Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church Turn HIV Into Heterosexual Epidemic

Throughout Russia's history the Russian Orthodox Church has typically been on the side of autocracy, has fought any and every progressive idea, and worried more than anything else about its own wealth and power.  Indeed, the Church opposed even small moderate changes that might have helped Russia avoid the horrific 1917 revolutions.  Now, Putin, like some of the most insidious tsars from Russia's past has allied himself with the Russian Orthodox Church to bolster his base of power .  In exchange for such support, Putin has given the Church free reign to push its archaic, anti-modernity, anti-knowledge based agendas.  Adding to the toxic mix has been the efforts of American Christofascists to export their anti-gay animus and contempt for modern democratic norms.  In Russia, this embrace of ignorance is fueling a HIV epidemic that is rapidly ravaging the heterosexual population.  Unlike other modern nations that are seeing their rate of increase of HIV cases drop, Russia is seeing explosive increases that rival those of sub-Saharan Africa, an area known for its lack of education and susceptibility to Christofascist propaganda.  A piece in Politico looks at the disaster taking place in Russia.  Here are excerpts:   

The Kremlin and its allies are pushing a socially conservative, hands-off, and often church-influenced approach to sexual and reproductive health, as well as drug policy. Fueling an epidemic, state policies and inaction have led to more cases than ever of Russians contracting or dying from HIV/AIDS.

At least 14,631 Russians died from AIDS-related symptoms in the first half of 2017—an increase of more than 13 percent from the year earlier. Russia now hosts the largest HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, which, along with the Middle East and North Africa, make up the world’s only two regions where the rate of HIV cases is rising. “It’s explosive,” says Christopher Beyrer, an epidemiologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University who previously served as president of the International AIDS Society and helped run an anonymous HIV testing facility here in Moscow before pulling out due to Russian policy hostile to U.S. funding. “The policies that they have been sticking to in the Russian Federation and attempting to impose in countries they seek to control are clearly not evidence-based,” he adds, calling the shocking rise in HIV rates a clear “failure of policy and practice.” In January 2016, Russia registered its millionth HIV-positive person, a 26-year-old woman. Actual numbers are likely much higher, according to health experts. Across much of the world, including the United States, the rate of HIV is declining, thanks to strategic programs like clean needle exchanges, increased awareness and better access to antiretroviral therapy. In the U.S., for example, the annual number of overall HIV diagnoses decreased by 5 percent between 2011 and 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But that’s not the case in Russia: Here, the rate of HIV infections is rising faster than in sub-Saharan Africa, host to the world’s largest HIV epidemic, where an international effort has slashed the rate of new HIV infections. Russia’s growing HIV crisis is seemingly no match for the Orthodox Church, which preaches faith and family values as the cure-all for the virus. A burgeoning alliance between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the church in recent years has fueled an environment where sexual education in schools is forbidden, clean needle programs are shunned as sinful and attacks on women’s and gay rights are state-sanctioned. Further blocking access to health care and resources, Putin signed a controversial church-backed bill into law in 2013 that criminalized the dissemination of information about homosexuality to minors—or, in government terms, “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations.” But it wasn’t just the Russian Orthodox Church: U.S. evangelical funding and influence have also fueled the conservative tide in Russia, says Dr. Breyer. “The [anti-gay law] language was in some cases lifted whole from legislation passed in Nigeria and Uganda,” he says, referring to the U.S. Christian right’s influence on anti-gay legislation in parts of Africa. Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, who has deemed Putin’s presidency a “miracle from God,” has called for the “establishment of family values, ideals of chastity and marital fidelity” and a focus on “moral education”—not sexual education. The church’s presence on social issues is so suffocating that one researcher working on issues of HIV in Russia quipped that he saw “more Orthodox priests than condoms” at a recent HIV conference in Moscow. Despite the rising number of new HIV infections, Russia is not increasing the amount of HIV medication accessible to the public or ramping up health education efforts. Instead, parents are expected to educate their children at home on the risks of unsafe sex and drug use. HIV experts say that’s largely still not happening, and a generation of children are growing up without life-saving knowledge of HIV and its risks.

