A reader throws the gauntlet down!

Jordan Stratford of Ecclesia Gnostica in Nova Albion had the following to say regarding this post:

Oh, and the divorce rate is falling in Canada, and *was* falling under Clinton in the US (following the abortion rate, now climbing under Bush).

The tragedies of divorce and abortion are overwhelmingly economic issues - "conservative" fiscal policies (massive military spending, huge governments, massive tax cuts, gutting public infrastructure such as medical aid and education) create more poor people, who tend to divorce at higher rates and have less access to contraception and sex education, which makes the abortion rate go up.

Fr. Stratford evidently missed the memo, which I had posted about in May here. So much for that misrepresentation. As for divorce rates rising climbing under Bush after falling under Clinton, how does he explain this? Observe:

Per capita divorce rates 1990-2002:
1991, 0.47%
1992, 0.48%
1993, 0.46%
1994, 0.46%
1995, 0.46%
1995, 0.43%
1997, 0.43%,
1998, 0.42%,
1999, 0.41%,
2000, 0.41%,
2001, 0.40%,
2002, 0.38%

Unconvinced? Check here.

Now, I'm not the greatest mathematician in the world. But aren't these numbers going down? I thought so. And aren't they going down since the year 2000? Yep. Who was elected President of the United States in the year 2000? Why, George W. Bush. This would be the same president during whose administration, Fr. Stratford asserts, the divorce rates rose. I guess he missed another memo. Maybe he should change his address.

Thanks for playing, Jordan. Try again sometime.