Andrew Cuomo

If his name sounds familiar, it should. Andrew Cuomo was the corrupt Attorney General who refused to go after the multitude of Wall St. crooks because he was chasing after their big money campaign contributions.

Now, New York's mini me version of Scott Walker has just gotten through a budget with draconian and completely unnecessary cuts to attack public workers, the middle class, and the poor. That piece of walking garbage even pushed through a tax cut for the rich.

Cuomo's sleazy 3/28/10 press release should give you an idea of what he's really about.

"I have said that New York is at a crossroads – one road leading to further dysfunction and decline, the other towards fiscal responsibility and government efficiency. I believe this budget puts us on the right path," Governor Cuomo said. "This budget makes tough choices, which is what you sent me to Albany to do. It closes a $10 billion dollar deficit with no new taxes or borrowing, redesigns government to force it to cut waste and inefficiency, and finally delivers real results for hard-working families across New York State. I applaud and thank Majority Leader Skelos and Speaker Silver for working together to reach this agreement."

Let's look at the facts.

1) The deficit was one entirely manufactured by corruption and easily could have been resolved without cutting the state budget at all. The amount of money handed to back to Wall St. in the stock transfer tax rebate would be more than enough to balance the budget. Nothing epitomizes the pay for play environment in Albany than the stock transfer tax rebate, a Wall St giveaway, and Andrew Cuomo is one of its most strident and uncompromising supporters.

2) Cuomo massively cut taxes for the super rich in order to reward big money campaign contributors.

3) Cuomo's cuts were far from "waste and inefficiency." Cuomo cut HIV/AIDS funding, public K-12 education, funding for public universities, medical care for the poor, foster care, and mental health care among other vital services. Obviously, Cuomo thinks that it is "a waste" anytime anything goes to anyone who isn't a wealthy donor of his. Cuomo is such a spoiled, elitist, classist jackass who will do anything his rich and corporate bankrollers tell him to do.

4) The "real results for hard-working families across New York State" Cuomo is touting are lost jobs, lost services, daughters and sons who cannot afford college, and slower economic growth in the state. The results for his rich contributors will be..........Ka-ching!

No one can seriously claim to be moving "towards fiscal responsibility" while cutting taxes for the rich and continuing a huge, corrupt Wall St. giveaway. A fiscally responsible governor would have raised taxes on the rich considerably, given that tax rates for wealthy parasites have been cut over and over again.

Remember, any time any politician supports a tax cut for the rich or insists on keeping tax breaks for Wall St, that is absolute, irrefutable proof of corruption.

The reality is that Andrew Cuomo is an incredibly evil person with absolutely no personal or public integrity whatsoever. He may pretend to be a centrist Democrat, but he's really an extreme rightist whose real agenda is scarcely different from that of Scott Walker, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, or Karl Rove.

The rest of the Democrats who went along with this inexcusable budget deserve nothing but contempt as well. I don't know how I could ever vote for a New York "Democrat" again after this. The New York "Democrats" are as sleazy and as far to the extreme right as Texas Republicans, when you look at what they do instead of what they say.

 

I keep reading and hearing about the right's latest round of obsessive drooling over one of the most evil figures in US History, Ronald Reagan.

When I think of Ronald Reagan, I think of all the people who died because of his AIDS policies. Some of those people were people I knew.

Reagan should have been prosecuted for mass murder and genocide. He deserved to die in a prison hospital for his crimes in universal condemnation. Praising Ronald Reagan is the moral equivalent of tattooing a swastika to one's forehead. There's just no excuse for it.

 

People may want to downplay HIV, but it still is dangerous.



The only thing the video should have mentioned is that HIV sometimes still is deadly. The drugs don't work for everyone, and they stop working for some people after a while too.

 

It's World AIDS Day. This is the day which is a global call to action on AIDS. What about Obama's record on AIDS?

Obama, like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, has refused to support the AIDS Cure Project which would dramatically increase HIV research funding while taking control of research from Big Pharma and putting it back under control of scientists. Obama's administration is so bought and paid for by the drug companies that they have done nothing to address the issues of conflicts of interest in HIV/AIDS research either.

Obama has been a miserable failure at HIV prevention too. He continues to fund "abstinence only" scams which are deliberately designed to promote the spread of HIV and to promote teen pregnancies as punishment for sex. It's the responsibility of the executive branch to send safer sex kits and instructions to every US household, yet Obama has stubbornly refused to do that. Obama would rather pander to anti American religious extremists like his bff Rick Warren than show even the slightest bit of concern for the health of the American people. It is the responsibility of the executive branch to produce PSAs which visually demonstrate proper condom usage and to pull the license of any treasonous broadcaster who refuses to run them. Obama is too negligent to do this.

