An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.

The program has already come under fire for being booked and presented in probable violation of Michigan laws related to sex-education programming. A Michigan Messenger investigation found that two districts — Homer and Olivet — failed to get the program approved by the sex-education advisory board and the school board, while Marshall schools failed to get approval of the state board of education. All three district failed to provide parents the opportunity to opt their youth from the school assembly, as required by Michigan law.

Based on a review of the presentation, called Wise Choices and presented by Barb and Rick Wise, Michigan Messenger was able to identify a series of pieces of misinformation about HIV as well as a statement mis-characterizing a University of Chicago study on sex and relationships. A video of the presentation is available at Access Vision, the Battle Creek cable access station. It is listed as Wise Choices and was uploaded to the site on Oct. 17 at 4:47 p.m.

The program reported that all forms of sexual behavior transmit HIV, that only four body fluids transmit the virus, that HIV can survive in general human environments outside of the body and that saliva only can be infectious.

In addition, Barb told students that the University of Chicago study (PDF) found that married couples had more gratifying sex lives than couples in dating relationships or those co-habitating. But the study says the exact opposite:

“An unexpected finding, contrary to prior research, was that non-marital relationships, such as cohabitation and dating, were associated with higher levels of subjective sexual well-being than marriages, particularly for men.”

The Wises did not return an email seeking comment about the alleged misinformation.

The training of Barb Wise in abstinence-only education is also under scrutiny. She is certified by a program called W.A.I.T. Training in Colorado. That program was blasted by a 2004 report (PDF) from U.S. Congressman Henry Waxman of California for providing false information about HIV.

But experts who Michigan Messenger shared the video of the presentation with generally condemned the presentation.

“Distorting scientific data is, unfortunately, the way of all cynical politicians,” said Gloria Brame, a certified clinical sexologist who holds a doctorate in human sexuality. “However, in this case, it could simply be the blind leading the blind, as one must assume that the very people who are lobbying for abstinence ed are themselves ignorant on the science of sex, and thus the most likely people to misunderstand or misuse scientific data. I realize there may well be physicians and psychologists on board with the abstinence issue in Michigan but, again, I’ll say that this is about religious belief dictating opinion, and not the facts.

“Again, abstinence ed programs omit the scientific data and replace it with religion-based beliefs about how God expects people to behave. That should not be taught in public schools, but in churches.”

Jeff Montgomery, a spokesperson for the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance, also condemned the presentation.

“I agree that if her audience are high school students, this is awful. Especially those who are coming to terms with their sexual identity. They are left feeling, perhaps, like freaks. Not to mention the misinterpretation of the HIV information,” the Detroit based activist said, noting that the program excluded messages for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, focusing only on no sex before marriage messaging. “The implied (if not overt) demonizing of unmarried sexual activity and the promotion of strict monogamy does nothing to promote healthy, informed sexual choices. This woman’s presentation is not helpful or healthy. Sexual discussion is far too important to be left to inexperienced, subjective hands. We know more today about sexual development and sexual diversity than at any time in history. We should encourage serious, comprehensive and intelligent sex education. The health and safety of generations are on the line.”

Marshall Public Schools issued a statement saying the concerns raised were something they would take into account in future considerations of the program.

But Olivet School officials did not take well to the concerns and criticisms raised. In a letter to Messenger, Olivet Interim Assistant Superintendent Brooke Judd wrote:

For the most part, everyone I spoke to felt as if the decision to bring in the Wise presentation was in line with our community values. I acknowledge that we did not follow proper procedures in bringing them to present to our students, and if the opportunity ever arises again, we will be sure to meet all legal obligations prior to their presentation.

Olivet High School Health Instructor Gabe Priddy went further. In an email to Michigan Messenger, he alleged the questions about the misinformation — which were documented with links to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and the University of Chicago study itself — were “loaded.”

