By NY Times / David Tuller
Diagnoses of H.I.V. and AIDS in men who have sex with men rose significantly between 2001 and 2006 while declining in other demographic groups, the federal Centers for Disease Control reported Thursday.
The increase in diagnoses was especially high among males between the ages of 13 and 24, with an annual increase of 12.4 percent, compared to 1.5 percent for men overall. The annual increase was still higher among young African-American men who have sex with men, nearly 15 percent. Among African-American men of all ages who have sex with men, the annual increase in diagnoses was 1.9 percent.
Experts said yesterday that the new statistics were an ominous -- but not necessarily surprising -- indicator that the epidemic continues to flourish among gay men more than 25 years after it began. “It’s a grim report,” said Dr. Ronald Stall, an epidemiologist and professor of public health at the University of Pittsburgh. “It means roughly speaking that about half of the American AIDS epidemic is occurring among a few percent of the adult population. And the terrible trends we’re seeing among white gay men are even amplified further among minority men.” Sex between men accounted for more than 97,000 new diagnoses over the six years, almost half of the total number, according to the CDC. report. In contrast, diagnoses attributed to high-risk heterosexual contact and injection-drug use declined annually by, respectively, 4.4 percent and 9.5 percent.
The findings were published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the C.D.C.’s widely read public health journal. The data were based on reporting from 33 states and did not include statistics from some with large gay and minority populations, including California, Illinois and Georgia. The agency noted, however, that the racial disparities presented in the report generally reflected national trends in the epidemiology of AIDS. The agency reported that some of the rise could stem from higher rates of H.I.V. testing among men who have sex with men but added that “available data suggest that these increases cannot be explained by increases in testing alone.”
The C.D.C. recently launched a new H.I.V. reporting system designed to differentiate between recent and older infections. Data from the new effort should become available later this year, according to the agency, and will help experts more accurately track the impact of H.I.V. prevention programs. Jennifer Hecht, education director at the Stop AIDS Project in San Francisco, said that lack of access to information was a key factor in the increase in infection rates. “In a lot of ways this is connected to the administration’s policy of emphasizing abstinence-only education,” she said. “And the high rates we see among black men and other minorities indicate that it’s very much connected to larger issues like poverty and racism.” [Um, that's just plain bullshit logic, all the way around. Hecht's comments could be considered racist and stereotypical. FWIW, abstinence education works -- proven record. Teaching sexual promiscuity is one problem. Teaching that homosexuality is natural and normal and acceptable is the largest problem.
The rates of infection per state are also indicative of this fact. In states where traditional values are more prevalent, infections are lower. In states, like California, where anything goes is the mentality, infections rates are rampant.]
Dr. Richard Wolitski, acting director of the C.D.C.’s Division of H.I.V./AIDS Prevention, said that several factors could be fueling the increase in diagnoses, particularly among younger men. “Because of the new treatments, some men perceive it to be a less severe disease than it once was,” he said. “And this is a new generation that hasn’t been personally affected in the same way that older men have been.”
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
STDs Run Rampant at PA School District, CDC Steps In
A Pennsylvania school district has such a high number of students with sexually transmitted diseases that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stepped in to track down students at risk for HIV. It’s estimated that 10 percent of the 3,000 middle and high school students in the Delaware Valley School District in Milford, P.A., are infected with an STD — including one confirmed case of HIV, Times Herald Record reported Friday.
On top of those figures, about two dozen teenage girls in the school system have tested positive for pregnancy. A non-profit health clinic in Milford said they estimate more than 300 students contracted a sexually transmitted disease in the past year. Officials also told the paper students as young as 12 years old reported being sexually active. The clinic eventually alerted the school district to the alarmingly high numbers. School officials then sent a letter home to parents on June 15. “It was sad to see the letter,” Tara Johnson, a Milford parent with a son in middle school, told the Times Herald. “We live in the kind of district where everybody works very hard to give the appearance that everything is perfect.”
A 15-year-old girl, who will enter tenth grade in the fall at Delaware Valley, told the paper she can’t believe the news. “That somebody in our school in northeastern Pennsylvania had HIV was just shocking,” said Rachel McKean. Kristen Bruce, a nurse practitioner with the Milford clinic, said most of the cases were the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV infections are very common, according to the Mayo Clinic. It’s estimated that close to 25 million people in the U.S. have HPV infections [STRICTLY, a sexually transmitted disease], which can cause genital warts and related lesions. Some strains of HPV are linked to cervical cancer. Bruce told the paper she wasn’t surprised by the numbers, citing a recent CDC study that found at least one in four teenage girls nationwide, between the ages of 14 and 19, has a sexually transmitted disease.
