Hot Docs: AIDS in America, Criminalizing HIV, Obama's National Security Team

AIDS and the need for a quarantine

Had standard public health practices been used when AIDS (actually first known as GRID, Gay-related immune deficiency) first showed up in 1981, the presence of AIDS in the US would today merely be an historical footnote.

Standard practices include quarantining individuals. Remember the guy who was honeymooning in Italy and upon his return to the US was put in isolation because he had XDR TB?

Typhoid Mary was locked away for continuing to sell apples despite her condition as a vector.

Similarly, AIDS vectors should have been quarantined in a separate facility. They weren't, due to political pressure from homosexuals. The result was that hundreds of thousand died. It's too late to save them, yet even now it would be possible to stem the tide in the US by a broad-based quarantining of the AIDS population.

AIDS

America should have criminalized AIDS in 1986 but the Gay political caucus which included minority political representatives raised holy hell about the subject until the state and national lawmakers cringed in fear they would alienate a small proportion of their constituency. Like the Nazis of 1933, it was the loudest voice - the Gay voice - that was heard, not necessarily the right voice. Now, the black community is getting its reward for its political leaders supporting the Gay political agenda. When viewed within the framework of the political landscape of the past twenty years, this article sounds like crocodile tears to me. If you do not believe me about the past alliance of Gay politics and minorities, just read the numerous articles about the failure of the Gay political movement to pass the Gay marriage law in California in November 2008. The Gay community is blaming the minority community for not supporting the marriage initiative.

Not only should we criminalize AIDS, we should quarantine anyone who has the disease in order to stop the spread of the disease as much as possible. And we should require all foreign born visitors to the U.S. to have an AIDS-free blood test in order to get any type visa. AIDS equals no visa.

For those who are saying men are mostly to blame for whatever reason, remember this - for every man who has gone to bed with a woman, there is a woman who has gone to bed with a man. What a profound thought for those - uneducated masses - who think only men are promiscuous.

When the AIDS issue came to the forefront of the media back in the mid-1980’s, I remember a woman who contracted AIDS who was charged with attempted murder because she said she slept with many men, trying to give AIDS to as many as possible. Because the Gay community saw such prosecution as detrimental to their lifestyle, they rose up in support of the woman and the charges were dropped. She should have spent the rest of her life in isolation in prison, not turned loose back on the street to give AIDS to more men. The state prosecutor’s behavior - letting the woman go free - in instance was criminal.

Finally, the AIDS epidemic in Africa is over-blown. Sure, there are numerically numerous AIDS cases in Africa. The reason for this is, Africa men and women do not associate moral issues with sex. Sex for most of them is just a bodily function like breathing, or eating. Again, I know this from living and working in Africa. African women are extremely promiscuous. There are numerous organizations that owe their existence to the continued flow of free money to Africa. These organizations beat the AIDS drum and the money flows like a free running river. I have worked in Africa and I understand what is going on there. Too bad most Americans are either too lazy, or too stupid to figure it out themselves. The African political leaders take their cut of aid money (all aid money, not just AIDS) amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. These despo

False Monogamy

The reason so many women are becoming infected is that they're married or in long term "monogamous" relationships with men who sneak around and have gay sex behind their backs. Oftentimes, they're upholding their end of the bargain but the men are not. In the black community, this is referred to as down-low behavior, but as Jim McGreedy, I mean McGreevey, and Senator Larry Craig have shown us, it happens across all races and ethnicities. The take away? Women should use condoms with everyone - even their husbands!

AIDS in America

Monogamy without marriage bears at least the appearance of a temporary state. In reality, many couples - homo- and heterosexual - engage in multiple "monogamous" relationships over the course of a lifetime.

STDs are trasmitted, by definition, sexually. (Admittedly, there are multiple vectors now, but the AIDS in America report listed a number of sexually related statistics.)

The decision to remain - or not - abstinent might be a moral decision, but it has undeniable biological consequences.

What I was thinking when I wrote my first comment was point number two under proposed solutions for the crisis about discontinuing funding for abstinence-only education. I hear a great hue and cry from conservatives about the lack of funding for abstinence education, so I'm not convinced that form of education is much to blame. I have to admit, abstinence-only – if abstinence is the only focus – would not be sufficient education. However, to not emphasize abstinence is equally foolish. I have made it a point to educate my children about various contraceptive methods, specifically pointing out their failure rates. As I mentioned before, even condoms do not have a 100% success rate, even against STDs. There are a number of STDs that can be successfully transmitted even with the correct use of a condom.

Crimializing HIV

In Adfrica there is lots of unprotected sex and the vast majority of those infected are hetrosexual women. Men sleep with more than one women at a time and the same can be said for women but the men are the most guilty. In the US if a person with AIDS or HIV infects another on purpose it is a felony akin to attempted murder, and other other char5ges can be used as well as transportig medical waste illegally amd other things like assault ect. What is wrong with the African nations usuing some of the same ideas we already have on the books to help curtail a dreadful disease that is rampant in those countries and some of their ideas we could possibly use here. For those that sexually aggressive and have AIDS, HIV, and other sexually transmitted diseases and also just for being sexually aggressive please do implant micro chips to help keep track of these indidviduals as many victims never come forward from attacks.

Cuba relations

There are long standing human rights violations with Cuba and we can not just over night recind some of the embargos placed overnight. Yes Castros brother is trying to let some drastic restrictions be lifted and give the people more independence and liberties thaey have not had in years. We also have to look at the 80's when castro let thousands leave Cuba and we inadvertated let become naturalized citizens and give them refugee status in reality most were released from jails, had extensive criminal backgrounds, pychiatric disorders, pycho paths ect. Look at Miami Dade Florida with in two years became the murder capitol of the US and still is. No we can not just let by gones be bygones but some ideas and cooperation on both parts could help both nations.

Criminalizing HIV

The headline may be bad, but I understand gays are 4% to 20% of our population. Say we use 10%. It would then seem that the incidence of gays with Aids is about 10 times the incidence of non-gays with Aids. I read elsewhere that 25% - 50% of gay white males had Aids, while 50% of gay black males had it. I do not believe such big differences are unimportant in how we fight Aids and try to prevent it.

AIDS in America

pepperoma, this doesn't make sense: "The only safe sex is abstinence before marriage and monogamy after. This is biological fact."

Getting a marriage license has nothing to do with monogamy. One can be monogamous and unmarried. Abstinence is a moral argument, not a biological one.

Criminalizing HIV

Uh, Sue, the "criminalizing HIV" article is about Africa. Not too many people have Internet there. Also, your singleminded focus on gay or "experimenting" men is misplaced; 47% of those with HIV in the US do NOT fall into that category. Worldwide, people with HIV are overwhelmingly heterosexual.

And actually, knowingly spreading HIV is already a crime in most states, so your whole post is moot.

AIDS in America

Wow. Those are some sobering statistics.

I submit, however, that those statistics will continue to increase as long as people continue to treat sex as a recreational activity.

The only safe sex is abstinence before marriage and monogamy after. This is biological fact. Everything else, and you're gambling with your life. You may, through various means, reduce your chances of contracting some disease, but not even condoms are 100% effective.

My heart goes out to all those poor people...