THIS BLOG HAS MOVED TO AIDSVOTE.ORG/B2EA

Obama, Clinton face off: will AIDS make a difference

ALBANY (January 17, 2008) -- Over 100 community, religious, education, labor and human services organizations from throughout New York State have issued a joint statement today calling upon elected officials to make “better” choices in the upcoming budget debates.

The joint statement of support was issued today at a press conference at the Legislative Office Building in Albany. The endorsing organizations, representing hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, called for a fair budget that invests in New York’s working families. The Better Choice Budget Campaign began in 2002, and for the past 6 years has been calling upon state leaders to raise revenues in a reasonable and responsible manner and to end the special treatment of the favored few. The groups have urged the governor and the legislature to provide property tax relief in a balanced manner by restoring revenue sharing with local governments, creating a property tax circuit breaker program to replace the ill conceived STAR rebate checks, and restoring progressivity to the personal income tax so we can ensure that the wealthiest New Yorkers pay their fair share of state taxes.

The coalition released a 6-point platform that supported:

• Closing loopholes that allow large, profitable corporations to avoid paying their fair share of state taxes.
• Stopping sweetheart deals with high-priced consultants who are being overpaid to do jobs that state workers can do better and cheaper.
• Lowering drug prices for state and local governments by using New York’s purchasing power to get a fair deal from the drug companies.
• Reforming economic development programs by improving the effectiveness and accountability of Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs), the Brownfield Clean Up Program (BCP) and the Empire Zones program.
• Enacting the Bigger, Better Bottle Bill and making the beverage bottling industry return unclaimed bottle deposits.
• Making New York's tax system fairer and more equitable by increasing the top marginal tax rates on the highest income households.

send a question to Wolf Blitzer, for a SC Democratic debate on Jan 21st

Send a short comment to the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, (which enters you for a chance to win a hotel room and VIP tickets): http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/5e83g2a5dc **NEW** comment to Wolf Blitzer: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/01/11/blitzer-what-should-i-ask-the-democrats-in-south-carolina/ The debates on January 21, 24, 30 and 31 are open for anyone to submit questions. For Jan 15 (D) you need to submit from Nevada, and for Jan 27 (D) you need to be a student at Florida Atlantic Univ. January 15, Democratic Debate Las Vegas, Nevada (must be in Nevada to submit ?s) http://januarydebate.com/ January 21, Democratic Debate, Myrtle Beach, SC (Congressional Black Caucus Institute/CNN). send a short comment to the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, (which enters you for a chance to win a hotel room and VIP tickets): http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/5e83g2a5dc **NEW** comment to Wolf Blitzer: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/01/11/blitzer-what-should-i-ask-the-democrats-in-south-carolina/ January 24, Republican Debate Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida http://beforeyouvote.org/index.php?p=question January 27, Democratic Debate Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida currently not accepting questions, though degree seeking students within the University can apparently submit YouTube ?s designed for all of the candidates: http://www.fau.edu/debates/joinit-contest.php January 30, Republican Debate (CNN, LA Times, Politico) Los Angeles, California http://dyn.politico.com/debate/ January 31, Democratic Debate (CNN, LA Times, Politico) Los Angeles, California http://dyn.politico.com/debate/

