  A PARTING SHOT FOR CARISSA I find it interesting that the urlLink Child Trends 2002 study cited by Carissa Ritner in the urlLink pro-FMA piece in this month's Patriot doesn't say a single word about same-sex parents. It discusses a variety of other issues that contribute to both good and bad child-rearing environments, such as divorce, healthy vs unhealthy-but-stable marriages, the effects of welfare reform, and sex education. (Interestingly enough, the study favors non-abstinence-only, heh) Also, Carissa's quote is incorrect. The quote from the Child Trends brief, on page 6, is: First, research clearly demonstrates that family structure matters for children, and the family structure that helps children the most is a family headed by two biological parents in a low-conflict marriage . That's an interesting prepositional phrase there at the end that Carissa left out. It would sure make people believe that the study had more to do with the health of marriages than anything about same-sex marriage. Especially when the rest of the paragraph from the brief reads: Children in single-parent families, children born to unmarried mothers, and children in stepfamilies or cohabiting relationships face higher risks of poor outcomes than do children in intact families headed by two biological parents.
Parental divorce is also linked to a range of poorer academic and behavioral outcomes among children. There is thus value for children in promoting strong, stable marriages between biological parents. So in short, Carissa Ritner, in her article supporting the FMA, used a cherry-picked, incomplete quote from a study that has absolutely nothing to do with same-sex marriage (unless she intends to condemn straight adoption while she's at it).
From the looks of it, the writers of the Patriot are just as shitty with their quotes and citations under John Cise as they were under Sexton. But it gets worse. When Maggie Gallagher of the Weekly Standard and Townhall cited the sentence used by Carissa, she used urlLink the whole urlLink thing . She was using the quote to support Bush's "healthy marriage" initiatives, which are, you know, more closely related to the focus of the study.
Carissa Ritner wanted to use the quote to argue for the FMA, but had to lie about it to do so. Until she rehabilitates herself, she is an official HACK. But at least we know where she found that quote. (note: In citing the whole paragraph, Gallagher leaves out the sentence on the effects of divorce, so when it comes to hackery, Carissa has some company) 
