Current Trends by Natasha Sapp

When Mike Huckabee entered the 2016 presidential race political pundits, avid political watchers knew two things, other candidates hoping for a shot at the Whitehouse were in trouble and observers were in for some good entertainment before the GOP field solidified closer to the actual election. Now, political observers, fellow rivals in the republican race see an opening and casual, on looking members of the public wish it was simply good entertainment; however, Huckabee’s latest commentary takes him from likable conservative with a viable chance of winning the GOP nomination this time around to worse than jaw dropping conservative idiot, old fuddy-duddy unprepared to be president, a-la Herman Cain, to the all too common conservative hypocrite we love to poke fun at, become increasingly disgusted with. You know the ones who are always preaching family values, pointing to their wholesome marriages, then caught on tape making out with someone not their wife. Conservatives speaking out against unmarried couples having sex, cohabitating, creating children when it comes to talking about welfare dollars syphoned from tax payers, who are, by the next news cycle, landing in court on corruption charges, ethics violations pertaining to lobbying, gifts possibly exchanged for political favors, Aaron Schock anyone? Concerning Huckabee specifically, this is the man who went on an absolute tirade explaining why liberals didn’t make any sense, he couldn’t possibly work with them because of their nonsensical viewpoints, including opposing bans on abortion at the 5th month, daring to call abortion women’s health, him arguing he would think it bad for little women’s health, referencing aborted girl babies; apparently forgetting how many women die, in the U.S. alone, during childbirth, due to pregnancy complications. While liberals protest pain for whales, dolphins, doing so naked to oppose wearing fur, decades old environmentalist campaigns largely stopped, began to prevent species extinction for an outfit, suffering to cute little things with faces for better cosmetics, imagine that; he also couldn’t reconcile the liberal stance on the unborn with advocating against torture for terrorists, execution for convicted, violent criminals. Chiefly rapists and murderers, because liberals dared suggest suspending the death penalty until proving the people there were actually indeed guilty, see the negatives of waterboarding Gitmo detainees who never knew anything to begin with and denouncing, hardly better than our enemies, abuse like what was done at Abu Ghraib. Here’s the man who declared he didn’t want to be in a liberals bedroom, but if anything happened in that bedroom they didn’t like, they wanted the government to come in and clean it up, because women dared to ask, fight for employer offered, premium paid insurance that covered all facets of women’s reproductive care abortion and all legal, to market birth control methods. Huckabee announcing under liberal doctrine 6 year olds could have the morning after pill, yet at 26 a girl still needs her parents’ health insurance. At 14 you can have an abortion sans parental consent but not a 16 oz. soda or salt shaker, forgetting the former was an admitted to mistake by school nurses not a law, 26-year-old’s need their parents health insurance thanks to conservative policies that make getting a job, never mind one with benefits, so hard, abortions without parental consent are done to protect young people from angry parents, some conservative, who might hurt them upon finding out about their teen pregnancy and food bans, no matter who came up with them, remain unsuccessful. Relaying the story of a 13 year old raped by a 17 year old and a Planned Parenthood worker blaming the crime on a lack of sex ed.; finalizing his comments with a would be joke about not being able to fix stupid. The same former Fox News personality that denigrated Natalie Portman for showing up to the Oscars pregnant, and gasp, being happy about her impending motherhood, more than ignoring Bristol Palin’s teen pregnancy, but seeming to confuse financially stable, career successful Portman with the cast of 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom. Whose latest book criticized Mr. and Mrs. Obama for letting their girls listen to Beyoncé calling her music poison, even going so far as to say, after seeing her and husband Jay Z at a performance event, he pimped her out, i.e. to the audience based on her risqué clothing and dance moves. Only to come out recently in defense of Josh Duggar; that’s right in the wake of allegations the 19 Kids and Counting star, and oldest son of power parents Michelle and Jim Bob, molested at least 5 girls, some his own sisters, from the age of 14 lasting roughly 2 years before going to a dubious Christian “treatment program,” knowing there was a police report, where In Touch magazine got their several page feature, candidate Huckabee released a statement saying, in part; good people make mistakes, do regrettable, even disgusting things calling it a “youthful discretion.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLHjMYVJzps

