Damn. Over 46% of all Miss. children born in 2001 born to unmarried women

[lebkuchen]

One-third of those mothers were teenagers.

{snip}

“To put it in economic terms, the 42,000 children born here last year are the feed stock of Mississippi,” Walley said. “Not that many new people emigrate to the state so the future will be made by children born here.”

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040803/NEWS01/40803005

No wonder 61% of MS will vote for Bush this year. They are poor, uneducated, and unskilled~. MS will be a GOP state for eons as a result.

Sad that Mississippians can't see the damage Bush has done to education and job training. The only person doing well in that state is Trent Lott.

[SoCalDem]

1. With no hope for the future, "kids" decide to grow up too early

Kids who "know" that they are going to college and have a "real career", will usually find a way to arrive there, unburdened by children..

If you are dirt poor, 14 and you see nothing good ahead, it's pretty easy to see why they start having kids early..

It's sad, but that little baby is a "bargaining chip" for some kind of support..Even though welfare has tightened up their requirements, there is not state that will allow a baby to be unfed, so kids see the baby as a way to "get their own place".. they think they will be "grown up", but they only end up as poor kids with kids.:(

[CaTeacher]

3. I don't know why everyone is so

against single mothers. It sounds like a bunch of freepers. I think children do just as well in a single parent household. If the government would provide support for education, and childcare--well then there would be no economic stigma at all. The only reason these children suffer is because WE are not helping them out enough.

Let's get more programs in place to help the poor people! I think Kerry will get us started in the right direction--but we need to not only pay more in taxes--but we also need to make sure that it is correctly directed.

[SoCalDem]

7. I am not "against" them..

Just stating the obvious.. that when 14 yr olds have babies, they will have a VERY hard time getting that good life we all want ..

Programs for poor people are a good thing, BUT..teens who wnat to be single mothers are selling themselves short..

Children are very flexible, and one loving parent can raise a great kid..( I know many who have done just that).. It's just that the young single mother has such a hard time, and if they would only see that they have a future that CAN (and most likely WILL) include children, they can have it "all"...

[sandnsea]

18. The 14 year old is a kid too

I agree. Allowing our kids to have kids is another breakdown in our society. It's subjecting way too many of them to a life of poverty and it does create an environment of its own.

[lebkuchen]

8. Single mothers usually need to work to support the family, right?

With a statistic as high as 46% single parents, where is the reaction from the WH to help out the single parent family, not hinder it?

Where's the day care? Why has Bush downgraded Head Start or eliminated the Family Literacy Program?

Why has Bush not fully funded his own "No child left behind" program?

Why has Bush defunded Title I programs for low-income children?

Single parents have no reason to vote for Bush.

[sandnsea]

14. It's the love, not the money

Nobody has babies to go on welfare. Their environment and the social politics lead them to believe they'll get some kind of job and be okay. They never tell them that all those low-income working people with kids are on food stamps. They have no idea that's where they'll end up because the politicos want them to be the working poor. It's systemic. They don't make plans for the future, as you said. So they go ahead and have a kid because their life is sealed and it's the only thing that gives them any sense of worth or any consistent love. Has nothing to do with welfare.

[SoCalDem]

16. The love angle is part of it, but it's an immature love

one of fantasy and movie/tv origin.. Raising children is HARD, and they NEED help.. The sad fact is that sometimes the parent(s) of these young mothers is a "beaten-down" person herself, and the young mothers get very little help.. They become the vulnerable "prey" of a man...any man.. who offers the stability that they think will happen if they join up with him.. This only ends up with more kids, and most of the time, the guy splits..

I am not saying that these young mothers are willfully bad parents..just severely unprepared to parent.

Many studies have also indictaed that "boyfriends" are often responsible for child abuse in unstable families..Sometimes the mother is so afraid to "lose" him, that her children can become endangered..

I am in NO way saying that ALL young mothers are unfit ..There are cases where an intact family can help the young mother, and she can do all the things she would have done anyway, but in communities where teen-motherhood is the norm, the sad stories are likely to be the norm, as well..

[sandnsea]

19. see #16

We agree. I just objected to what I thought was a statement that they were doing it to get on welfare.

[SoCalDem]

20. The welfare sucks.. It was never "enough" to live on, and it's worse now

It's almost a "poverty guarantee".. :(.. The sad part is, that with a little bit more help..of the right kind, there would be no need for it..

The ticket out is education, and instead of making it easier, they seem to put extra hurdles up..

I don't remember where I read it, but somewhere, I read that it "costs" in excess of $30K per welfare recipient to administer their aid.. I though right then..why not give THEM that money.. they would not even NEED it then..:eyes:

[sandnsea]

21. Job & GOOD wage

You're right. Just write the check, give them some sort of meaningful work. Once a person gets confidence in their abilities and the hope that they can do better, good old capitalism WILL kick in. A little faith in people would go a long way to fixing what's wrong in this country.