“The questions you raise have more to do with your political agenda against Mr. and Mrs. Wise than they are based on facts,” Priddy said. “In my professional opinion the information given was accurate according the training I have received from the State of Michigan. It was also a very powerful and responsible message for teenagers to hear.”

Priddy also claimed the information presented by the Wises was in line with the health education text book used in Olivet Schools.

Michigan Department of Education officials did not return multiple emails seeking clarification of what information should be taught in Michigan schools.

“If he was educated in reproductive health, then he knows the number one method of prevention of HIV is condoms. If they don’t educate about condoms, they are not educating about how to prevent HIV. It’s that simple,” says sexologist Brame. “It has no basis in science or fact as an effective approach to adolescent sexuality. Of all the things that those speakers addressed, actually almost none of it addressed core issues in sexual health. Rather, it was a personal narrative, telling the stories of their lives as a way of proving to gullible teenagers that sex leads to disease and death. It is a negative and hateful message to send young people who are struggling to control and deal with new feelings and desires.”

The House Republican leadership says it will delay approving the creation of a statewide health insurance exchange, in part to await the outcome of a U.S. Supreme Court hearing on the constitutionality of the health care reform law which mandates the creation of the exchanges.

Rep. Mike Shirkey (R-Clark Lake) tells the Jackson Citizen Patriot, “There’s no interest in acting quickly on this particular bill.”

The legislation passed the Michigan Senate — which has a supermajority of Republicans — last week. Gov. Rick Snyder, also a Republican, has called on the legislature to pass the bills by the end of the year.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the case brought by states — including Michigan — about the constitutionality of the law passed nearly two years ago. A ruling is expected in the summer of 2012, in the heat of the race for president.

Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.

Curtis Hertel, Jr., the Ingham County Register of Deeds, and Branch County Registrar Nancy Hutchins filed the suit, which alleges that the company and numerous banks failed to pay property transfer taxes when the title to the company was transferred to another owner in the MERS system.

“MERS created a shadow registry system that has made it very difficult for the public and for government offices like mine to keep track of who owns what mortgage,” Hertel said. “They have also stated they were created to avoid fees in my office. When we began the investigation into robo-signing I asked my attorneys to research MERS foreclosures to see if there were patterns of irregularity. This lawsuit is a direct result of that investigation. I believe there has been a systematic attempt to avoid paying taxes by MERS and the banks that use MERS.”

Hertel alleges the company has created a “shell game” designed to dodge taxes.

“MERS has transformed the entire mortgage industry into a giant shell game”, said Hertel. “The current servicer of a mortgage is no longer a matter of public record, and once a property is foreclosed, the real games begin, as deeds and other paperwork are filed in such a way to avoid transfer taxes at every step. Property ownership is clouded, and the simple task of collecting transfer tax has been turned into this legal battle, largely because of the involvement of MERS.”

The lawsuit also targets three foreclosure attorneys — Marshall Isaacs from Orlans Associations and Ellen Coon and Jeanne Kivi of Trott and Trott. Both Orlans and Trott and Trott have come under fire in recent months for participating in robo-signing. Both organizations are also significant Republican donors in Michigan.

Also of interest, David Trott’s Attorney’s Title company is named as a defendant. Trott owns what is considered the largerst foreclosure law firm in the state. Linda Orlans’ title agency eTitle is also named. Orlans’ runs Orlans Associates.

“I am seeking repayment of both state and county transfer tax. Without discovery it’s hard to tell you an exact number,” Hertel said. “I am positive its in the millions of dollars for both of them.”

This is not the first lawsuit Hertel has filed in relation to recovering millions of dollars of unpaid taxes arising from the title transfers. Earlier this year he sued Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and numerous banks over what he alleges is an improper claim to an exemption thus requiring the entities to pay millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.

“I hope everything we are doing gives the banks, MERS and foreclosure firms pause,” Hertel said. “We could avoid a lot of these situations if they just worked with individual citizens instead of pushing people into the foreclosure process.”