Obama also has actively promoted the homohatred that causes so many HIV infections in this country. Not only did he invite a homophobic and misogynistic neo Nazi like Rick Warren in the inauguration and his campaign, Obama has pushed viciously heterosexist policies such as opposition to ENDA and support of the military ban. Obama, who ran the Harvard Law Reiview, is so fanatical in his hatred of queers that his administration compared homosexuality to bestiality and necrophilia in court papers fighting for the "Defense of Marriage Act." Having a president who hates us and wants us all dead certainly doesn't help in HIV prevention efforts, to put it mildly.

Obama has followed the policies of the Bush regime on global AIDS issues. He has made big promises and flashy speeches while doing nothing to fund the commitments in those speeches. It's all a pack of deadly lies.

Obama is just as much of a mass murderer as the Bushes, as Bill Clinton, and as Ronald Reagan.

 

In theory, WBAI here in NYC is a progressive radio station which works on the mission of the Pacifica network. Yet, the current narrow majority of the Local Station Board (LSB) is a bunch of bigoted teabaggers who are gradually implementing a far right political agenda on the station. They call themselves "independent" to try to confuse voters in LSB elections, but they are a rigid political slate, as fanatical as the GOP at its worse.

The new management that has been brought in by this teabagger majority on the LSB has sunk to an incredible low. They have brought back infamous HIV denialist Gary Null. (If you have the stomach to read the linked rants, you will find a disturbing amount of homophobic bigotry in them...to put it mildly.)

In the real world, as opposed to the lalaland of Gary Null's New Age cult, HIV's causality of AIDS was a settled scientific question long before HIV drugs started dramatically prolonging peoples' lives. If it wasn't for HIV drugs, gay men would still be dying at the same horrifying rates that those of us who live on (seronegative or seropositive) witnessed for far too long.

But, HIV denialism isn't just inaccurate, it is truly vicious. It attempts to erase the lives and deaths of queer men, people of color, and women who have died as a result of HIV. There simply is no excuse for it.

As you might expect ACT UP NY and other HIV/AIDS activists are fighting back against this. A recent online petition by the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project explains their position quite well.

To whom it concerns:

We are writing as individuals and organizations who are deeply distressed by WBAI's recent restoration of supplement-entrepreneur Gary Null to the airwaves of WBAI Radio five days a week.

We are gravely concerned about this prospect and the consequences for people at risk of and living with HIV. Mr. Null and his frequent radio guests support the notions, among others, that HIV does not play a role in causing AIDS; that the disease is not transmitted sexually or via dirty needles; that HIV tests are meaningless; and that antiretroviral drugs are not only poisonous but can actually cause AIDS. Legitimate concerns and grievances about the pharmaceutical industry are eclipsed and diminished by this life-threatening stance.

The spread of false claims about HIV and AIDS is deadly, and particularly harms the poor communities of color most devastated by HIV/AIDS. Disinformation about HIV has caused the unnecessary suffering and death of an estimated 300,000 men, women and children in South Africa alone (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/26/aids-south-africa ).

Both the existence of HIV and its role in the causation of AIDS has been amply demonstrated (see, e.g., www.aidstruth.org). Among the destructive effect of spreading these falsehoods is to reduce condom use, increase infection risk and dissuade people from the use of life-saving antiretroviral therapy (among other modalities).

We respect the station's longstanding free-speech tradition, and support open debate on critical public health issues. We also deeply appreciate the fiscal difficulties facing WBAI and the Pacifica network. However, the notion that WBAI's survival is dependent on relying on Mr. Null while spreading a message of death is antithetical to the mission of the station and of the Pacifica Network to which it belongs.

We call on WBAI management to immediately reverse its decision to add Mr. Null's program to its schedule.

ACT UP NY warned people about what might happen last year. I guess it goes to show you that you can't take any institution for granted, even one that is supposed to be progressive like WBAI.

I've taken my link to WBAI off my link list. I cannot, in good conscience, link to a station whose management and board majority are behaving in such an irresponsible and bigoted fashion. It's been replaced by Democracy Now! I'm leaving the WBAIX which involves broadcasting on an occasional basis from former WBAI producers who were purged from the station by the bigoted teabagger majority on the LSB. Getting Gary Null off the air was a long, long overdue decision by former Program Director Bernard White. There is no excuse for bringing Null back.

