Jackson Jambalaya

As long as you keep paying them ( welfare) to have babies it won't stop

Just say father unknown and you get your check...even though they know who baby-daddy is

Abstinence only education doesn't work.

"The progressives can sneer at this post as they prefer to blow up society and rebuild it in their own dysfunctional image"

At least it's more productive than joining a militia and praying for it to stop.

Mississippi's entire educational system is set up to promote young people without doing or learning ANYTHING, much less establishing moral behavior. The local fiefdoms that exist throughout the land only care about keeping state and federal dollars rolling in their direction without any results whatsoever.

You're undoubtedly right that this is a problem, but I'm not mad at the politicians for not talking about it, because they can't fix it. Government can't fix this problem. What's the public solution? A new "program"? This is an issue of culture, and I don't see how our state's politicians can fix this. The feds have made this lifestyle economically beneficial and until they step up to fix the broken incentive system, the problem will continue.

@7:58 It's the moral obligation of good leadership to discuss the problem and how it is perpetuated and in fact enabled by excess federal dollars that are squandered to serve only a few of the inner circle. The present day Planters and other government fat cats do NOT want equity and upward social mobility through education, they want the status quo of yesteryear, where the "flagship" university still raises it's fist as a rebel against progress shouting "Never!" to the improvement of ALL Mississippi's citizens through education. It's the educational system itself that is morally bankrupt, and the cornerstone of all of Mississippi's poor outcomes.

Eighty percent. EIGHTY! And it's been 80% for almost ten years! Tunica is 90%. At what point will we admit that it's cultural?

And if you do point it out and speak out against it and the consequences on the black community, you are labeled a racist (whites) or an Uncle Tom (blacks).

Very good post KF.
You are absolutely right that sex education and a basic course in family economics/budgeting would help.
Those of us who have worked with unwed mothers know that many of them thought humans get pregnant like the dogs do...when in " heat". And, none of them had a clue of how much caring for a child or living independently costs.
Many of the young fathers need to be disabused of the notion that proof of their fertility is what makes them a " man". And, others know nothing more than a condom is like " taking a shower in a raincoat" when it comes to birth control.
7:43 am The benefit for a single mother with 2 children in MS is $532.
The average total welfare benefits in MS for all unwed mothers is $16984 and this average includes those with more than one child...that's everything.
Now I want you to do what a teacher teaching basic budgeting would do or a social worker for that mother would do. Go out and find how to live on $532 a month in cash. Start with transportation as you'll have to get to Goodwill or the Salvation Army for free clothing , cribs, pots and pans etc. and doctor's visits. Then find out what you can buy with food stamps and what you can't.Assume one child is starting school and see what costs aren't covered.
Let me know how you budgeted that $532.

It's cultural in the sense that murder and robbery and rape were once rampant in uncivilized lands. Those things were ultimately outlawed through education and enlightenment, and economic security. Not one "leader" in Mississippi has the backbone to address the "cultural" performance (or lack thereof) of those deemed less fortunate, for two reasons: 1) Citizens themselves have been taught to be dependent on the government for every little thing, so it rightly scares them to death to even think about self-sufficiency and 2) because it would piss-off their political sponsors/donors who DO NOT want upward mobility for the masses that would lead to competition for guess what? Federal dollars. Mississippi is ADDICTED to federal dollars that prop EVERYTHING up.....until Mississippians begin to see the light of wanting to take care of themselves, then they'll all remain slaves to the Planters who still reside in those enclaves throughout the state that are no different than the Big Houses of old.

Well, I have seen several list of the 50 highest murder rate cities in the USA and Jackson is not on them!!!

Sally Doty has been pushing for some program she thinks will or has been working, the problem is she is the only one pushing for it.