As the Michigan House prepares for a possible vote today on the controversial anti-bullying bill that passed the Senate last
week, legislators are reacting to the analysis of that bill by a prominent First Amendment scholar published earlier this week.

In that analysis, Douglas Laycock, the Robert E. Scott Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Virginia Law School and one of the nation’s foremost experts on the First Amendment, said the legislation was poorly drafted and did little to address bullying.

The passage of the legislation last week prompted a national outcry. Democrats in the GOP-controlled Senate said the bill was a “license to bully,” which Republicans denied. That license was an inserted section in the bill which prohibits the law from being used to take action against people for a statement based on a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction.

Laycock, in his analysis, said Republicans were right. While the definition of bullying was vague, he said, the reality was, it would not give permission to bullies to act out. However, he said, Republican claims the section was needed to assure First Amendment rights was wrong. He said the law — with or without the section — would still have to adhere to the free speech protections assured by the First Amendment.

Advocates and legislators from both parties responded to the analysis after seeing the full text of Laycock’s analysis.

Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing) said, “There’s little question that SB 137 as it currently exists is a joke. The Republicans turned a bill that would have been a step forward in protecting our kids from bullying and harassment into a step back. It truly did create a license to bully. I’m glad to hear that the House Republicans may remove that offensive language from the bill when they vote on it, however I challenge them to learn from what other states have already done and improve the bill in all aspects.”

Sen. John Gleason (D-Flushing) said, “Professor Laycock’s assessment shows just how off the mark this legislation is. I’ve long been an advocate for strong anti-bullying legislation, I’m especially concerned for students with disabilities who often suffer unimaginable cruelty at the hands of bullies. The bill reported from committee was not as strong as I would have liked, but I was willing to support it because the limited protections it offered where better than no protections at all.”

The insertion of the religious exemption, Gleason said, showed that “the Republicans were not taking the bullying epidemic seriously.”

Sen. Glenn Anderson (D-Westland), who led a sit-in protest when an earlier version of the bill failed two weeks ago, said, “I understand the basis for Professor Laycock’s concerns … With this version of Senate Bill 137, Senate Republicans have pulled one of the most egregious manipulations of the legislative process I have seen in my 11 years as a state legislator. By adding a last minute exemption for religiously or morally motivated bullying, Senate Republicans effectively enacted a blueprint for bullies to follow when justifying their actions. Instead of providing a safe school environment for all of our students, this bill goes in the exact opposite direction and in fact provides a license to bully.”

Rep. Lisa Brown (D-West Bloomfield), another supporter of strong anti-bullying legislation, focused on what the bill would not do. “Professor Laycock succinctly lays out why this bill will do nothing to prevent our children from experiencing bullying in our schools,” she said. “While encouraging our schools to adopt bullying policies is a small step in the right direction, the bill fails to explicitly prohibit harassment in the hallways. In fact, the bill does little, if nothing at all, to prevent harassment of any kind.”

“As it is written,” Brown continued, “the anti-bullying bill provides no protections to our students and is all pomp with no circumstance. Our schools can and should be arenas for public discourse for our kids, but I think we can all agree that adults in the workplace should not have more protections from harassment than our kids in the classroom. Our kids shouldn’t have to be fearful of or subject to malicious attacks in the classroom or over the internet.”

The only Republican to respond to Michigan Messenger’s inquiry was House Speaker Jase Bolger (R-Marshall). Bolger’s spokesperson declined to comment on the analysis because it was “out of date.” House Republicans spent Monday assuring the state they were working to address concerns about the legislation, and Bolger’s office acknowledged that not only did the Speaker oppose the religious exemption in the bill as passed by the Senate, but that that language would not be in the final bill.

The House version of the bill is slated for a vote this afternoon, without first getting a hearing before the House Education Committee. Wednesday’s education committee hearing was canceled after its chairman, Rep. Paul Scott, was recalled by voters in Tuesday’s election.