[Anybody who detects the similarities between the HIV denialist pseudoscience and Global Warming denialist pseudoscience gets extra points for being observant and aware.]

 

In 2006 and 2008, the Democratic politicians plied queers with their usual lies about how much they would support us if they got control of Congress and the White House. It was a crock of shit, to put it mildly. Let's look at what they did.

The only good thing they did of any actual importance was passage of a watered down hate crimes bill. It took the National Equality March and a picket outside of Barack Obama's speech before the HRC to get even that to happen. Why do I say it was watered down? The legislation helps the rare local jurisdictions that want to fight hate crimes (which doesn't even include the NYPD under that vicious bigot Michael Bloomberg), but it does little or nothing to deal with jurisdictions that don't. Heterosexist hate crimes are crimes of intimidation that are intended to impact across state lines, which makes them a federal law enforcement matter. There should be strong federal penalties against them, and there should be a specific unit in the Dept. of Justice to prosecute them. The good thing about the legislation was that it included trans queers.

Sadly, that was the best thing the Democrats did the entire time. The Obama Administration, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid blocked ENDA, the most important queer civil rights legislation from even getting a vote in Congress. Unlike same sex marriage, employment discrimination is an area where the GLBT community has overwhelming public support, which presumably why they didn't want to give this popular legislation even a vote. I can not give the Democrats a good grade on LGBT issues when they wouldn't even allow a vote on the one that is, by far, the most important.

Employment discrimination legislation should have passed during the Carter administration. Yet, we can't even get a vote on it during the Obama administration.

Sadly, President Obama has had a reprehensible record on LGBT issues. He deliberately incited violence against queers, queer teen suicide, and violence against women by involving one of the nation's most notorious bigots, Rick Warren, in the inauguration. Obama had been doing pretty much the same thing by pandering to and glorifying that monster during the 2008 campaign. Obama made things worse by showing up consistently to the National Hate Breakfast, showing his support for heterosexist fundamentalism and violating the Constitution of the United States of America.

It didn't stop there. On the DOMA court challenge, the Obama administration deliberately filed court papers comparing homosexuality and bisexuality to sex with animals and sex with the dead. They didn't need to do that, even if you accept the notion that they were obligated to defend that legislation. It was completely gratuitous.

Yes, the Obama administration will occasionally throw us a tiny bone, but most of the slight good that bone might do us is negated by the condescending and heterosexist attitude they display when they do it.

Then, there is the Clinton Administration's more draconian version of the military ban which is deceptively referred to as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," even though it was deliberately designed to increase witchhunts and discharges against queers. "DADT" has even led to the military sending undercover people to gay bars in DC.

President Obama has repeatedly put queers off and fought to keep the ban in court. When queers kept pressuring the Democrats, Obama's viciously heterosexist enablers, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, came up with weird scam legislation which would maybe, just maybe lift the ban if Robert Gates wants to do it. Unfortunately, Robert Gates is a notoriously bigoted Bush crime family crony who immediately preceded to sabotage the effort by creating a highly biased survey on the views of military families on the subject.

Then, Harry Reid took his typical Mormon homophobic hatred one step further. He made sure that the legislation that included this maybe, maybe lifting of the military ban, also included other controversial provisions in order to provide cover for Scott Brown, Susan Collins, and Olympia Snowe to vote fillibuster against lifting the ban. Reid is so fanatical in his hatred of us, he is willing to hurt Democratic Senate candidates in Massachusetts and Maine by giving the GOP homophobes political cover for hating us and attacking us.

We also shouldn't forget the pattern of heterosexist discrimination in appointments by President Obama. So far, Obama has yet to appoint even one openly queer Cabinet member or Supreme Court Justice, not one. Considering the fact that lesbian, gay, bi, and trans people make up far more than 10% of the population and the Democratic Party is disproportionately queer, this has been a particularly blatant and stinging insult to the TBGL community. Obama's record in this area is just as bad as that of another hateful bigot: Bill Clinton.

Obama also has badly underfunded AIDS, done nothing to promote needle exchange, and has done nothing the promote condom usage and condom education. The Democrats continue to fund "abstinence only" scams that are deliberately designed to promote the spread of HIV.

Even with the hate crimes legislation that did pass, the Obama administration has yet to take seriously the recent wave of heterosexist hate crimes and bullying. If there was a national outbreak of violence, bullying, and suicides among banksters, Obama and congressional Democrats would treat it like a national crisis. Queers just don't rate that kind of attention.