Split results add to confusion for many gay voters torn between Obama, Clinton

Gay voters in Iowa and New Hampshire want their next president to bring change, but cannot agree who’s best for the job. Beth Barnhill, a 52-year-old lesbian living in Des Moines, said Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is best positioned to transform the nation. “I think we’re desperately in need of change,” she said. “Dramatic change.” But Mark Anthony Dingbaum, a 22-year-old gay man living in Iowa City, said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) could better enact the changes that Democratic voters want. “I realize Washington is not going to change overnight and I can’t imagine supporting a candidate who doesn’t know the terrain and how to navigate that,” he said. “So, for me, Hillary was the clear choice.” Such divisions echo the results of the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary. Obama won the Jan. 3 caucuses, taking 37.6 percent of the Democratic vote. Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina took 29.8 percent of the vote there, while Clinton took 29.5 percent. On Tuesday, Clinton won the nation’s first primary, taking 39 percent of the Democratic votes cast in New Hampshire. In that race, Obama took 37 percent of the vote and Edwards took 17 percent. Peter Rosenstein, a Washington political activist who is on Clinton’s gay steering committee, said the turnaround shows voters are prioritizing substance over style. “I think that Barack Obama’s message — he is a beautiful speaker, he is a charismatic speaker, and no one can take that from him — but by the third or fourth time you’ve heard that speech, you think to yourself, ‘Alright, what’s behind it?’” Rosenstein said. “I think Hillary managed in New Hampshire to pierce that speech.” Dingbaum agreed. He said Obama’s supporters, when challenged, were unable to explain to him why they prefer the younger senator. “A number of people I talked to about Obama couldn’t answer questions about his policies, his experience, his plans for the future,” he said. “They could only talk about hope.” But Jim Pickett, a longtime Obama supporter and advocacy director at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, said there’s much more to Obama and his campaign. “I don’t buy the argument that Obama is simply style, as if he’s pretty window dressing who happens to give a good speech,” he said. “I reject the notion, outright, that Sen. Obama has only style and nothing beneath that. That’s not true.” ‘Virtual tie’ In a race that remains neck-and-neck between Obama and Clinton, voters beyond Iowa and New Hampshire will decide the Democratic outcome. Dan Pinello, a gay City University of New York government professor, said the New Hampshire vote was too close to give either candidate a clear advantage. “There was only two or three points difference,” he said. “So you’re looking, as a practical matter, at a virtual tie in terms of what Clinton and Obama got there.” Pinello said a frontrunner should emerge after Feb. 5, when California, New York and 20 other states hold their Democratic primary or caucus. “That’s going to be half of the nation, more or less, having a national primary,” he said. “It’s very likely that come Feb. 6, the Democratic nominee will be clear.” Other impending votes include the Nevada caucus on Jan. 19 and the South Carolina primary on Jan. 26, but Pinello said those samplings are relatively inconsequential. “South Carolina is only interesting in the sense that it could gave an indication of what might happen in the South,” he said. “And Nevada is not indicative of anything, really. Who cares what way Las Vegas goes?” Pinello said the South Carolina and Nevada votes likely would serve only to confirm that Edwards should exit the race. “Clearly, the Democratic race is between Clinton and Obama,” he said. “You cannot come in second or third in two races and make any legitimate claim that you still have a shot at the nomination.” ‘A great boost’ Even as Edwards struggled to remain viable, Clinton and Obama were picking up momentum. On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain won handily in New Hampshire over the favored Mitt Romney, former governor of neighboring Massachusetts. But former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee took Iowa by a large margin over the much better funded Romney. Many experts view Michigan as Romney’s last stand, though he has vowed to remain in the race. Barnhill said the Iowa victory proved that Obama can woo independent and conservative voters, something that will serve him well on Feb. 5. “I think this was a great boost for him,” she said. “That what’s widely regarded as a rather conservative and mostly white state — that this state supported Obama would be, I hope, good news for him going forward.” Rosenstein said Clinton’s campaign, meanwhile, will benefit from the “shot in the arm” it got in New Hampshire. “It was clearly one of the most dramatic turnarounds in U.S. politics,” he said. “I think it’s a validation of Hillary trying to run on the issues.” Some voters, however, said Clinton wasn’t talking about the issues in ways they wanted to hear. Shannon McMurrin, a 24-year-old bisexual woman living with her lesbian partner in Waterloo, Iowa, said she caucused for Obama over Clinton in part because he wants to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. “Obama is very publicly in support of us,” she said. “He’s all for repealing DOMA and kind of leaving it to the states but opening it up to civil marriage, or civil unions, or whatever we can get.” But Rosenstein said Clinton, who supports repealing one part of the act, has a more pragmatic approach that hobbles efforts to constitutionally define marriage. “The reality is that we used DOMA to stop the momentum on a constitutional amendment,” he said. “It was used to say, ‘You don’t need that. The federal government already has DOMA.’” McMurrin noted that she only backed Obama after it became apparent that her preferred candidate, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), was not viable. “He was the only candidate from the very beginning that said he was for civil marriage,” she said. “And that means a lot to me.” Former Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska, who did not actively campaign in Iowa, also backs marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. Dingbaum, a marriage equality advocate who caucused for Clinton, said he also would have preferred to support a candidate who matched his stance. “Unfortunately, unless you’re going to caucus for Kucinich, it doesn’t look like you have an option with marriage equality,” he said. “And I think it’s interesting that more people didn’t stand up for Kucinich, because if you review his record, where he stands on the issues, he is that candidate. He’s the one who’s ready for change. But electability is an issue.” McMurrin said she did not consider Edwards an option during the Jan. 3 caucusing. “Edwards isn’t comfortable with us, so we’re not really comfortable with him,” she said. “We give him credit for trying, but he’s not there yet.” In a book published earlier this year, Democratic strategist Bob Shrum wrote that Edwards once answered a question about gay rights by saying he was “not comfortable around those people.” Edwards’ campaign has called the passage dishonest and inaccurate. Activists who strove to increase the turnout among gay voters in Iowa and New Hampshire said they were pleased at the results. Marty Rouse, Human Rights Campaign’s national field director, said it was unclear how many gay voters went to the polls in each state, but anecdotal reports cited good participation. “It’s a very small percentage of the American population that participates in these caucuses,” he said, “so it only takes a small number of people to make a difference.” More importantly, Rouse said, gay voters in Iowa and New Hampshire felt they could attend the events as an openly gay person. “Think about it,” he said. “You could have been fired from your job last year in Iowa for being openly LGBT and now there’s a law that protects them. A simple law. So now they can take it to the next step. They can be open at a caucus. That is so important to these people.” Rouse said gays in New Hampshire, who recently saw the enactment of civil unions there, were able to vote as fully empowered members of their community. “Think about how they must feel,” he said. “That feeling of pride transcends everything for them. They and their families will be much more open, much more proud and much more involved in their community.” Dingbaum and McMurrin, both first-time caucus goers, said they were proud to participate as openly gay voters. “It had an impact,” Dingbaum said. “It sent a very strong statement throughout the state that we are here and we will be counted.” McMurrin, who arrived at her caucus location holding her partner’s hand, said she never felt out of place. “It was received just fine,” she said. “We didn’t get any strange looks there like we do at Wal-Mart.” Barnhill said her caucus location was so comfortable with gay issues that it passed along a resolution calling for the enactment of same-sex marriage rights. “A couple of people who I think were members of the queer community came up to me afterward and thanked me for doing that,” she said. “I was happy to do that.” Rouse said such stories show how Americans are changing how they approach gay people and issues. “Most Americans, when they hear the words gay or lesbian, think of San Francisco or New York City or Key West,” he said. “But America is really changing and there is nothing more telling on how things are changing than what’s happening in Iowa and New Hampshire.” Friday, January 11, 2008 Joshua Lynsen can be reached at jlynsen@washblade.com.

"We demand answers on ETHA and the global fund – and we’re not sitting down."

Inside Video Coverage More….

McCain Sunday January 6th.

Who: 2 dozen activists from ACT UP Philly, ACT UP/NY, Housing Works, NYCAHN, SGAC, Health GAP, Private Health Insurance Must Go! Coalition, FXB, PIH, and probably others that I'm forgetting. What: McCain town hall with about 1,000 people in Salem, NH high school gym What we did: Many of us in NH were incredibly frustrated that McCain has rebuffed all of our questions over the past few months to win his support for $50 b and his endorsement of the Early Treatment for HIV Act, so we decided to protest his town hall. We planned to go in as 3 teams of 7-8 people, and disrupt with chants of "people with AIDS are dying, and you're not even trying". AIDS treatment now!". We arrived an hour and a half early, and sat in three sections in the front of the gym. McCain came in, and while he was being introduced, the first wave began chanting, and held up signs that said "Early Treatment for People with HIV in the US" (couldn't come up with anything better on 2 hours of sleep) and "$50 billion for global AIDS". They walked out orderly, and while they were walking out, McCain said that he would be willing to talk with anyone from that group that was left in the room. I stood up and said that I was from that group. Folks from my team (team 3), stood up with me and held up their signs. McCain and I went back and forth (I wanted him to talk about it then, he wanted to wait for the questions), and finally we sat down and waited for the question portion. About 5 minutes into his speech, after McCain said that the greatest threat to the world is Islamic terrorism, the second group stood up and started chanting. There was no way for them to walk out, and they were escorted out after several minutes of chanting. McCain then started taking questions, and probably took a dozen or so. We shouted out that McCain had promised us a question, but he ignored us. He took a question from a woman who said that "Pres. Bush has done many good things on AIDS, and its' amazing that liberals who can't attack him on substance start attacking him for being heartless." McCain responded that he was in favor of AIDS funding, but didn't want to increase it until we could be sure it wouldn't get siphoned into Swiss bank accounts. He specifically referenced Zimbabwe as an example of a country with a corrupt government that we should not give money to. McCain then asked a representative from the ONE campaign to address the crowd. The ONE guy said something like "I'm a little off my game after that distasteful showing from before. Sen. McCain has been a leader on global AIDS, and he always talks about the poorest 1 billion people and AIDS in every event. So I want to thank Sen. McCain for his leadership on AIDS, and that's about all I can say. This man is wonderful."