Recalled Republican Rep. Paul Scott (R-Grand Blanc) has announced that he is stepping down as representative immediately and will no longer participate in votes even though he is not officially out of the Michigan House.

In an interview with the subscription-only newsletter Michigan Information and Research Services, Scott said he was taking the action because continuing to vote as the representative was “fundamentally un-democratic.”

Scott also said the vote likely had energized Republicans.

“I would issue a call to action to all legislators, with everyone in Michigan watching, to show we don’t allow special interests to bully and intimidate the legislature,” he said.

Ari Adler, spokesperson for Speaker of the House Jase Bolger (R-Marshall), said Scott had not notified Bolger of his decision, nor was he obligated to do so. He said Scott was merely speeding up the inevitable, noting that once the Genesee County Clerk certifies the election results, Scott is done with his position as state representative. Adler said that could happen as soon as Thursday.

Voters in Kalamazoo approved a controversial amendment to the city’s charter which makes possession of a small amount of pot for those 21 years of age older a “lowest possible law enforcement priority.”

The measure was approved with 4,649 for it and 2,416 against it, reports The Kalamazoo Gazette.

Louis Stocking, who led the petition drive of the Kalamazoo Coalition for Pragmatic Cannabis Laws to get the measure before voters, said the vote was unsurprising.

“It’s pragmatic. That was the name of my campaign,” Stocking said. “It’s logical. There’s no reason for it to be a priority at all. This is a harmless drug,” said Stocking, who added that the “next drive is for a state initiative along the same lines.”

Stocking says he is considering pushing for a statewide referendum to legalize marijuana in the state.

Rep. Paul Scott (R-Grand Blanc), the embattled Republican chair of the House Education Committee, has been recalled by the voters in his Genesee County district.

Michigan Public Radio reports Scott conceded the tight race at about 11:30 Tuesday night.

Scott was targeted for recall after his votes to cut education funding. The Michigan Education Association backed the recall effort.

“This is cliche, but this is not just a win for voters in the district. This is a win for everyone who felt they were misled by Republicans,” says Doug Pratt, spokesperson for the MEA.

Voters in the district will elect a new lawmaker in February. Scott will serve until then.

Voters in Traverse City voted Tuesday to approve a non-discrimination ordinance that includes sexual orientation and gender identity as protected categories.

Voters approved the measure by nearly a two-to-one margin, voting 2,818 to 1,661, reports the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

The vote caps a nearly year long, often contentious battle by social conservatives convinced they were stopping the gay agenda. The anti-ordinance movement was spearheaded by Jason Gilman, a tea party leader and county commissioner, and Paul Nepote. Nepote ran a Facebook page about the battle.

On Tuesday night he posted a response to the vote:

I would like to thank everyone who labored to educate the public to the dangers of homosexuality, and the radical homosexual movement. When we began this program we had two objectives, and we accomplished both as planned.

• First of all they were not going to get this unenforceable ordinance for free; we set out to make them spend as much as possible. We knew if we forced them to spend their money, whatever they spent on this would be funds they could not spend on other endeavors to promote homosexuality.

• Second was to send a message to the rest of the country, and the world, that Traverse City will no longer welcome homosexual radicals and activist in our town. Any attempt to promote homosexual behavior in our city will be met with a pushback that will expose those who think we would tolerate any flamboyant activity.

• And lastly, if any local business is attack using this ordinance we have raised enough support to help provide the best legal counsel possible at no cost to the business owner.

We didn’t need to win this battle to win the fight. This is just the beginning, and with the allies we have acquired we will continue to confront those who are trying to promote homosexuality as a normal life choice, and to prevent them from contacting our children and grandchildren with lies which promote their perverted sexuality.

Meanwhile, activists from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and ally community were celebrate the win.