Queers have done so much to help the Democrats in 2006 and 2008. What did we get in return? I find it difficult to find words to articulate just how badly I have been betrayed by the Democrats as a queer. The best way for me to express it ultimately will be for me to vote party line Green this November. Vicious bigots like Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Barack Obama have given me absolutely no other option. They are as heinous as the Palins, Paladinos, and Pauls in the GOP on matters of substance.

Photos: jurvetson

talkradionews

 

Sam Harris certainly has a blind spot when it comes to Christian and Jewish violence and religious extremism. An rather glaring example of this can be found in his comments on the "Ground Zero" mosque that most New Yorkers support, but which is the target of fury from outsiders. (Daily Beast - date not listed - Hat Tip: Why Evolution Is True):

Thus, when Allah commands his followers to slay infidels wherever they find them, until Islam reigns supreme (2:191-193; 4:76; 8:39; 9:123; 47:4; 66:9)—only to emphasize that such violent conquest is obligatory, as unpleasant as that might seem (2:216), and that death in jihad is actually the best thing that can happen to a person, given the rewards that martyrs receive in Paradise (3:140-171; 4:74; 47:5-6)—He means just that. And, being the creator of the universe, his words were meant to guide Muslims for all time. Yes, it is true that the Old Testament contains even greater barbarism—but there are obvious historical and theological reasons why it inspires far less Jewish and Christian violence today. Anyone who elides these distinctions, or who acknowledges the problem of jihad and Muslim terrorism only to swiftly mention the Crusades, Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, the Tamil Tigers, and the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma, is simply not thinking honestly about the problem of Islam.

This is absolute nonsense. Israel is literally guilty of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians, and land claims in Judaism form the ideological basis for it. Oops!

It gets worse. How can Sam Harris pretend that there is far less Christian violence than Islamic violence today? Is he living in an isolation chamber? While it certainly is true that corporate greed and racism played huge roles in causing the war on Iraq, Christian religious extremism has played the primary role in building the plurality of public support for that war. The war on Iraq is literally a Christian crusade that has killed at least 1.3 million people and caused millions more people to be refugees. In fact, more Americans have been killed in this war than in the 911 attacks. So much for there being less Christian violence.

Of course, Christian religious violence can be found in other forms in this country. Lying about safer sex and needle exchange; attacking AIDS prevention programs; underfunding AIDS research dramatically compared to what it would be if it primarily affected heterosexual, Christian, white males; promoting heterosexism and racism, and sabotaging sex education all are forms of quite deadly political violence.

Christianity is literally guilty of genocide against hundreds of thousands of Americans, the vast majority of whom have been queer men or have been women of color. Yet, Sam Harris hasn't even noticed this form of catastrophic violence. It just breezes by him.

Of course, Islamic violence is dangerous. However, Christian violence is far more pervasive and more deadly. Harris' efforts to single out Islam serve to make atheists in the US look ignorant and ill informed. The corporate media have made him one of "our" spokespeople because he can reliably spew absurdities that can be used to fan the flames of hysteria against Islam, flames that help continue highly profitable wars which are, in nearly all other cases, fueled by violent Christian extremists.

I'm remind of the lyrics of The Police song, "Murder by Numbers." At the end, they are quite instructive on how people in positions of power and privilege can commit acts of violence without getting their hands dirty. They are some of the most profound political thinking in the history of pop music where such things are usually strenuously avoided.

Now you can join the ranks of the illustrious
In history's great dark hall of fame
All our greatest killers were industrious
At least the ones that we all know by name

But you can reach the top of your profession
If you become the leader of the land
For murder is the sport of the elected
And you don't need to lift a finger of your hand

Because it's murder by numbers, one, two, three
It's as easy to learn as your ABC
Murder by numbers, one, two, three
It's as easy to learn as your A, B, C, D, E

Sam Harris needs to join the Reality Based Community. He is starting to sound like an atheist version of Glenn Beck.

 

In yet another betrayal, President Obama has failed to meet his campaign commitments on Global AIDS. In fact, his proposed funding levels don't even keep up with inflation. Here's the protest press release:

AIDS Activists Demand End to White House Failures on Global AIDS, Protest at $15,000-a-plate fundraiser

Who: People with AIDS and their allies from the US and immigrants from countries affected by Obama's broken AIDS promises, including members of ACT UP Philadelphia, ACT UP/New York, Africa Action, African Services Committee, NYC AIDS Housing Network, VOCAL-NY Users Union, Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project, Housing Works, Health GAP, American Medical Student association, MCCNY Charities, Rude Mechanical Orchestra and Philadelphia Global AIDS Watchdogs.

