I know they say "Politics makes strange bedfellows", but......

This is so utterly ridiculous that I can't even say anything about it! That the public, even the Republican public, would give any credence to this woman's views just totally blows my mind! I wonder if the Phelps family would open up and welcome her now that Fred is dead?

Susanne Atanus, Who Blames Gay Rights For Tornadoes, Wins GOP Nomination For Congress

The Huffington Post  | by  Samantha Lachman

Posted: 03/19/2014 1:52 pm EDT Updated: 03/20/2014 11:59 am EDT

Susanne Atanus, Republican candidate

A Republican candidate who believes that God dictates weather patterns and that tornadoes, autism and dementia are God's punishments for marriage equality and abortion access won the GOP nomination to challenge Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) in the Chicago-area 9th Congressional District.
Susanne Atanus, of Niles, Ill., garnered 54 percent of the vote in her Tuesday win over David Earl Williams III.
"I am not in favor of abortions, I am not in favor of gay rights," Atanus told the Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago newspaper, in January.
She blamed natural disasters and mental disorders on recent advances in LGBT equality and legal abortions.
"God is angry. We are provoking him with abortions and same-sex marriage and civil unions," she said. "Same-sex activity is going to increase AIDS. If it's in our military, it will weaken our military. We need to respect God."
Atanus also reached out to the Windy City Times, an LGBT publication, in an attempt to explain her views.
"Everybody knows that God controls weather," she told the news site in January. "God is super angry," she added. "Gay marriage is not appropriate, and it doesn't look right, and it breeds AIDS."
Jack Dorgan, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, and Adam Robinson, chairman of the Chicago Republican Party, both condemned Atanus' comments and distanced the party from her candidacy.

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Well, at least this time the Republican Party had good sense, and cut ties with her!

All opinions voiced on this blog are strictly those of the author. 

House Dems Reverse Obama, Remove Ban On Needle Exchange Funding (VIDEO)

I knew that eventually he was going to start flat-out breaking his promises....

by Ryan Grim
Posted in The Huffington Post

House Democrats have reversed a decision by President Obama and removed a ban on federal funding for needle-exchange programs that he included in the 2010 budget. Including the ban broke a campaign pledge and the flip-flop set off outrage in the gay community and among HIV/AIDS activists. Twenty-six activists were arrested Thursday in the Capitol protesting the policy.

"For us this is a major positive development," said Allan Clear of the Harm Reduction Coalition. "We're optimistic it will stay out. We don't think Democrats would do this unless they thought they could keep it out."

"The fact that Democrats took it out in subcommittee means they're willing to take it all the way," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance.

Syringe exchange programs have been demonstrated to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS but opponents charge that they encourage drug use.

The needle-exchange question goes to the heart of a seemingly never-ending debate in Washington: Should policy be made based on sound science or used to drive a wedge between the electorate? Obama has placed himself squarely in the sound science camp, which is why his decision touched off such anger.

It is also, quite literally, a life or death question. "Thirty-thousand people a year get HIV or Hepatitis C directly or indirectly from intravenous drug use," said Piper. "That's 300,000 people that could be saved over the next decade."

Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wisc.) highlighted the reversal Of Obama's decision when releasing the budget Friday. Obey is also the chairman of the subcommittee that removed the ban.

"One key exception that I want to mention concerns needle exchange programs. This bill deletes the prohibition on the use of funds for needle exchange programs," he said. "Scientific studies have documented that needle exchange programs, when implemented as part of a comprehensive prevention strategy, are an effective public health intervention for reducing AIDS/HIV infections and do not promote drug use. The judgment we make in this bill is that it is time to lift this ban and let State and local jurisdictions determine if they want to pursue this approach."

At the time of Obama's reversal, spokesman Ben LaBolt said that the president left the ban in because he wanted Congress to take the lead and that the president didn't want to fight policy battles in the budget language.

"We have not removed the ban in our budget proposal because we want to work with Congress and the American public to build support for this change," he said. "We are committed to doing this as part of a National HIV/AIDS strategy and are confident that we can build support for these scientifically-based programs."

