To vote in this year’s elections on November 7, you’ve got to be registered. And in some states, this Sunday could be your last day to register. There’s a cool new website that helps you register or re-register on line, no matter what state you live in—check it out today at www.govote.org!
(more)Below is the voting record for all Members of the House of Representatives on last Thursday’s Ryan White reauthorization vote. Michael Emanuel Rajner National Secretary - Campaign To End AIDS http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/votes/?votenum=503&chamber=H&congress=1092 Roll Call Vote No. 503 Tally (For more information about a Member, highlight the name and click “Go") Yea : 325 Members Don Young (R-AK)Robert Aderholt (R-AL)Spencer Bachus (R-AL)Jo Bonner (R-AL)Robert Cramer (D-AL)Artur Davis (D-AL)Terry Everett (R-AL)Michael Rogers (R-AL)Marion Berry (D-AR)John Boozman (R-AR)Mike Ross (D-AR)Vic Snyder (D-AR)Jeff Flake (R-AZ)Trent Franks (R-AZ)Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ)Jim Kolbe (R-AZ)Ed Pastor (D-AZ)Rick Renzi (R-AZ)John Shadegg (R-AZ)Brian Bilbray (R-CA)Mary Bono (R-CA)Ken Calvert (R-CA)John Campbell (R-CA)John Doolittle (R-CA)David Dreier (R-CA)Elton Gallegly (R-CA)Jane Harman (D-CA)Wally… (more)
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2006/9-30/news/localnews/funds.cfm LOCAL NEWS Broward asks feds for $17.6 M in AIDS funds Commissioner Diana Wasserman-Rubin may be appointed to HIV Planning Council Saturday, September 30, 2006 Broward County will ask the federal government for $17.6 million in Ryan White AIDS funding for the fiscal year beginning March 1, 2007. The Broward County Commission approved the grant application at its Sept. 26 meeting. The $17.6 million request is an increase of more than $2.5 million over what the federal government provided to the county last year, Commissioner Diana Wasserman-Rubin said. At the meeting, Michael Rajner, national secretary for the Campaign to End AIDS, spoke out against an income cap that he said will make it more difficult for people to qualify for Care through the Ryan White program. The Broward County HIV Planning Council recently approved the income cap, which limits access to the program to those with incomes of $29,400 per year or less. Rajner noted that Broward County “has the highest HIV infection rate in the nation per capita.” Of the estimated 23,000 Broward residents living with HIV/AIDS, “an estimated 6,000 are living without primary medical care for various reasons,” Rajner said. During the meeting, Wasserman-Rubin said she… (more)
For many in the HIV/AIDS community, we remember the words of Senator Rick Santorum in his Associated Press interview back in April of 2003, where he compared gays and lesbians to bestiality and incest. We remember when he said on national television that birth control (code word for condoms) is unhealthy for women. But, for most of the American public not directly affected by HIV/AIDS, Rick Santorum might not show up on your radar. This is what Housing Works says about Rick Santorum: Rick Santorum is leading the fight against reality-based HIV prevention strategies like clean needles for active drug users and condoms for youth who are having sex. Federal studies have shown we could save more lives, but they choose extremist politics over saving lives. • Rick Santorum is leading the fight against cheaper AIDS medications for domestic and global health care programs. Millions more overseas could be treated, state health care programs could save billions here at home, but they choose protecting drug company profits over saving lives. • Rick Santorum has attacked our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, comparing their relationships to bestiality and incest.… (more)
Here is an update from Kaytee Reik, Sara Renn, Laura Frye, Hanni Stoklosa and Chris Curry in PA. WHO DID WE BIRD-DOG: Patrick Murphy, a Dem running for a seat in Congress against the incumbent, Rep. Fitzpatrick. It is a hotly contested race. WHERE DID WE BIRD-DOG: At a small restaurant in New Hope, PA. HOW DID WE BIRD-DOG: There was no question and answer session, but Hanni, Kaytee and Chris managed to hand-shake and not let go. WHAT ISSUES DID WE RAISE: First we got in a question about free trade agreements b/c his opponent, Fitzpatrick, voted for CAFTA, which passed the house by a single vote, his vote, after Fitzpatrick told his constituents that he would never sign on to such a bill. The question was something like * As a medical student I was appalled that your opponent, Mr. Fitzpatrick voted for CAFTA because it led to decreased access to essential AIDS medicines for people with HIV in latin america. When you win, will you ensure that free trade agreements do not have language that limits access to essential medicines for people living with HIV?* The second issue raised was on health care workers. The question was… (more)
