moldybluecheesecurds 2

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Give me an N, give me a U, give me a T, give me an S

You gotta love Texas. Their House of Representatives passed a bill this week banning "sexually suggestive" cheerleading in public schools. Before it was stripped out in amendment, the bill even included a provision to cut funding to schools that failed to address the issue. As a public policy nerd, I'm waiting breathlessly for the part of the bill that explains what sexually suggestive actually means.


It brings back glorious memories of the Clinton years, when we could all be titillated with the debate about "what your definition of the word is is." [dictionary.com has 14 definitions - maybe the confusion makes sense] Getting the facts straight is pretty important, though, when dealing with the potential ramifications of lewd cheering. One Texas rep is arguing that a suggestive cheerleading move "encourages teen pregnancy, boosts dropout rates, and increases the spread of sexually transmitted diseases." Hmmm. Not unless you can spread syphilis with a pom pom.

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