Sunday, December 9, 2007
Stick a fork in Huckabee, he is done
Evidently Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has a hard time telling the difference between AIDS and a highly contagious and scary disease from the middle ages. Back in 1992 when he was trying to become a U.S. senator, he answered 229 questions submitted to him by The Associated Press. I have to think somebody at the AP kept Huckabee’s answers in a special file. The file was probably entitled, “WHACK JOB”.
Among the things advocated by Huckabee:
- He wrote that, “If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague.”
- He suggested that Hollywood celebrities fund AIDS research from their own pockets, rather than federal health agencies.
- He wrote that, “It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents.”
In case you don’t remember, by 1992 we already knew that you couldn’t catch HIV or AIDS from casual contact with those that were infected. As far as infectious diseases go, it’s fairly difficult to contract. You don’t get it from shaking hands with someone or sitting next to them on a bus. Unless you are exchanging bodily fluids with someone who is either HIV positive or has AIDS, you have nothing to worry about.
Even back in 1992, people knew the idea of putting people with AIDS in special camps was a dumb idea. Everyone except Mike Huckabee.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Huckabee is a total looney-toon, but his Hollywood funding AIDS research idea seems okay to me.
And this will probably raise a few hackles, but ever since the mid-eighties, we’ve known how to stop the spread of AIDS. I’m not suggesting Huckabee’s plan is sane or rational, but the fact is that if you don’t want to get AIDS in 2007 then don’t stick your dick anywhere that might be suspect and don’t share dirty needles. Transmission from anything other than those high risk behaviors is very, very low.
The fact that so much government money is being spent on AIDS research does kind of suck. We know how to prevent it now.
And this might be off topic, but how the hell did Magic Johnson cure his HIV? Perhaps his johnson truly is magic…
He was done a few days ago, when this happened:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/04/documents-expose-huckabee_n_75362.html
Jesse, I heard him in an interview with Wolf Blitzer on the CNN feed on XM Radio and he actually blamed Bill Clinton over and over for this. It felt good to hear someone blame Bill Clinton for something. It made me feel so nostalgic.
The spread of HIV and AIDS comes from a lot more than just consensual sexual relations and consensual drug use. Sexual assault (in prisons, in public, in foreign countries) is a big reason we’re still seeing such high rates of transmission.
It isn’t as simple as “don’t stick your dick anywhere that might be suspect.”
I think a “jail cell” and a “sexual assaulter’s body cavities” would be considered places that actually are suspect. At least, in my book they are.
But the incidence of rape is relatively small (maybe not in African countries were rape is used as an act of war). If all of the cases of consensual sex and IV drug use transmission were eliminated, the disease would be much, much rarer. And not a global health problem.
And not to sound crass, but if you live in a country or culture where it’s believed that sex with a virgin can cure AIDS, well, I guess Darwinism HAS to win out eventually, one way or another.
Schooly wrote:
I think that’s what makes Huckabee’s idea so absurd. We had already known for years that AIDS/HIV was not transmitted through casual contact. That makes his idea of isolating the “carriers of the plague” stupid.
If that’s how he thought was should combat AIDS, who knows what he thinks we should do about combating Islamic terrorism.
No doubt, Huckabee is loony.
Wait, don’t the Mormons believe that Satan and Jesus are brothers?