Agreed when a family that doesn’t allow T.V., maintains home schooling, doesn’t believe in dancing, women and girls wearing pants, insists on elaborate courtship rituals encompassing not being left alone with the male you are dating, no kissing until your wedding day, and not even hugging this person completely, engaging in these ridiculous ‘side hugs’ until engagement, forget that other activity teens, college age persons are notorious for getting up to, and one of them comes out admitting to sexual molestation, you wonder what exactly, if anything illegal, they did. I myself pondered if Huckabee might be onto something, if what the Duggars called molestation, how Josh characterized his actions, was perhaps, 2 teenagers caught having sex, 2 teenagers caught fooling around touching each other out of genuine curiosity, normal teen exploration, in  the midst of roughhousing with younger siblings accidentally touched them “inappropriately” through their clothes,  caring for younger siblings, a must in the busy Duggar household, and in the midst of helping them after going potty to right their clothing, out of the bathtub came into benign contact with their genitals. After all there was the Dateline case almost as old, or older, than when this reportedly happened where a woman’s 11 year old daughter was labeled a child molester after finding 2 of the daycare’s toddler children with their pants down, looking at each other reminiscent of that cartoon you see on coffee cups, t-shirts and comic strips where a boy and a girl are talking and the boy says “no you can’t see it you broke yours off already;” having been around a daycare probably all her life, knowing this was typical toddler curiosity she did the right thing in pulling each child’s pants up, when she pulled the boys pants up, his penis touched her on the arm. Again she did the right thing in immediately informing her mother, her mother in turn informing each child’s parents of the incident including the contact between the boy and her daughter, only for the boy’s parents to alert police. So I was a bit skeptical like people throughout the public; that is until perusing the police report, recognizing those he is accused of abusing include his own sisters, listening to reports from someone who attempted to do the math determining those he is alleged of abusing were between 5-10 years old, intentionally touching both breasts and genitals while sleeping, going into his sisters room at night pulling back blankets to touch said areas, possibly molesting a babysitter asleep on the couch. Clearly not things you would classify under the heading of teenage mistakes; further Josh Duggar freely admits to “acting inexcusably” as a teen, openly uses the word molestation, going on to say he hurt others, his family and friends. Likewise he has resigned from his position at the Family Research Council in the wake of recent revelations, but still, to this day doesn’t seem to understand the gravity of what he’s done, the lasting impact it has undoubtedly had on his victims; he’s under the impression because he spoke with a state trooper about his actions, received a stern talking to and was sent away from his family for 3 months either to a dubious faith based treatment program or another family to do hard manual labor related to a home remodel, depending on the news report you read, he has sufficiently paid for his crime and therefore all should be forgiven and forgotten. Thoughts plainly implied though he spent no time in a juvenile facility, never mind adult jail, has no criminal record, was never, to public, investigative journalists knowledge, evaluated, reevaluated after whatever brand of treatment he received to gage his likelihood to reoffend, to determine what psychological issues were present, if they were adequately dealt with. He doesn’t grasp that any and all of the above should have happened as part of our justice system; he doesn’t even comprehend this isn’t something normal, healthy, sane people do in their youth that can be explained away by that excuse, his statements regarding what he did often sound rehearsed or similar to a career politician hoping an apology makes everything ok, this man involved in politics, pounding the values pulpit. One thing you learn past the age of 5, past elementary school is sometimes saying you’re sorry doesn’t cut it, just saying your sorry isn’t enough. Compounding the horror unfolding for the reality stars, under which you come to realize is a real family, containing real people, real children is the fact that Josh has a wife, Ana, they have 3 children, one on the way. One of those 3 already a girl and it is rumored the 4th will be too; what if Josh hasn’t conquered his demons, evidence of how this entire situation was handled, or not handled making that an even more prevalent possibility, what if  he ends up molesting his own children, god forbid, what if he already has? And still Mike Huckabee defends him, and still Mick Huckabee couches his heinous sex offence in the same category as stealing candy, common vandalism, beating up a school classmate over a girl, recreational drug experimentation, getting drunk, things that just don’t compare, while TLC pulled all scheduled airings of the show and all reruns off the air; telling when the media can get it right before the Christian, wholesome, family values candidate wishing to be president.

