Forecast: It's Cold and Quote-Worthy Today

In light of a BBC article that outlined some of the famous Bushisms we've been treated to in the past, I found an article on CNN that deals with a pretty serious issue:  STDs in the U.S.  (I promise to show you why Bush and STDs belong together.  Trust.)  Apparently, STDs have been on the rise, according to the CDC, especially among women, minorities and adolescents (15 to 24 years old).  I was somewhat surprised by this - why are the cases going up?  Are folks becoming more comfortable with reporting symptoms to their doctors?  Are parents screaming that there's too much STD talk in schools?  Lack of condom use?  Are parents embarrassed to tell their kids that no matter what your partner tells you, they might still be sick with an STD?  The possibilities are endless.

But what cracked me up was the final paragraph of the article.  I have a feeling the media relished the fact that this doctor, the director of the CDC's Division of STD Prevention, Dr. John Douglas, made this wonderfully apt statement.  Dr. Douglas states:

If the parents assume that's the doctor's business, or the teacher's business, and don't roll up their sleeves and get in there themselves, and if our schools aren't giving comprehensive education, and if our clergy and other community leaders who are interested in youth well-being aren't including sexual health on the agenda, we're going to create missed opportunities.

Erm.  "Roll up their sleeves and get in there themselves"?  Well damn.  C'mon folks, let's roll up our sleeves and get in there with our kids!  Couldn't this doctor think of a better way to say that intervention and education is key to preventing STDs?  At least churches wouldn't have to do the sleeve-rolling in that sense; educate people on what could happen when you jump into bed with someone's nether regions which have been to far-off lands and brought home one too many viruses back to the homeland.  So to speak. 

I think Bush said it best with a laugh-worthy Bushism in September 2004:

Too many good docs are getting out of the business.  Too many OB/GYN's aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country. 

Right.