This could be perhaps the most bizarre application of James Carville's worn out expression, "It's the economy stupid." "CBS Evening News" linked the economy to the famed pregnancy pact that has received national attention.
The June 19 broadcast of "Evening News" faulted the ailing economy for 17 Massachusetts high school students agreeing to get pregnant intentionally around the same time so they could raise children together.
According to Gloucester Public Schools Superintendent Christopher Farmer, the girls did it to gain status. CBS correspondent Michelle Miller took it a step further and made an economic connection.
"Status in Gloucester is hard to come by," Miller said. "The once-thriving fishing community has seen jobs drift overseas. Economic depression has left many teens trying to fill the void."
A story originally reported by Time Magazine said nearly half of the girls confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together, and none is older than 16.
Gloucester is a city with a predominantly white (96.2 percent) population of a little more than 30,000 people. It is located 38 miles north of Boston. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Gloucester isn't exactly an impoverished community. The median household annual income for Gloucester is $59,056, higher than the national median household annual income of $50,978.
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Focus on Pregnancy Prevention
June 20, 2008 - 10:00 ET by ecnirPIn the couple of articles I've seen on this story, the focus has been on pregnancy prevention efforts in the school and community. What on earth does that have to do with anything when the girls create a pact with the intent to get pregnant? Talk about clueless adults only able to pursue their one-track agenda without comprehension of reality.
And when are we going to see some arrests for the "other participants" with these "none is older than 16" girls?
Here's an idea for the idiot Michelle Miller...
June 20, 2008 - 10:05 ET by c5thenWhy not bring back whaling to Gloucester, that way the teen girls will have "something to fill their void".
Michelle Miller = Twit.
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.
Once again, I'm confused.
June 20, 2008 - 10:09 ET by suzycreamcheeseOnce again, I'm confused. Babies suck up money like there's no tomorrow. If these kids are so impoverished, why get pregnant on purpose?
These dumb kids think it's going to be so kewl to give birth together and raise these kids together...on the dole. It's not always rainbows and lollipops when kids enter one's life. It's hard work, sacrifice, and giving up 99.9% of your free time to focus on someone else for a change.
Fasten your seatbelts kiddos, it's going to be a bumpy ride from here on out.
Change of facts here
June 20, 2008 - 10:17 ET by capitolguyThe girls didn't get pregnant because of economic conditions. They got pregnant because they view the babies as a fashion accessory, or "bling". The fact that CBS missed the boat should not surprise anyone here. The real problem here is the parents of these girls. Where we they throughout this mess? But hey, this is all President Bush's fault, right? In the end, the media is not even trying to hide their bias.
Belive me, I don't condone what these brats did
June 20, 2008 - 11:02 ET by IgnatzJFahrquarand bringing the economy into it is just totally ridiculous, but ...
To slap the blame on the parents without knowing any background is equally ridiculous and we'll probably never get a true picture of their upbringing. Short of locking them in their rooms from puberty until they're 18 there is no way to keep track of them 24/7.
The best you can do is give them "the talk" about sex and responsibility.
My kids did some bonehead stuff (as I did) while growing up, and while not as serious as this incident, still had repercussions. I stood by them for support, but they, alone, "paid" the consequences (along with a few severe groundings tacked on).
How about they be held responsible.
Of course, if it comes out that the parents could give two squats and have allowed them to run wild then agreed, they are part of the problem.
"All generalizations are false, including this one.” Mark Twain
Of course, when something
June 20, 2008 - 11:42 ET by SchnikeysOf course, when something bad happens, the parent is held responsible.
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"It could be the answer to our age-old, philosophical question, 'Why are we here?' PLASTIC!"
The young women and their
June 20, 2008 - 13:07 ET by Dan The Man 2The young women and their baby daddies are the ones ultimately resposible. But the parents should be held equally responsible along with a society which allows, nay encourages a "stigmaless" society. The big problem is there is no stigma attached to what these women did and where are teh parents who allowed these women to think it was ok to have babies at 16 without benefit of marriage?
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
The economy and having babies
June 20, 2008 - 11:23 ET by merlin61What the economy has to do with this stupidity
is beyond me. I would say You Tube and other
teen websites have more to do with what teens
connect with. Everything moral is taboo in this
day and age. Nothing is sacred in this world any
more.
High School Daycare...What????
June 20, 2008 - 12:20 ET by UpwayThe free, on-site childcare facility does nothing to discourage teens from having babies. How does funding even get approved for a daycare center at a high school? Geez.
"...Economic depression has
June 20, 2008 - 10:17 ET by dscott"...Economic depression has left many teens trying to fill the void."
I'm curious how that connection was made. Is CBS correspondent Michelle Miller saying that the girls know that having a baby out of wedlock means access to a variety of government hand outs???? The solution to that poor decision making should be obvious to all... But what was Miller's implied solution since she raised the issue?
Thanks, for playing Michelle Miller.
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.
It's always nice to see
June 20, 2008 - 10:30 ET by SchnikeysIt's always nice to see liberalism defeat itself in an area like this.
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"It could be the answer to our age-old, philosophical question, 'Why are we here?' PLASTIC!"
The thing that messed these
June 20, 2008 - 10:29 ET by SchnikeysThe thing that messed these girls up was their failure to follow conventional wisdom. Unfortunately for them, it may as well have sent them to prison for a lifetime.
Nice of Miller to assume that the cause of this pregnancy pact is a "lack of status" due to a troubled economy, and not some unique form of teenage lunacy combined with another not-so-new form of carelessness that has been happening for a very long time in America (the act of getting pregnant at that age in the first place).
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"It could be the answer to our age-old, philosophical question, 'Why are we here?' PLASTIC!"
Impoverished, bad economy =
June 20, 2008 - 10:30 ET by taterImpoverished, bad economy = having a kid to take care of the void
Got to love their logic there. Seriously there can't be people that dumb out there...this has to all be part of an agenda.
www.theholyrosary.org
"There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we can not resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary." -Sister Lucia
Hah!
June 20, 2008 - 10:47 ET by AGW HereticIt's Bush's fault! And I'll bet McCain will make no attempt to distance himself from the president on this tragedy.
Tim
http://agw-heretic.blogspot.com
What's the Beef?
June 20, 2008 - 11:31 ET by CrashAt least they don't want abortions.
And to all of those lefties out there ... I thought promiscuous sexual behavior was a naturally good thing?
THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME
June 20, 2008 - 11:54 ET by allamericangirlIn the PC world we now live in we are not allowed to ask if these girls are U.S. Citizens. This could just be a crop of new anchor babies.
This pregnancy-pact has
June 20, 2008 - 12:35 ET by ForeverOnTheRightThis pregnancy-pact has nothing to do with the economy. It if this type of behavior had anything to do with the economy The Great Depression would have seen a baby boom that would have dwarfed the baby boom of post WW2. It all has to do with the parents and school system not teaching and reinforcing solid moral values that have been tested true through time. But of course the schools have abandon the support of good moral values and left them to the parents to teach. Both are failing in this PC world.
The Tragedy of economic depression
June 20, 2008 - 14:40 ET by hgabrahamsonis far worse than the tragedy of psriaosis. Not only is it affecting the vestal virgins of Gloucester, it is wreaking havoc among many other groups of mass holes. Consider the plight of the economically distraught queers of Cape Cod.
Park officials target sex in the dunes
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080613/NEWS/806130324
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