faster pussycat... type! type!

AIDS is a horrible epidemic that is preventable. Blood tests have all but elimated the HIV tainted blood in the blood bank system worldwide, so "accidental HIV exposures" are fading away like Wayne Newton's hairline.

The horrific fact is that AIDS is still in existence primarily because of unprotected sex.

Let me repeat that because it bears repeating.

The #1 delivery of the HIV virus in 1980, unprotected sex, is still the #1 reason HIV is being transmitted.

Of course you just know that MONEY is the only thing holding that back, right? Maybe if Bush, or Clinton, or Gore, or whomever had put an talking head in front of another government task force, an "HIV czar" then people would start putting condoms on when they fucked each other. Everyone with HIV would stop fucking without protection if we only had a President YOU liked.

Feh. Kaka!

No one but the infected people can stop HIV/AIDS. Abstinence is the best way. Protected sex is next best. Until ALL the infected people adhere to this, the AIDS epidemic will remain pandemic. No government can stop something the people keep doing despite the warnings.

And yes, you are correct: Bush is a moron. All presidents are powerless figureheads, Bush is just more obvious of a prop than LBJ was.

"Everyone with HIV would stop fucking without protection if we only had a President YOU liked."

i did not say that. [although i do believe it was to no benefit to have Reagan as the pres when the AIDS crisis first began]

I think my point was what POSSIBLE benefit is there to be had by imposing his christian values on the world at large, in fighting AIDS? What good does it to do exclude some very effective organizations because they will not kowtow to his moral agenda against prostitutes and IV drug users? THIS is what's going to teach young women in Thailand to stand up to their families when they sell them into prostitution at the age of 12? Because President Bush won't give money to organizations who deal with AIDS?

That was my point. Not that the president I would have preferred in the white house would do better, but rather the one I am stuck with sucks so very very very much.

Don't even get me started on the subject of sexual education for children in the US that might help prevent the spread of disease. Abstinence the best solution, but is that really feasible? is it a good idea to leave out other live saving methods because some people are wound so tightly with shame with regards to sexuality? hey... i said DON'T get me started.

i'd also like to point out that in india and in africa many of the newly infected people are women who have no power to force their husbands to wear condoms. there's a big gap between abstinence and condom-wearing for everyone who's infected and the reality of the situation.

American reality and world reality are not always the same. What sounds like a simple, clear cut thought (cuz Bush could not have a complex thought unless one of his advisors spewed it out for him) back in the States, just falls to hell once you get into the real world. Cultures are very different and I am not convinced that Americans really understand that. Imposing one's ideals onto others will never turn out how one thinks.

Jodi -- I remembered to sign in this time, Yeah!!

signing in... get's easier every time, doesn't it?

but hey, everyone, let's not forget the important thing... hilary swank's speech... annoying as hell, right? back me up here.

I agree that we cannot force our values on another country in many, many cases. But the Hospital can have you held against your will if they believe your life is in danger, the police can too, so what the hell is wrong with telling people with AIDS that they have lost the privledge to fuck? Unfair, yep, just like leper colonies/plague colonies were, but damn fucking effective. I believe anyone having unsafe sex after knowing they are HIV positive should be charged with murder. Their genitals are just as deadly as any shotgun. It is a viral assault and should be treated like any other crime. Harsh? Yes. Justified? Perhaps. More effective than dumping money/resources into a pipe dream of some "magic bullet" retro-virus treatments (a old concept we have yet to be able to put into practice after years and years of research.)

And yes... Swank's speech was oozing with "smarmy." And that girl is very angular and harsh: Someone need to get some meat on that girl's bones...

" I believe anyone having unsafe sex after knowing they are HIV positive should be charged with murder. Their genitals are just as deadly as any shotgun. It is a viral assault and should be treated like any other crime. Harsh? Yes. Justified? Perhaps. "

This, as far as the US goes, I agree with. If you are having unprotected sex, knowing you are HIV , you are endangering the lives of others, and should be prosecuted for it. I don't believe that we have the right to tell people that they cannot have sex at all, tho.

and thank you, for agreeing with me. swank needs to eat a lot of food and someone needs keep her from making acceptance speeches. maybe she can just ACT sincere next time she gets one. of course, if we fatten her up, she won't get any work in hollywood. bummer.

Have you ever read Dan Savage? He's a sex advice columnists who happens to be gay. His latest rant is about the AIDS epidemic and how "unfair" it is to tell people not to have sex. You can read it here:

http://www.theonionavclub.com/savagelove/index.php?issue=4109

One realy good point is that when someone has SARS or TB, we tell them to go home, wear a mask, stop interacting with people who could get it. Why should we tip-toe around a disease that is 100% fatal (unless you're Magic Johnson, who seems to have beaten HIV... Zero viral load... I know, really fucking unfair...) is beyond my comprehension. Sex is a right, yes. But once you become infected, now your "right" infringes on the rights of others, and there's no moral code about THAT, unless you agree that women in foreign countries should be treated like property, be mutilated to keep them from enjoying sex, so on and so forth. There are some things in this world that are universally wrong: Slavery (marital or otherwise) and murder being two of the most basic. (It was very culturally unkind for us to infringe on the First People's religious rite of human sacrifice, but I'm sorry. WE WERE RIGHT. Killing isn't.)

Cultures where woman are little more than breeding machines owned and operated by abusive husbands may be ancient and have great symbolic power.

They're also wrong.

Who are we to decide that? We're a group of people that won't stand for it. Murdering your women, whether it be stoning for "disobedience"/a sexual "crime" or by "injections" of HIV, cannot be tolerated regardless of anyone's beliefs.

"Murdering your women, whether it be stoning for "disobedience"/a sexual "crime" or by "injections" of HIV, cannot be tolerated regardless of anyone's beliefs."

i totally agree. whoa.

if you have HIV, you have a moral imperative to be upfront and honest with your partner[s]. it's a decision to be made by two people. otherwise, it's at lease reckless endangerment, right? at the very least. someone who has sex with people without letting them know they are HIV is committing attempted manslaughter, in my opinion.

you know what would make me happy? if we could have an open, honest, program of sexual education for children in this country. not only to teach them about STD's, but also about unwanted pregnancies, date rape, everything. so that young girls would know that "blue balls" are not fatal, and if their boyfriends loved THEM, they wouldn't try to trick them into something they aren't ready for. that you CAN get pregnant on the first time. that nice girls and boys have STD's too. and that being gay does not make you a lesser human being, undeserving of love and marriage. it drives me nuts when the same people who protest abortion, also protest sexual education. or promote homophobia. it goes hand in hand.

also, all people wanting to have children should ask me first. "no more crack babies" will be one of my campaign slogans.

i do know dan savage. he's a local boy. before he went national, i used to read his column, Hey Faggot, in The Stranger. and stay up until the wee hours of the morning listening to him on the radio. He's one of my first major gay crushes.

I, for one, won't argue with you that Ann's an idiot. No doubt about it in my mind. As for Hillary? Slap away!