Meanwhile, top Russian officials cast doubt on the need to combat the disease. Deputy Director Tatyana Guzenkova of RISS, for example, has said that the HIV epidemic is merely an “information war” waged by the West on Russia.

In the past, most HIV positive Russians contracted the virus through intravenous drug use. That’s changing: The number of people contracting HIV from heterosexual sex will soon overtake new HIV infections from drug use, according to experts. And an increasing number of newly infected Russians—some 38 percent in 2015—are women. As Russia’s decades-long HIV crisis takes on a different shape, experts say more and more Russians like Ivanova—non drug-using Russians who are part of mainstream society—are becoming infected, although drug-use is still a leading factor fueling the country’s HIV epidemic.

Judge Refuses to Drop Order Allowing Morning-After Pill Over the Counter Sales Sales

In what seems to me to be one of Barack Obama's dumber moves, his administration is a appealing a judicial ruling to allow that would allow the sale of the "morning after pill" over the counter to women of all ages.  If one truly wants fewer abortions - as both Obama and even the fetus lovers/child haters of the far claim to want - making the morning after pill as widely available as possible should be a no brainer.  For the far right, of course the argument is that such sales would encourage promiscuity and never mind that there would be fewer abortions.  But WTF is Obama's excuse?  He certainly won't win any far right votes and, worse yet, no scientific data supports restricting the sales and thereby almost guaranteeing more unwanted pregnancies and more abortions.  The judge in the case rightly has no patience with the Obama administration's pathetic arguments for restrictions and has made his impatience clear.  Here are highlights from the New York Times:

A federal judge on Friday stepped up his criticism of the Obama administration, accusing the Justice Department of making “frivolous” and “silly” arguments in its attempt to delay making the morning-after emergency contraceptive pill available to women and girls of all ages without a prescription. 

Judge Edward R. Korman of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York ordered last month that the drug be made widely available and said that raw politics — not scientific evidence — was behind efforts by Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, to block easier distribution to young girls. 

On Friday, he denied the request by government lawyers to suspend his ruling while they appeal. In the process, he lashed out again at Ms. Sebelius in unusually harsh terms, questioning her credibility and integrity. 

“If a stay is granted, it will allow the bad-faith, politically motivated decision of Secretary Sebelius, who lacks any medical or scientific expertise, to prevail — thus justifiably undermining the public’s confidence in the drug approval process,” Judge Korman wrote. 

The issue of how broadly to distribute the morning-after pill is a politically charged one that puts President Obama’s administration at the center of a clash involving some women’s rights groups, conservative opponents of abortion and defenders of scientific integrity. 

In Friday’s ruling, Judge Korman said that the government’s appeal of his order was nothing more than an attempt to “vindicate the improper conduct of the secretary.”

The judge repeatedly accused the government of operating in bad faith and said the process of denying broad distribution of the drug had been “corrupted by political interference” for years. He said he did not believe that ordering Ms. Sebelius or the F.D.A. to re-examine their decisions would make any difference.

He also rejected the government’s argument that women might be confused about the drug’s availability if it was made available to everyone without a prescription and then later restricted because the government won its appeal. 

Judge Korman called that argument “largely an insult to the intelligence of women.” 

America has the highest unwanted teen pregnancy rate in the developed world for one reason:  for too long ignorance and religious idiocy has prevented safe and effective preventive methods from being widely available.  The far right's "abstinence only" sex education has proved to be disastrously ineffective and it is time that science and modernity prevail.  If the Christofascists don't like the drug, then don't buy it.  It's that simple.  Once again they want to force their sick, misguided beliefs on everyone.

