Big Government and the Tea Party
World AIDS Day event: The Beginning of the End of AIDS
Featuring President Barack Obama, President George W. Bush, President Bill Clinton, Bono, Alicia Keys and others.
At the event, President Barack Obama announced a new target Thursday of securing treatment for six million people by the end of 2013 and urged other countries to step up in the global fight against HIV, singling out China as one of the world’s economic powerhouses that has yet to adequately do so.
President Obama said the treatment goal over the next two years covers two million more people than originally proposed.
“Few could have imagined that we’d be talking about the real possibility of an AIDS-free generation,” the president said at the ONE Campaign and (RED)-hosted event that included remarks via satellite from former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. “But that’s what we’re talking about. That’s why we’re here. And we arrived here because of all of you and your unwavering belief that we can — and we will — beat this disease.”
Watch ONE and (RED)’s exclusive broadcast from Washington, DC Thursday, Dec. 1, World AIDS Day 2011.
“Life’s A Ball” – World AIDS Day event in Las Vegas
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The Nevada AIDS Project presents “Life’s A Ball,” a three-part event that celebrates life and a journey towards the cure.
The evening, which takes place in Club Nikki at the newly transformed Tropicana Las Vegas, kicks-off with an awards presentation to honor individuals who have made a difference in the lives of those affected by HIV/AIDS in the Las Vegas valley, followed by entertainment from local, national and international performers; a fashion show, and a dance party.
“Life’s A Ball” is made possible by the generous sponsorship of the all new Tropicana Las Vegas and MTV.
The star-studded event will include cast members of Absinthe, Penny and Melody Sweets, the men of Chippendales, the ladies of Fantasy, the casts of Zumanity and Bite; Miss Nevada 2011, Reva Rice, star of Vegas! The Show and People Magazine’s “Hottest Bachelors” star Matt Zarley.
Special surprise guests have been mentioned – drop by and see who’s at the event!
Suggested donation is $20, but no specified fee for general admission. The event is from 7pm to midnight tonight.
Follow-up with Zach Wahls and family
I see that Zach Wahls amazing speech in Iowa last winter has been making the rounds since MoveOn.org posted it.
I thought I’d post the follow-up with Zach at home with his family.
This is a terrific American family. A family that should be afforded the same rights every family in American has.
Pennsylvania school denies admission to HIV-positive student
The Milton Hershey School was founded by the chocolate tycoon as a school that “nurtures and educates children in social and financial need to lead fulfilling and productive lives.”
But it seems that fulfillment won’t be coming for a 13-year-old honor student from Delaware County who is infected with the virus that causes AIDS.
“I feel no other teenager should go through this, being denied just because they have HIV,” the boy said in an exclusive interview with NBC Philadelphia’s Denise Nakano.
The private boarding school doesn’t deny that they rejected the boy’s admission because of concerns for the health and safety of fellow students.
The 13-year-old has lived with HIV all of his life but doesn’t feel it defines him.
He excels in school, is active in sports and is learning to speak two foreign languages. He was hoping to go to Hershey — a cost-free, private boarding school for children from low-income families — to advance his education.
I personally feel this is profoundly disappointing. This is NOT how we treat the children of this country; this is NOT how we encourage the young people of this country to succeed.
I’m very saddened to hear that this is how the Milton Hershey School would handle an issue as sensitive and delicate as this.
Very sad.
Michele Bachmann debates marriage equality with high school students
At an appearance in Waverly, IA, Michaele Bachmann set the stage for the following exchange with comments about “true tolerance” in the context of religious displays in school:
“I think we have really forgotten what true tolerance means,” Bachmann said. “True tolerance means allowing people to express themselves and their beliefs. There might be people in this room that have no faith at all. You’re welcome here. Everyone is welcome here. But that doesn’t that mean that we squelch people’s speech that have religious-based values either. And we need to allow people to speak.”
She then turned to Jane Schmidt, a Waverly High School student and president of the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance. Here’s their exchange in full:
JANE SCHMIDT: One of my main concerns is government support for the LGBT community. So my question is what would you do to protect GSAs in high school and support the LGBT community.
BACHMANN: Well, No. 1, all of us as Americans have the same rights. The same civil rights. And so that’s really what government’s role is, to protect our civil rights. There shouldn’t be any special rights or special set of criteria based upon people’s preferences. We all have the same civil rights.
JANE SCHMIDT: Then, why can’t same-sex couples get married?
BACHMANN: They can get married, but they abide by the same law as everyone else. They can marry a man if they’re a woman. Or they can marry a woman if they’re a man.
JANE SCHMIDT: Why can’t a man marry a man?
BACHMANN: Because that’s not the law of the land.
JANE SCHMIDT: So heterosexual couples have a privilege.
BACHMANN: No, they have the same opportunity under the law. There is no right to same-sex marriage.
JANE SCHMIDT: So you won’t support the LGBT community?
BACHMANN: No, I said that there are no special rights for people based upon your sex practices. There’s no special rights based upon what you do in your sex life. You’re an American citizen first and foremost and that’s it.
ELLA NEWELL, a junior at Waverly High School: Wouldn’t heterosexual couples, if they were given a privilege then, that gay couples aren’t, like given that privilege to get married, but heterosexual couples are given a privilege to get married?
BACHMANN: Remember every American citizen has the right to avail themselves to marriage but they have to follow what the laws are. And the laws are you marry a person of the opposite sex.
There. Got that? You might have to re-read it a few times to follow Ms. Bachmann.
Gays want “special privileges” while people like Ms. Bachmann follow the law of the land.
Even more reason why “the law of the land” needs to change.
Society evolves.
Forward.
Holidays House decorations
I Am What I Am – Shawna Hamic
Shawna Hamic, who plays “Mme. Thenardier” in the national tour of Les Miz singing “I Am What I Am” at a cabaret benefit.
Members of the 25th Anniversary touring production of ‘Les Miserables’ presented a one-night only benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS at Town Danceboutique in Washington D.C.
‘Signature Songs; an evening of Broadway Showstoppers’ raised $6200.
Study in mice suggests hope for AIDS protection
As scientists struggle to find a vaccine to prevent infection with the AIDS virus, a study in mice suggests hope for a new approach — one that doctors now want to test in people.
The treated mice in the study appeared to have 100 percent protection against HIV. That doesn’t mean the strategy will work in people. But several experts were impressed.
“This is a very important paper (about) a very creative idea,” says the government’s AIDS chief, Dr. Anthony Fauci. He didn’t take part in the research.
The new study involved injecting mice with a protective gene, an idea that’s been tested against HIV infection in animals for a decade.
In the nearly 30 years since HIV was identified, scientists haven’t been able to find a vaccine that is broadly effective. One boost came in 2009, when a large study in Thailand showed that an experimental vaccine protected about a third of recipients against infection. That’s not good enough for general use, but researchers are now trying to improve it.
The mouse work is reported by David Baltimore and colleagues at the California Institute of Technology.
Baltimore’s team used a harmless virus to carry an antibody gene and injected it once into a leg muscle. The researchers found that the mice made high levels of the antibody for more than a year. The results suggest lifetime protection for a mouse, Baltimore said, although “we simply don’t know what will happen in people.”
If all goes well, a preliminary experiment to test the safety of the approach might begin in about a year, he said. Baltimore said his group is also planning human experiments that he hopes will start in the next couple years.
Wendy Williams – HIV Ends with Us
Love Wendy! And her “Chippendales” style…