence Thomas argued in his Dobbs anti-abortion decision that, “. .  .  the right to birth control — decided by the Court in [the] 1965 Griswold decision — should be overturned, along with the right to gay marriage [and that] maybe contraception shouldn’t be legal.”

Wait – wouldn’t outlawing contraception result in lots more unwanted pregnancies and more abortions?

Headlines This Week – So Far

New York Times

Note 1: The only reason for this right-wing idiocy is to create the illusion of a Biden equivalency to the poster boy for criminality.

Note 2: McCarthy caved to the crazies because he cares more about keeping the speaker’s gavel in his hand than he cares about life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, forming a more perfect union, establishing justice, insuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare and securing the blessings of liberty.

New York Times [Italics emphasis in headline are mine]

That end of aid was due to congressional Republicans and Democrat Joe Manchin killing the expanded child tax credit. The poverty rate among children jumped from 5.2% to 12.4%.

The New North Korean Threat
Why the United States Needs to Address Pyongyang’s Nuclear Advances Now

Foreign Affairs

Quotes Describing Us

Dahlia Lithwick’s guest on her Slate podcast of September 9 was Marc Elias, the attorney-crusader for voting rights. They discussed the Republican legislature of Alabama having refused to obey a redistricting order from the United States Supreme Court, as well as other examples of Republicans flouting the law.

Elias:

“Within the Republican Party now, violating court orders [and] breaking criminal laws makes you more popular.”

Lithwick, speaking of multiple examples of Republicans defying laws and norms:

“The[ir] coin of the realm is lawlessness.”

This is what years of a constant drumbeat stoking anger and of middle finger politics has done. This is how an entire society self-immolates.

Today is a good day to be the light

______________________________

  • Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
  • Fire the bastards!
  • The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.


  • Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Campaign


Michelle Goldberg had an interesting piece in the New York Times last Sunday entitled “To Understand The Midterms, Meet Joe and Marie.” They are the Republican and Democratic candidates for Washington state’s 3rd congressional district seat and, as you likely suspect, they are quite different from one another.

Goldberg explains that Joe Kent has

.  .  . attempted a dance that’s become common in today’s G.O.P.: remaining in the good graces of the far right while putting some distance between himself and its most abhorrent avatars.

It’s like the now common, phony Republican candidate dance around abortion, attempting to mask how foamy-mouth wacko they’re against it. Then, having pulled a fast one on voters to get elected, they plan to let fly their true inner goggly-eye wacko.

In contrast, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is running a straight campaign, saying what she believes and giving indication of how she will represent the voters, emphasizing abortion rights and protecting democracy.

Goldberg uses the entire center spread of the Opinion section of the Sunday paper to flesh out what’s happening in Washington’s 3rd . Not surprisingly, the fuller reality is freakier than the short paragraphs above suggest. Goldberg reports:

Here’s what Kent [said he] intends to do in his first two years in office:

“Impeachment, obstruction and oversight. The Biden agenda dies off in the crib.”

In his speeches Kent promised to impeach

“Biden on Day One, and then Vice President Kamala Harris (‘one of the lead fund-raisers for antifa and B.L.M. during the summer of 2020’), Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas.”

At [a] town hall, he emphasized his willingness to shut down the government: “I used to work in the federal government,” he said [he is a former Green Beret]. “It can shut down. It’s really not a big deal.”

Kent promised to hold Anthony Fauci “accountable” for the “scam that is Covid.” “Criminal charges,” said Kent. But what charges, I asked. “Murder,” he replied, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

It’s messy and awkward quoting someone who is quoting someone else, so apologies to Goldberg for my quotation mark clumsiness.

Meanwhile, you’ve just read a fine litany of the insanity and dishonesty that is today’s G.O.P. It’s a continuous loop of imagined and contrived grievances and absurd, tough guy payback. I mean, does Kent actually believe that Congress will impeach all those people? What are their high crimes or misdemeanors? Wait – scratch that last question. That was my mistake – I was being logical.

And Kent says he wants to go back to a full court press of obstruction so that nothing We The People want will come about. Welcome back to the Obama years dealing with the GOP Congress, the party of NO:

NO to all Democrats and Democratic policies, even if they’re identical to Republican ideas

NO to anything that will deal with our substantial national challenges

NO to everything that supports democracy

NO to kids being safe in school

NO to reproductive freedom for pregnant women and NO to anyone who wants to use any form of contraception other than the rhythm method

Old Joke:

Q. What do you call people who use the rhythm method of contraception?

A. Parents

Just get used to NO. If the Republicans gain control of even one house of Congress, NO is what we will have voted for.

And wait: Anthony Fauci is a murderer?

Just to be clear, having been a Green Beret doesn’t make Kent a congressional or budgetary genius or an expert on the price that is paid when the G.O.P. shuts down the government – AGAIN! – basically giving the finger to all 330 million of us.

But he’s right about one thing: Blathering this angry, baseless, stupid stuff in red and red-leaning areas, then being Jim-Jordan-Marjorie-Taylor-Green inflammatory is the way to get and stay elected. But that leaves us with having to deal with the Trump manipulation contrivance:

They spew a continuous fire hose of reality-free absurdity (commonly called bullshit) at a pace that prevents factual refutation – like the Kent idiocy listed above. Besides, their inflammatory lunacy appeals to voters driven by victim-hood.

So, how does one campaign against these Loony Tunes cartoon candidates? How can a reality-based candidate engage with voters poisoned by hateful G.O.P. fantasies? How can you even have a conversation or debate with people who believe the unreal and who wear a chip on their shoulder as though it’s a badge of honor?

These are the people vying to take control of our school boards, our library boards and our local, state and federal governments. They want to subjugate the rest of us in their puritanical, totalitarian horror show. That’s what’s at stake in the November midterm election and in every election for the next “who knows how many?” years. This is no sprint. This is a marathon of colossal duration and monumental consequences and we must win every race or everything you hold dear will be lost.

————————————

Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
.
Fire the bastards!
.
The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take a lot of us to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
  5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town vibrant.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

 Scroll to top