8:21. You nailed it. There is an easy solution however if everyone would follow these simple steps
1 Learn how to do something that will earn you a regular paycheck
2. Don’t get someone pregnant or get pregnant before you are in a committed relationship.
3. Be responsible for any children the relationship produces. Be an active father or mother
4. Teach your children steps. 1-4.
5. Repeat for several generations

The welfare system has created this problem. Look at the black family before that. Nearly all of the black families were 2 parent households and even today less than 4% of black 2 parent households are below the poverty level. Welfare state has destroyed many in the black community as people predicted it would. I wish it weren't true but you can't argue with results.

I blame it on the Russians. They said America would be destroyed from the inside. Between the libs and the straight up uneducated freeloaders, we’re well on our way.

Well, unwed pregnant mothers-to-be used to be shipped off to have their babies elsewhere and there was a certain stigma associated with it.

Now the unwed mothers-to-be get baby showers from relatives and work associates, and are lauded as a hardworking single mother.

I don't know, but I liked it better when there was a bit of shame as a deterrent.

1/3 of white babies. that’s an epidemic! what’s wrong with that culture?

Its something in the air that causes this, somebodys feet!

The "culture" is the result of social mores and political pandering which over a number of years has given the most vulnerable in this society a lifestyle devoid of any concern for CONSEQUENCES. They have accepted the notion that their lot in life is predetermined and unchangeable, so you might as well do whatever feels good at the moment. This worked fine for the hippie generation of the 60's, all they had to do was cut their hair, take a bath, and call mom and dad about going back to school. But the Black 60's generation found themselves stuck with an ideology of social anarchy and government dependence with no financial lifeline to pull them out. (Their parents had less than they did!) So many of them passed this hopeless, dependent lifestyle to their children and grandchildren, who feed it to each other through their own peer pressure and hip-hop lifestyle. The only solution is to fight this idea with another idea. Your own behavior can result in a successful life. You are not predestined for some ghetto hell. You can get help if you do right, we will no longer help you do wrong.

Sounds simple, but getting the Democrats, mass media, and poverty pimps to start the movement will take REAL leadership. So far...not much.

I just don't understand white people. Almost DOUBLED their unwed birthrate. We need to admit that it's cultural.

The data from 2005 causing a sharp increase in the graph was without a doubt attributable to Hurricane Katrina and the influx of "benefits" afterwards.

@ 8:21 - we CAN'T "admit" that it's cultural because that would be a racist statement. And we can't "admit" or talk about ANYTHING that could be even remotely construed as racist. Like, for example: the horrific crime rate in Hinds County. We must IGNORE the obvious fact that Hinds County murders are almost exclusively black on black. We must IGNORE the fact that Hinds County burglaries, etc. (as well as those in neighboring counties) is almost exclusively perpetrated by young black men. We must IGNORE that fact that the too-frequent attacks on restaurant wait staff and various other minimum wage employees that we see live streamed on Facebook are perpetrated almost 100% of the time by black men AND women. We must IGNORE these facts when we discuss crime just like we have to ignore these facts when we discuss poverty (which, according to the "experts" is the root cause of crime). We must ignore ALL the information that might lead us to real solution - because to do otherwise would be racist.

It could be worse. At least they're not slaughtering them at the abortion clinic.

Black unwed birthrate in Jackson (82%) and Canton (83%).
Black unwed birthrate was nearly 100% in quite a few counties. Six counties had black unwed birthrates over 90% - Carroll, Claiborne, Green, Holmes, Yazoo, and Humprheys. 16 were over 85% while 43 counties were over 75%. Thus at least three out of every four black babies are born to unwed mothers in 65 of Mississippi's 82 counties.

I'm tired of paying taxes to support this!


Feel Bryant should call a special secession to pass a law that would make any unwed mother on welfare be kicked off if they had a baby.


Oh! How the liberals would HOWL!

So we all agree that Dan Quayle was right?

surely you jest 8:21am....admit the truth? that would make you a racist.