McCain, at the very end, called on me. I had had my hand up, patiently, for the entire Q&A session. The campaign would not give me a microphone. The folks from team 3 held up their signs while I said: The woman is right that Pres. Bush had given more money to AIDS. We are here b/c we've asked you over and over again to support funding for AIDS, and you have not responded to us, you just keep saying "you'll look into it". McCain interrupts to rudely say "Do you have a question?". Yes, Sen. McCain will you support $50 bn over 5 years to fund things like the Global Fund, which gives money to community organizations as well as governments, so that people in Zimbabwe don't have to die because of bad government? And we need you to co-sponsor the Early Treatment for HIV Act, which would expand medicaid to people with HIV so they don't have to get sick to get treatment. This would cut AIDS death rates in half in this country. McCain responded by saying: I don't know of any community organizations working in Zimbabwe that aren't corrupt. But if you can find one, then I'll look into it. That's all he said. He did not respond to the ETHA question at all, and barely addressed the $50 bn question. This is not a direct transcription of what he (or I) said, but we'll have a link to good videos soon, hopefully. We've got a lot of work to do, this guy is a real contender for the presidency, and is a sitting Senator who can do things now to save lives. On to South Carolina, where we need to continue to hold his (and other candidates' feet to the fire)!

Covered Elsewhere: Boston Globe.

Contribution made by Kaytee Riek.

People with AIDS are Dying, Rudy… You’re not even trying.

A van load of bird-doggers attended Rudy Giuliani’s post-debate party in hopes of giving a ‘toast’ to his absent efforts to support Americans living with HIV/AIDS. Not a single crowd member was able to get a word across to Rudy or his supporters. While half of the crowd impatiently awaited inside a chance to ‘salute’ Rudy, he spoke for five minutes and made a dash for the door.

Kaytee Riek was able to get a great photo op, as well as another unanswered question from ex-Mayor Giuliani. He wasn’t particularly fond of her and her friends after several minutes of their chanting: “people with AIDS are DYING, you’re NOT even TRYING”.

See clips of the event taken by fellow bird-dogger Mike Hart.

“Toast” Governor Huckabee ?....

Mike Huckabee: Manchester, NH Post-Debate Party

ACT UP Founding Member Eric Sawyer confronted former Governor Mike Huckabee at a supporter’s reception after the Sunday night Debate in New Hampshire. As Huckabee took the podium to speak to supporters: a dozen AIDS Activists started clanking their glasses calling “Toast, ­ Toast!” Sawyer called out Governor Huckabee: May I offer a Toast? Huckabee: Why not! Sawyer: As a Christian whose faith is very important to me - I want to toast to Mike Huckabee ­ the only politician with the courage to stand up for Christian Values!

[Sawyer toasts to crowd applaud] Sawyer: continues: I’m a Methodist like you and my values and my faith are very important to me: I know you are a Baptist.

[Crowd laughter] Huckabee: breaks in: I was going to say, you are - you know, a Methodist is a waterless Baptist. You know that. Sawyer: ­ That’s, that’s true, and ah I don’t know that my Preacher would agree with that but ah ­ I also wanted to say that one thing I think one of the Christian Values that is really important is that God embraced everyone and that Jesus Christ embraced everyone, including lepers, and it hurts me as a person of faith - who is one of your supporters because of the fact that years ago you said that people like me, people with AIDS should be quarantined and if I was quarantined I could not vote for you ­.

Huckabee: ­ interrupts: ­thank you for coming tonight

Sawyer concludes - and, and I, I hope you; I hope you will revisit that statement. Huckabee: interrupts: Thank you for coming, thank you for coming

[crowd noise rises] ­ Activists chant: ­ People With AIDS are dying! ­

Your Not Even Trying!

AIDS Treatments Now!

[repeat]

Huckabee : Thank you for coming ­ Excuse me ­ Thank you for Coming Thank you for coming ­ lets be seated ­ Excuse me ladies and gentlemen ­ Thank you for coming tonight. The Great thing is that in a free country everybody has a chance to speak-­ not everybody has to agree with us. ­Thank you very much for coming.

Contribution made by Eric Sawyer.

AIDS Activists receive no answer on ETHA.

Video Here

John McCain: Peterborough, NH Town Hall 12:00 PM

Teams from Act Up New York/Housing Works arrived in Peterborough, NH this morning to a packed town awaiting the McCain Campaign. Before: Two bird-doggers were able to be present during the town, the remainder of the team covered the “outside”: candidate entrance/exit and media relations.

Congressman Todd Platts (R-PA) was walking around the room talking to several people, during which time I shook his hand: mentioning that he should also support ETHA - he got a Platform or two to take with. Thinking I was with the One Campaign, he was eager to talk but became less eager when I said that I was not. During: The event started with country music, followed by a bag piper. It was very patriotic and most of the town hall was spent speaking about the war, border closure and pork-barrel bills that “wasted billions of dollars” in places like Alaska (he mentioned Alaska several times). The ONLY health care concern spoke about was the ability for New Hampshirites to get "out of state" insurance policies: to aid in a more “portable” system guaranteeing coverage out of state and also making out of state plans accessible to New Hampshirites.

