Well Played New York Times !!

The New York Times believes in "balance" as we all know.


So, to "balance" President Obama's strong electoral support among women, the nation's newspaper of record went a'hunting.

'Who can we come up with to provide a little bit of balance to Obama?  

'Got it!  

'Let's find a millionaire Barnard graduate and ask her to declare that President Obama demeans women.'

Check.

'We'll have our balancer-millionaire Barnard graduate focus on a Barnard graduation speech - not on substantive policy.' 

Check.

'We'll have our balancer-millionaire Barnard graduate ignore Clinton at the Department of State, Sibelius at HHS, and even Napolitano at Homeland Security.' 

Check.

'Our balancer-millionaire Barnard grad must ignore these women , so as to be able to complain, in our op-ed headline, 

"Obama: 

Stop Condescending to Women"

Check.

'We'll have our balancer-millionaire put words in Obama's mouth - “Behind every great man is a great woman.” - stuff he has never said -

Check 

' . . . and then criticize Obama for the "fake praise" which is "so tired" but which Obama has never uttered.' 

Check. 

'But it's all about the economy, so we gotta find someone who is not above putting in something about noble but struggling women - who do not want any government help. At all.'

Check 

'Got it! 'Let's have our balancer-millionaire refer sympathetically to some of her unnamed but poor-yet-dignified relatives who are said to say: we are in a tough spot but we prefer it that way. No g'vment handouts for us! - our balancer can, say this for them.'

Check. 

 'And there is no need for our balancer millionaire Barnard graduate to point out that her hard-hit relations were hardest hit by George Bush's inattention and his administration's gimicky give-to-the-rich budget numbers, and that Obama is trying to get this fixed.'

Perfect!

'But what if we can't find a female millionaire Barnard grad who will do all this 'balance' for us?'

What to do . . . what to do . . . Prob solved:

'Let's just mosey on over to the Romney campaign and find the wife of a staffer or adviser or whatever - and get her to do it. 

Pluperfect! 

Well played New York Times.


SOURCE:


Campbell Brown: Obama, Condescending to Women 

"Fact-Based" Ad Riddled With Falsehoods | Media Matters for America

According to Fox News' Hannity: 


a new "American Crossroads" anti-Obama ad is effective because it is "fact based" - 

HANNITY: [. . .] Why do you say this is the best one? [. . .] 

LUNTZ: It was fact-based, not assertions.

But according to MediaMatters: the new ad

"Is Actually Overflowing With Falsehoods"

Examples:


The ad asserts: 

80 PERCENT OF GREEN ENERGY MONEY WENT TO 

"JOBS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES"

&

OBAMA ADMIN. "ADMITTED" $2.3 BILLION OF TAX CREDITS "WENT OVERSEAS"

These statements are distortions. The fact is: 

"The Department of Energy estimated that 82,000 jobs have been created and has acknowledged that as much as 80 percent of some green programs, including $2.3 billion of manufacturing tax credits, went to foreign firms that employed workers primarily in countries including China, South Korea and Spain, rather than in the United States. [The Washington Times, 9/9/10]

SOURCE - Media Matters for America, and the link:


Hannity And Luntz Promote "Fact-Based" Ad That Is Actually Riddled With Falsehoods | Media Matters for America

DREAMING OF ABSTINENCE, NOT SEX, IN AN ELECTION YEAR

"Founded in 1995, Heritage Community Services' programs utilize The Heritage MethodSM, a logic model that addresses the risky behavior of adolescents from the perspective of changing the behavior that is causing the problem rather that dealing with the consequences of the risky actions.

"The Heritage MethodSM is a systemic approach that through the use of our programs is designed to saturate whole communities with effective resources to help young people develop good character, abstain from risky behaviors, and prepare for marriage and family life. This method, which is a character-based systemic approach to risk avoidance, has been developed on a foundation of sound theory and methodology. Our students are 67% less likely to have had sex compared to similar non-program students measured a year after the program is over." (Source with emphasis added, and photo  credit:  The Heritage Method website.

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHH) has quietly listed Heritage Community Services as an "evidenced based" conception-prevention program.

The prob is that there is no evidence that the program is effective. No evidence at all. No peer review. No scientific method. No nothing. So, when Heritage Method asserts that something-or-other is 67% more likely than something else, there is a 100% chance data does not exist to back up this assertion. 

The Heritage Method is all about abstinence. 

School systems that contract with the Heritage Method set up mandatory attendance programs for middle- and high-schoolers, who are asked if they are "virgins" and whose responses then become the "scientific" grounds for later assertions about the effectiveness of the programs.

Condoms? Ignored. 


Instead of dealing with contraception, young men and young women are asked to envision their wedding day. 

For the young man:

“The doors swing open and there stands your bride in her white dress…This is the woman you have waited for (remained abstinent for) who has waited for you…This woman loves you and trusts you with all that she is and all that she has. You want to be strong, respectful and courageous for her. With all your heart, you want to protect her, and by waiting (sexually) you have.” (Heritage Keepers, Student Manual, p. 59)

and for the young woman:

“Everything is just as you have seen it in a million daydreams…” When the bride takes her father's arm: “Your true love stands at the front. This is the man who you have waited for (remained abstinent for) and who has waited for you…This man wants to be strong and courageous for you, to cherish and protect you… You are ready to trust him with all that you have and all that you are, because you have waited (sexually) you have it all to give.” (Heritage Keepers, Student Manual, p. 49)

What are young LGBT kids asked to envision?

Sorry, for Heritage Keepers, you do not exist.

The evidence that abstinence "works" is touted not by scientists in peer reviewed studies but by speakers and presenters at events sponsored by the National Abstinence Education Association. (See, for example the Abstinence Works 2011 REPORT, which is a PDF file you can buy for twenty bucks, but otherwise cannot read.)

There have been peer-reviewed studies of the Heritage Method. Two, in fact. These studies concluded:

…the [Heritage Keepers] Life Skills Education Component did not have significant impacts on 11 of the 12 intermediate outcomes related to sexual abstinence. The one exception is a significant impact among middle school youth on their friends’ support for abstinence.

and:

Findings indicate that the [Heritage Keepers Abstinence Program’s] Life Skills Education Component had little or no impact on sexual abstinence or activity

A third review has concluded differently - but without actually producing a "study."

Instead of reporting findings, the DHH refers us to the Heritage Keepers themselves, and their curriculum.

RH-Reality Chech lays out the problem and asks the pertinent question:

"To date, there is still no published peer-reviewed manuscript to help assess what, if anything, changed for the program to make the list. Was a new study conducted? Did the authors submit new data or simply rework the old?"

Yep. It's an election year.