I was a white 27 year old unwed mother. The father of my precious child is incredible. We both have degrees and great jobs. We just didn't feel any pressure to be married before our child was born. We had been together four years when we discovered we were pregnant. We had a safe home for our child and a wonderful relationship. I think the rise in white unwed mothers is due to the understanding that we can still in our own time decide when to marry our significant others. It doesn't necessarily mean that our child does not have both parents OR that we are not currently with the father of our children. Not all unwed mothers are on welfare... being unwed isn't a horrible situation for a child. We aren't all uneducated. We aren't dysfunctional. We can be educated, functioning members of society who just don't necessarily feel the southern social pressure to be married. While we may be in the minority... being unwed isn't always an indication of an irresponsible woman living on government assistance.

Give me a few hundred Mexican kids temporarily separated from their criminal parents at the border and I'll give you a front page national disaster in every (MSM) newspaper and TV network in the country. Give me hundreds of thousands of black children condemned to lives of perpetual poverty and ignorance everyday all over this country and NOBODY gives a damn other than making money on them when they're young and them being guaranteed Dem votes if they live long enough. This is a total atrocity.

10:30, I'm not disputing your assertions one bit. I've known quite a few people just like you. However, the numbers don't lie either. We are talking about probabilities and risk factors. If you do X, you are more likely to do Y or suffer from Z.

I'm about the data. Show me something that works whether it be abstinence education or sex education in the schools and support it with data, I'm willing to give it a try because what we are doing now obviously is not working.

dang....I bet if you asked every one of those unwed mothers that 100% would say that "all is well" as long as the checks keep rolling in.

Six year old data, right? You can add 5% to each column.

Folks, this isn't a political issue. I don't think it's even a racial issue. It's an issue of personal responsibility, which starts at home. If not taught in the home, responsibility must be learned at school. If not taught in the school, then maybe it will be learned in prison. At some point, it's up to individuals to take responsibility for themselves, or they will forever be the responsibility of society, one way or another.

Abortion is the number 1 reason for black population decline in the U.S. it will only continue. Liberals blame it on mass male black incarceration.

well we’ve only had Republican leaders in this state since the white rate went out of control. let’s blame the conservatives for failing to morally educate people on unwed babies. can you imagine how the R’s would howl if we had a program that handed out birth control and provided education on how planned parenthood is better?

Well now, I'll have to rethink my "position" on this whole "2005 data spike attributed to Hurricane Katrina theory", as Katrina didn't happen until August of 2005, so that would put the "spike" in the data in 2006. So just what exactly DID happen between March of 2004 and March of 2005? Did Kim and Kanye get married that year? Could the data from the State be off a year intentionally to attempt to hide this "coincidence"? Does the Kingfish have an error in his graphics? Or was it "Bush's fault" (pun intended)?

children having children. so true here. been practicing law 30 years and i know of women who were grandmothers at 24 years of age. all of the $ and resources put into the war on drugs and dui needs to be shifted to this problem. the age of sexual consent in mississippi is 16 years. up until 1998 it was 14!!!!. a criminal investigation needs to be opened when any unwed child under the age of 16 who gives birth. it would be a very easy case to prove. after the word gets around that if you spend your time porking girls under 16 , you gonna end up on the long line at parchman at the business end of a cotton sack, this little "sport" may just well decline.

I am curious about the following things:

1)Abstinence-only education

2)White abortion incidence vs black abortion incidence

3)Racial breakdown of dependent-based welfare

4)Discussing effects of providing LARC (long-acting reversible contraceptive) to those that want it

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/06/science/colorados-push-against-teenage-pregnancies-is-a-startling-success.html

When I read KF's post and saw the notes (and taking the numbers therein as accurate), one thing that leaped off the screen was that in the period from 1997 to 2016, unwed black births went from about 75% in the years from 1997 to 2006 and then "legged up" to about 80% from 2007 to 2016. White births, however, showed a much larger percentage increase and went from about 20% to about 33% from 1997 to 2016. Perhaps of note, they also showed a "legging up" at the same time, although it was over a couple of years, 2004-06. I have no idea if any of the "leg up" increases are meaningful or explainable.

What would be interesting (and unfortunately, controversial) to research is how many of the births are to interracial parents.

I suspect (but do not know) that the number of interracial unwed births would show an increase, but if it would correlate with the increase for white unwed births is, without knowing the numbers, speculation.