He added, "In recent years, Washington has used the budget process to litigate divisive issues and score political points. This practice, which both sides have engaged in, has limited our ability to tackle our major economic challenges. President Obama decided not to play politics as usual with this budget and while he remains committed to supporting the program he wants to address that through the normal legislative process."

That commitment, however, was called into question by the White House decision to remove its support of needle exchange programs from its website. See the before and after here.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) represents San Francisco, which runs a non-federally funded and successful needle exchange program. She was elected to Congress in the midst of the AIDS crisis and has long been a supporter of ending the ban on federal funding of syringe exchange.

"The CDC, NIH, WHO and former Surgeon General David Satcher have all confirmed the scientific evidence in support of needle exchange, which clearly shows these programs are an effective public health intervention that reduces the number of new HIV infections without increasing the use of illegal drugs," said Pelosi in a statement reacting to the removal of the ban. "By lifting the ban on federal funding for needle exchange, the language in the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill reflects this sound science. As this bill moves forward, we must ensure science comes first in our public health policy."

In 2000, Pelosi called for a scientific review of the effectiveness of needle exchange. Surgeon General Satcher produced a report that concluded: "The senior scientists of the Department and I have unanimously agreed that there is conclusive scientific evidence that syringe exchange programs, as part of a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy, are an effective public health intervention that reduces transmission of HIV and does not encourage the illegal use of drugs."

On Thursday, AIDS activists chained themselves inside the Capitol to protest Obama's inclusion of the ban in the budget. An Obama spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

This Is What Bigotry and Fear Do to People

This is sad; a whole family dies because of the bigotry and hatred associated with being HIV+. I know that we are usually frightened of that which we know least about, but society's ignorance about and consequent fear of HIV is just going too far when parents kill their children and themselves rather than face the world. The worst thing is, the couple lived with it for two years, but then when their daughter was diagnosed two months ago, they did this terrible thing. To me it appears that they could not stand the thought of their child going through what they had been going through, (the discrimination and intolerance in their country) and they decided that killing themselves and their family was a better solution. WHAT KIND OF WORLD ARE WE LIVING IN??? What kind of message does this send to younger people who find themselves diagnosed with HIV? In a world so full of medical and technological advances, it seems that in some ways we are no better off than we were in the days when people thought leeches would cure everything, and that it would kill you to take a bath because it exposed you to all kinds of germs and bacteria.

HIV Positive Mexicans Detained by U.S. Allege Neglect

This story almost made me cry. Aren't we supposed to be the progressive country that cares about what happens with other countries? We can send thousands of our military forces into other countries to interfere in their lives, but we can't make sure that those on our soil, under our care, get their medicines on time? We're not talking about birth control pills for god's sake! We're talking about medications that help to save lives! A convict on death row will get all the medical care necessary to make sure he is in good health when we kill him, but a deportee we let die. Sometimes I am so ashamed that I am an American. Everyone in poorer countries dreams of coming here, other societies pick up their fads and fashions from here, people want to be like Americans, but if they only knew what it's really like down at the heart of it all, they'd stay where they are. They certainly would think twice about coming to a country that could (and would) cold-heartedly stand by and watch you die.

HIV/AIDS, A Gay Disease???

In the year 2008, someone actually said this? Yep, and not just any old John or Jan Q Public either! Matt Foreman, head of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force!! This man who supposedly works to change the way society looks at us and treats us, actually opened his mouth on Friday and made that statement. You're telling me that it is our fault that since this epidemic began, an estimated 21.8 million people have died of AIDS (17.5 million adults and 4.3 million children under 15)? You have got to be out of your mind!!! That is ridiculous, especially in light of the fact that the majority of people living with it now is no longer gay, white, and male, but African Americans and other groups. It's bad enough that there are still whole segments of the straight population who are not educated about the AIDS virus, and who are passing it around like the offering plate at church, (you know, passing it on as quickly as possible) but when you start having members of the gay community, members who are supposed to be activists fighting for our rights who are blaming us for it, well, I just don't know what to think of the kind of world we've come to. It's like having another black person tell me that slavery was the fault of the slaves on the Amistad........

