Because I said so

Uganda has its share of problems yet, Uganda is still THE model for the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa. However, Uganda’s model and success is currently being threatened. 940,000 people are living with HIV and 1.2 million children are orphaned by AIDS.

First and foremost with any successful health initiative you must gain confidence, trust, and speak to the direct needs of the target population. HIV/AIDS hit Uganda hard in the mid-80s around the same time President Museveni came to power. In President Museveni you had a president that cared that his country men were dying. He knew that a simple message of caution could (and would) save millions of lives. Museveni relaxed the control on media outlets allowing a frank message regarding the transmission of HIV/AIDS to spread through “churches, school, and villages.”

The forthright discussion and ABC programs (abstain, be faithful, use condoms) a comprehensive sex awareness program aided in removing the stigma and fear associated with the virus. Now the success that was once Uganda’s in the fight against HIV/AIDS is now in danger. Uganda’s HIV/AIDS programs are funded by numerous organizations. President Bush’s financial assistance is tied inextricably to "abstinence only" programs. A program which presses Uganda to teach abstinence versus the comprehensive sex awareness that reduced the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the 90s.

Abstinence “only” programs are ineffective and grossly unfeasible. The use of such stipulations tied to government funds in my opinion are a gross breach of the term separation of church and state. President Bush gave Uganda $8 million for the use of abstinence only programs. These programs do not and cannot effectively work alone. While, the concept and ideology is admirable we live in world filled with secular images and secular behaviours.

• Labels:
• Africa
• Bush
• Global health
• Hiv/Aids


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I am no Bush fan but I am very grateful that this was only a shoe. The Secret Service needs their asses kicked for this. Their reactions were too damn slow for me they should have had Bush on the ground after the first shoe.

Big ups to the journalist (if he was a journalist) in the tan blazer and orange shirt who was able to stiff arm the shoe terrorist.

I would also like to say thank you President Bush for holding your own afterwards. I know it was just a shoe but hell I am still an American and I am proud that you pushed forward and showed no fear and ended your speech with great fortitude.

• Labels:
• Bush
• Damn
• fool
• foolishness
• responsibility


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As southerners, most of us like our tea sweeeetttt. However, most of us do not like it sweet to the taste of an extra $100 + billion. The Bailout or Rescue plan (or if you are Senator McCain) that the House Republicans struck down on Monday cost the economy $1 trillion (that’s a lot zeros folks). The tentative plan that the Senate approved late last night cost tax payers an extra $100 billion dollars on top of the supposedly much needed $700 billion. Both Presidential hopefuls voted yes for the Bailout/Rescue Bill, both decided to play Russian Roulette with our money, in hopes of heading off impending doom. A doom that I am not entirely convinced was imminent.

Quite possibly my age is coloring my view. If I was close to retirement age, I might be screaming TO pass the bill already so my 401K/403b would stabilize. As it is now, I DON’T plan on opening my quarterly statement. I have enough years left to work that whatever I've lost I should be able to recoup by the time I hit retirement age.

The revised Bailout/Rescue bill is intended to aid Main street as well as Wall street, but I don’t really see it happening. I did not see an amendment for mortgage moratoriums that would aid homeowners in keeping their homes by lowering their interest rates/payments in order to keep them out of foreclosure.

I’m not one to shy away from democratic socialism, As I see that as the natural progression of any developed nation. But I find it disturbing that so many Bills are floating as amendments and have absolutely nothing to do with the original premise of the Bailout/Rescue plan. Do you know what’s in your tea? Here are just a few of the sweeteners that were added to the Bailout/Rescue plan:

Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2008


Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008

Prohibits a group health plan from requesting or requiring an individual or family member of an individual from undergoing a genetic test. Provides that such prohibition does not: (1) limit the authority of a health care professional to request an individual to undergo a genetic test; or (2) preclude a group health plan from obtaining or using the results of a genetic test in making a determination regarding payment. Requires the plan to request only the minimum amount of information necessary to accomplish the intended purpose.

Prohibiting Employment Discrimination on the Basis of Genetic information

Miscellaneous Provisions - (Sec. 301) Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to lower the percentage of a borrower's student loan payment made under the Federal Family Education Loan program subsequent to default that a guaranty agency may retain for deposit in its operating fund if the Secretary of Education has already reimbursed it for such default.

Please visit the following website for your own edification.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR01424:@@@L&summ2=m&


Update
And the sweet of all sweetsCourtesy of From the Left



• Manufacturers of kids’ wooden arrows get $6 million

• Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands rum producers get $192 million

• An undisclosed amount for Wool research

• Auto racing tracks (think: NASCAR Nation) get $128 million

• Corporations operating in American Samoa will receive $33 million

• Small-to- medium budget film and television productions get $10 million

• Relief for litigants in the Exxon Valdez oil spil

• Labels:
• Bush
• government
• Obama
• politics
• responsibility
• rethugs


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Yeah I left it blank so you can feel in the blank however you choose. Last week I spent 40 hours of my hard earned PTO (which I absolutely hate to take unless I am going on vacation) to try and help acclimate my brother’s kidsto our home. On Saturday their mother called and told us her stay was extended beyond her original 9 months to 15 months. My husband and I both feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and frustrated.

All of you Bush supporters that continue your blind WORSHIP of his fool hardy leadership have absolutely NO idea or NO concept of what it truly means to support our troops. That saying is simply a slogan and a mantra you feel you must say, how many of you have even sent care packages or cards to the soldiers on a regular.

There are many military families that are in the same situation as we find ourselves. As we loaded up the kids and left from Ft. Hood last week we can into an elderly man with three kids of his own he told us he was a single grandparent that now had to care for his grandchildren alone. Thank you America I am sure this is a legacy that we can be proud of for generations to come, just like Vietnam.

Oh and now we also have my brother’s step daughter because her father is too much of a dick to step up.

• Labels:
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• government
• responsibility


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As if the American public that actually uses it brain needed a book detailing the deception, lies and the use of propaganda used by the Bush administration. I for one am not going to rush out and purchase this tell –all. Maybe McClellan’s book will enlighten the still ignorant and hopeless blind followers of the Bush administration of his every increasing trend toward fascism and the ever increasing importance of America above all other nationalities. And hopefully this will allow voters in November to know that a President elect in the form of John McCain (and the ridiculously wealthy elitist Cindy McCain) will ensure an increase towards belligerence and the continued culpability began by the Bush Administration.

• Labels:
• Bush
• politics


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