What: Outraged at President Obama's about-face on AIDS, hundreds of angry AIDS activists will demonstrate outside of his appearance at the DCCC's $15,000-to-$50,000-a-ticket fundraiser. Activists will come from New York, New England, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, DC to demand that Obama meet his promises to fight global AIDS and stop turning people who were promised life-saving medication away from AIDS clinics around the globe. These protests follow frightening stories in the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe and Newsweek.

There will be many "arresting" photo opportunities!

When/Where: 5:00 PM, Thursday, May 13th, outside the St Regis Hotel, 55th St. at 5th Ave., New York City

Why: On the campaign trail, President Obama pledged "to provide at least $50 billion by 2013 for the global fight against HIV/AIDS, including our fair share of the Global Fund, in order to at least double the number of HIV-positive people on treatment and continue to provide treatments to one-third of all those who desperately need them."

This promise was ratified into law in 2008, through the "Lantos-Hyde US Global Leadership against HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria Act," which authorized $48 billion over five years. Now President Obama is breaking that promise.

The reality is that since taking office, President Obama's budgets have shifted funding away from AIDS programs, and his commitments to fighting AIDS have not even kept pace with inflation, let alone increased to the level he promised. As has been highlighted by recent stories in the Boston Globe and Newsweek, a flat-funded budget means that people who were tested under US-sponsored programs and promised treatment when they got sick are now being turned away. Clinics receiving money from the US government are being instructed to enroll no new patients in life-saving treatment programs. Doctors are being instructed to ration drugs and face choices between giving their dwindling supplies to young mothers or children. People who are turned away often have nowhere else to go, and will die. "Obama's broken promises are killing people with AIDS around the world. We cannot backtrack on our commitment to saving lives," said ACT UP Philadelphia member Jose de Marco.

Barack Bush strikes again!

George W. Bush was infamous for big talk on global AIDS funding, only to stiff people who have a fatal disease when it came time to actually fund the big talk. During the campaign, Obama praised Bush's shameful record on global AIDS, which really worried me.

How many people will die needlessly of AIDS in underdeveloped countries before Barack Obama gives a shit?

Photo: Reikhavok

 

In case you wondered why the wealthcare bill didn't make it legal for people to buy cheaper drugs from Canada and why it didn't include medical marijuana provisions...

From National Journal 3/17/10:

Under his tenure, PhRMA has spent well over $100 million on ad drives backing health care reform legislation, a strategy that grew out of a deal Tauzin struck with the White House and key Democrats in the Senate that's provoked some criticism from parts of the drug industry. Early this year, Tauzin announced he would be departing PhRMA after five years at its helm and a search is underway for a replacement. Tauzin earned $4.5 million in 2008, according to IRS documents.

PhRMA is the trade association that lobbies for the drug companies.

If you have seen an ad promoting the wealthcare bill, chances are better than 50/50 that they paid for it. We need public financing of campaigns as much as we need single payer.

 

The more I learn about the wealthcare bill that the Obama administration pushed through Congress on behalf of the HMOs and health insurers, the worse it gets. From the Washington Post 3/27/10 (Hat Tip: No Blood for Hubris):

The bill restores $250 million over five years for states to sponsor programs aimed at preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases by focusing exclusively on encouraging children and adolescents to avoid sex. The funding provides at least a partial reprieve for the approach, which faced losing all federal support under President Obama's first two budgets.

"We're very happy to see that funding will continue so the important sexual health message of risk avoidance will reach American teens," said Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, a Washington-based lobbying group. "What better place to see such an important health issue addressed than in the health legislation?"

Now we know the other reason why Bart Stupak voted for the wealthcare bill. The better known reasons were the woman hating restrictions on abortion in the Senate version of the bill and President Obama's misogynist Executive Order on abortion.

This is disturbing for so many reasons. These "abstinence only" scams promote teen pregnancy, and the kind of unsafe sex that causes pregnancy also spreads HIV. This action by Obama is typical of an administration that treats AIDS as one of its lowest priorities.

Also, these fraudulent "sex educations" programs represent deliberate religious indoctrination in the public schools. This violates the Establishment Clause, and it discriminates against atheists. Obama and the "Democrats" in Congress have had a really lousy record on state/church separation issues thus far, and it doesn't look like it will be getting better any time soon. I wonder if the same groups that will get funding for "abstinence only" scams also will get money under Obama's expanded hate based initiatives.