“We applaud Traverse City voters for choosing to treat residents fairly and equally. Voter turnout was the highest we’ve seen in Traverse City municipal elections in years — which affirms that Michigan residents are more than willing to support pro-equality policy,” said Denise Brogan-Kator, executive director of Equality Michigan. “All hardworking people in our state, including gay and transgender people, should have the chance to earn a living and provide for themselves and their families. Nobody should have to live in fear that they can be legally fired for reasons that have nothing to do with their job performance.”

“This is a wonderful victory. Traverse City voters have defended fairness and taken a strong stand for all families. We would not be celebrating this victory if it were not for Traverse City residents’ commitment to civil rights, our amazing campaign staff, our volunteers, our community and allies, and the support of organizations like the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force,” said Diana Ketola, steering committee member for Traverse City Equality, the campaign group supporting the ordinance. “The Task Force spent time with us on the ground to train our campaign team and contributed financially to help us ensure this victory.”

Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, also hailed the victory at the polls.

“The people of Traverse City have sent a clear message that they value their LGBT friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members and don’t want to see them left vulnerable to discrimination,” Carey said. “This victory creates a stronger and more welcoming city not only for LGBT people and their families, but for everyone. We were proud to have partnered with Traverse City Equality in the nation’s only LGBT-specific ballot measure campaign this election. This is a victory for Traverse City and for our common humanity.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a speech Tuesday morning at the National Institutes of Health and announcing new U.S. initiatives to address the global pandemic.

Reuters reports:

“Creating an AIDS-free generation has never been a policy priority for the United States government — until today,” Clinton said in a speech at the U.S. National Institutes of Health outside Washington.

“This goal would have been unimaginable just a few years ago,” she said. “While the finish line is not yet in sight, we know we can get there because now we know the route we need to take.”

In her speech, Clinton called for the use of scientific evidence in stopping the spread of the virus. To do that, she laid out three policy objectives based on recent research, according to a press release from the White House:

1) Prevention of mother-to-child transmission: Today, 1 in 7 new infections worldwide occur through mother-to-child transmission. In 2010, PEPFAR helped prevent 114,000 babies from being born with HIV. In June, PEPFAR and UNAIDS launched a global plan for eliminating new infections among children by 2015.

2) Voluntary medical male circumcision: This low-cost procedure reduces the risk of female-to-male transmission by more than 60 percent. It is a one-time intervention with a lifelong benefit. PEPFAR has financed three-fourths of the one million male circumcisions for HIV prevention around the world since 2007.

3) Treatment as prevention: Once people do become HIV-positive, recent science has shown that treatment with anti-retroviral drugs helps prevent the transmission of the virus to others. Effective treatment of a person living with HIV reduces the risk of transmission to a partner by 96%.

In addition to the policy announcements, which also included a call for other countries, particularly those impacted by the pandemic, to contribute funding to the battle against the virus as well as calling for an increase in international funding to the international fund for AIDS, Malaria and TB, Clinton also announced she was appointing talk show host Ellen DeGeneres as Special Envoy for Global AIDS awareness.

“I’m honored to have been chosen by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as Special Envoy for Global AIDS awareness. The fight against AIDS is something that has always been close to my heart. And I’m happy that I can use my platform to educate people and spread hope. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go look up what ‘envoy’ means,” said DeGeneres.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says that he supports allowing the children of undocumented residents to attend colleges at an in-state tuition rate.

The Washington Post reports:

Duncan said some of the children of illegal immigrants came to the United States when they were infants. He said the United States is their home, where they’ve worked hard in school and taken on leadership roles. For too long, he said, the U.S. policy toward them has been backward.

“They are either going to be taxpayers and productive citizens and entrepreneurs and innovators or they are going to be on the sidelines and a drag on the economy,” Duncan said in an interview with The Associated Press.

While Michigan currently has no law related to immigration status and in-state tuition, this move and announcement could push conservatives in the state legislature, such as Rep. Dave Agema (R-Grandville) into introducing legislation to match his current anti-immigration bills.