[shrike]

24. No kidding

I get so sick of hearing people say that girls/women can't wait to get on welfare so they, too, can get a Cadillac. A (white) woman I knew on welfare lived in one room with a kitchenette, with her five-year-old, she could afford nothing else. Her husband had left her and she had only a high school education. She would gladly have worked, except that none of the jobs offered to her provided health insurance.

[nofurylike]

2. sad, yes. btw, that would be "single" versus "unmarried." thank you. n/t

[lebkuchen]

9. The article preferred to use "unmarried"

for whatever reason.

[Elwood P Dowd]

4. Haley Barbour is the repuke gove

If there was such a thing as a bigger scumbag than Newt or Delay or Bill Thomas, it is Haley Barbour.

I live in Alabama, and it's almost as bad. It's strange, but back in the 70s and 80s the voters here were much more informed. Carter won this state in 1976. There were tons of progressives attending the major colleges at the University Of Alabama and Auburn University. Now, that has all changed. The religious freaks and yuppy repukes are everywhere.

[DrWeird]

5. Yes. Kids without dads grow up stupid.

They're the very dregs of society, and usually their criminals. You can always tell when a kid has an unmarried mom, by the shape of their skull.

[lebkuchen]

10. Leads one to wonder why MS can't support the Dresden Exhibit

The exhibit is only half way home financially to breaking even, and the exhibit is almost over.

I think this is due to

1) the high number of Mississippians who can't afford the ticket price of $20

2) lack of cultural literacy in the state, so Dresden has no relevance.

Mississippi offers the lowest teacher pay in the U.S. You get what you pay for.

[librechik]

6. Damn those gays, ruining marriage again!

<sarcasm off>

[Warren DeMontague]

11. "When We Criminalize The Birth Control Pill...

...We'll have those numbers up to 80-90%, at least! Woo-Hoo!"

[lebkuchen]

12. Taking a pill is a heck of a lot cheaper to the state

than the current annual $540 million spent on teen pregnancy.

:)

[Warren DeMontague]

23. Right, but it's sin I'm concerned about. Sin and Fornication.

Which must be stopped, no matter the cost.

Why, just the thought of those lusty, sweaty bodies, gyrating.. slowly.. to that rythmical "hip hop" music those kids listen to... Why, I just get a red-faced, Jesus Based Rage all the way down to my...feet.

I'm totally kidding, by the way.

[anelson]

13. Miss is also one of the most Religious Fundamentalist

states in the South....I wonder why the Abstinence Education isn't working??? Hmmmm.....Maybe because its Bushit!!
This is such a tragic tale for the mothers and especially the kids.

[UdoKier]

15. You beat me to it! I was gonna say...

that I bet Mississippi has one of the highest numbers of churches in the nation, per capita.

Lotta good it does...

[lebkuchen]

17. You'd think MS leaders would come to that conclusion

and try something new, like the German version of a Mittagsbetreuung, an afternoon daycare where kids go after school to be cared for until their parent(s) gets off work.

Preaching abstinence doesn't address the problem of single parents needing to work to support the children yet having no available/affordable daycare provider that will watch the children.

MS leaders should start thinking in terms of practicals and tangibles.

[sandnsea]

22. Actually, it's abortion

I checked Oregon stats because I live here.

9.8% of Mississippi women get pregnant each year, 9.9% of Oregon women.

20% of all pregnancies end in abortion in Oregon, 30% of teen pregnancies. It's 15% in Mississippi.

There's 9,360 teen pregnancies in Oregon (90 out of 1,000), 11,630 in Mississippi (108 out of 1,000).

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/state_data/states/oregon
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/state_data/states/mississippi
http://www.teenpregnancy.org/resources/data/pdf/stbyst00.pdf

Mississippi does have a higher teen pregnancy rate, but the biggest difference in the teen and unmarried birth rate seems to be abortion.

And yes I say unmarried because our crappy wages, lack of educational support, health, housing and social system are impediments to marriage. I wonder how many of these babies are born to committed partners who just can't afford to get married. If gays find comfort in marriage, I find no reason to pretend straight women don't.

[cthrumatrix]

25. seems like the church is doing a great job....

[seasat]

26. I've lived in MS

True story, I was attending comedy concert at a college in MS and the comedian was from S. Carolina. He was joking about how his home state was 48th in education. All of a sudden most of the audience shouted out we're 50. The comedian tried to get back on track by saying I'm sure there is something MS is number one in. Most of the audience shouted back teenage pregnancies. The comedian was speechless.

The irony of MS is that they mainly vote Republican but rely on some of the highest federal subsidies of any state. They are one of the states that receive more in federal dollars than they pay in federal taxes. The guys they vote into office cut programs that could help pull a lot of people in the state out of poverty. It's masochistic.

I actually like the state and may move back there. There are pockets of liberal Democrats and some beautiful regions of the state. If you have a job, MS is a good place to find a lot of cheap land and raise kids in a rural environment.