However, given the plainly observable societal shift to the acceptance of interracial relationships (from marriages/relationships to "hook ups"), the number of interracial pregnancies (whether marriage/relationship or "hook-up") has almost certainly increased. If so, the number of unwed interracial births has also likely increased.

Where this could lead to some controversial data is if the much larger increase in white unwed births corresponds to an increase of black fathers commensurate with that increase. Unfortunately, getting accurate data would prove to be difficult given the circumstances - it would be impossible to document the race of the father if the father is unknown or undisclosed.

Just a non-data observation, but "unwed births" covers a lot of ground. As one poster points out, an "unwed birth" isn't quite the same in 2018 as it was 1958 or even 1998. The number of male-female relationships, regardless of race, that are long-term, committed relationships without "traditional marriage" has greatly increased. If births to such couples are included in the "unwed births" numbers, that will cause some unwarranted conclusions to be drawn. For example, if two unmarried, successful professionals (of whatever race(s)) choose to have a child, which they then provide for and raise as a couple (essentially, just as a traditionally married couple have a child, etc.), it is an unwed birth, yet the real-world societal effect is the much the same as a "wed" birth.

11:08 This is a political issue because Medicaid dollars pay for over 65% of the 38,000 births in Mississippi each year.

"Unfortunately, getting accurate data would prove to be difficult given the circumstances - it would be impossible to document the race of the father if the father is unknown or undisclosed."

I know a guy. He was with his wife when she gave birth in the hospital, and it was at that moment that he realized why he kept seeing a UPS truck roll out of his street on a daily basis right before he got home from work. "What can Brown do for you?" He sure found out!

The situation became critical in Black communities when young Black people politically and socially aligned themselves with young White counter-culture society because these young Whites also embraced the civil rights movement. Prior to that the Black family was notoriously stable despite poverty and racial injustice. Ironically, Malcolm X, the Nation of Islam, the Black Panthers (the real ones) and other Black nationalist groups warned Black people of the dangers of accepting the anti-morality lifestyle of the White liberal establishment. Along with a drug culture, Black people from inner city ghetto to rural cotton field accepted the poisonous lifestyle of "sexual freedom" and deviance. Now they reap the bitter harvest that comes from raising children without family love and structure. These young people teach each other through their "rap" and peer interaction that the "ghetto thug life" is their natural condition and they are not responsible for anything including themselves.

The problem was foreseen and solutions proposed but those suggestions came from sources unacceptable to the powers that be.

If these statistics concern you, then you should be seriously considering how much you can donate to Chris McDaniel's campaign before it's too late. He is Mississippi's last hope.

@8:39. Thanks for info. Can you tell us what 3, 4, 5, etc. Wedlocks get per month? It is obvious the welfare $ is no fat lifestyle. Its minimalist benefits simply have created a new generation of black slaves now owned by their Uncle Sam.

"These young people teach each other through their "rap" and peer interaction that the "ghetto thug life" is their natural condition and they are not responsible for anything including themselves."

Kim Wade, is that you?

1:10, I don’t think a majority of Mississippians are looking for a “final solution” quite yet.

Why have white people stopped getting married?

Was illegitimacy lower among blacks during Jim Crow and slavery?

2:11pm, it was 75% in wedlock in 1964. what happened in the last 50 years is the more correct line of questioning.

11:08am, how do you have personal responsibility when you have been told for generations that nothing is your fault, you can't do it yourself, and the game is rigged against you? The democrats have absolutely destroyed the vast majority of black communities across this land by completely removing all sense of responsibility for anything.

in response to 8:39

It's easy to live on $532 when all you do is buy your kids
a bag of chips and a soda for breakfast.Then let the schools pick them up and
feed them lunch during the summer. Maybe granny feeds them at night while you getting
your nails done and talking on your new I-phone X
And baby-daddy shows up every once and a while. Gets some A$$ and leaves a few $$

I'm sure this is eye-opening info to some, but it's really old news and the most interesting data is older, as in how things were in the 40s and 50s vs what started happening in the 60s into the early 2000s. There have been many national studies on this and they have been presented over and over to Congress by various conservative think tanks and lobbies.Take this one from The Heritage Foundation nearly 8 years ago.