Congressional Republicans Continue to Seek to Persecute Gays in the Military

As the first anniversary of the repeal of the religious based discrimination known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell approaches, Congressional Republicans continue their efforts to give license to anti-gay bigotry within the military and to single out LGBT servicemembers for restrictions on use of military facilities.  In a letter to Congressional Democrats, the ACLU is urging Democrats to have a spine and kill these anti-gay measures.  The sad truth is that the Republican Party and its standard bearers, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, openly seek to grant special rights to hate and bigotry filled far right Christians to the detriment of other citizens.  Actions that I would argue are in direct conflict with the U. S. Constitution which prohibits special rights for any one religious group.  Note that one of the authors of the measures is the virulently anti-woman Todd Akin.  Here are portions of the ACLU's letter via BuzzFeed:  

Using Religion to Discriminate Against Lesbian and Gay Service Members

First, in what remains of the 112th Congress, one of the most important requests of Senate Democrats is to ensure that two anti-gay provisions included in the House-passed FY 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (H.R. 4310) are not included in the final version of this legislation that will be sent to President Obama for his signature later this year. These two provisions – Sections 536 and 537 respectively – would undermine the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and compromise open service for lesbian, gay, and bisexual service members.

Section 536, which is based on the so-called “Military Religious Freedom Protection Act” (H.R. 3828) and was offered as an amendment during markup in the House Armed Services Committee by Rep. Todd Akin (RMO), could function as a dangerous license to use religion as a cover for discrimination against lesbian, gay, and bisexual service members, by stating that the beliefs of members of the Armed Forces “concerning the appropriate and inappropriate expression of human sexuality” must be accommodated and shall not be the “basis for any adverse personnel action, discrimination, or denial of promotion, schooling, training, or assignment.” This language – a solution in search of a problem – could encourage the creation of personal, social, and institutional barriers which would make the military a hostile environment for the very people who only recently won a measure of equality. It would also make it very difficult for commanders to remove such barriers when they do arise.

Section 537 would prohibit Defense Department facilities from being used for private marriage or “marriage-like” ceremonies for same-sex couples, even where state law permits such marriages. This provision ignores the fact that these facilities are already available for use by service members for a range of religious functions and ceremonies, including weddings, funerals, baptisms, confirmations, and other events. To deny them to gay and lesbian service members – even in those states where same-sex couples enjoy the freedom to marry – based on nothing more than the sexual orientation of those wishing to make use of the facilities is discriminatory.

The ACLU continues the pressure and also urges Democrats to push passage of legislation that would bar the open anti-gay discrimination allowed under the laws of far too many states, including Virginia. Here's the on point language:

Moving LGBT Equality Under the Law Forward – SNDA, ENDA and Respect for
Marriage

The ACLU has been a longtime champion of three affirmative pieces of legislation – the Student Non-Discrimination Act (S. 555), the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (S. 811), and the Respect for Marriage Act (S. 598) – which would, if enacted, represent tremendous strides forward for LGBT equality under the law. All are long overdue and we would like to see continued movement on each of these measures in the near future.

The Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA) . . . . would have a profound impact in improving the lives of LGBT students in the U.S. by ensuring that discrimination and harassment of students on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity has no place in our nation’s public elementary and secondary schools.

[T]he Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) . . . . by prohibiting employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in most American workplaces, the legislation will allow American workers who stand side-by-side at the workplace and contribute with equal measure in their jobs to also stand on the same equal footing under the law.

It is far past time that special rights for Christianists and a pass on their incessant anti-gay hate and bigotry cease to be legally sanctioned under the nation's laws.  Until this happens, America's claim that it guarantees religious freedom for all remains a lie and a farce.

Just Say No: No Science, No Sex, No Gay People

The increasing lunacy taking place in Tennessee symbolizes what is happening the the Republican Party across the nation as the open embrace of ignorance and anti-gay bigotry - and I'd add racism - become the pillars of the Party's platform.  Given what seems to be a continued exodus of rational people from the GOP (not that there are that many left to begin with) one has to wonder where it will end.  One also has to wonder what companies and businesses will want to relocate to states that are so increasingly out of the mainstream.  A column in the New York Times looks at the phenomenon.  Here are highlights:

Wishing doesn’t make it so, but don’t tell that to the Tennessee Legislature. It seems determined to lead the nation in yearning for an era when Genesis was the last word on science, when there were no gay people and nobody engaged in non-marital sex, so there were no teenage pregnancies and no unwanted children.

There was no such time, of course. But that doesn’t seem to deter the Republican majority, which has brought us such modern wonders as a bill to protect teachers who preach the “scientific weaknesses” of “biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming and human cloning,” and a bill that would prohibit elementary and middle school teachers from mentioning the existence of homosexuality.