People, wake up! HIV/AIDS is a HUMAN disease; it's not gay or straight, it's not black or white, old or young, druggie or alcoholic; HIV/AIDS is something that ANYONE can get if they are not careful. The whole country seems to have gotten over the first scare, and has relaxed into an attitude of "oh, well, let someone else worry about it". Everyone thinks it's not going to happen to them, it's only the drug addicts, or the gays, or the guys in jail; not true. You want to see whose disease HIV/AIDS is today? It belongs to the children in Africa who got it from their mothers; it belongs to the woman who got it from her boyfriend; and if you're not careful about what you do and who you do it with, it could belong to YOU.

Hidden Gay Life of Macho HIp Hop Stars

Well, this is one book that will bring a lot of attention... if it doesn't, it should. There are so many black women getting HIV and AIDS now that it's ridiculous! And where is a lot of it coming from? Sex with men; high-risk heterosexual sex. A long time ago, society called it a 'gay men's disease'; even now there are groups (usually fundy Christians) who claim that AIDS is God's way of punishing gays. If that's true, what about all the innocent babies being born with AIDS, whose mothers got it from men? Are those babies being punished for what their father did? Are their mothers being punished for that? Gradually most of society came to see that it was not a gay men's disease, but a 'junkie disease'; it came from all these nasty junkies out here shooting drugs. What about all the people who never shot an illegal drug in their life, but had surgery and got a transfusion, and died of AIDS? What were they being punished for?

Just like with any other of the topics that are responsible for the death of our children, the death of our culture, and the death of our race, this is one that could be a lot less deadly through education, honest and open communication, and a little common sense. Black women need to understand that the man they've loved for 20 years who has been in jail for the last 10 may very well have, voluntarily or involuntarily, been exposed to HIV through homosexual sex. They also need to be aware that the man they've stuck by for 20 years, the father of her children who's been shooting heroin for the last 5, could have been exposed through sharing needles. No matter what they say, no matter how many times they swear it didn't happen, make them get tested, and not just once. This is what I mean by education. He comes out of jail, or out of rehab, and a week after he gets out he gets tested. The test is negative, he says "See baby, I'm clean, I told you I didn't do nothing, don't make me wear no rubber." A year later, she goes for a routine physical, and she's positive. He goes ballistic, swears she's been cheating, etc. etc. (we all know the rest of the story.) All along though, it WAS him; when you get tested the first time, it's not enough to let it go at that. The virus may just not be showing up yet; it's just like when you first get pregnant, it takes a couple of weeks to show up on a pregnancy test. Unfortunately it takes longer with HIV/AIDS; to be safe, get tested every 6 months for 18 months, that's 3 tests. If all those tests are negative, and you're SURE he's not indulged in any high-risk behaviors, then if you allow him to ride bareback you're probably safe. Until that 18 months is over, don't let him do anything without slapping that cap on little jimmy. If you do, you have no one to blame for a positive test but yourself. It's common sense that if there's a possibility he might have something that you need to protect yourself, but somehow it seems like when it comes to sex, all our common sense goes out the window. We've got to close that window girlfriend! We've got to stop letting ourselves be swayed by good looks, smooth talk, and our g-spot. When you're lying in a hospital bed weighing about 90 lbs and wondering who's going to take care of your children, those good looks don't mean diddly. Honesty and open communication....be nice if we could have that, but it just doesn't seem to happen. A man's pride will not let him admit to anyone t hat he got raped, or even worse, (to him) he willingly had homosexual sex when he was locked up. Fear of being laughed at and downgraded will not let him admit that he shared needles when he was sick and him and his partner only had one set of works; that makes him seem weak and desperate, and God forbid any one should see him that way. He's an addict though, what other way is there to see him? Besides, if he can't tell t he truth to the mother of his children, especially when it means her life, something is desperately wrong with this relationship and needs to be fixed, or left alone. There has to be open, honest communication, there has to be education, and there has to be common sense; if we don't get on the ball soon, it's going to be too late. Talk to each other, and talk to your children about sex, HIV/AIDS, and Hepatitis C; talk to them about condoms and birth control. None of us want to see our children having sex when they're still children, but we don't want to see them pregnant or dying of AIDS either.