Y'all, with the exception of maybe four or five comments on here that are thoughtful, raise good questions for the state and those of us living here to consider, and are generally without animus this is by far one of the most appalling collections of comments I've seen on here --it proves that, for the most part, we are what folks up north think we are. Do better in your public discourse.

No 1:53 I'm not Kim. But I do recognize that among young Black people this dysfunction has become somewhat cultural, but it is not historic and it does not have to be permanent. The problem can be solved... Another question is whether you (Mississippi)really want to solve this problem and create a new reality? Really? I wonder.

July 16, 2018 at 12:41 PM wrote,

"What can brown do for you..," presumably implying the husband discovered the child's origins via the child's appearance.

But it is not that simple. As a readily recognizable example, would Barack Obama go into the white or black classification and why? What about one of his daughters giving "unwed birth" to a child fathered by a 3/4 white father and the child "looked" white or black? Or a half-white father? And in any case, what if the child looked "white?" Or a 3/4 white 1/4 black mother and 3/4 white 1/4 black father whose child "looks" either black or white? And who decides close cases of whether the child "looks" black or white? Long story short, unless you know the race and racial history of the father, you are just making guesses.

3:13 You're kidding right? WTF.

Failing to see how "unwed mothers" unequivocally translates to "lack of parenting". Pretty large presumption you guys/gals are making. In fact, it really shows the problem when you think REALLY hard about it.

I am amazed that it appears from my cursory reading of the comments, that no one has cited the number one reason, in my opinion, for low cultural morals and low behavior in this country.

In my opinion, this rapid decline in both the wealthiest and poorest segments of our economic society was precipitated by the taking of God out of our public lives.

While this country was founded by highly religious, though still flawed individuals, who understood that without the tempering power of faith in a higher and ever present HIGHER POWER, NO society could prosper for long.

We have removed prayer, unshakable moral codes (the Ten Commandments for instance) out of our Daily PUBLIC and INSTITUTIONAL lives.

Be it removing God from the schools, our jobs, athletic events, mass social gatherings, etc."

Instead of prayers we have moments of "silence".

Instead of giving thanks for the Birth of Christ, we instead have Santa Clause and Holiday Celebrations.

Instead of revering the Risen Savior, who heals the souls of flawed human beings,(such as our earlier mentioned Founding Fathers) we collect colorful eggs from bunnies and rabbits, and pay offerings to the god of consumerism at Easter.

No Government established religion does not mean no public religion.

We are suffering from the failure to confront the "tyranny of the minority", through an unrealistic and in my opinion "disastrous" interpretation of our First Amendment.

God save us all!!

2:41 spare us your sanctimonious bullcrap. The conversations on this board an across the South about race are not much different than anywhere else in the U.S. I'm sure you can find the same tenor of comments and coded language on a message board in metro Cincinnati or in upstate N.Y. that you'll find here. The South's cross to bear is that we brazenly codified our segregation, whereas other places practiced it under the radar and behind public doors, but we will always be the ones lectured to by the holier than thous up North and elsewhere.

6:36 on July 16 wrote:

"While this country was founded by highly religious, though still flawed individuals..."

If by "founded," you mean "the founding fathers," they were quite far from "highly religious." While they were, well, not atheists, they were mostly deists in a range from, in modern-speak, rightish-center (Washington) to pretty left (Franklin). For example, Adams signed the Treaty of Tripoli, after the Senate ratified it unanimously, which said outright that "...the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion..."

For those who have studied these men, I think they would agree that they, nearly to a man, would have been horrified that the Federal government, including the Supreme Court, had gotten itself mixed up in things like marriage and abortion. This is not to attempt to put words into their mouths or speak for them on their personal opinions of such, only that the evidence is abundantly clear on what their feelings were about a Federal role in such matters. Attempts to use religious grounds, for or against, would have made it exponentially more offensive to them rather than changed their minds.