On top of those figures, about two dozen teenage girls in the school system have tested positive for pregnancy. A non-profit health clinic in Milford said they estimate more than 300 students contracted a sexually transmitted disease in the past year. Officials also told the paper students as young as 12 years old reported being sexually active. The clinic eventually alerted the school district to the alarmingly high numbers. School officials then sent a letter home to parents on June 15. “It was sad to see the letter,” Tara Johnson, a Milford parent with a son in middle school, told the Times Herald. “We live in the kind of district where everybody works very hard to give the appearance that everything is perfect.”
A 15-year-old girl, who will enter tenth grade in the fall at Delaware Valley, told the paper she can’t believe the news. “That somebody in our school in northeastern Pennsylvania had HIV was just shocking,” said Rachel McKean. Kristen Bruce, a nurse practitioner with the Milford clinic, said most of the cases were the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV infections are very common, according to the Mayo Clinic. It’s estimated that close to 25 million people in the U.S. have HPV infections [STRICTLY, a sexually transmitted disease], which can cause genital warts and related lesions. Some strains of HPV are linked to cervical cancer. Bruce told the paper she wasn’t surprised by the numbers, citing a recent CDC study that found at least one in four teenage girls nationwide, between the ages of 14 and 19, has a sexually transmitted disease.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
The ACORN Obama Knows
By Michelle Malkin
If you don't know what ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) is all about, you better bone up. This left-wing group takes in 40 percent of its revenues from American taxpayers -- you and me -- and has leveraged nearly four decades of government subsidies to fund affiliates that promote the welfare state and undermine capitalism and self-reliance, some of which have been implicated in perpetuating illegal immigration and encouraging voter fraud.
A new whistleblower report from the Consumer Rights League claims that Chicago-based ACORN has commingled public tax dollars with political projects. Who in Washington will fight to ensure that your money isn't being spent on these radical activities? Don't bother asking Barack Obama. He cut his ideological teeth working with ACORN as a "community organizer" and legal representative. Naturally, ACORN's political action committee has warmly endorsed his presidential candidacy. ACORN head Maude Hurd gushes that Obama is the candidate who "best understands and can affect change on the issues ACORN cares about" -- like ensuring their massive pipeline to your hard-earned money.
Let's take a closer look at the ACORN Obama knows. Last July, ACORN settled the largest case of voter fraud in the history of Washington State. Seven ACORN workers had submitted nearly 2,000 bogus voter registration forms. According to case records, they flipped through phone books for names to use on the forms, including "Leon Spinks," "Frekkie Magoal" and "Fruto Boy Crispila." Three ACORN election hoaxers pleaded guilty in October. A King County prosecutor called ACORN's criminal sabotage "an act of vandalism upon the voter rolls."
The group's vandalism on electoral integrity is systemic. ACORN has been implicated in similar voter fraud schemes in Missouri, Ohio and at least 12 other states. The Wall Street Journal noted: "In Ohio in 2004, a worker for one affiliate was given crack cocaine in exchange for fraudulent registrations that included underage voters, dead voters and pillars of the community named Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy and Jive Turkey. During a congressional hearing in Ohio in the aftermath of the 2004 election, officials from several counties in the state explained ACORN's practice of dumping thousands of registration forms in their lap on the submission deadline, even though the forms had been collected months earlier."
In March, Philadelphia elections officials accused the nonprofit advocacy group of filing fraudulent voter registrations in advance of the April 22nd Pennsylvania primary. The charges have been forwarded to the city district attorney's office. Under the guise of "consumer advocacy," ACORN has received money from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD funds hundreds, if not thousands, of left-wing "anti-poverty" groups across the country led by ACORN. … As the Consumer Rights League points out in its new expose, the ACORN Housing Corporation has worked to obtain mortgages for illegal aliens in partnership with Citibank. It relies on undocumented income, "under the table" money, which may not be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. Moreover, the group's "financial justice" operations attack lenders for "exotic" loans, while recommending 10-year interest-only loans (which deny equity to the buyer) and risky reverse mortgages.
Whistleblower documents reveal internal discussions among the group that blur the lines between its tax-exempt housing work and its aggressive electioneering activities. The group appears to shake down corporate interests with relentless PR attacks, and then enters "no lobby" agreements with targeted corporations after receiving payment. [That is called EXTORTION.]