Bui (Kumbo)- The United State Task Force in Yaounde and the Mbah Development Association (MBADA), Youths where recently in Mbah, Bamngam, Gwarkang and Ntseni all in Kumbo in Bui Division to sensitise the population on HIV/AIDS and child protection as prerequisites to development. One sentence in this article made me wonder, though. Here is the last paragraph of the article: During the sensitisation campaign, some of the messages echoed were abstinence for youths, fidelity for couples and condoms for unhealthy relationships. However, it was stressed that condoms do not guarantee 100 per cent assurance as it may be wrongly used or used when already obsolete. No, not 100 percent, but “an analysis of studies conducted by the National Institutes of Health found an 85 percent decrease in risk of HIV transmission among consistent users of condoms."* I can tell you that not using condoms is the surest way to spread HIV. No, not abstinence. Sounds like the Bush administration has gotten their idealogical hands all over this program. By connoting “condoms” with “unhealthy relationships,” young sexually-active adults will get the message that using condoms is for unhealthy people, whatever “unhealthy” means. They will not use condoms, and continue to… (more)
Columbia, SC - The South Carolina Campaign to End AIDS called on Congress today to immediately pass the Enzi-Kennedy-Barton-Dingell Ryan White CARE Act reauthorization: With the current legislation expiring at the end of this month, it could not be more critical for Congress to quickly pass the Enzi-Kennedy-Barton-Dingell Ryan White CARE Act reauthorization. Any delay in action will negatively impact our state’s poor, and mostly minority, HIV/AIDS patients. The SC-c2ea applauds Senators Enzi and Kennedy and Representatives Barton and Dingell for their efforts in crafting a bipartisan-bicameral bill that is fair to all Americans and compassionate in nature. We also thank the House Energy and Commerce Committee for their work on this legislation. The SC-c2ea is pleased that the newly proposed legislation recognizes the geographic and racial shift of HIV/AIDS in America. This compromise legislation will provide much needed relief to our communities here in South Carolina and communities across the country. It will also bring relief to thousands of Americans who currently sit on HIV/AIDS waiting lists. The passage of this Ryan White CARE Act reauthorization is truly a matter of life and death for thousands of South Carolinians. We urge Congress to immediately pass this modernized Ryan White… (more)
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, unveiled legislation Saturday aimed at putting condoms in the hands of federal inmates, a move she said she hopes will help “break the silence” about sex in prison and the disproportionate toll of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections upon African Americans. Click here for full story
Reuters reports: “Central Asia has witnessed a dramatic increase in infection rates over the past four years. Officially reported cases jumped from about 500 in 2000 to over 12,000 in 2004. But unreported cases are thought to be much larger; the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are some 90,000 people in Central Asia living with HIV/AIDS. The epidemic is driven by injecting drug use and is concentrated among young people.” Do people see a pattern here? HIV/AIDS is spreading again. It’s not just New York. It’s not just the United States. It’s not just Africa. It’s everywhere. The lax view that AIDS is a thing of the past, a la Rock Hudson and ACT UP, is getting more and more young people infected. You here a lot about Bono in Africa which is great, but you don’t hear a lot about young kids in the suburbs. You don’t hear the influential people of today talking about the second wave of HIV/AIDS. The popular media that youth is ingesting like candy is inundated with Paris Hilton sex videos, rap music hedonism, highly sexualized ad campaigns geared to… (more)