Is it too much to want actual Democrats in Congress and the White House?

 

The rampant rape of children among the Roman Catholic clergy is not a local problem. It's not a US problem. It's a global problem of such magnitude that it couldn't be going on at such horribly high levels without the deliberate support of the Vatican.

There is no legitimate way that anyone can defend the RCC anymore. The crimes committed by that institution over the centuries are enormous and unforgivable. The Inquisition and earlier slaughters of Pagans, the murderous wars to slaughter Protestants for not bowing before child molesting Popes, the open and brazen support of Mussolini and Hitler, and the genocide of Eastern Orthodox Serbo-Croats in the RCC's own fascist regime in Croatia during WWII are some of the best known historical examples of how vicious and murderous the RCC has been.

But, don't think this power mad and genocidal bent has eased up. Ratzi is engaging in a campaign of racist genocide by trying to stop condom use in Africa. This was a continuation of Ratzi's jihad against condom use in order to promote the spread of HIV among gay and bisexual men who have sex with adults.

Then, there's the massive obstruction of justice by the Roman Catholic clergy of the perpetual rape of children by that evil cult. It continues to this day. Pro child rape Roman Catholic extremists dare to attack Sinead O'Connor for demanding an end to this evil church. Ratzi himself keeps trying to falsely present this as a series of isolated incidents to deny culpability and protect the child rapists. Ratzi even has the nerve to try to shift blame away from himself and his sociopathic clergy.

Obviously, the Justice Department needs to prosecute Joseph Ratzinger for obstruction of justice aiding and abetting rape. There should be extradition proceedings against that monster immediately.

But, that isn't enough. If Ratzi resigns or goes to prison, he will be replaced by someone else who will protect child raping priests. We really need to amend the constitution to permanently ban and criminalize the Roman Catholic Church.

This may seem like a big step, but you have to remember that the authors of the Bill of Rights had no idea that a major religious denomination would side against this country during WWII or that they would engage in the rampant rape of children. Constitutional amendments are big steps, but they are necessary in some cases.

At this point, there is no possible way to defend the Roman Catholic Church without endorsing mass murder and the rape of children.

Roman Catholicism = Raping Children!

Stop the Church!

 

I'm not sure this one is for real, but I do know it would work.


This one is for real.


The scumbags at CBS and Fox banned this one.


You would think HIV would be more than enough reason for condom use, but whatever it takes.

 

Photo: Paul Keller

Thanks to Queers United for reminding me about this.

National Condom Week 2/14-2/21 is an excellent way to publicize those simple objects that have saved the lives of the gay and bisexual men in your lives. Although religious extremists love to lie about the effectiveness of condoms, condoms are exceedingly effective when used properly. Here are some instructions from Avert on how to use condoms.

Open the condom package at one corner being careful not to tear the condom with your fingernails, your teeth, or through being too rough. Make sure the package and condom appear to be in good condition, and check that if there is an expiry date that the date has not passed.

Place the rolled condom over the tip of the hard penis, and if the condom does not have a reservoir top, pinch the tip of the condom enough to leave a half inch space for semen to collect. If the man is not circumcised, then pull back the foreskin before rolling on the condom.

Pinch the air out of the condom tip with one hand and unroll the condom over the penis with the other hand. Roll the condom all the way down to the base of the penis, and smooth out any air bubbles. (Air bubbles can cause a condom to break.)

If you want to use some extra lubrication, put it on the outside of the condom. But always use a water-based lubricant (such as KY Jelly or Liquid Silk) with latex condoms, as an oil-based lubricant will cause the latex to break. Click here to see picture of lubricants.

The man wearing the condom doesn't always have to be the one putting it on - it can be quite a nice thing for his partner to do.

Here's a YouTube video that Avert embedded too.



Lubricants:
Generally, you should use lubricants that specifically say that they are condom safe. Women's Health at About.com has some info on some of the things that you definitely shouldn't use for lubricating condoms.

Never use a lubricant that contains oils, fats, or greases such as petroleum-based jelly (like Vaseline brand), baby oil or lotion, hand or body lotions, cooking shortenings, or oily cosmetics like cold cream. They can seriously weaken latex, causing a condom to tear easily.

So many people have died needlessly from HIV. Many people still do because HIV drugs don't work indefinitely for everyone. Some people get sick or even die from the drugs. People with HIV are at risk from unsafe sex too because of the variety of strains from a rapidly mutating virus. Different strains have different resistances to HIV drugs.