2:41, when the actual truth comes out, it sort of stings, doesn't it? When people actually SAY what's wrong, and even suggest solutions based on STATISTICS, it gets people like you a little uncomfortable, doesn't it? You're entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts, and people on this thread have been discussing facts! KF has been uncharacteristically lenient in allowing the discussion to be completely candid, and I believe it's been enlightening to the readers, as a result.

No, 2:41, the reason we are where we are today, on topics like this, is because people like you would rather feign outrage than address problems head-on. That way, the people's whose life conditions are so harmed by these trends can stay beholden to your ilk and remain reliable democrat votes! POWER AT ANY COST!

According to the MDHS website, maximum TANF payments are: $110 for the first child; $36 for the 2nd; and $24 for each additional child. Not $532 cash payments. Economic incentive for unwed pregnancies? I think not! Rather, a myriad of causal factors.

Proposed legislation to take away the $ motivation: pass a new law that says "effective 10 months from the passage of the new legislation, whatever your $ benefit amount is will be "locked in". You can still have more babies but your benefits will not increase. The 10 months is to allow those that are pregnant when the law goes into effect that final "pay raise". Of course as each child reaches 18, your $ benefits are reduced by the amount attributable to that child

I am trying to understand. Unwed mothers are a negative but married households in the suburbs are a positive since they have a higher percentage of substance abuse addiction, child abuse, swinger lifestyles, and voted for Trump? What I am failing to understand is why it is it anyone's business what either group does.

"...KF has been uncharacteristically lenient in allowing the discussion to be completely candid..."

Contraire.. I've been cut twice in the last day or two. Disappointed he felt my comments were beyond the racist yardstick so many others went way beyond that.

Give him a few hundred dollars then have givers remorse.

July 16, 2018 at 8:45 PM wrote "...maximum TANF payments are..."

Speaking of myriads, there were myriad "acronym" programs for the various categories of un/under-employed people, with and without children, so singling out TANF and making a pronouncement is either misinformed or disingenuous. That said, the claim that ALL unwed black mothers were "welfare queens," like the idea that NO unwed black mothers were parasites who gamed the system, had long since been disproved. In other words, yes, there are a myriad of causal factors and some of those factors aren't particularly flattering for the black community. Often, the success or plight of a black person is (completely and totally) attributable to one or more black people, including the person in whatever situation, good or bad, they are in. Why can't folks just say it?

8:45pm Tha's for TANF child care. There are other benefits. Ironic that there is a Families First ad on this page. They ain't doing a darn thing for the problem.

7:15 absolutely hit the nail on the head. I'm from the north and he is exactly right. It's also not just a white thing. It's a human thing- black, white, asian, hispanic, northerners, southerners, easterners, westerners- no one group is immune to racism or prejudice.

When are you people going to realize that 'sex education' is wasted effort and resources?

Just as wasted as the signs that said "Just Say No To Drugs" and a sign in Canton Piggly Wiggly that might say, "Lard Is Bad For You".

Will anybody who has EVER been swayed by 'sex education' admonitions please raise your hand?

["Oh shit! I was all prepared to give up the bootie tonite but that was before I saw that poster reminding me I'm not ready to raise a child by myself!"]

"The local fiefdoms that exist throughout the land only care about keeping state and federal dollars rolling in their direction without any results whatsoever."

That's where you're wrong. There are indeed results. They're called PERS retirements.

July 17, 2018 at 8:02 AM wrote:

"That's where you're wrong. There are indeed results. They're called PERS retirements."

Well, yeah, but if PERS keeps going like it is, in about 2020 that PERS retirement is gonna make them there TANF payments seem like BIG money. On the positive side, I hear tell there is a plan in place: they'll give you a choice, either a PERS check or they will convert it into Charmin for you and just send you a roll.

Results that serve only their own selfish interests, and not service leadership of bettering the quality of life of all Mississippians. Of course. That IS the name of the game - aggressively chase that inflated pension, and destroy anyone who threatens your place in the food chain. THAT's Mississippi in a nutshell.