Republicans have largely looked the other way as ACORN has expanded its government-funded empire. But finally, a few conservative voices in Congress have called for investigation of the group's apparent extortion schemes. This week, GOP Reps. Tom Feeney, Jeb Hensarling and Ed Royce called on Democrat Barney Frank, chair of the House Financial Services Committee, to convene a hearing to probe potential illegalities and abuse of taxpayer funds by ACORN's management and minions alike.
Where does the candidate of Hope and Change -- the candidate of Reform and New Politics -- stand on the issue? Barack Obama, ACORN's senator, is for more of the same old, same old subsidizing of far-left politics in the name of fighting for the poor while enriching ideological cronies. It's the Chicago way.
If you don't know what ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) is all about, you better bone up. This left-wing group takes in 40 percent of its revenues from American taxpayers -- you and me -- and has leveraged nearly four decades of government subsidies to fund affiliates that promote the welfare state and undermine capitalism and self-reliance, some of which have been implicated in perpetuating illegal immigration and encouraging voter fraud.
A new whistleblower report from the Consumer Rights League claims that Chicago-based ACORN has commingled public tax dollars with political projects. Who in Washington will fight to ensure that your money isn't being spent on these radical activities? Don't bother asking Barack Obama. He cut his ideological teeth working with ACORN as a "community organizer" and legal representative. Naturally, ACORN's political action committee has warmly endorsed his presidential candidacy. ACORN head Maude Hurd gushes that Obama is the candidate who "best understands and can affect change on the issues ACORN cares about" -- like ensuring their massive pipeline to your hard-earned money.
Let's take a closer look at the ACORN Obama knows. Last July, ACORN settled the largest case of voter fraud in the history of Washington State. Seven ACORN workers had submitted nearly 2,000 bogus voter registration forms. According to case records, they flipped through phone books for names to use on the forms, including "Leon Spinks," "Frekkie Magoal" and "Fruto Boy Crispila." Three ACORN election hoaxers pleaded guilty in October. A King County prosecutor called ACORN's criminal sabotage "an act of vandalism upon the voter rolls."
The group's vandalism on electoral integrity is systemic. ACORN has been implicated in similar voter fraud schemes in Missouri, Ohio and at least 12 other states. The Wall Street Journal noted: "In Ohio in 2004, a worker for one affiliate was given crack cocaine in exchange for fraudulent registrations that included underage voters, dead voters and pillars of the community named Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy and Jive Turkey. During a congressional hearing in Ohio in the aftermath of the 2004 election, officials from several counties in the state explained ACORN's practice of dumping thousands of registration forms in their lap on the submission deadline, even though the forms had been collected months earlier."
In March, Philadelphia elections officials accused the nonprofit advocacy group of filing fraudulent voter registrations in advance of the April 22nd Pennsylvania primary. The charges have been forwarded to the city district attorney's office. Under the guise of "consumer advocacy," ACORN has received money from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD funds hundreds, if not thousands, of left-wing "anti-poverty" groups across the country led by ACORN. … As the Consumer Rights League points out in its new expose, the ACORN Housing Corporation has worked to obtain mortgages for illegal aliens in partnership with Citibank. It relies on undocumented income, "under the table" money, which may not be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. Moreover, the group's "financial justice" operations attack lenders for "exotic" loans, while recommending 10-year interest-only loans (which deny equity to the buyer) and risky reverse mortgages.
Whistleblower documents reveal internal discussions among the group that blur the lines between its tax-exempt housing work and its aggressive electioneering activities. The group appears to shake down corporate interests with relentless PR attacks, and then enters "no lobby" agreements with targeted corporations after receiving payment. [That is called EXTORTION.]
Republicans have largely looked the other way as ACORN has expanded its government-funded empire. But finally, a few conservative voices in Congress have called for investigation of the group's apparent extortion schemes. This week, GOP Reps. Tom Feeney, Jeb Hensarling and Ed Royce called on Democrat Barney Frank, chair of the House Financial Services Committee, to convene a hearing to probe potential illegalities and abuse of taxpayer funds by ACORN's management and minions alike.