And now they have sent a bill to Gov. Bill Haslam that would bar sex-ed teachers in public schools from promoting “gateway” sexual activity. . . . This bill is a disaster in the making: It relies on the definition of sexual activity in state law, which includes any contact with even the clothed inner thigh of another person. Critics say it’s so vaguely written that if a teacher doesn’t stop a student from sitting in another person’s lap, he could face punishment.

But don’t get the wrong idea. Tennessee’s Republican legislators know the government can only do so much to enforce morality. Last year, they revised an anti-bullying law so as to exempt anyone who voices a religiously motivated belief.

Sure, said Rep. Jeremy Faison, a few teenagers committed suicide after getting bullied about their sexuality, but “they committed suicide because they were not instilled the proper principles of where their self-esteem came from at home.”  We can’t continue to legislate everything,” he said.

What Would Rick Santorum’s America Look Like?

As regular readers know, I find Rick Santorum to be an abomination - even as he applies that term to countless Americans, gays in particular. I find Santorum to be a self-congratulatory, sanctimonious ass who, given his obsession with all things sexual, strikes me as being in serious need of mental heath care intervention. And given his obsession with gays, one has to wonder how he'd score on those tests that measured the penile arousal of homophobes while watching gay porn. Indeed, he would be almost comical but for the hatred, bigotry and intolerance that he engenders at every campaign appearance. That Santorum is fairing so well in the GOP primaries and polls speaks volumes about the decline of the Republican Party as a party that once at least outwardly valued logic, intelligence and reason. The thought of Santorum actually making it to the White House is very, very scary and, in fact, might be the straw that would make me pack up and leave the USA. Sarah Posner has a piece in the Washington Post that imagines what Santorum's America might look like. Here are some excerpts:

Rick Santorum , the culture warrior who lost his Senate seat in 2006 , is polling within striking distance of Mitt Romney in Michigan and Arizona, where Republican primaries will be held Tuesday. His unabashed use of his traditionalist faith in politicking and policymaking has been gaining popularity. What if he wins the nomination — and then the White House? What would life look like in Santorum’s America? How religious would his presidency be? Here, the author imagines what President Santorum would tell his key constituency — religious conservatives — as he ran for reelection four years from now. President Rick Santorum’s speech at the Values Voter Summit, Sept. 23, 2016.

Because of our values, we never gave up, and under my administration we have finally defunded Planned Parenthood. No longer will your tax dollars support that abortion mill or any programs that indoctrinate young girls to be sexual libertines — programs that say, “Here’s a pill, go ahead, have fun, it’s all about pleasure.” We said no — the government cannot force us to use our tax dollars to support unnatural acts.

One of my first acts as president was the creation of the Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty. Since its inception in early March 2013, the commission has investigated 249 instances of infringement of Americans’ religious freedom. Its quarterly public hearings, led by Chairman Maggie Gallagher and streamed live on the commission’s Web site, have served to educate Americans about the daily oppression of our faith, in the name of tolerance, by government and individuals.

We have gathered support for the Dignity of the Preborn Person Act, which, if passed, would recognize in civil law what we know to be true as a matter of God’s law: that every human life, at every stage, deserves protection. This bill ensures that each life, from the moment of conception, is entitled to the rights guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. When that bill becomes law, unborn persons will no longer be denied their personhood, their God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

We’ve reinstated funding for abstinence-education programs. We’ve broken down barriers left in place by my predecessor to faith-based organizations receiving funding under these programs. My Justice Department, unlike that of my predecessor, is dedicated to defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court, and my solicitor general will do so vigorously when the current challenge reaches the Supreme Court of the United States.

[W]e continue to push for repeal of the laws and regulations that stifle economic growth: Obamacare, Dodd-Frank financial reform, the Sarbanes-Oxley accounting rules. Lifting the yoke of all those regulations, along with securing our borders from illegal immigration, will both create and protect jobs for America’s workers. We’ve eliminated my predecessor’s boondoggles at the EPA and Department of Energy . . .

We fight many battles here at home, but there are other battles, too, against Islamic extremists who have their sights on America, on Israel and on Western civilization — Christendom itself. I rejected my predecessor’s dangerous appeasement policy and launched our air campaign against Iran’s nuclear sites, which will continue until we ensure that this existential threat to Israel and America is annihilated.

