obfuscations in the news: the pope needs a psychiatrist - desperately...

from the Panzerpapa

Vatican accuses AIDS groups of intimidation

(Vatican City) The Vatican on Friday denounced the criticisms of the pope’s comments about condoms and AIDS during his trip to Africa, saying they marked an unprecedented attempt to intimidate him into silence.

Pope Benedict XVI said last month that condoms weren’t the answer to Africa’s AIDS epidemic and could make the problem worse.

France, Germany, the U.N. AIDS-fighting agency as well as the British medical journal The Lancet criticized the comments as irresponsible and dangerous. The Belgian parliament passed a resolution calling them “unacceptable” and demanding that the government officially protest.

365Gay.com & The Associated Press

intimidation?

INTIMIDATION?


how about The Inquisition? the Knights Templar? Galileo? The Holocaust? the...

why mention more? the catholic church has killed more people than all wars put together over the centuries. all in the name of their god.

these bear repeating again and again and again...

as i've quoted Henry II before, "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?"

and

If Jesus were alive today, the last thing he would be is a christian.

i have never said anything like this in my life before... but the best thing that could happen for the world would be the death of benedict xvi. the only problem is that whoever the hierarchy of the church [the oldest, most inflexible, and basest men in the world] might be worse! he along with them continue advocating the deaths of people around the world. not just through statements on AIDS but in forcing women to have children they don't want - among other things.

he is a deceiver out of touch with the world around him; and he makes me see red.

more and more, he is looking like the anti-christ the believers preach of...

papal obfuscated audacity...

"Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?"

Henry II, from Becket

Pope claims condoms 'could make African AIDS crisis worse'

the quote:

Pope Benedict XVI today added to the controversy over the Catholic church's stance on condoms when he argued that they were not the answer to Africa's fight against HIV and Aids and could even make the problem worse.

pinknews.uk

in the New York Times editorial today:

Pope Benedict XVI has every right to express his opposition to the use of condoms on moral grounds, in accordance with the official stance of the Roman Catholic Church. But he deserves no credence when he distorts scientific findings about the value of condoms in slowing the spread of the AIDS virus.

The Pope on Condoms and AIDS New York Times

the main tool that the church in the Middle Ages used to keep people under control was ignorance. he's in a third world country with a population that has a very low literacy rate. he must feel like he's in his heaven...

he's actually an idiot - someone who is too stupid to know he's ignorant.

World AIDS Day...

Today, December 1st.

It's the 20th Anniversary of the World AIDS Day.

this is another thing that has had me kind of down for the last week. it's another thing that there doesn't seem to be a lot of forward movement on doing something.

it's also been 18 years since RT died and he's been on my mind a lot for the last week. i even went to the cemetery on Thanksgiving day [it was his birthday also] and i haven't been there in a couple of years.

i actually was in shock. there were flowers, a balloon and a holiday wreath on his grave. i have never seen this before. i thought that i was the only one who usually did this when i went there. i guess it was his family, but i don't know them to do things like this. they denied what happened. they refused to accept how he died. they blamed others for his death. the family basically fell apart when he died. he was the one who kept them together. i kept in touch with them for a few years, but it got to be too difficult. the only person i have contact with is his aunt, who is our age, and she has nothing to do with the family either anymore.

you see, this is one of the things that this ugly, terrible disease does. it destroys families not only by death but by stigma. it's devastated the continent of Africa. it has left millions of children orphans or sick themselves. it has brought inhuman behaviour by many because of it's ignominy.

it's viewed as a gay disease, when the largest proportion of people infected are straight. sadly, most all are African and can be forgotten because of that. the civilized world can dismiss them because they are on the dark continent.

in this country, because it is seen as a gay disease it can be dismissed because LGBT deserve it. it's our punishment for being..., well, you can insert any epithet you've heard over the years.

the idea behind all of the denial or misdirection or gated-community mindset keeps a lot of people immune from the problem. they are part of the problem.

what can i do? what can you do?

the theme for this years observation of World AIDS Day is LEADERSHIP.





from the World AIDS Day site:

The theme for World AIDS Day 2007 and 2008 is “leadership”. This theme will continue to be promoted with the campaigning slogan, “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.”

Leadership was selected as the theme for World AIDS Day to encourage leaders at all levels to stop AIDS. Building on the 2006 theme of accountability, leadership highlights the discrepancy between the commitments that have been made to halt the spread of AIDS, and actions taken to follow them through. The theme empowers everyone from individuals to organisations to governments to lead in the response to AIDS.

One of the greatest promises that I see for the U.S. is an end to the ridiculous sanctions that the Bush Administration placed on helping the world fight AIDS by restricting how organizations could wage war against the spread of the disease in order to get the money. In my mind, it was immoral and against every christian belief that he and his minions held.

what can you do to help? click on the links above or Google World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day...

In thinking about World AIDS Day tommorow, December 1st, I was going to post something, I don't know, moving, activistic, attention-getting..., but I was struck by an obituary in today's Chicago Sun-Times -

Reverend Anthony Hollins, 1965-2007 Pastor also an AIDS activist, choreographer.

"He was a tireless worker," said Iva Carruthers, who heads the Samuel D. Proctor Conference, a group that works with 5,000 ministers throughout the country. "He believed he was called to do his work."

Mr. Hollins, senior project manager for the Proctor Conference, was Carruthers' top aide, organizing such events as public hearings on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

But his work didn't end there. Rev. Hollins also was an AIDS activist, dance choreographer and minister....

During the 1980s he performed with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He also performed with Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago. He served as personal assistant to the executive producer of the "Judge Mathis" show and co-produced the television shows "Time for Healing" and "House on Fire....

Mr. Hollins formed his own dance troupe for youth, The New Life Performance Company, and taught dance at Trinity United Church of Christ and St. Sabina Catholic Church."

I never met Rev. Hollins, but I do remember reading about him in Chicago Community papers and hearing about him from friends in the African-American community. The courage for a Black man to work in the area of AIDS awareness, on the Southside of Chicago, and who was HIV+ is monumental. The Black Community is normally in complete denial of a problem even existing. He was marvelous. He will be sorely missed.

In the article there was a sentence that, as they say, took the wind out of my sails.

Mr. Hollins was to be the recipient of the "Hope and Spirit Award" at the Gospel Shoutout for the 2007 World AIDS Day of Prayer, sponsored by Walgreens and U.S. Rep. Danny Davis.

Tomorrow, December 1st.

His is one death in many, I know. When 6,000 children each day loose a parent to AIDS, the problem is global. He was one of the people taking action trying to help at least one of these children. His job was important and he took on the challenge. Not only will he be missed, there will be a large hole in the community and the universe.

John F. Kennedy wrote a book called Profiles in Courage. If the book was written today, Anthony Hollins' would be one of the chapters.

You can read more about World AIDS Day here.

no questions about it...

play safe...

know everything you can...

take caution in anything you do that could be risky...

December 1, 2006: World AIDS Day...

after 16 years, i still miss Ronald. twenty years ago we were working under ignorance of HIV. we've learned alot in all these years. use that information. no one can claim ignorance of HIV/AIDS anymore...

celebrate life...

Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.

World Aids Campaign

Light to Unite...

Click Here to light a candle for the National AIDS Foundation. Bristol-Meyers Scribb will donate $1 up to $100,000 to the National AIDS Foundation. You can also make a personal donation.

candles lit as of 8:35 pm, November 24, 2006: 51,251