The Question I was able to get in (#5 or 6): Dennis: "Senator McCain - as a person who works for an AIDS Service Organization, I know first hand that treatment is essential to save the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS. There are over 1 million people living with HIV/AIDS the United States, most of them receiving care through Medicaid. Medicaid requires, however, that people get sick (an AIDS diagnosis) before they can begin treatment. Since you are senator now: will you sign on to the Early Treatment for HIV Act, currently in Congress, so that we can ensure that all people with HIV have access to life-saving treatment at diagnosis instead of waiting until they are sick?” McCain (not directly quoted): "Thank you for the question. I don't know much about treatments, but I do know that we have spent billions of dollars on research for treatments and medications and transmission and problems in the prison system. We don’t have a solidified solution. He applauds the Bush administration's work. He went on to talk about the Marshal Plan. (hmmm). McCain said that he would "be happy to speak with me after the meeting" and then turned the microphone over to the "One Campaign" - who applauded his efforts during their one minute schpeal" ...... end of story. After: I have never been to a McCain event and this was my first bird-dog - so in that case I was pretty satisfied for getting picked to ask a question - but the answer was lacking - and it's clear that he needed to read his AIDS Vote Platform and Candidate Questionnaire - then he would have the information he said he didn't have. On that note: Vernon W of Housing Works was able to get a personal handshake with Sen. McCain and shared briefly the importance of early treatment and supplied him with an AIDSVote Platform.

Contribution made by Dennis Weakley

Handshake and NO answer at Romney House Party

Pre-Debate House Party in Bedford, NH.

Hayley Hathaway and Amy McPheeters (Student Global AIDS Campaign) attended a Romney house party on Saturday morning in Bedford, NH. The event was packed and although we arrived early, Hayley and I weren't in the best location to get a question in. He and his wife spoke briefly, but of nothing of real importance... rather about how we should all like and vote for Mitt because when Ann (his wife) fell ill with MS, he learned how to cook for her and stayed with her even though she was unable to cook for him. The whole thing was a little weird. I managed to get a question in during the handshake line... Amy: "Gov. Romney, As you know, it’s going to be the responsibility of our next President to restore a sense of good will towards America from the global community. One way to do this is through global health diplomacy. Pres. Bush created a program that fights AIDS in Africa but that program expires soon. If elected, will you commit to continued funding for the Global Fund, to keep pace with the global need and President Bush’s bold commitments?" Romney: (not a direct quote) Oh, you must be from the ONE Campaign... $50 billion, right? Amy: No, actually I'm not... Romney: Well, I agree it's important that we reach out, but I can't give you any specific numbers at this time. Amy and Hayley [yelling after him]: Huckabee has!!! Lessons learned: 1- We probably would've done better if we had asked where Romney would be speaking as it was hard to tell which part of the house he would be speaking from 2- Was glad to hear that he atleast recognized the $50 billion number, but we've got a lot of work to do on Romney! Contributed by Amy McPheeters (SGAC)

Clinton: "Yes, I will support a re-affirmation of the Doha Declaration!"

First-hand account of what went down in Nashua at the Clinton event: She gave a quick stump speech and then went straight into a Q/A session in a gym of about 2,000 people. I got the first question, and by enormous luck, CNN cut in live just as I started the question, and our colleague T. Richard happened to be watching at that moment to catch it. I asked the question partially noted below thanking her for her global AIDS commitments but requesting immediate action by co-sponsoring the resolution which would re-affirm Doha. Her lengthy and positive response is also in the transcript below. (thanks Rob and Sarah for getting that and sending it out!) It is key to note that after she said, "I will support a re-affirmation of the Doha Declaration" I asked her again, "So you will sign-on as a co-sponsor to the resolution?" and that is when she said "Yes. I will." as recorded in the transcript. She was very clearly responding specifically to the question of co-sponsorship. In the handshake line afterward, I thanked her for agreeing to co-sponsor the resolution and told her we will look forward to seeing her name on it very soon. I answered a question of hers about who else is signed on right now (Brown, Kennedy, Dodd, Durbin, and Webb), and I told her which staffer in her DC office has all the info on the resolution. I then talked to the Concord Monitor for a little bit about how excited I was that the Senator just agreed to co-sponsor S.Res.241 and it is a step Obama and McCain should take too if they want to show their leadership on global health issues. Haven't seen if that actually made it in the paper or not... This affirmative response from her, combined with the great work of Trish and the St. Mike's crew with Bill Clinton on the same issue on Sat., will hopefully be enough to shake loose a co-sponsorship from her office in the next week or so. Then we'll have to continue hammering away at Obama and McCain to get them to do the same on this important resolution! ALSO at the Clinton event, ACTUP/NY members John Riley and Eric Sawyer were each able to get a question on health care (which proved to be the main topic of the event). Eric noted how many dollars get wasted by the for-profit private health insurance industry within a story about his dad's challenges to get good health care, and asked Hillary if she would consider supporting a single-payer system like she initially did in the early 90's that would eliminate these problems from private health insurance. She responded that she is not for a single-payer system right now and she wants people who are happy with their insurance plans to be able to stay with them. She continued then to agree with the problems of private health insurance and talked about more regulation and how her plan will contain a large public program that people can join. John followed up a little later with another private health insurance story about a PWA being denied medications and asking how her plan would control drug prices AND if congress passed legislation to create a national single-payer system would she, as president, sign it. She said that she would sign such legislation if congress passed it, but she is pushing her plan right now. Her plan does contain regulations on Pharma and their pricing by allowing negotiation for government spending. These are good responses to work with in the effort toward achieving real, affordable guaranteed health care for everyone. GREAT WORK this weekend everyone! The candidates definitely felt the heat and will certainly have our issues on their minds as the campaign season continues.

Contributed by Aaron Boyle

January Primaries

Next up for the Dems: Jan 15 - Michigan (on 12/01/07 the DNC took away their delegates) Jan 19 - Nevada caucus (approved by DNC) Jan 26 - South Carolina Primary (approved by DNC) Jan 29 - Florida Primary (penalized by DNC for breaking party rules, resulted in losing their delegates) Here's an embiggenable map to the primary season: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXUAlkRR-0tQ8EtPd2fhhIjtdA01nqnWde7wrRd1LZh9LZl3fj-8HoGiTcpeK8EJw448UjTxuSXJJigItGj1zeY3jsY_5Z_GgYc1ImZhM1HAj9bSRbc8RdG0EPxbkWD4G6KEcr/s1600-h/reps_map.gif. Thanks to http://www.joemygod.blogspot.com/

Governor Mitt Romney On World AIDS Day

"On World AIDS Day, we are reminded of the importance of America's commitment to fighting one of mankind's most deadly infectious diseases. Around the world, over 33 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. In 2007 alone, 2.5 million people became infected with HIV and another 2.1 million died from AIDS. To strengthen our fight against HIV/AIDS and bring hope to those afflicted with this disease, we need strong executive leadership that can build on President Bush's groundbreaking efforts. "As President, I will mobilize our civilian instruments of power to address HIV/AIDS, poverty and other challenges across Africa by empowering a single U.S. official with the responsibility and authority to lead all of America's civilian efforts in the region. I will fundamentally transform our international aid efforts so that more of our assistance goes to those suffering rather than bureaucracy. Today, only one-third of all foreign aid gets to the people it was intended to help. That must change. "As devastating as HIV/AIDS has been around the world, we must not forget that over a million Americans are living with the disease here at home. We should do all we can to ensure that America continues to lead the world in cutting-edge research and development into new medicines. I believe in supporting policies that foster innovation and get every American access to affordable, quality health insurance. I also believe that government should work in partnership with our nation's pharmaceutical researchers and manufacturers to advance the HIV/AIDS research agenda and move us toward a cure."