Others might be inclined to believe Huckabee’s comments are aimed at the parents, parents who aren’t always responsible for the deplorable actions of their children, can raise them in stable, loving, disciplined homes where there were consequences for bad behavior, discouragements of entitled attitudes and a genuine attempt to make decent, moral human beings, and they still become mass shooters, serial killers and yes, child molesters; except in this case, independent of if they are part of the quiver full movement, cult ascribing to procreate, procreate until you can’t procreate anymore, or not, whether you find their religious views extreme or not,  no one, apart from the victims, is innocent. Family patriarch Jim Bob apparently knew for a whole year before contacting anyone, and only after a second incident between Josh and a younger minor did he go to, not police, rather his church elders who suggested a known, legitimate, accredited treatment program, to which he balked fearing his son would be exposed to hard core offenders guilty of far more serious crimes, feeing the offered program did not fit his offence. Instead he was sent to either a family friend for hard manual labor or to a faith healing center run by a man later charged with harassing and abusing teen girls. When Jim Bob Duggar did tell someone representing legal authority, he told a state trooper, who was also a family friend, who subsequently did not file appropriate reports, begin mandated investigations, appearing to have dropped the whole thing post lecturing Josh; a state trooper incidentally currently serving a half century plus prison sentence for child pornography, criminal record containing a history of possessing explicit material involving a child. At the very least Jim Bob Duggar needs to pick better friends, be more careful about who he allows around his family. How police eventually found out, finally launched their own, correct department investigation, not to mention when, serves to heap additional condemnation on the Duggar adults, their handling of a decidedly serious situation; sources say a Duggar adult family member wrote a letter about the goings on, placed it in a book, literally years later the book was loaned to a third party. That third party then alerted the Oprah Winfrey Show, where the Duggars’ were scheduled to appear, expressing concern and embarrassment should they be allowed to be on; Harpo Studios staff, after viewing the letter contents, then called the relevant child abuse, human services hotline. Timeline 2006, a full 3.5 years after the first incident Jim Bob admits to knowing about; during their investigation, the origins of the only police report ever filed, the Duggars’ refused to cooperate, dad refusing to bring Josh to the police station but agreeing to talk with authorities, explaining what they knew, particular actions described amounting to felonies. Redactions, obviously done to protect the identities of minors involved, the victimized making it hard at points to tell if they are speaking with James (Jim Bob) Duggar or the younger minor son also having the first name James, multiplying the convoluted nature of this case. Unfortunately for justice, the victims, ultimately larger society and all too convenient for Josh, the clean Duggar family image, due to the delay in proper authority notification, the statute of limitations was up so no charges were filed, no state evaluation mandated, no treatment mandatory for either Josh or his victims. Consecutively adding to the smell of a purposeful and intended cover up is the understanding that that police report is slated to be, already has been destroyed, when those records are usually kept indefinitely; sadder is, the destruction was at the behest of one of the victims’ families, made on behalf of their minor child who wants their identity protected, an identity that may already be compromised, easily guested by frequent watchers of the show, followers of interesting, behind the scenes Duggar family facts.  Next if what’s described is the treatment he got, we can imagine the treatment, simple comfort his victims, especially the sisters, members of his own family received from their own parents, focus on forgiveness not punishment for his crime, not expression, resolution of conflicted feelings, evolving conflicted feelings as they got older. Worse, if it could possibly get worse, and story investigators believe it did, there was no alert given to non-family members of small children about Josh’s history, an attempt to keep him separated from friend’s young children accounting for what he had done.  These are the parents hopeful future president Huckabee praises, people who try to sweep under the rug child abuse carried out by members of their “wholesome” family simultaneously blasting Beyoncé, parents who allow their children to listen to a strong, confident black woman who can definitely sing? Had he not his own history allegedly covering for a child, using his status as governor, threats and so forth to keep police from charging his son over a dog he purportedly tortured and killed at a boy scout camp, son later fired from the camp for his action, also deeming his behavior “youthful discretion,” citizens might be more inclined to get on the Huckabee bandwagon, stopping to listen to his viewpoint before dismissing it out of hand. As it is, it’s just more religious, conservative hypocrisy serving to hurt the most vulnerable. And these, these are the ethics, the morals, the character traits we want in the next leader of the free world, the resounding echo being, I don’t think so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRNBzZLBt6c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jsE-bndXE4