If you want Supreme Court justices who are constitutionalists, who believe that the abomination of same-sex “marriage” must be stopped before it destroys us, who believe that the “right to privacy” and “separation of church and state” were pulled out of thin air by activist judges, we need a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

Under Santorum, America would be headed back to a Middle Ages condition where only the few would enjoy a recurrence of the Gilded Age. Meanwhile, most of the the rest of the world would move forward and embrace modernity. The USA would be a very scary place for those who are not Kool-Aid drinking far right religious zealots.

Loonie Christine O'Donnell Wins GOP Primary

UPDATED: For more on just how batshit crazy Christine O'Donnell is, check out this post by Jeremy Hooper at Good As You:

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People had better get used to certifiable crazies like Christine O'Donnell (advocate of abstinence only sex ed and reparative therapy - and stamping out masturbation) - now the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate for Delaware - being the face of the GOP. O'Donnell underscores just how extreme and untethered the GOP Base/Tea Party crowd has become. Other than being a religious extremist, O'Donnell frankly has no real credentials. It will be up to the Democrats to expose just how far out of the mainstream O'Donnell is when it comes to social issues and how unqualified she is to hold any public office. In fact, O'Donnell strikes me as just about as crazy as Sarah Palin. It's one thing to be a reasoned conservative. It's something wholly different to be a religious fanatic and whack job. Unfortunately, given the massive flight of moderates from the GOP, we can likely expect more Christine O'Donnells to become the GOP standard bearers. The irony is that the GOP establishment initially allowed the GOP base and Tea Partiers to run amok - now they see that they have created a Frankenstein monster. Here are highlights from the Washington Post on the Tea Party win in Delaware:
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Christine O'Donnell, a "tea party"-backed long-shot candidate, stunned the Republican establishment Tuesday night by defeating nine-term Rep. Michael N. Castle in Delaware's GOP Senate primary, one of the most shocking upsets in an already tumultuous primary season.
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[T]he defeat of Castle, a former governor and one of the most popular politicians in the state, jeopardized the GOP's once-high hopes of winning the Democratic-held seat in November's midterm election. O'Donnell is viewed as a far weaker candidate, and Democrats say she is too conservative for the state. But her victory was a reminder of the unpredictable forces at work in politics this year and the power and energy of the antiestablishment sentiment among voters nationwide that could be aimed at Democrats.
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The outcome was the latest in a string of embarrassments for the Republican establishment this year, underscoring the civil war that continues to rage in the party. Last month, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska lost her primary to political newcomer Joe Miller, who like O'Donnell had the support of Palin and tea party activists. Last spring, tea party forces defeated Sen. Robert F. Bennett of Utah at the Republican state convention.
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A senior Republican, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer a candid view, said the national senatorial committee would "walk" out of the Delaware race.
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Democrats moved quickly to try to paint O'Donnell as unacceptable to the Delaware electorate. "Today the Republican Party has shown just how far right it has moved," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Timothy M. Kaine. He called O'Donnell "a self-aggrandizing and divisive candidate" who favors "failed Republican economic policies." Democrats will find plenty of ammunition to use against O'Donnell from her fellow Republicans. One example came from Ross, who said earlier that O'Donnell "could not be elected dog catcher" in the state.

