Why I Blog
The UN is reporting that 3.1 million people died worldwide last year because of AIDS. Forty million people are now infected. According to the BBC:
Sudan is the worst-hit, and two thirds of women there were unaware of condoms.And what has George Bush done about it?
(snip)
"Only 5% knew that condom use could prevent HIV infection and more than two-thirds of the women had never seen or heard of a condom," the authors said.
A senior United Nations official has accused President George Bush of "doing damage to Africa" by cutting funding for condoms, a move which may jeopardise the successful fight against HIV/Aids in Uganda.People often ask why so many are so obsessed with TraitorGate, and I can only answer for myself. But when I first heard about it, something inside -- something intuitive -- said "this is it, this is the opening, these fuckers are finally going down." I put every bit of hope I had into it because when I read things like this about the AIDS epidemic my eyeballs go blood red with rage at the rampage of death and destruction the American Taliban has wrought across the globe in the past four years.
Stephen Lewis, the UN secretary general's special envoy for HIV/Aids in Africa, said US cuts in funding for condoms and an emphasis on promoting abstinence had contributed to a shortage of condoms in Uganda, one of the few African countries which has succeeded in reducing its infection rate.
"There is no doubt in my mind that the condom crisis in Uganda is being driven by [US policies]," Mr Lewis said yesterday. "To impose a dogma-driven policy that is fundamentally flawed is doing damage to Africa."
When I think of all the suffering of so many that could be eased just by education and a few condoms being denied them by a passel of snake handlers and thieves who thrive by perpetuating fear and deceit I just want to scream. Really. And any help I can lend along the way to stoking the fires of the public imagination for the story that's going to take them down and out of a position to do any more damage -- I'm there.
Somebody said it yesterday and I don't remember where but it was to the effect that removing them from office is not enough. They must be tried and condemned for their multitude of crimes. If not our American ideals are nothing more than a sham and a mockery of everything we purport to stand for.
Being a part of something hopeful is the only way I know to keep from taking a complete bath in hate every day for what the American Taliban keep doing to the world.
posted by Jane Hamsher @ 11/21/2005 01:17:00 PM
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