Suffer the children

by Richard Nelson

One of my favorite shows when I growing up was The Wonder Years. Its about an endearing kid and his friends entering adolescence and trying to figure out life in the late 1960’s. Kids are still trying to make sense of things these days including their school experience which, if its anything like in the show, can be confusing. Notably, Ben Stein plays a science teacher whose monotone lectures make kids think of anything but science.

It’s even tougher to be a kid these days, mostly because of what young people are being taught about life and their sexuality. If only it were a problem of boredom where Ben Stein-like characters drone on about the birds and the bees, but that’s not the case. Kids today are increasingly being swept into the cultural whirlwind of sexual anarchy where too many adults have lost their moral bearings.

Case in point: Dr. Norman Spack, a pediatric endocrinologist at Boston Children's Hospital. Last year, Spack opened a clinic for preadolescent children convinced they are transgendered. As part of his treatment, Spack administers hormone-blocking drugs that delay the onset of puberty-- the first step necessary for a sex-change operation when they are older. Spack told the Boston Globe last March, “All I know is that when I see preadolescents, they have been dressing in the underwear of the other sex for years. These kids are almost certainly transgendered. They're a unique population of patients.”

Sorry Dr. Spack, but who is the adult here? When little Johnny comes in for a checkup wearing a dress and women’s jewelry, has it ever occurred to anybody, including his parents, that he should be told to wear pants and stop playing with Barbies? Kids are confused today. We get that. But most preadolescents can’t decide yet if they want to be human. So why in the world would they be allowed to make such permanent life-changing decisions?

The shipwreck perpetrated on young people by Spack is so beyond what Kevin Arnold faced in The Wonder Years. It’s beyond what any generation ever had to face. Our modern culture, which is well on the way to approving transgender rights, bears quite a bit of the responsibility. When society embraces the idea that sexual identity is as interchangeable as a nine-volt battery, we shouldn’t be so shocked that 11 and 12 year old boys want to dress in girls underwear. After all, if adults can do it, why can’t they?

About a decade ago, a real effort was made to teach school children that sexual abstinence is best until marriage. The idea, which has been implemented in schools all across Kentucky, is now being viciously attacked by groups like Planned Parenthood who believe abstinence education is more dangerous than giving ninth and tenth graders condoms and birth control pills. One affiliate recently launched a website called www.takecaredownthere.org. which targets middle school and high school students with provocative and vulgar messages about sex.

When kids aren’t being taught how to engage in sexual disorders, they’re being employed in causes that promote them. Earlier this year, California’s Gay-Straight Alliance Network (GSA) rallied middle and high school students to support gay marriage during the so called Freedom to Marry Week. Schools were encouraged to feature mock gay-weddings and host a movie night with gay-themed films--things every parent expects their public schools to be involved with.
There are 650 GSA’s in California (22 in Kentucky) and many are now recruiting young students to defeat the amendment that would kill something that every child would greatly benefit from: traditional marriage.

The Wonder Years--both the TV show and the preadolescent years of innocence, have long passed. But that doesn’t mean that kids who are trying to make sense of life these days, still couldn’t use a little help from adults who know better.

Family group criticizes Gov. Beshear for giving partial pardon to convicted pedophile

For Immediate Release
August 29, 2008
Contact: Martin Cothran
Phone: 859-329-1919

"We don't remember seeing 'voting rights for convicted pedophiles' among Steve Beshear's campaign promises last fall," said Martin Cothran, spokesman for The Family Foundation in response to yesterday's news that the Governor had given a partial pardon to former head of the Micro City Government, youth director Ron Berry.

Gov. Beshear restored the right to vote and the right to run for office to Ron Berry, who was convicted of 12 counts of sodomy with underage boys in the 1970s and 80s (and was accused of many more) while he was running the Micro City program. Critics at the time charged that four Democratic administrations had covered up Berry's activities .

"Before, it was local officials turning a blind eye to Berry's abuse of children. Now he's getting favorable treatment from state government," said Cothran.

The Governor's Office responded to objections to the partial pardon by saying that it is their policy is to automatically restore civil rights when applicants "have served their sentence, paid restitution and have no outstanding warrants."

"Maybe the Governor's Office could inform the families who were affected by Berry's depredations how he has paid restitution," said Cothran. "Quite frankly, this is just a strange argument."

"Basically what the Governor's Office is saying is that we shouldn't be concerned about the fact that he has given a partial pardon to one convicted pedophile who serves a little time because his policy is to give it to all of them."

"The other argument coming out of the Governor's Office is that this partial pardon is okay because no one objected. Maybe we missed it, but we don't remember Beshear asking about this at any of his town meetings."