RELIVING THE NIGHTMARE

December 21, 2007 Arkansan activist calls attention to Huckabee's AIDS atrocities during his tenure as Governor Camp (in blue tie), when Huckabee signed law allowing Arkansas to fund AIDS meds for the poor—but this symbolic effort wasn't enough AIDS activist Eric Camp, 44, believes that he and his former Gov. Mike Huckabee have some similarities. They both hail from conservative Southern Arkansas and that allows Camp, who is openly gay, to understand the depths of Huckabee's homophobia. "It's just a very homophobic part of the country," Camp said. "I have internalized homophobia that I'm still dealing with to this day." When it comes to HIV/AIDS, however, Camp and Huck have very little in common. In 1992 when Camp was diagnosed with the virus, Huckabee was sounding off about quarantining people with HIV. And when Huckabee's nonfunding of Arkansas' AIDS Drug Assistance Program cut half of the people from its rolls, Camp went on a meds strike in 2004, voluntarily removing himself from ADAP for two years. That act of bravery led to a stroke and seizures, and although he has mostly recovered, his cognitive abilities have declined. "But knowing that I was giving my slot to someone who needed it gave me relief," Camp said. So a couple of weeks ago, when the Associated Press reported on Huckabee's appalling answers to a 1992 questionnaire on AIDS, Camp was outraged anew. He poured his anger into a YouTube video set to Busta Rhymes' remix of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." The video is a series of shots of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and Arkansas Times headlines, such as "State to put HIV patients on waiting list for medication" and "Governor says no to funding for drug plan" and pictures of the protests that followed. It's a damning, hilarious video. "Hearing Huckabee's remarks just touched on a lot of rage from that part of my life," Camp said. He remembered interviewing Huckabee for the Arkansas Gay and Lesbian Taskforce newsletter Triangle Rising during his 1992 senatorial campaign. While the candidate was "cordial and friendly," he made it clear that he believed that if there were no gay people, there would be no HIV. Camp remembered how health department officials were terrified to print anything with the word "condom" on it for fear of angering Huckabee. He remembered how when Fay Bozeman was running for Senate in 1998, Bozeman said, "We know what causes AIDS. It's illegal here." When Bozeman lost to Sen. Blanche Lincoln Huckabee appointed Bozeman Secretary of Health. "I believe Huckabee is a compassionate person, but that compassion doesn't extend to people with AIDS. He is very homophobic and it translates into his AIDS policy," said Camp. The video has received hundreds of hits, and Camp says the e-mails he's received about it are overwhelmingly positive. Can we trust Huckabee on AIDS? Huckabee did some good for AIDS funding in Arkansas. In 2001, he signed Act 235, which for the first time allowed state dollars to be spent on HIV medication for the poor. Up until that point Arkansas spent nothing. But this policy was followed by Gov. Huckabee's infrequent direct funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), which created a waiting list of Arkansans with AIDS with no access to life-saving medications prior to 2001 and again in 2004,with the ADAP Watch recording its peak" of 89 people in March 2006. After numerous protests by people camped outside the Capitol with signs reading "AIDS in Arkansas-Begging 4 Life" Huckabee allotted $660,000 to eliminate the ADAP drug list. Amazingly, of all the Republican candidates for president, Huckabee has provided the most comprehensive statement about AIDS. But Camp is skeptical that Huckabee's promises to fund the Early Treatment for HIV/AIDS and to provide funding (though not enough) for PEPFAR, will be realized. "I think he's reaching out in some ways in order not be this green monster he was in Arkansas. But you can bet when there's a gap in the budget, [funding for AIDS] will be the first on the chopping block." "We lived through it in Arkansas," Camp said. "But I don't know if the country can." From Housing Works' AIDS Issues Update – if you’d like to subscribe, visit http://www.hwupdate.org/update/subscribe_update.html

Debates 2008

Start planning now to get some AIDS visiblity at these 2008 presidential candidate debates! September 26, 2008: Presidential debate with domestic policy focus, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS October 2, 2008: Vice Presidential debate, Washington University, St. Louis, MO October 7, 2008: Presidential debate in a town hall format, Belmont University, Nashville, TN October 15, 2008: Presidential debate with foreign policy focus, Hofsta University, Hempstead, NY

