Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch Cherry Bomb

I dunno about you, but if I were about to give a speech about HIV/AIDS -- I wouldn't want the background image to look like a cherry...or a sperm...but that clearly wasn't a deterrent for Dubya last week, who offered these words in his address on World AIDS Day:

...America still sees an estimated 40,000 new infections each year. This is not inevitable -- and it's not acceptable. HIV/AIDS remains a special concern in the gay community, which has effectively fought this disease for decades through education and prevention. And the demographics of this disease continue to change. AIDS is increasingly found among women and minorities. Nearly half of the new infections are found in the African-American community.

We're determined to make voluntary HIV testing a routine part of health care in America -- so people can know the truth about their status, tell others, and get the treatment they need.

Twenty years into this pandemic, 20 million people dead and 40 million people currently infected and millions more affected by this disease and we're still determining a "routine" for testing?

And what? I'm supposed to give a shout out -- a *whoopeee* -- because the president can use the words "gay" and "effectively" in the same sentence?

Bullshit.

All I know, that as a gay, I can't effectively get married or serve my country effectively in the military - but I can effectively manage what?

Educated and preventable fucking?

I guess that's what it boils down to, in the end (no bun-pun intended). As this article points out"...the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will endure a cut of more than $500 million its 2006 budget, while abstinence programs have seen a four-fold increase in the past five years."

Talk about untouched cherries and sperm just floating out in space...

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Today, I opened up an e-mail from the terribly effective Thought Nuggets. She'd passed along an image from France that was used last year in an HIV prevention campaign.

It struck me as profoundly sad -- to see a great power so clearly ill.

The symbolism is not lost to me...and it's a reminder to me to follow my own health care routine.

It's time to go get tested.

Posted December 8, 2005 05:40 PM