Of course we anticipate parents standing by, supporting their children even when they have done something horribly wrong, of course they are sending out positive messages linking arm in arm, if you will, with their brother, son especially scripted statements released to media, composed for Facebook, Twitter. It is the inevitable reaction had by families facing these kinds of issues, being under a microscope; unpopular though it is today, seeing a culture of caricaturized indulgent parents making excuses, never believing there should be consequences, or such is the picture painted by just such religious people wishing to take us back to a time warp circa 1950, support via parents, family shouldn’t mean covering up your child’s crimes. Jim Bob should have immediately reported his son’s actions to local police; were he unsure as to what exactly his son had truly done, he should have pressed him for more details or immediately sought counseling for his obviously deeply troubled child, going from there based on what therapy revealed. Mr. Duggars fears regarding the treatment program suggested by his church elders aren’t totally illegitimate, to be completely dismissed, especially understanding the nature of sex offenses, the propensity for all criminality to escalate, people who go into jail/prison for one crime and come out with a host of negative “skills;” where he failed is in not substituting their recommendation with an individual counselor specializing in minors who commit sex offenses, minor sex offenders between ages X and Y. Surely if he had the money, the access to legal counsel to threaten police with a lawyer in 2006, use legal maneuvering in order for Josh to avoid questioning when they insisted on interviewing him, he had the money, connection means to find him a proper counselor over the unorthodox, potentially ineffective treatment he chose. Leading us again to the politics of it all; it is entirely different for a third party to look at the facts and think the outcome is ok, to not notice what Chris Hayes and his guest LGBT advocate Dan Savage highlighted, not just their outspoken opposition to homosexuality, throwing their support behind concepts meant to treat them less and less like human beings, quickly sidestepping the long held, accurate Christian maxim, god hates the sin not the sinner, a Duggar daughter comparing it to the Holocaust. But their local opposition to protection for transgender people, transgender defined as, persons who believe they were born in the wrong body, feel they are male when their outward genitalia is female, feel they are female when their outward genitalia is male. Their hang up, bathrooms for transgender persons based on a perceived threat to little girls, equating what they might see if transgender people use the bathroom that matches their internal, mental gender rather than their physical one, in other words the idea they might see a trans-women’s penis, yet to have so called bottom surgery, turning their penis into a vagina, oh the horror with the actions of a sexual predator, when one has nothing to do with the other. Nor is it something they haven’t seen at home with all those brothers, accidentally walked in on dad in the shower causing most of us to say, come on people. The Christian religious propensity to couch rape, incest, sexual abuse as this Bogeyman, social outlier, immoral other rather than the statistical, factual reality it is often someone you know, members of one’s own family, a family friend, a priest, a doctor, other authority figure. Comments Michelle Duggar made, support she lent fully aware of what her son had done; Michelle Duggar who arguably has to be the worst female role model letting the man of the house, her husband handle things and so abysmally, allowing him to only talk to the church, the family friend state trooper, who now claims Jim Bob lied about the number of times his son molested children, one reason the trooper let it go, thinking it was one time. Michelle Duggar who did not go to police herself, continues to support her molesting son in such a way that demonstrates little sympathy, understanding for her abused daughters, the other abused girls perpetuating, right beside her husband forgiveness aka forgetting about it, as long as he doesn’t do it again instead of processing, dealing with the complex feelings coming from them, instilling the idea no one should ever do this to you and if they do, here is what you should do, here is what should happen. Michelle Duggar who remains beside the surprise, surprise hypocrite Jim Bob who said during his U.S. senate bid 2002 rape and incest should be a capital offense punishable by death, stances posted on the Duggar campaign website a mere 2 months after Josh disclosed his “sin” to his parents, turning around to do the exact opposite when it involved his immediate family. Assumed is he was speaking about adult sex offenders, of age and fully cognizant of their actions; still, it represents a complete departure from what he said he stood for, what he believes should happen to sex offenders, awkward.  