Tea Party Candidate Opposes Masturbation

There are some who have tried to depict the Tea Party crowd as conservatives who are focused on economic issues and smaller government rather than in many ways just another incarnation of the Christian Right. Sharon Angle and others demonstrate that the Tea Party candidates are more of the same tired bedroom police that we've seen time and time again. Then there's Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell (pictured at left) who who seems to want masturbation outlawed - she equates the act, in fact, as "self-abuse." If Ms. O'Donnell doesn't want to engage in masturbation, then my message to her is "don't." However, if she wants to police people's bedrooms and crusade for abstinence only education and other Christian Right whack job issues, then she ought to join a convent as opposed to running for Congress. Jezebel.com has details on O'Donnell's insanity. Here are some highlights:
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Sorry, what was that about the Tea Party being all about economic and not social issues? Not only has this year brought Sharron Angle. There's also Christine O'Donnell, whose definition of abstinence includes self-abuse.
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O'Donnell is challenging a congressman in Delaware's Republican Senate primary, and until now no one took her seriously. (Possibly because she's a wackjob . . . ) But then establishment Republican Lisa Murkowski lost in Alaska to a previous unknown, backed by Tea Party money, and the groups vowed to make Delaware their next target.
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Republicans party officials are scrambling, trashing her in the press and making websites like "The Real Christine." And reporters have just started digging. The Huffington Post reports that O'Donnell was on a Sex In The 90s special on MTV. (Remember those?) "The Bible says that lust in your heart is committing adultery. So you can't masturbate without lust," she said,
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The good news, this is all dandy for Democrats, who have every reason to want O'Donnell to win the primary — polls show that Democrat Chris Coons can beat O'Donnell, but not Republican Mike Castle. And that would actually be wonderful.
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Until the GOP ceases to be largely a religious based party (no matter what the remnants of the country club set claim), we are going to see more and more Sharon Angles and Christine O'Donnells. The wealthy may want lower taxes and neat tax loop holes, but do they seriously want lunatics running the country? They - including some of my neighbors - need to wake the Hell up to what has become of the Republican Party.

Harry Potter Star Daniel Radcliffe Blasts Parents Who Oppose Gay Sex Ed

Daniel Radcliffe, who just recently gave a major donation to the Trevor Project, has taken another step in support of LGBT youth by blasting homophobic Christo-fascists who oppose education about homosexual sex in the classroom. Like it or not LGBT youth do exist and they have every right to competent and fact based sex education just like every other student (although I suspect that these same people oppose sex ed period unless it's abstinence only - an approach that has been documented NOT to work). We truly need more stars speaking out and putting their money where their mouths are when it comes to challenging the hate and intolerance disseminated daily by "family values" professional Christians. Frankly, I believe that nothing would make some of these homophobes happier than to see all LGBT individuals sicken with HIV and die. Here are some highlights on Radcliffe's statements:

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20-year-old Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has, in an interview with a homosexual magazine, expressed anger and intolerance for parents who oppose education about homosexual sex in the classroom. "Then there's all this stuff at the moment, which is hateful, about people being up in arms about the idea of gay sex education in schools. Hello!?! Actually for the one or two gay kids in the class, it's f***ing vital! It really makes me angry," he said in an interview with Attitude.

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The magazine quotes Radcliffe continuing his tirade against pro-family parents saying: "I just loathe homophobia. It's just disgusting and animal and stupid and it's just thick people who can't get their heads around it and are just scared." He concluded the point assuring his interviewer, "I'm not just saying that because I'm being interviewed for Attitude. I'd be using a lot stronger language if this wasn't on tape."

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Radcliffe returned to the theme when asked about Potter author Rowlings' admission that she intended one of the characters in the novels and film to be homosexual. "The idea that there can't be a gay character in a kid's film," he said. "It's the same thing, this terrible fear of exposing anybody below the age of consent to anything vaguely gay … it's ridiculous. I just brushed those questions aside. I'd never normally do that but some things I won't waste my time with."

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Kudos to Daniel for calling it like it is.

Misspent Tax Dollars: Abstinence-only Sex Education

Among the many fiascos that the Chimperator has brought to the nation during his years of misrule is the handing out of money to Christianist abstinence only sex education programs that do not work and in fact expose teenagers in health dangers and the risk of unwanted pregancies. It goes without saying that legitimate education on the issue of homosexuality for LGBT teens never occurs under these programs either. These programs are nothing more than handouts to far right religious organizations that use the funds to disseminate their poisonous propaganda. And folks like Sarah "Bible Spice" Palin and Mike Huckabee continue to laud such bogus programs. Here are some highlights on this waste of tax dollars:

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Thanks to George W. Bush and a complicit Congress, we currently spend $1.5 billion a year to fund abstinence-only until marriage sex education in our public schools. And yes, that money goes to people like Derek Dye, as he is employed by the Elizabeth New Life Center that received a $800,000 CBAE grant in 2007 to promote abstinence until marriage. His qualifications? A “Bachelor of Fun Arts” from Barnum Bailey Clown College, and an abstinence educator certification that can be purchased for $50.