Dear Akira, Your article “What Ever Happened To Safe Sex, By Ian Daly.” has been submitted to the International Carnival of Pozitivities (ICP--see links below). Please send me an email indicating your consent to link to your article from the ICP by 2 October. We will not publish without your consent. Brad Biggers of AIDS Combat Zone nominated your work. Additionally, if you could see fit to link to our homepage on the homepage of The World Has AIDS, I would be grateful. Safe Journeys Ron Hudson www.ronhudson.blogspot.com
www.poundcakelove.blogspot.com
www.internationalcarnivalofpozitivities.blogspot.com (ICP)
Ian Daly of Details Magazine shares a surprising interview with three recently-married New York City men, which he calls the Gansevoort Three (named after their hook-up hangout), as they share sexcapades from their bachelor days. All three men practiced unsafe sex, contracted STD’s, and still believe, in this day and age, that heterosexual men cannot get AIDS. Mike, 35, one of the Gansevoort Three, says, “The biggest thing to me is, I don’t know anybody -nobody straight, anyway- who’s ever gotten AIDS.” What the article reveals is that a new generation of young sexually-active adults, are throwing caution to the wind in the false belief that they are immune to STD’s and HIV/AIDS. Ian Daly reports: “Condom sales in the United States are flatlining. Syphilis is making a comeback -between 1999 and 2003, it shot up by 43 percent among American men. Chlaymdia cases doubled between 1994 and 2004. Even HIV is making a quiet return. Since, 2001, the number of new cases in the U.S. has been edging upward.” Mr. Daly sites denial, fatalism of our current world climate, misleading media information, and the Bush administration’s misdirected abstinence education assault… (more)
Got to aidsvote.org to learn how to make a difference on Election Day. (more)
[Please feel free to forward or post this message to your own lists!] Dear SC-c2ea friends and supporters: As many of you may know, this week we held several barnstorming events in South Carolina while Charles King and Larry Bryant were visiting here in support of our 2006 AIDSVote initiative. Specifically, we participated with the South Carolina HIV/AIDS Council in KISS-FM’s “Take a Friend to the Doctor Day” health fair at the SC State Museum in Columbia, held a Gospel Explosion at Empowerment Ministries in Orangeburg and held an AIDSVote Town Hall Meeting at Brookland Baptist Church in West Columbia, as well as conducting several radio interviews to promote these events. However, both as individuals and as a group, we must do MORE if we want our next Governor and U.S. Congress to develop, fund and implement a plan to end the AIDS epidemic in South Carolina--a plan that includes universal access to prevention, treatment, care and services by 2010. As our state’s wait list for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) continues to grow, it is even more vital that we continue to improve our educational and advocacy efforts.To further this end, our state group will be developing a… (more)
Mark Follman of Salon.com reports on an innovative new way to combat the war on drugs. Vancouver has opened the first injection site so heroin and cocaine users can shoot up in a safe environment. Users are provided with clean works, a private stall for injecting, a rest area, and medical advice and referral services. The program is funded by the Canadian government and is up for review on whether the legal status for the program should be continued. While the Canadian government funded the site in order to study the correlations to drug crime and urban blight, it would be of interest to HIV/AIDS health providers, researchers, and advocates in the United States to examine whether such a program would work in the United States. The question to ask is whether legally allowing open drug-use in health facilities is more effective than a harm reduction model where safe drug-use is promoted less overtly such as a needle exchange program. The message we would be sending clients would be much different. It would say, “Come in and use here and then we can talk,” instead of “If you are going to use, please use these clean needles.” Still, if… (more)
For more information about the AIDSVote campaign and our candidate and voter education efforts, contact:
info@aidsvote.org
877-END-AIDS
AIDSVote, c/o Campaign to End AIDS
925 15th Street NW 2nd floor
Washington, DC 20005
