This child, DeVaughn Davis, is one of 3,450 homeless children attending public school in Detroit.  His mother is out every day looking for a job and some place for them to stay.  But, for now, she gets $480/month on public assistance and is trying to save for a deposit on an apartment.

But, for now, she is forced to try to keep her family together by moving from homeless shelter to homeless shelter every few weeks.  These moves also mean new schools for DeVaughn and his sister, Cherish.

In the state of Michigan, some 20,000 homeless students join their struggle.  Who knows just how many homeless children their are that don’t attend school.  I shudder to think of what their circumstances lead them to do to survive.

In America, we can find money to build “bridges to nowhere” or fight wars with no end but, we it comes to helping out Americans, our concerns wane.  It is my hope that the DeVaughns of this world make it, despite their circumstances but, the fact is, too many won’t.

Popularity: 9% [?]

I’ll go on the record again to say that I don’t think abstinence-only education works.  I actually advocate something that I call “abstinence-preferred” education, meaning that it is okay to tell kids that the safest thing for them is to delay sex but, then to give them the information they need to protect themselves should the urges overtake them.

Now, with a report coming out of Florida, advocates for comprehensive sex education have plenty of ammunition for their arguments.

Florida currently offers abstinence-only education in schools and still has the 6th-highest pregnancy rate in the country.

But, here’s one of the most disturbing concerns about Florida teens.  A recent survey showed that some believed that drinking a capful of bleach could prevent HIV/AIDS and that drinking a Mountain Dew would prevent pregnancy.

This was part of a compelling case that Florida lawmakers used to propose a bill to create a more comprehensive sex education program, one that would still teach that the only certain way to prevent pregnancy and STDs is to abstain but, would also teach about birth control and disease prevention.

I hope that this passes because ignorance could literally cost kids their lives.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Just in time for Christmas, George Bush again proves that, while wasting hundreds of billions in Iraq, he thinks that spending money helping kids at home is too expensive:

The Bush administration yesterday eliminated about $700 million a year in Medicaid reimbursements to schools, sidestepping an attempt by Congress to block such a move.

The new rule, issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is expected to save the federal government $3.6 billion over five years, transferring those costs to school districts.

Lawmakers this week passed legislation to place a six-month moratorium on Medicaid implementing the rule change, but President Bush had not signed the bill.

A wide range of medical services, such as speech and physical therapy, are furnished to students in schools. Medicaid, the government’s health insurance program for the poor, will continue to pay for those services for low-income children.
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But the new rule will restrict when schools can bill the federal government for clerical work associated with providing health care. For example, schools can no longer expect Medicaid reimbursement for planning student immunizations. Schools also will not get paid for transporting students getting speech or physical therapy to school or back home.

So, while Republicans bemoan the fake “war on Christmas” and claim that people are forgetting the meaning of the holiday, here’s a prime example of what the holiday is not about and smacks of the very antithesis of what Jesus was about.

So much for good will toward men or, in this case, children.

Popularity: 28% [?]

One thing that the Bush era brought us was a big push for government-funded abstinence-only education. Ironically enough, what we also saw was a rise in teen pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases. You see, some kids, not wanting to be caught buying condoms (or just not knowing how to use them properly), still wanted to have sex, resulting in pregnancy. Even worse, some kids were left to believe that oral and anal sex were real sex so, they engaged in these activities and contracted venereal diseases.

Now that the numbers are more clear on this, a lot of states are waking up and either opting out of the funding or saying they’ll take the money but teach abstinence as a part a more comprehensive sex education program. They see the numbers and it’s clear — teaching abstinence only and kids abstaining do not appear to go hand-in-hand.

But, guess what — when kids are given more information, not less, they tend to delay engaging in sexual intercourse. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which tracked these statistics, helped kids under the age of 15 make much better decisions regarding sex:

Earlier last month, a study lead by Douglas Kirby of the ETR Associates revealed that two thirds of 48 comprehensive sex education programs have had a good impact on teenagers. They delayed the initiation of sex, reduced its frequency and the number of sexual partners.

“Two-thirds of the 48 comprehensive programs that supported both abstinence and the use of condoms and contraceptives for sexually active teens had positive behavior effect,” said the report.

On the other hand, other studies made in November as well, have said that these abstinence programs have little effect on the teenage sexual behavior, because, as the report discovered, 47 percent of high school students have engaged in sex at least once and 63 percent have said that they have sex during the spring semester of their senior year.