HIV Clueless: What Mike Huckabee hasn't learned

Washington Post Editorials HIV Clueless: What Mike Huckabee hasn't learned IN 1992, Mike Huckabee, then a candidate for U.S. Senate from Arkansas, urged the "isolation" of "carriers" of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. His exact words were: "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. . . . 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." Now, as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, Mr. Huckabee said he might phrase it differently but otherwise stood by his 1992 statement. He explained in a Dec. 9 interview on Fox News that the comment was made at a time "when we didn't know as much as we do now about AIDS, we were acting more out of political correctness than we were about the normal public health protocols that we would have acted -- as we have recently, for example, with avian flu. . . . There was also the case of Kimberly Bergalis, who testified before Congress in 1991. She had contracted AIDS from her dentist." Actually, in 1992, the year after basketball star Magic Johnson made the dramatic announcement that he was HIV-positive, it was already widely understood -- and widely publicized -- that HIV could not be spread by casual contact or even through close physical contact short of unprotected homosexual or heterosexual sex. It was also widely understood that the virus could be spread through blood transfusions or intravenous drug use involving needles shared with an infected person. There was nothing "politically correct" about this. Mr. Huckabee's proposal would have required a strong, and scary, element of coercion: Who would voluntarily be tested knowing that the price of a positive result could be "isolation" from society? Small wonder that, at the time, Mr. Huckabee's impulse to segregate victims of HIV from the general population was shared only by those on the fringes of the American right and, ironically, in Cuba, where Fidel Castro's dictatorship was pursuing a policy of mandatory testing and quarantine. Though trumpeted by some conservatives as an example of the disease's imminent breakout into the ranks of "innocent" middle-class Americans, the Bergalis case, involving an HIV-positive dentist in Florida, proved a tragic aberration. Mr. Huckabee's invocation of this cause celebre simply underscores the panicky medical illiteracy of his 1992 view. Nor can his view on AIDS be separated from Mr. Huckabee's animus toward homosexuality, which at the time he called "an aberrant, unnatural and sinful lifestyle." In 1992, Mr. Huckabee also opposed increasing federal support for AIDS research, sarcastically suggesting that "multimillionaire celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor and Madonna" pay for it. Mr. Huckabee has given up that mean-spirited approach to research and now advocates ample federal funding. A spokeswoman told us last night that his views have evolved, though she didn't say how, and that Mr. Huckabee "is trying to walk the line between compassion and honesty." He endorsed the Supreme Court's 2003 ruling striking down state anti- sodomy laws. But in refusing to "recant," as he put it to Fox News, his 1992 views on AIDS and on homosexuality as a "lifestyle," he fails to lay to rest legitimate doubts about his objectivity and fairmindedness when it comes to the rights and interests of gays and lesbians, and the public health concerns of everyone.

AIDS Comments Alarm Ryan White's Mother

By LIZ SIDOTI Associated Press Writer DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The mother of Ryan White, an Indiana teenager whose life-ending battle with AIDS in the 1980s engrossed the nation, wants to meet with Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee to discuss his comments 15 years ago that AIDS patients should have been isolated. The former Arkansas governor and GOP front-runner in the important Iowa caucuses said Sunday that he stood by the comments. That has infuriated Jeanne White-Ginder, who said: "It's so alarming to me." In a telephone interview Monday with The Associated Press from her home in Leesburg, Fla., she said: "It's very important to me that we don't live in the darkness" when people thought AIDS was transmitted through casual contact, such as by "kissing, tears, sweat and saliva." "We have to treat this disease like a disease, and like Ryan always said, not like a dirty word," she said. White was 13 when he was diagnosed with AIDS in December 1984, having contracted the disease from the blood-clotting agent used to treat his hemophilia. He was barred from school the following year out of fear the disease was spread casually. He died in 1990 at age 18. On Tuesday, the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, and the AIDS Institute were sending a letter to Huckabee asking him to meet with White-Ginder - who declined in the interview to say what political party she belongs to - and calling his comments "completely beyond comprehension." As a Senate candidate in 1992, Huckabee told the AP in a questionnaire that "we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague" if the federal government was going to deal with the spread of the disease effectively. "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," he said then. In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Huckabee denied that those words were a call to quarantine the AIDS population, although he did not explain how else isolation would be achieved. "I didn't say we should quarantine," he said. The idea was not to "lock people up." Huckabee acknowledged the prevailing scientific view then, and since, that the virus that causes AIDS is not spread through casual contact, but said that was not certain. "I still believe this today," Huckabee said Sunday, that "we were acting more out of political correctness" in responding to the AIDS crisis. "I don't run from it, I don't recant it," he said of his position in 1992. Yet he said he would state his view differently in retrospect. Huckabee outlined his views in 1992 for the AP more than a year after President George H.W. Bush, a fellow Republican, urged an audience of business executives not to fire or otherwise discriminate against employees infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

NAPWA urges presidential candidates to oppose AIDS stigma and discrimination

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Raising deep objections to Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's un-recanted support for such stigmatizing and ill-informed policies as "quarantine" for persons living with HIV/AIDS, the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) urged all presidential candidates today to denounce AIDS-related stigma and discrimination, which only helps to fuel the HIV/AIDS pandemic around the world. NAPWA fears that Huckabee's refusal to denounce his 1992 comments could generate a new wave of stigma and discrimination against people with HIV in the U.S. and around the world. "Twenty six years into this epidemic, such outrageous ideas as quarantine for all people with HIV/AIDS have no place in serious public policy debates of a free and enlightened society," said Frank Oldham, Jr. NAPWA's Executive Director. "This rhetoric only serves to heighten already severe stigma and discrimination against HIV-positive people and deter our collective efforts to engage the community in voluntary HIV testing, treatment, and other vital services." In light of recent articles discussing the soon to be released updated HIV incidence numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), many wonder when our country's leadership will pay attention to and provide increased resources for HIV prevention education and interventions which have proven to be effective. "CDC has estimated that the majority of sexual transmissions of HIV in the US are from persons living with HIV but who don't even know they are infected. Further, once someone learns that they are living with HIV, the transmission rate drops dramatically," says public health expert and NAPWA board member David Holtgrave, Ph.D. "The majority of persons living with HIV do not engage in behavior that puts partners at risk for infection. Clearly, the public health answer to prevention of HIV transmission is not isolation, but rather is a combination of awareness of one's HIV status, linkage to prevention services, and if diagnosed positive, access to necessary HIV care and treatment." Many believe that this development could be very dangerous for people with HIV as well as for the work being done to stop the spread of the disease. In the nation's capital, HIV is being discussed as a "modern epidemic" which has disproportionate impact on African American, gay male, and injection drug using communities. "Sentiments such as Huckabee's that suggests isolation of persons with the HIV virus, further illustrate a clear disregard for the humanity of those communities who have experienced the greatest impact by this disease and the lack of a true investment in making a difference," said Kali Lindsey, NAPWA's director of federal government affairs. Huckabee's remarks contradict the compassion expressed by First Lady Laura Bush in her very eloquent World AIDS Day statement, calling for all Americans to show compassion toward people living with HIV/AIDS and to unite in the fight against the disease. Reminding us that HIV infects and affects people in all spectrums of society, this sentiment stands as an inspirational road map for the thoughtful organizing, planning and collaboration needed from all to make progress against HIV/AIDS. Founded in 1983, NAPWA-US is the oldest coalition of people living with HIV/AIDS in the world as well as the oldest national AIDS organization in the United States. NAPWA advocates on behalf of the greater than one million people living with HIV and AIDS.