And then she, they put their children on TV;  Hayes and Savage both asking how they could do that knowing their oldest son’s actions, knowingly placing that much pressure on the older children, the abused who also knew, certainly telling them not to talk about, mention it.  Too, many have long classified the Duggars under the term cult, recent stories serving to solidify that connotation, meaning Jim Bob’s response is on par for a cult practitioner; it is entirely different for an independent 3rd party, certainly a political candidate, who has little more than shook hands with them to defend them so vehemently. Knowing the Duggars and former governor turned presidential contender Huckabee are from the same state, Arkansas, a southern state, said states carrying a reputation for old school, patriarchal cronyism, backwards mentalities on civil rights, women’s rights, more recently marriage equality rights, a stereotyped reputation for incestuous, inbred behaviors, intermingled with both the Duggars extreme “Christian” beliefs and Huckabee’s continued support of biblical faith in America only increases the creepy element exponentially.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5Ep-MD2jiQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yp6IvxGYXQ

Granted we might have a modicum more sympathy for Josh if he had grown up in a no chance home with abusive, neglectful, never there, parents, a victim poverty, urban blight, failing schools and a society that ceased to care about him either because of his minority ethnicity, his street address or because he was just another statistic. We might have a modicum more gentle understanding for him, the Duggar parents’ pleas for “love, respect and privacy” if he was a once victim of sexual abuse experts speculate he might have been, had they thus handled it correctly getting him help, doing what they could to ensure prosecution of the perpetrator, had they afforded the Duggar daughters the same opportunity for identical love, respect and privacy. Except there is no evidence, admission of abuse, no evidence either parent has a better grasp on the deplorable magnitude of his actions than the utterly clueless and unsympathetic Josh; on the contrary, we can surmise he grew up in a loving, stable home, arguing he received more care and attention than later children because his formative years go back to the days when they had 1, 2, 5 kids not 10-15 or their whopping total 19. And yes when addressing criminality of minors, even criminally involving sexual offenses, the focus should unequivocally be rehabilitation, reintegration into society if at all possible, yet Josh was denied true rehabilitation, a true chance to confront and resolve his issues, talk about, expose, potentially prosecute any similar abuse, abuser he suffered giving him the compulsion to do it to others. Instead his parents’ chosen method of resolving the “problem” gives him the idea yes, it was wrong, but you were young so it doesn’t matter, you were given a talking to, no further need to discuss it, it’s a normal youthful mistake and a lecture wraps everything up; rather than the blunt truth, it is completely abnormal, a sign of serious mental disturbance and won’t go away on its own. Instead father Jim Bob clearly has several friends, loosely formed acquaintances guilty of various kinds of sexual misconduct, and here is whom he enlists to set his already wayward son straight about appropriate and inappropriate sexual behavior, reinforcing the idea oh it’s just a mistake, something bad young people sometimes go through and they learn. Obviously there is the matter of who knew what and when, but you never, as a parent, felt something off about these people, for someone proclaiming to be so close to god, you never prayed about it, got the inkling you should stay away, keep your kids away from these 2 particular people? Speaking of which, where were the others who knew, namely the church, the church elders who had the wherewithal to suggest a proper treatment program, advised Jim Bob to go to authorities; you didn’t think it odd he remained in the Duggar family home, was only “treated” for 3 months, he was never remanded to a juvenile facility, they never followed up to make sure Jim Bob spoke with authorities, in light of his refusing their preferred treatment program, they didn’t question getting an attorney in 2006, the attorney’s