Silver Ring Thing Founder gives Meghan McCain Ring for Bristol Palin

[RamboLiberal]

"I've received a good amount of feedback," said Jason Burtt, national director of Silver Ring Thing, a program that asks teens to pledge to remain virgins until marriage. "Nothing negative, but mostly positive support from all over the country from people interested in the program." Burtt's Christian organization, which doesn't sell purity rings, runs more than 70 programs a year for teens in which they spread a message of abstinence until marriage, offering a ring to those who complete the course.

Burtt has gotten more than two dozen such messages since Sunday, and he said the very public commitments from the Jonas Brothers and Jordin Sparks have certainly helped put the issue in the public eye.

Silver Ring Thing founder Denny Pattyn, an evangelical Christian youth minister, appeared on "The Today Show" Tuesday morning (September 9), and he told MTV News that he's been getting quite a few requests from media organizations in the United States and England to discuss the issue. But more important, he ran into John McCain's daughter Meghan backstage at the show, and the two had a talk that he hopes will soon connect him to Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. "We had a long talk about Sarah Palin and her daughter's pregnancy and them maybe getting more involved when they come to Pennsylvania where I live," Pattyn said.

A year after the movie "Juno" and Jamie Lynn Spears' pregnancy made headlines, the topic of teen pregnancy received renewed attention when it was revealed that 17-year-old Bristol Palin is expecting and that her mother favors abstinence-only sex education in schools at a time when teen-pregnancy rates are on the rise again.

"This is a big, big to-do," Pattyn said of the flap in his community over the Jonas Brothers/ Brand issue. "It's fantastic for an organization like ours, and we think this will open up some major things." Pattyn said he gave Meghan McCain one of his group's rings to give to Governor Palin for her daughter "to let her know we're supporting her and praying for her."

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1594447/20080909/jonas_brothers.jhtml

I could smack McCain for bringing all this stuff back to the forefront with his pick of Palin.

If they want to do this silver ring thing - fine with me - but I don't like how they try to dictate everyone else's morals.

Then they want the rest of us to say that Bristol's pregnancy is off limits while they trot it out for their own gain.

I did wonder if Bristol and Levi had done that silver ring thingy!

[tanyev]

1. Uh...a little late?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

3. You took the words right out of my fingers!!!!

:rofl:

[malaise]

11. And mine

:rofl:

[Berry Cool]

13. Barn door. Locked. Horse.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

2. Am I the only one who thinks wearing an announcement of the state of your genitals to be creepy?

Yeesh. :puke:

[catzies]

7. No, and I'm not the only one who lives in a country where they try to regulate

the state and contents of women's genitals in particular! :puke:

[LibDemAlways]

4. One of the most mind-blowing moments of the convention was

when the repukes put Bristol and redneck dude out there on the stage to the applause of the republican throng, who would no doubt have condemned a Dem candidate's daughter in the same situation.
To think that the party of "abstinence only" would showcase a teen pregnancy that way was absolutely outrageous. The hypocrisy is just stunning, and I can only imagine the threats and intimidation those kids were put through in order to get them to appear together.

[Warpy]

5. OK, now we know they're certifiably insane

and/or misunderstand the concept of sexual "purity" and its relationship to pregnancy.

If anyone in this little sexual drama had been a Democrat, she'd have been pilloried as a whore at 17 by these loons.

As long as they keep parading this, it is most definitely not off limits, especially as it relates to her insane mother's insane church wanting to dictate its insane beliefs as laws to oppress the sane.

[MadrasT]

6. WTF?!

He gave Meghan a purity ring to give to... the already pregnant Bristol? :wtf:

The word "hypocrisy" doesn't even come close. That's straight up moose-shit.

[RamboLiberal]

8. What - You never heard of Born Again Virginity?

:sarcasm:

[Raine]

9. Too late...should've given it to her sooner cause

I'm sure it would've made all the difference in the world. :sarcasm: :rofl:

[Firespirit]

10. Exhibit A for why these "religious" organizations should have tax-exempt status yanked

They are not "religious" organizations. They are Republican and anti-feminist organizations.

It absolutely floors me that they think Bristol Palin's pregnancy is something to be celebrated and deserves applause on national TV. She wouldn't have gotten a standing ovation for being admitted to college at age 17. In fact, Republicans of the religious right variety think that's being "selfish." Abstinence my ass... Has anyone ever looked at these "Family" sites and surfed over to what they recommend for young people in their 20s and 30s? Not long ago I was browsing the archives of one in particular and I found a shrill denunciation (by a man, of course) of young women who stay unmarried into their late 20s and 30s, focusing on a career. Even if they ARE abstinent. This fundie wackjob had the opinion that a woman's true purpose in life was to be a sex slave and a brood mare for a man.

Women ought to get it through their skulls that Republicans want to control women's sexuality. Abstinence when they say so, then heterosexual sex when they say so. Nothing else is acceptable, in their worldview.

Can I get a no-fuck ring, or am I excluded from the club because I would prefer to marry another woman?

[RamboLiberal]

12. Santorum and Specter were getting earmarks for them

Since 2003, the program had received $1.2 million from HHS as part of President George W. Bush's initiative to expand abstinence-only education. Three months after the suit was filed, HHS suspended funding to Silver Ring Thing, and ordered the group to submit a corrective plan in order to receive the pending $75,000 balance of its federal grant.

Under the settlement, HHS agreed to several stipulations, including:

Continued suspension of the current grant;
Requiring any grant requests made by Silver Ring Thing during federal fiscal years 2006 to 2008 to include a complete description of proposed program activities, and how they will comply with the HHS guidelines. In addition, grant applications must explain how federal grant funds will be spent, as well as how such spending will be tracked.
Quarterly monitoring by an HHS administrative office of Silver Ring Thing activities to discuss problems and corrective actions. The monitoring may be made through telephone inquires, but the office should also make on-site inspections if necessary, raise any issues in need of correction, and take all steps necessary to ensure Silver Ring Thing complies with the grant requirements;
Notification of the ACLU by HHS if the Silver Ring Thing receives federal money through a grant award or through a legislative Congressional earmark. In past years, Silver Ring Thing has received most of its federal funding through congressional earmarks in legislation sponsored by Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Arlen Specter(R-PA).

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=3918