Iowans for AIDS Action Members Condemn Huckabee’s ’92 AIDS Comments

PRESS STATEMENT Monday, December 10, 2007 Contacts: Tami Haught, Nashua: (c) 641-220-2579 Scott Clair, Ames: (w) 515-2940682 or (h) 515-453-2999 Iowans for AIDS Action Members Condemn Huckabee’s ’92 AIDS Comments, Call for All Candidates to Support Smart Public Health Approaches to HIV Prevention and Treatment Des Moines, IA- Members of Iowans for AIDS Action today released the following statements regarding Governor Mike Huckabee’s 1992 comments about the AIDS epidemic. In his response to an AP questionnaire, Huckabee said, "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 continued by saying “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.” “Huckabee, a former pastor, should know well the words of Jesus – "In as much as you have done for the least of these, you have done for me” (Matthew 25:40) – but his 1992 comments show that he is more concerned with appealing to the most reactionary and narrow-minded among us, rather than reaching out to the sick and offering help. Huckabee needs to recant his statement to show that he can be compassionate towards all people, as Jesus called us to do,” said Iowans for AIDS Action member and United Methodist Church minister Pastor Robert Crandall, from Des Moines. “How can Governor Hucakbee claim that, in 1992, experts were still unsure about how HIV was transmitted? It is clear that the evidence was in long before this statement was made. By saying that we should quarantine people with HIV, 10 years after the epidemic began, Governor Huckabee only helped to feed into the stigma that I, and other people with HIV, face throughout our lives. If Governor Huckabee’s compassion didn’t extend to people like me who are living with HIV when the facts were already clear, then how can we know that he will make the right choices to promote health for everyone,” said Iowans for AIDS Action member Tami Haught, from Nashua. “Governor Huckabee’s statement promotes ideology over sound public health. We need a President who treats HIV as ‘the true health crisis it represents’, which means supporting HIV prevention programs which actually work, like comprehensive, abstinence-based education and needle exchange,” said Iowans for AIDS Action member and HIV researcher Dr. Scott Clair, of Ames. ### Iowans for AIDS Action is a state-wide network of people living with HIV, AIDS service providers, religious leaders, HIV researchers, medical and undergraduate students, and concerned community members who are advocating for all presidential candidates to adopt bold, comprehensive plans to fight AIDS in the US and around the world.

Huckabee says he will not 'recant' 1992 comments on HIV/AIDS

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, on Sunday said that he will not "recant" statements made in 1992 in which he called for people living with HIV/AIDS to be isolated from the general population, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports. Huckabee -- who made the statements in an Associated Press survey while running for Senate that year -- wrote that in order for the federal government to effectively address the spread of HIV, "we need to take steps that would isolate the carries of this plague." He added in the survey, "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" (AP/International Herald Tribune, 12/9). Huckabee in the 1992 survey also said that HIV/AIDS research was receiving too much federal funding, The Politico reports. "In light of the extraordinary funds already being given for AIDS research, it does not seem that additional federal spending can be justified," Huckabee wrote. "An alternative would be to request that multimillionaire celebrities -- such as Elizabeth Taylor, Madonna and others who are pushing for more AIDS funding -- be encouraged to give out of their own personal treasuries increased amounts for AIDS research," he added (Allen, The Politico, 12/8). In addition, Huckabee in the survey said that homosexuality was an "aberrant, unnatural and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk," the Washington Post reports. Campaign Response Huckabee's campaign on Saturday released a statement from him saying that in 1992 there was confusion over how HIV is transmitted. "We now know that the virus that causes AIDS is spread differently, with a lower level of contact than with TB," Huckabee said in the statement, adding, "But looking back almost 20 years, my concern was the uncertain risk to the general population -- if we got it wrong, many people would die needlessly." Huckabee also pledged to make the fight against HIV/AIDS a central part of his presidency if elected (Bacon, Washington Post, 12/9). Huckabee in the statement released Saturday added that his "concern was safety first, political correctness last." Huckabee responded to the 1992 Associated Press survey after it was "well established" that HIV could not be spread through casual contact, the New York Times reports (Luo, New York Times, 12/9). In addition, Huckabee responded to the 1992 survey more than one year after President George H.W. Bush called on Congress to "get on with the job of passing a law" to prohibit discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS, according to the AP/Herald Tribune. Although Huckabee acknowledged the prevailing scientific view in 1992, and since, that HIV is not transmitted through casual contact, he said he was not certain at the time. Huckabee cited a 1991 report of a dentist who infected a patient with HIV -- an "extraordinary case that highlighted the risk of infection through contact with blood or bodily fluids" -- according to the AP/Herald Tribune. Huckabee in an interview with Fox News Channel's "Fox News Sunday" said, "I still believe this today" that "we were acting more out of political correctness" in responding to HIV/AIDS. "I don't run from it, I don't recant it," he said of his statements in 1992. He added that his comments were not meant as a call to quarantine HIV-positive people. "I didn't say we should quarantine," Huckabee said, adding that his idea was not to "lock people up" (AP/International Herald Tribune, 12/9). However, Huckabee added that he would state his position "a little differently" today, the Wall Street Journal reports (Meckler, Wall Street Journal, 12/10). A transcript of the "Fox News Sunday" segment is available online.

Huckabee stands by '92 comments on AIDS, gays

by Christi Parsons, Chicago Tribune Mike Huckabee says he stands by his statements fifteen years ago about AIDS patients, though he concedes he might phrase them differently today. In some old candidate questionnaires the Associated Press has dug up, Huckabee suggested back then that AIDS patients should essentially be quarantined. "Fifteen years ago, the AIDS crisis was just that. It was a crisis," Huckabee told reporters at a campaign stop in Asheville, N.C. this weekend. "There were a lot of questions back in that time as to just how the disease could be carried. There was just a real panic in this country." Huckabee said he also stands by his words that homosexuality is sinful. "I believe it would be, just as lying is sinful and stealing is sinful," he said. Maybe some people were outraged by what Huckabee said, but those people didn't seem to be in attendance at his weekend campaign events in the Carolinas. The former Southern Baptist preacher and Republican presidential candidate drew enthusiastic crowds for his message about conservative values and religious faith.