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Abstinence-only programs censor information about contraception and condoms; make moral judgments students may not share; stigmatize and shame students who have already had sex; and discriminate against GLBTQ students who can’t legally marry. These programs often encourage stereotypical gender roles, use scare tactics, blur religion and science, and contain factual errors, like saying that HIV can be spread through sweat and tears.

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What’s more, abstinence-only programs don’t work – independent study after study has shown that students who receive them don’t have lower pregnancy, HIV, or STI rates. And worse, students who receive abstinence-only programs are less likely to use contraception and condoms when they do have sex.

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So… what can we do to make sure that abstinence-only programs like this one are not funded with our tax dollars? First of all, contact the Obama transition team to make sure that they ZERO OUT these programs in their first budget. Also, ending abstinence-only funding is currently 3rd place on Change.gov's user rankings, so you can go there and vote for it, too.Secondly, we must contact all of our representatives to let them know that we do not want this waste of money being snuck back into the budget through the appropriations process.

Rick Warren's Africa Problem

I have consistently believed that, given Rick Warren's huge ego and his propensity to run his mouth bragging, eventually much closer scrutiny would be given to his boasts. It's beginning to happen and not surprisingly, once you look behind Warren's claims, the picture is less than pretty. A case in point is Warren's claims that he's done so much to fight AIDS in Africa. The true story is that Warren's "help" has been to undermine legitimate scientifically based efforts with typical whacked out Christianist abstinence only sex education only. Worse yet, he is in league with far right religious extremists advocating for the criminalization of homosexuality. The bottom line? Warren is a liar just like most of the Christianist leadership. It looks to me like Obama might have done a better jog "vetting" Warren. Obama needs to get some balls and uninvited Warren NOW. Here are highlights from Max Blumenthal's latest column in the Daily Beast that provide the real story on Warren :

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Once hailed by Time magazine as “America’s Pastor,” California mega-church leader and bestselling author of The Purpose Driven Life Rick Warren now finds himself on the defensive. President-elect Barack Obama’s selection of Warren to deliver the inaugural prayer has generated intense scrutiny of the pastor’s beliefs on social issues, . . . Warren’s defense against charges of intolerance ultimately depends upon his ace card: his heavily publicized crusade against AIDS in Africa.

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David Axelrod cited Warren’s work in Africa as one of “the things on which [Obama and Warren] agree” on the December 28 episode of Meet the Press. Warren may be opposed to gay rights and abortion, the thinking goes, but he tells evangelicals it is their God-given duty to battle one of the greatest pandemics in history. What could be wrong with that?

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In a word, PLENTY. And Obama and his minions like Axelrod need to admit that the selection of Warren was a massive mistake and cut their loses. Here's the real story:

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[A]n investigation into Warren’s involvement in Africa reveals a web of alliances with right-wing clergymen who have sidelined science-based approaches to combating AIDS in favor of abstinence-only education. More disturbingly, Warren’s allies have rolled back key elements of one of the continent’s most successful initiative, the so-called ABC program in Uganda. Stephen Lewis, the United Nations’ special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, told the New York Times their activism is “resulting in great damage and undoubtedly will cause significant numbers of infections which should never have occurred.”

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Warren’s man in Uganda is a charismatic pastor named Martin Ssempa. The head of the Makerere Community Church, a rapidly growing congregation, Ssempe enjoys close ties to his country’s First Lady, Janet Museveni, and is a favorite of the Bush White House. In the capitol of Kampala, Ssempa is known for his boisterous crusading. Ssempa’s stunts have included burning condoms in the name of Jesus and arranging the publication of names of homosexuals in cooperative local newspapers while lobbying for criminal penalties to imprison them.

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Dr. Helen Epstein, a public health consultant who authored the book, The Invisible Cure: Why We’re Losing The Fight Against AIDS In Africa, met Ssempa in 2005. Epstein told me the preacher seemed gripped by paranoia, warning her of a secret witches coven that met under Lake Victoria. “Ssempa also spoke to me for a very long time about his fear of homosexual men and women,” Epstein said. “He seemed very personally terrified by their presence.”