Protect yourself and your partners.

 

It's time for me to catch up on my charitable giving and political donations before the year is up. Like I did last year, I figured it would be a good idea to amplify the impact of my giving by mentioning the recipients on my blog in hopes that others will support these worthwhile organizations.

amFAR:
amFAR combines support with medical research with aggressive public policy advocacy in dealing with the HIV/AIDS crisis. This organization has the sense of urgency that so many seem to lack these days.

Doctors Without Borders:
The multitude of wars and other human rights violations around the world are creating far more need for medical services than most of us would even like to think about. Supporting this organization is a way to help ease the damage while we try to stop and prevent the wars that are causing it.

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR):
FAIR does an excellent job of exposing the far right bias of the corporate media without allowing itself to become beholden to any politician or party. If you don't like the constant flow of bullshit from so many media outlets, supporting FAIR is something you can do about it.

Freedom From Religion Foundation:
One thing that sets FFRF apart from other groups in this area is that they are not shy about taking state/church separation cases from plaintiffs who are atheists. I also like the actions they have taken to make freethinkers visible. As assaults on the Establishment Clause continue or even escalate in the Obama era, a strong organization fighting for the civil rights of atheists and agnostics is even more important than before.

Gay Men's Health Crisis:
This was one of the pioneering AIDS service providers and still provides important services here in NYC. Please support a local AIDS charity in your area. The need is even greater now that we are in a recession and funding is tight.

Manhattan's LGBT Center:
LGBT centers play a vital role in the queer community. They provide social services. They also provide safe meeting spaces for a variety of health, cultural, political, and recreational activities provided by other organizations. Finding a place for an lgbt group can be a major challenge in a city without one. Please support your local center.

Medical Students for Choice:
The campaigns of harassment and outright terror against doctors who perform abortions have had a chilling effect on the availability of abortion. We need to find ways to support the courageous and honorable medical students who choose this vital area of care as part of their future practices.

Pride @ Work:
Here's a way to support organized labor and queer civil rights issues at the same time. This lgbt labor group does important activism in both areas.

World AIDS Day was never meant to be a passive acknowledgment of HIV and AIDS. It is a call to action. Here are three things you can do:

Join AMFAR in Calling for an End to the Syringe Exchange Funding Ban
From their Action Alert:

One quarter of all reported AIDS cases in the United States are attributed to injection drug use, which is a major driver of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Eight federally commissioned reports have found that syringe exchange programs are effective public health interventions that dramatically reduce rates of HIV infection without increasing drug use. Syringe exchange programs also provide critical health care services including HIV testing, counseling, education, and referral to drug addiction treatment centers.

Despite the effectiveness of syringe exchange programs, current programs can only meet a fraction of the need due to the federal funding ban. Help amfAR lift this ban and ensure that these important, effective programs are available to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS!

The NAACP supports this effort as well.

Please Sign the Petition!

 

The Transgender Day of Remembrance happened last Friday. This year, like every year, I have trouble writing about it. It's very painful.

One of the people who shaped my view of the world was Connie Norman. She was an AIDS activist and a queer activist. She was a force of nature. She could create a storm of activity with her bold and moving voice, coupled with her incredible intellect. She was a nurturer of activists. In fact, many people at actions called her Momma Connie which brought a knowing smile to her eyes. She even had her own radio show.

She died of AIDS years ago.

TDOR is about remembering transgender people who were killed by bigoted violence. I strongly maintain that our country's AIDS policies were and, to a large extent, a particularly effect form of violence that have killed hundreds of thousands of people in America. Connie Norman was one of those people, and I still miss her.

I know it is important to remember her and keep writing about her. It's just very difficult.

 

Photo: Steve Rhodes

The level of evil from corporate America seems limitless.

From New Times Broward-Palm Beach 10/22/09:

Christina Turner, a 45-year-old Fort Lauderdale woman, was downtown, letting men at the bar by her drinks. The next thing she remembers is waking up on a roadside with cuts and bruises that indicated she may have been raped. As a safety precaution, she visited her doctor, who prescribed a month's worth of anti-AIDS medicine. And that's about when things went from horrible to unbelievably fucked.

When Turner went to change health insurance companies a few months later, she learned she was essentially uninsurable. Turner, a former health insurance underwriter, told the Huffington Post that the AIDS meds raised too many health questions, and that even after she repeatedly explained the assault (that doesn't sound fun) insurers wouldn't sell her a policy.

