What do you think of McCain’s gestureto suspend his campaign?

Both presidential candidates do have day jobs they should not neglect. They are both Senators. It is surely appropriate that they leave the campaign trail to come back to Washington to thrash out such an important piece of legislation as the bailout of our financial system.

A commentator on FOX said that now John McCain can present himself as riding in on a white horse, delivering the Republican votes, and so saving the economy.

Another pundit said that McCain should oppose the bill and thus present Barack Obama and George Bush as being on the same side. Of course, that’s not going to happen. On this major economic issue, the two candidates offer the voters no choice between them. They agree. In fact, they have issued a joint statement asking all Americans to come together on this.

What do you think? Were you convinced by the President’s speech? Are you coming together?

At the MTV music awards, one of the hosts, British comedian Russell Brand, amused the audience by ridiculing Promise Rings, which many young people–including some celebrities such as the Jonas Brothers–wear to symbolize their pledge not to have sex before marriage. Later in the show, American Idol winner Jordin Sparks came to the mike and saidthis:

I just have one thing to say about promise rings. It’s not bad to wear a promise ring, because not everybody, guy or a girl, wants to be a slut.

What courage this took! What defiance of peer pressure! Here she is, trying to make a career in music with a new record out, scoring a prestigious attention-getting gig on MTV, on national TV watched by her target audience, and she calls out the host, going so far as call the perpetrators of adolescent sex “sluts”!

I liked her on “American Idol” but now I also respect her. And she is not alone. There are lots of teenagers and young adults with that same attitude.

Study Finds Major Shift in Abortion Demographics:

The analysis confirmed previous reports that the abortion rate fell to the lowest level since 1974, dropping 33 percent from a peak of 29 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 in 1980 to 20 per 1,000 in 2004.

During that period, the proportion of abortions obtained by women younger than 20 dropped steadily, falling from 33 percent in 1974 to 17 percent in 2004. For those younger than 18, it fell from 15 percent of all abortions in 1974 to 6 percent in 2004. At the same time, the proportion of abortions obtained by women in their 20s increased from 50 percent to 57 percent, and the share done for women age 30 and older rose from 18 percent to 27 percent.

Although abortion rates have declined among all racial and ethnic groups, large disparities persist, with Hispanic and black women having the procedure at rates three to five times the rate of white women.

In 2004, there were 10.5 abortions per 1,000 white women ages 15 to 44, compared with 28 per 1,000 Hispanic women of that age and 50 per 1,000 black women. That translates into approximately 1 percent of white women having an abortion in 2004, compared with 3 percent of Hispanic women and 5 percent of black women.