This time, researchers found that teenage boys who had sex education in school were 71 percent less likely to have intercourse before age 15 and girls who had formal sex education were 59 percent less likely to have sex before the age 15. The researchers also discovered that sex education reduced by 91 percent the risk that African-American females in school would have sex before age 15.

Like I tell people when asked about my opinions on sexual education — I plan on telling my son everything I can in an age-appropriate way. I plan on telling him what my mother told me –my preference is that he abstain but, if he gives in to temptation, I want him to make sure that he uses protection because pregnancy and disease are real possibilities. I plan on doing so because I love my son so much that I am willing to be real with him on the issue of sex.

Popularity: 34% [?]

I’ll tell you straight-up, — and you can call me what you want — every black man is not my brother. If you hurt women and/or children, I don’t claim you.

Kelvin “Bird” Tillie, in no uncertain terms, is a coward, bully and no brother of mine.

Alexis Goggins is a 7-year-old first grader in Detroit and, in my heart and mind, a hero. Her mother, Selietha Parker, had broken up with Tillie six months ago. However, I wish she would have had better taste in men. This four-time felon couldn’t handle rejection so, on a night when Parker had to call a girlfriend to pick her and her child up when their heat went out, Tillie lay in wait for her outside of her house. At gunpoint, he kidnaps the two women and the child.

They stop at a gas station where Tillie forces the driver to get gas. The driver, Aisha Ford, calls 911 (who first hangs up on her then, during her second calls, tells her they have no units to send). Ford stalls for time, waiting for police to arrive and then tells Tillie that the $5 he gave her for gas would not be enough and goes back into the station to purchase more gas. The attendant sees that she is distraught and Ford informs him of what is happening. The attendant calls 911 and, as he is calling, shots are fired inside the vehicle.

The mother is shot in the head and arm and, before he could shoot again, Alexis puts her body between the mother and the shooter, begging him not to shoot her mother. Without hesitation, Tillie shoots the 7-year-old girl six times. Police finally arrived and arrested Tillie at the scene. He is facing charges of “kidnapping, assault with intent to murder, child abuse, felony firearms and habitual criminal charges.”

Alexis was taken to Detroit’s Children’s Hospital with wounds to her eye, left temple, chin, cheek, chest and right arm. She was in critical condition but expected to survive.

Needless to say, I have strong feelings about what should happen to Tillie but, as a responsible adult, I’ll save those for private converation.

Popularity: 31% [?]

My wife was sharing with me a story about somebody we know and was telling me how this person is asking that all the gifts that people give her child not be made in China. Given the volume of items made in China, that is an awesome challenge. My wife conveyed to me that she thought the request was kind of funny but, personally, I agree with this mother.

As I have posted here before, just because our government won’t acknowledge it, toy safety is a big concern. In recent news, we have seen story after story about toys manufactured in China containing lead paint. I even heard about a kids C.S.I. game that contained asbestos. As a parent, this bothers me greatly. A kid could inhale something or accidentally consume paint chips and, over time, develop some serious problems.

Recently, tests on more than 1,200 childrens’ products yielded some horrifying results. Researchers from 9 states, along with the national Center for Health, Environment and Justice encountered the following:

Tests on more than 1,200 children’s products, most of them still on store shelves, found that 35 percent contain lead — many with levels far above the federal recall standard used for lead paint.

A Hannah Montana card game case, a Go Diego Go! backpack and Circo brand shoes were among the items with excessive lead levels in the tests performed by a coalition of environmental health groups across the country.

Only 20 percent of the toys and other products had no trace of lead or harmful chemicals…

…Easthope said 17 percent of the children’s products tested had levels of lead above the 600 parts per million federal standard that would trigger a recall of lead paint. Jewelry products were the most likely to contain the high levels of lead, the center said, with 33.5 percent containing levels above 600 ppm. Among the toys that tested above that limit was a Hannah Montana Pop Star Card Game, whose case tested at 3,056 ppm.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a level of 40 ppm of lead as the maximum that should be allowed in children’s products. Lead poisoning can cause irreversible learning disabilities and behavioral problems and, at very high levels, seizures, coma, and even death.

This is something to think about as we purchase toys for our little ones this year.

UPDATE: You can find more information at www.healthytoys.org. Right now, the site seems to be experiencing high traffic so, you may not get in right away.

Popularity: 26% [?]