moves that kept him from talking to police? Moreover why is there an unrelated Texas pastor’s wife relegating what Josh did to 2 kids ‘playing doctor,’ instead of calling it the, not only immoral but wholly illegal, prosecutable by law, in select instances based on his admissions, felony grade activity it is? Playing doctor by the way behavior you usually see in toddler children no older than 6; accounting to for the repressive environment, she might have a point if it were 2 same age, similar age teenagers, unrelated teenagers doing it, but all Josh’s victims were significantly younger than he was, actions perpetrated against them either without their permission while sleeping or through coercion downplaying what he was actually doing. Her comments only slightly more crass than candidate Mike Huckabee’s; this from the party of rape, as opponents have come to call it, where if you are a victim of rape, incest you shouldn’t have an abortion, be able to legally get one because that life is sacred, where representatives like Todd Akin, clinging to their pro-life, never a need for an abortion stance, honestly believe women have a mystical physiological, biological power to prevent pregnancy during rape, and if that didn’t happen, it wasn’t ‘legitimate rape,’ meaning the woman lied to save her reputation about having a boyfriend, being sexually active, how many sexual partners she’s had.  And who was defending him, another controversial figure former child star turned Christian evangelical Kirk Cameron hailing him a good man, repeating the mantra used by Huckabee characterizing Josh Duggar despite his admitted actions; anyone else see a pattern, quite a sick and disturbing one?  Dovetailing into comments echoing the following, “It’s an uncomfortable thing to think about but I strongly suspect that “past teenage mistakes” includes molesting younger children a lot more often when the teenagers in question are taught nothing about sexuality, nothing about the changes and feelings that they are experiencing as adolescents in puberty, and nothing about boundaries, consent, and respect for the bodily autonomy of others. I’m not saying that Josh Duggar is totally off the hook for what he did. No doubt, there are plenty of teenage boys who grew up in similar circumstances who did not molest kids. But the whole culture just seems like a set-up for kids to hurt others and get hurt to me. I hold the adults responsible for creating it as responsible as I hold Josh.”

To that end we don’t have a “rape culture” in America; we have a sexually ignorant culture fueled by religious persons, political conservatives, who have for decades swallowed the religious spread dogma- the more you teach children about their bodies, about sex, about reproduction, the more they will want to have sex want to, end up getting pregnant. We have a consent ignorant culture spanning across the generations who still believe rape only happens, largely happens thanks to some stranger in a ski mask jumping out to attack women, something that happens to people from the wrong side of the tracks, persons of low moral character, putting themselves in risky situations, including going to a bar, wearing one person’s interpretation of skimpy clothing, so if I keep my kids sheltered from the over sexualized society, on the good and moral track, keep them “covered up” I have nothing to worry about and neither do they. Sexual abuse, as referenced previously, is something done by amoral, immoral Bogeymen homosexuals, bisexuals, trans-genders, societies somehow other; again as long as I keep my kids away from “those” people, teach them to steer clear, they are safe. In fact why tell them about such worldly horrors at all, odds are it won’t happen to them, not in our neighborhood, not in our socio-economic strata, not in our community, with our faith, ties to the church; such is the mentality. Younger people, predominately males, believe as long as they didn’t drop a drug into a girls drink, force, cajole her to drink alcohol prior to sex, usually had at, after a party, any opportunistic sex had there is perfectly ok, no matter if the girl is unconscious, in any shape, i.e. too drunk to so much as know where she is, much less consent to sex. False, supposed common knowledge statements, concepts running counter to research, statistical data showing time and time again the more you teach young people about their bodies, the bodies of the opposite sex, the more information they have about sexual activity, the potential for disease, reproduction, the later they wait to have sex, the less likely they are to become teen parents. False, supposed common knowledge rooted mindsets that have led to conservatives, religious persons serving in offices for local municipalities, present on school boards, PTA’s exc. to be so paranoid regarding kids actually learning the facts about sex, comprehensive sex education has all but been done away with replaced by religious tinged public speakers like Pam Stenzel shaming kids who have ever had sex excluding exemptions for those who were