The way things work right now, in a time history might well refer to as "the sick centuries," it doesn't matter if you have AIDS or not. If you've had anti-AIDS treatment, most insurance companies write you off as uncoverable. "It's basically an automatic no," one insurance agent told HP.

Sounds like: "Sorry 'bout that, friend. Hope the treatment worked out for you. Either way, get the fuck out of our office and have a nice death."

Having recently written about HMOs denying life saving HIV medications, I'm in no position to express surprise. I can definitely express horror. How can corrupt politicians like Mitch McConnell, Blanche Lincoln, John "Keating Five" McCain, Max Baucus, and Olympia Snowe sleep at night after trying to keep these evil companies in business at the expense of our healthcare, our economy, and our very humanity?

Nothing illustrates the need for real campaign finance reform than the corruption, mendacity, and insanity we have seen during the healthcare debate. Some might compare the Senate to a whorehouse, but prostitution is honest work, and prostitutes own their bodies. Senators do not own their Senate seats and have no right to put them up for sale.

From NY1 10/15/09: (Hat Tip Rod 2.0)

State Senator Jeffrey Klein released a report Thursday, showing Latinos are among the New Yorkers whose insurance companies are limiting their access to HIV/AIDS medication.

Klein's office monitored the 12 most widely used HMOs in the state. It found they limit the number of allowable doses and block coverage of so-called single source drugs -- those which are patented, brand name medications with no generic equivalent.

"The problem we're seeing time and time again is that doctors are prescribing single source drugs because they know that's the medication their patients need to stay alive in many cases, yet the HMOs are not covering it," Klein said.

I hate the HMOs. I hate the HMOs. I hate the HMOs.
 

Make no mistake, there certainly are problems with the healthcare plan President Obama supports. It involves the HMOs and insurance companies, which means the costs will be higher than what we have now, much less the cheapest plan: single payer. Also, the private corporations do everything they can to avoid covering expensive, life saving care.

Yet, the HMOs and insurance companies aren't satisfied with trying to scuttle the Obama plan, which might cut back a bit on their profits. They want to create absolute hysteria among religious extremists on the very subject of government involvement in healthcare.

I got signed up for the rightist TownHall.com because I wanted to comment on Hugh Hewitt's blog. Ever since then, I have been getting bizarre emails from them. Some of them try to sell me crap people with IQs over 60 wouldn't touch. Others include the wackiest far right propaganda, stuff the corporate overseers of the rightist noise machine keep far from the general public. One case of the latter is the email I got from them trying to engender frantic raving by the Christian Taliban on President Obama's healthcare plan. This one appeals to the nuts who actually wanted Terry Schiavo's wishes disregarded by the courts.

A nation of Terri Schiavos with a National Euthanasia Bill?

In 2005, a COURT ordered the removal of a feeding Tube from Terri Schiavo. It outraged a nation. If the Government takes over health care, bureaucrats will decide who lives and dies in America. In the name of "creating efficiencies," they will delay – or deny - treatment to critically ill patients because it costs too much.

We will have a NATION of Terri Schiavo’s, with a faceless Federal Bureaucracy pulling the plug instead of a Court.!

Sound crazy? It happens every day in Great Britain.

Horror of horrors! Respecting the desires and needs of women! What will that evil Obama think up next!

The email doesn't stop there in taking advantage of anti choice people and their frothing hatred of women.

A National Abortion Bill?

That is what the legislation should be called, because the bill pending in Congress includes the unlimited right of a woman to end the life of her baby, with the government footing the bill. And groups like Planned Parenthood will be the beneficiaries of your tax dollars.

Personally, I think Planned Parenthood is fabulous. I want them to get abortion funding, but I also want them to get funding in other areas of reproductive health too. If they got a bunch of government funding for family planning and sex ed, our country would benefit tremendously from it. However, the Bible thumpers get apoplectic at the very thought. If we really were a civilized society, knowledge of proper condom use would be required of all students by the age of 15 in any school.

However, the "pro lifers" hate life saving programs to prevent the spread of HIV and other diseases.

The rightist noise machine preys on the stupid.

 

Here's an interesting video on the subject.



It would be tempting to ignore Warren now that his reprehensible speech at the inauguration is over. That would be a huge mistake. Warren is even more prominent and powerful than he was in the past. He still has a large flock and a huge following outside of his Christ-Mart. His actions are still increasing the spread of HIV in Africa. He still hates the Constitution, especially the parts about representative democracy and state/church separation. Like the rest of the Christian Taliban, Rich Warren won't be satisfied until our system of government is replaced by a totalitarian theocracy.