« Dude Look Like an Echo | Main | Of Coups, Their Plotters, and the Next Era of Politics »

10/04/2006

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

rsheridan6

>It’s morality: Fifty-two year olds must not mess with 16 year olds... Gays can be Scoutmasters because, like any other Scoutmaster, they know that you don’t mess with the kids. Straight men can be high school teachers of girls because they maintain that boundary, they treat it as a moral absolute. And so on.

And that's why molestation never happens, right?

It's not that I don't trust gays to follow moral absolutes, I don't trust men to. I wouldn't want my daughter led into the woods overnight by a straight guy, either. Especially not by the kind of weirdos who would want to do so without being the father of one of the kid's peers.

High school's different because you don't have as many chances to molest a kid in a crowded classroom as you do in a tent in the woods in the dark, nor do you have as close of a relationship with the kids. Still, molestation is not all that rare.

Not that any of this excuses the Republicans for protecting a pedophile in any way.

Do you have kids, BTW?

William Hallowell

As a popular political blogger, I know you’ll be interested in learning more about our recent study on American attitudes toward current foreign policy and the nation’s place in the world. Please read on for more information! Feel free to contact us or to blog away on our intriguing findings.

Here at Public Agenda, we’ve created a new tool to track Americans’ opinions on foreign policy issues, providing a basis for political commentary. Similar to the Consumer Confidence Index, the Foreign Policy Anxiety Indicator provides policy makers, journalists and ordinary citizens with the public's overall comfort level with America's
place in the world and current foreign policy.

An essential tool updated twice a year, the Indicator will consistently provide much-needed information on the public’s perception of more than two dozen aspects of international relations.

In a world strewn with violence and highly-charged international issues, Americans are broadly uneasy about U.S. foreign policy. The September 2006 shows the Foreign Policy Anxiety Indicator at 130 on a scale of 0 to 200, where 0 is the most confident, 200 the most anxious and 100 neutral.

Eight in 10 Americans feel the world is becoming a more dangerous place for Americans, yet they're also skeptical about most of the possible solutions, such as creating democracies or global development. Only improved intelligence gathering and energy independence have substantial support, with energy firmly established as a national security problem
for the public.

In fact, the public lacks confidence in many of the measures being taken to ensure America’s security. Less than 33% of Americans give the U.S. government an “A” or a “B” grade for its execution of the following foreign policy issues: reaching goals in Iraq and Afghanistan, maintaining good relationships with Muslim countries and protecting U.S. borders from illegal immigration. And these are just a few of the findings of the survey.

These are some of the other startling findings:

- 83 percent say they are worried about the way things are going for the United States in world affairs (35 percent worry "a lot", with an additional 48 percent saying they worry "somewhat.")

- 79 percent say the world is becoming more dangerous for the United States and the American people

- 69 percent say the United States is doing a fair or poor job in creating a more peaceful and prosperous world

- 64 percent say the rest of the world sees the United States negatively

- 58 percent say U.S. relations with the rest of the world are on the wrong track

Want to learn more? Go to http://www.publicagenda.org/foreignpolicy/index.cfm to download the report.

Public Agenda is a nonprofit, nonpartisan group devoted to public opinion and public policy. The confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy Index is developed in cooperation with Foreign Affairs with support from the Hewlett and Ford foundations.

Marc Rich

"a little more Blofeld than Soros" ... but Soros is Blofeld.

The comments to this entry are closed.