abused, have already been raped by a boyfriend, someone in their young lives, asserting mothers who put their daughters on birth control must hate them, rather than logically discussing it as a positive step for someone who is sexually active seeking to protect themselves or its alternative use in just treating their acne, making up and manipulating facts on STD’s/STI’s, infertility to suit her argument. Paranoia so pervasive it isn’t enough to go on a sex education witch hunt clamming comprehensive sex ed. means children will be taught to masturbate in class, advanced anal play, rather being taught masturbation is normal and healthy as opposed to immoral, selfish and akin to adultery, they understand anal and oral sex constitutes sex, is still capable of transmitting disease, with the positive side note of preventing unwanted touch, sexual contact; they now want, have succeeded in hampering students’ ability to delve further into the sciences, hampered their aspirations beyond high school by significantly scaling back anatomy and physiology, even biology taught to them in an effort to curtail information about sex. False, narrow perceptions of what constitutes rape removing date/acquaintance rape, marital/spousal rape from the conservative, religious vocabulary, no matter the statistics showing how often women are violated by someone they know, current or former boyfriend, an ex-husband, a coworker at work; their far off views on sexual abuse belying how many times children are likewise abused by someone they know, members of their own family father, uncle brother, family friend, pastor, priest, trusted coach, teacher, charismatic neighbor. Paranoia and  wrong-headed thinking Mike Huckabee not only supports championing abstinence only sex education and state controlled school standards over federal ones, but in his staunch backing of apparent pedophile Josh Duggar. Proving it isn’t just the ATI homeschooling “cult” that’s bad, homeschooling in general, religious isolation making it easier to be abused but exactly what the commenter ending the last paragraph said, a complete lack of proper information.

I find it interesting the whole country was up in arms about Steubenville, the sob story originally created by the media for the 2 young men accused of finger-raping an unconscious girl at a party, the idea they were charged in juvenile court rather than tried and convicted as adults, how little time the lesser offender served under the juvenile system, young men Mike Huckabee either would have supported pointing to their promising young lives ruined or denigrated the girl for her ‘barely there’ outfit or blasting the case because one of the young men was African American, doubtlessly calling it the savagery of young people raised without morals, god, commenting on a story involving all 3 teens who were drunk, a girl who had a history of drinking hard liquor leading to the uncertainty of knowing exactly what happened to her and a lot of he said she said spearheaded by her mother. Yet concerning Josh Duggar plenty are shocked, still it’s almost as if they saw it coming, there is far less the rage, and Mike Huckabee, where there is a police report, an admission not only to sex, to specific actions, but to misconduct, to guilt, he is saying leave the boy, now a man, alone. The guy who believes the latest worst thing in the world is “trashy” women in New York who curse, who sit around in board meetings with African Americans, translation what are all these women and coloreds doing here in a board room, management position in the first place, throwing reported F-bombs back and forth saying it was a different planet. He means a planet of course where educated, enlightened late 20th and 21st century people comprehend the difference between abortion and birth control, where to market contraceptives around for decades are not suddenly all abortifacient, where there should be no religious exemption for employer provided health insurance covering things religious, uptight business owners don’t believe in [umm contraception] because employers are still paying premiums and it’s the cost of doing business, to say nothing of available doesn’t mean forced to use. He means of course a planet where both civil rights and women’s rights have come to pass, the women’s movement even meaning women  can wear pants to work, join the military, hold whatever job they damn well please and social cursing bans went out with the 60’s. Translation the women, the blacks, other minorities and the ‘foul language’ is here to stay; get used to it. Here is where Huckabee’s focus is, but TV is bad, wearing pants is bad, dancing, despite the biblical passage dance unto the lord, is bad, hugging your date is bad, kissing a person you like/love is bad, public school is bad, private, anything but homeschooling is bad, sex education is bad, according to some faiths blood transfusions, celebrating birthdays and caffeine are all bad; molesting kids, perfectly ok. Mike Huckabee for president, a resounding, NO!

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