Where does the candidate of Hope and Change -- the candidate of Reform and New Politics -- stand on the issue? Barack Obama, ACORN's senator, is for more of the same old, same old subsidizing of far-left politics in the name of fighting for the poor while enriching ideological cronies. It's the Chicago way.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Stop Making 'Sex Seekers' Out of Youth
Article from ChristiansUnite.com
The Centers for Disease Control has released the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Report (YRBS). This report shows the numbers of youth risk behaviors, including sexual risk behaviors, which shows a slight increase in the number of sexually active teens. "While opponents to sexual integrity education blame abstinence programs for these numbers, I think it's high time they took a look in the mirror," said Leslee Unruh, founder and president of both the National Abstinence Clearinghouse and the Alpha Center, a crisis pregnancy center operation in Sioux Falls, SD.
Opponents to abstinence education like Dr. Laura Berman blame the increase in sexual activity on, "kids learning skewed messages about what sex is," and "they are confused about what virginity means," and "I think part of the problem honestly is the abstinence only model." So they blame the increase in sexual activity on abstinence programs that promote sexual integrity through teaching self control while their programs promote teaching youth graphic sexual messages at an even earlier age. Why is this so confusing for them? You teach youth how to have sex and they will become sexually active. You teach them how to abstain, and reinforce that message consistently, and they will abstain.
The Centers for Disease Control has released the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Report (YRBS). This report shows the numbers of youth risk behaviors, including sexual risk behaviors, which shows a slight increase in the number of sexually active teens. "While opponents to sexual integrity education blame abstinence programs for these numbers, I think it's high time they took a look in the mirror," said Leslee Unruh, founder and president of both the National Abstinence Clearinghouse and the Alpha Center, a crisis pregnancy center operation in Sioux Falls, SD.
Studies show that abstinence education is far out-funded by condom-only education and others confirm this fact showing that condom education is taught in more classrooms than abstinence education. Most parents are actually shocked to learn that the programs promoting sex outside-of-marriage out-fund abstinence-until-marriage programs by a rate of nearly $12 to $1.Yet, these programs promoting sex outside-of-marriage continue to be funded with little oversight or peer reviewed evaluations to demonstrate their effectiveness. "I challenge condom and contraceptive programs to conduct the same rigorous studies of their programs as abstinence programs do," said Leslee Unruh.
Opponents to abstinence education like Dr. Laura Berman blame the increase in sexual activity on, "kids learning skewed messages about what sex is," and "they are confused about what virginity means," and "I think part of the problem honestly is the abstinence only model." So they blame the increase in sexual activity on abstinence programs that promote sexual integrity through teaching self control while their programs promote teaching youth graphic sexual messages at an even earlier age. Why is this so confusing for them? You teach youth how to have sex and they will become sexually active. You teach them how to abstain, and reinforce that message consistently, and they will abstain.
"The only skewed message our youth receive is the one that teaches them they have no self-control, teaches them how to have sex and ultimately puts their lives at risk. We need to stop making 'sex seekers' out of youth," according to Leslee Unruh.Unruh concludes, "Abstinence education teaches love; condom only education teaches lust. Let's do the right thing for youth by raising the bar for their sexual health from lust to love. Let's provide them the tools they need for self-control, to withstand the pressures, reject sexual advances, form healthy relationships and protect their bodies and their minds 100%."
Friday, June 13, 2008
Faith of Our Fathers: A Reflection on Father's Day
The third Sunday in June is observed each year in the United States as Father's Day. The origins of this national event are not clear. Some records suggest that it was first celebrated as a church service some 100 years ago in Fairmont, West Virginia, at Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, now known as Central United Methodist Church.
Whether this is true or not, the impulse to honor fathers is a worthy one and it comes with the biblical admonition to honor our fathers and mothers. In the Bible it is Abraham who is counted as the father of faith and he is revered in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The word "faith" is an important component to remember because it means trust in God - being able to rely on that which is dependable.
Joseph of Galilee is an exemplary father in the Bible. He married Mary, despite the unusual circumstances of her pregnancy. He dared to be unconventional because he trusted that God was working through her and him. He was a righteous man who dared to take on the roles of husband and foster father. And as refugees from danger, after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, it is clear that he protected his family by going beyond what was familiar to find a safe haven. We can learn much about fatherhood from Joseph.
Another father that captures the imagination is a man called Jairus. We read about him in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke. He was a man of importance whose daughter was dying and he came to Jesus, fell at his feet and begged Jesus to help his child. The actions of Jairus revealed his character. He trusted that God could help and it didn't matter that he had wealth and prestige. He humbled himself for the sake of his daughter.
A final father from the Bible that is impressive is the one who had two sons, one of whom went astray. This is, of course, the story told by Jesus of the prodigal son. The father in the parable teaches his two sons powerful lessons of love: the one who went astray who discovered that his father's care came to him even when he had run away from it and the other who struggled to understand such extravagant love in the face of his brother's failures and his own fidelity. The father in the story, like God, never gave up on either of his children.