This is a difficult and very complicated problem that I've had considerable interest in for decades. What we know is this: 1. Prior to The Great Society, black marriage and legitimate birth rates were almost the same as whites' rates. 2. The Great (Internal) Migration occurred at about the same time as these changes. (AA's moved to cities in the North to work in industry.) 3. Contraception and abortion, 4. The end of shotgun marriages. 5. Drop in adoptions in the 1970s, 6. Loss of stigma attached to unmarried births, 7. Economic failures of AA men,


What is unexplained is the rise in white out-of-wedlock birth rates. I suspect it's also because birth control and abortion have obviated the need for shotgun weddings.

In the AA community, I hold AA Churches feet to the fire, as they, as a moral platform, have remained silent on the issue throughout this disaster.

In Colorado a few years ago, a Walmart fund allowed free LONG-ACTING BIRTH CONTROL (LARC) to any woman in the state, and abortion and out-of-wedlock births fell FORTY PERCENT!!!

At this stage, I find the accelerant to the fire of out-of-wedlock births to be fueled by culture--there is no "shame" in having an illegitimate child.

However, what hasn't been taught in classes beside the scientific nitty-gritty of birth control and free access to birth control, are the economic consequences of illegitimacy. Young men and women have to have classes throughout junior and high school demonstrating the severely horribly consequences of out-of-wedlock births.

"You want to be poor?"---Have a baby without marriage. "You want to be undereducated?"--same thing. "You want to have poor health, violence, imprisonment, crappy job, failed children?"--Have a baby without marriage.

For me, in this country and world based on the worship of money, I think we need to involve young men and women in the discussion of the drastic ECONOMIC consequences of unwed parenthood.

And, of course, we need extensive sex education in all junior and senior high schools, and FREE, long-acting birth control

9:13 forgot to mention Saltpeter....or was that just a myth perpetrated by our football coaches in high school.

As long as biology remains what it is and there is no real perceived consequence the sensitive head of a penis will continue to lead a 175 pound body around by the neck.

I used to feel the same way about black preachers, but, now, I don't believe there is a single member of the black community who will honestly say black preachers give a damn about this problem.

"It's a human thing- black, white, asian, hispanic, northerners, southerners, easterners, westerners- no one group is immune to racism or prejudice."

And along comes another goofball to play the race card....this whole baby-epidemic is based on racism and prejudice! Right?

9:50 pm You are correct. The figure I had %532 was all available support benefits.

But why would this matter? $110 or $532...neither is enough to meet the basic needs of one adult and one child even in a state with a low cost of living.

The minimum cost of raising a child to 18 just for basic care is $260000. Divide that by 18. I do it for you. It's $14,444.44 a year.


If you believe baby daddy and others are putting in the difference, you are nuts.

I think some of you must bitch as your wives all the time for their spending since you do no shopping or else you've never really had to worry about making ends meet.

10:46 PM, You seem to be forgetting that many of the single parent homes do not provide the basic needs of the children living in the home.
We, the taxpayers, pay for the rent, pay for the food, pay for the health care of those children. Exactly what basic needs do the parent pay?

This isn't the "prime" problem. Statstical risk factors are just estimations in this category and not concrete fact.

So in this country we have continued to reward unwed mothers for decades and the problem has continued to magnify...how about looking at the alternative, reward them monetarily for not having offspring. Even if said money's are on a progressive scale. Imagine the economic advantage in the long run. Always been my thought for what it's worth....

I am against abortion, I don't believe that anyone should have to suffer through abortions unless the life of the mother is in danger. However, I also respect the right of choice for others. The only way to cut down on abortions is to offer affordable brith control and contraceptives, give children quality sex ed within schools, and teach them how to be responsible and give them this data! We cannot stop teenagers from fooling around, but we can teach them about diseases, repercussions and the financial burden that comes from unwanted pregnancies.

Aren't condoms free at the health department?
How much cheaper do you want?