No, actually. I'm not kidding you.

Thank you for the inspiration for my first post, N.R.:

"Bristol Palin's pregnancy? Are you kidding me? So you want to talk about what kids do at the age of 17? Barack Obama was snorting blow at 17... Do you want proof? Read HIS book. It's in there. So Bristol gets pregnant... Is that illegal? Snorting blow is. Did you know how old Barack Obama's mom was when she gave birth to little Barry Hussein Obama? 18..."

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Bristol Palin made an unfortunate mistake five months ago. I don't care who you are, or who your parents are, a 17-year-old child is no where near psychologically developed enough to raise a child of their own. Not illegal though, no, but a teenager using drugs generally only negatively affects one person: him or herself. This situation Bristol has put herself into will not only affect her and her family, but this unborn child who has absolutely no control over the situation. If Barack was using drugs at the age of 17, he is obviously not using them now. He has grown, and moved on from that time in his life. A baby is not a situation someone can move on from. Bristol is just very fortunate that her family has vowed their support for her decisions, because otherwise her and her child could be facing a very unfortunate future.

Many other underage mothers in this country are not as lucky as Bristol.

It is unfortunate, but true, yes, that kids these days are having sex at an earlier age than ever before. Without proper education or guidance, children are oftentimes incapable of making choices to utilize contraceptive methods or even to abstain from having sex altogether. Many parents out there are scared of the implications of sex education in school, for fear that their children will, what? That they will then partake in the act that they already see so graphically portrayed by the media daily? In 2006, Sarah Palin stated, "explicit sex-ed programs will not fund my support." It seems to me that Sarah P. would rather her children be educated by movies and television, which generally support risky teenage sexual behavior.

And where exactly has that gotten her?

Did McCain know about this situation before he made this asinine decision to include her as his partner in crime? It would be very hard for me to stand behind a woman who has so much to say about her values and stances on these issues, yet she cannot even provide her own daughter with the knowledge or tools to prevent a situation like this from happening. The fact that Palin cannot even control her own children does not stand in favor of her being a great leader for our nation. If you cannot educate, help, and lead one of the most important people in your life, how would it ever be possible to do those things for a country?

---Cat