Whether this is true or not, the impulse to honor fathers is a worthy one and it comes with the biblical admonition to honor our fathers and mothers. In the Bible it is Abraham who is counted as the father of faith and he is revered in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The word "faith" is an important component to remember because it means trust in God - being able to rely on that which is dependable.
Joseph of Galilee is an exemplary father in the Bible. He married Mary, despite the unusual circumstances of her pregnancy. He dared to be unconventional because he trusted that God was working through her and him. He was a righteous man who dared to take on the roles of husband and foster father. And as refugees from danger, after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, it is clear that he protected his family by going beyond what was familiar to find a safe haven. We can learn much about fatherhood from Joseph.
Another father that captures the imagination is a man called Jairus. We read about him in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke. He was a man of importance whose daughter was dying and he came to Jesus, fell at his feet and begged Jesus to help his child. The actions of Jairus revealed his character. He trusted that God could help and it didn't matter that he had wealth and prestige. He humbled himself for the sake of his daughter.
A final father from the Bible that is impressive is the one who had two sons, one of whom went astray. This is, of course, the story told by Jesus of the prodigal son. The father in the parable teaches his two sons powerful lessons of love: the one who went astray who discovered that his father's care came to him even when he had run away from it and the other who struggled to understand such extravagant love in the face of his brother's failures and his own fidelity. The father in the story, like God, never gave up on either of his children.
On Father's Day let us remember that we have been given a heritage of dedication and faithfulness from the fathers we encounter in the Bible and from those fathers who exemplify the best qualities of parenting.Founded in 1816 and headquartered in New York City, the American Bible Society is a non-profit, interdenominational organization that works to transform lives, particularly among the young, by promoting personal engagement with the Holy Scriptures. The American Bible Society web site is www.bibles.com.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Snuff Films? Murder for Sport? Yep, they're just around the bend
Here is a short blurb from IMDB.com. It illustrates how realistic movie violence is becoming... and takes another step towards snuff films.
Add the disgusting antics of modern wrestling and UFC-type fighting to the mix and it's not hard to see where "entertainment" is headed. Just around the bend are real snuff films -- complete with people being murdered in graphic high definition in order to satisfy the blood lust of our society. If not snuff films, then fights to the death -- or murder for sport. IT IS SICKENING!
We must get a grip on ourselves and think through the consequences of such things. Our children; our parents, brothers & sisters; our own lives will be at higher risk as we bend the meaning of entertainment to include real world blood letting as a form of mass media. May God's wrath be upon the sick perverts who produce this garbage... and His mercy be upon our citizens -- whose current suffering is miniscule compared to what's going to occur in the near future.
Tyler Movie Terrified Test AudiencesMovies like Hostel, the Saw series and now, The Strangers are becoming a Hollywood norm. Walk through any Blockbuster store and you will be overwhelmed with the violence disguised as entertainment. The worst part is their celebration of murderous violence. Truthfully, there is NO REASON for movies like this being made. Anyone who gleefully calls the plot lines of such movies "entertainment" is mentally ill and needs to see a psychiatrist.
Violent scenes in Liv Tyler's new movie The Strangers are so realistic, test audiences fled cinemas fearing the actress was being killed for real. Tyler and Scott Speedman play a couple terrorised and held hostage in their own home by a group of masked intruders. The film is based on a real event, and contains graphic scenes of violence, that left Tyler battered and bruised and filmgoers terrified. The actress explains, "I was literally covered in bruises for half the year. It was as far as I could push myself in every way: physically, emotionally, mentally. "I remember the producer calling me and saying that the audiences freaked out because they thought it was a snuff film." Source
Add the disgusting antics of modern wrestling and UFC-type fighting to the mix and it's not hard to see where "entertainment" is headed. Just around the bend are real snuff films -- complete with people being murdered in graphic high definition in order to satisfy the blood lust of our society. If not snuff films, then fights to the death -- or murder for sport. IT IS SICKENING!
We must get a grip on ourselves and think through the consequences of such things. Our children; our parents, brothers & sisters; our own lives will be at higher risk as we bend the meaning of entertainment to include real world blood letting as a form of mass media. May God's wrath be upon the sick perverts who produce this garbage... and His mercy be upon our citizens -- whose current suffering is miniscule compared to what's going to occur in the near future.
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