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Janet Museveni, who had become born-again . . . flew to Washington at the height of a heated congressional debate over PEPFAR. She carried in her hand a prepared message to distribute to Republicans. Abstinence was the golden bullet in her country’s fight against AIDS, she assured conservative lawmakers, denying the empirically proven success of her husband’s condom distribution program. Like magic, the Republican-dominated Congress authorized over $200 million for Uganda, but only for the exclusive promotion of abstinence education.

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HIV infections were on the rise again. The disease rate had spiked to 6.5 percent among rural men, and 8.8 percent among women—a rise of nearly two points in the case of women. “The ‘C’ part [of ABC] is now mainly silent,” said Ugandan AIDS activist Beatrice Ware. As a result, she said, “the success story is unraveling.”

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With safe sex advocates on the run, Warren and Ssempa trained their sights on another social evil. In August 2007, Ssempa led hundreds of his followers through the streets of Kampala to demand that the government mete out harsh punishments against gays. “Arrest all homos,” read placards. And: “A man cannot marry a man.” Ssempa continued his crusade online, publishing the names of Ugandan gay rights activists on a website he created, along with photos and home addresses. “Homosexual promoters,” he called them, suggesting they intended to seduce Uganda’s children into their lifestyle.

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Warren, in his effort to dispel criticism, has denied harboring homophobic sentiments. “I could give you a hundred gay friends,” he told MSNBC’s Ann Curry on December 18. “I have always treated them with respect. When they come and want to talk to me, I talk to them.”

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But when Uganda’s Anglican bishops threatened to bolt from the Church of England because of its tolerant stance towards homosexuals, Warren parachuted into Kampala to confer international legitimacy on their protest. “The Church of England is wrong and I support the Church of Uganda on the boycott,” Warren proclaimed in March 2008. Declaring homosexuality an unnatural way of life, Warren flatly stated, “We shall not tolerate this aspect [homosexuality in the church] at all.”

The Real Cost of Abstinence-Only Sex Education

In light of John McSenile's selection of Christianist high priestess, Alaska Governor Sarah Plain, as his running mate, a new column in the New York Times is most timely. Since Palin and the Kool-Aid drinking base of the Republican Party believe in abstinence-only education - which is in keeping with their mindset of believing that merely not mentioning something will make it go away - it is important to look at the true cost of these religion based programs in terms of their ineffectiveness not to mention the millions of dollars being wasted. The statistics are appalling (click the chart above for a larger copy) and truly make all Americans look like a bunch of moronic idiots. This sad statistics are yet one more product of the failed Bush/Cheney regime which has put religious views before science time and time again. It is truly time that rational adults retake control of this country and banish the religious zealots back to the wilderness. Here are some column high lights:
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Sarah Palin has a pregnant teenager. And, she’s not alone. According to a report published in 2007, there are more than 400,000 other American girls in the same predicament. In fact, a 2001 Unicef report said that the United States teenage birthrate was higher than any other member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The U.S. tied Hungary for the most abortions. This was in spite of the fact that girls in the U.S. were not the most sexually active. Denmark held that title. But, its teenage birthrate was one-sixth of ours, and its teenage abortion rate was half of ours.

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If there is a shame here, it’s a national shame — a failure of our puritanical society to accept and deal with the facts. Teenagers have sex. How often and how safely depends on how much knowledge and support they have. Crossing our fingers that they won’t cross the line is not an intelligent strategy.

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Parents don’t like it either. According to a 2004 survey sponsored by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, 65 percent of parents of high school students said that federal money “should be used to fund more comprehensive sex education programs that include information on how to obtain and use condoms and other contraceptives.”

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We need to take some bold steps beyond the borders of our moralizing and discomfort and create a sex education infrastructure that actually acknowledges reality and protects our children from unwanted pregnancies, or worse.

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“International evidence suggests that high-quality sex and relationship education that puts sex in its proper context, that starts early enough to make a difference and that gives youngsters the confidence and ability to make well-informed decisions helps young people delay their first sexual experience and leads to lower teenage pregnancy levels.”