Group assails Giuliani comments on AIDS as 'hypocrisy'

Group assails Giuliani comments on AIDS as 'hypocrisy' Had battled with him on contracts By Brian C. Mooney, Boston Globe Staff | December 7, 2007 On World AIDS Day last weekend, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani vowed that if he were elected president he would "continue America's life-saving role as a leader in the global fight against HIV/AIDS until the day humanity can declare victory against this deadly disease." But in his eight years as mayor of New York City, Giuliani "showed absolutely zero concern for people living with AIDS and HIV," said Charles King, president of Housing Works, the New York-based service provider for people with the illnesses. He called Giuliani's declaration "gross hypocrisy." "We had to litigate against him from the beginning of his term to force his administration to follow New York law with regard to the provision of services and care to persons with AIDS and HIV," King said. Giuliani's administration pulled his group's city contracts, he said, as retaliation for their frequent, very aggressive criticism of the mayor and his policies. "It's pretty safe to say that on HIV/AIDS, relations between Mayor Giuliani and the [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] community was combative and lacked trust," said Joe Tarver, spokesman for Empire State Pride Agenda, a gay advocacy group. Maria Comella, Giuliani's campaign spokeswoman, said funding levels for AIDS-related services remained steady during Giuliani's tenure as mayor, which ended in 2002. Mismanagement was the reason the city terminated contracts with Housing Works, the Giuliani administration contended. In 2005, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration settled for $4.8 million, but the city did not acknowledge any wrongdoing in a case brought by Housing Works against Giuliani's administration over the contracts dispute. As mayor, Giuliani won plaudits in the gay community for his enactment of a 1998 domestic partnership measure that extended benefits to partners of city employees. As a presidential candidate, however, he has been criticized for backing away from his support for civil unions. Housing Works was among many groups to sue Giuliani's administration on free speech issues. In 1998, the group won federal court approval to use the plaza outside City Hall for the annual World AIDS Day observance. Citing terrorist threats, Giuliani had closed the area around City Hall to public gatherings but allowed exceptions for celebrations of a Yankees World Series victory and a ceremony to honor astronaut John Glenn. King recalled that his group was "surrounded by police in riot gear" and confined in penned areas while police sharpshooters kept watch on the roof of City Hall during the event. Comella said that as "a precautionary measure," groups using City Hall for rallies and demonstrations were "all asked to use the same safety procedures while using the space." © Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

Huckabee wanted to isolate AIDS patients

By ANDREW DeMILLO, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 25 minutes ago Mike Huckabee once advocated isolating AIDS patients from the general public, opposed increased federal funding in the search for a cure and said homosexuality could "pose a dangerous public health risk." As a candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in 1992, Huckabee answered 229 questions submitted to him by The Associated Press. Besides a quarantine, Huckabee suggested that Hollywood celebrities fund AIDS research from their own pockets, rather than federal health agencies. "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," Huckabee wrote. "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." The AP submitted the questionnaire to both candidates; only Huckabee responded. Incumbent Sen. Dale Bumpers won his four term; Huckabee was elected lieutenant governor the next year and became governor in 1996. When asked about AIDS research in 1992, Huckabee complained that AIDS research received an unfair share of federal dollars when compared to cancer, diabetes and heart disease. "In light of the extraordinary funds already being given for AIDS research, it does not seem that additional federal spending can be justified," Huckabee wrote. "An alternative would be to request that multimillionaire celebrities, such as Elizabeth Taylor (,) Madonna and others who are pushing for more AIDS funding be encouraged to give out of their own personal treasuries increased amounts for AIDS research." Huckabee did not return messages left with his campaign. When Huckabee wrote his answers in 1992, it was common knowledge that AIDS could not be spread by casual contact. In late 1991, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were 195,718 AIDS patients in the country and that 126,159 people had died from the syndrome. The nation had an increased awareness of AIDS at the time because pro basketball star Magic Johnson had recently disclosed he carried the virus responsible for it. Johnson retired but returned to the NBA briefly during the 1994-95 season. Since becoming a presidential candidate this year, Huckabee has supported increased federal funding for AIDS research through the National Institutes of Health. "My administration will be the first to have an overarching strategy for dealing with HIV and AIDS here in the United States, with a partnership between the public and private sectors that will provide necessary financing and a realistic path toward our goals," Huckabee said in a statement posted on his campaign Web site last month. Also in the wide-ranging AP questionnaire in 1992, Huckabee said, "I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk." A Southern Baptist preacher, Huckabee has been a favorite among social conservatives for his vocal opposition to gay marriage. In 2003, Huckabee said that the U.S. Supreme Court was probably right to strike down anti-sodomy laws, but that states still should be able to restrict things such as gay marriage or domestic partner benefits. "What people do in the privacy of their own lives as adults is their business," Huckabee said. "If they bring it into the public square and ask me as a taxpayer to support it or to endorse it, then it becomes a matter of public discussion and discourse."

Richardson promises to implement comprehensive national strategy and fight epidemic worldwide

Richardson Unveils HIV/AIDS Policy on World AIDS Day DES MOINES, IA-- New Mexico Governor and Democratic Presidential candidate Bill Richardson today unveiled his policy on HIV/AIDS. As President, Richardson is committed to tackling this epidemic, both in the United States and around the world. He will do so by focusing on evidence-based prevention, providing quality and affordable treatment, and renewing our commitment to research. "The United States must lead the world in dealing with the HIV/AIDS epidemic," Richardson said. "On the home front, it is shameful that we do not have a comprehensive national strategy to address the HIV/AIDS crisis. 1.2 million Americans are living with HIV/AIDS, including more than 400,000 who have full-blown AIDS. This must be addressed now. "To resolve the HIV/AIDS crisis in the developing world, we need a multi-faceted approach. First, we must fund prevention, treatment, and care worldwide. Second, we must reduce the number of people living with AIDS who die from a tuberculosis infection. Third, to allow impoverished nations to implement specific AIDS programs, I will urge the International Monetary Fund to cancel 100% of the debt that they owe. Most importantly, we must protect the rights of women and children to reduce the risk that they will become infected." Governor Richardson has received praise for his policy from experts in the field. "AIDS Action welcomes Governor Richardson's detailed and well thought-out platform on HIV/AIDS, including recognizing the need for a strong, accountable National AIDS Strategy and making its leader part of the Cabinet," said Rebecca Haag, Executive Director of AIDS Action. "There is simply no reason why we cannot significantly reduce the number of new HIV infections in this country and ensure access to care and treatment for all those infected. We are pleased that the Governor is using his political leadership to raise the awareness of all Americans on World AIDS Day." "Richardson's plan focuses not only on prevention and reducing the cost of treatment, but also on giving researchers like me the tools we need to put an end to this terrible disease," said Dr. Jerry Cade of Las Vegas, Nevada, an internationally renowned HIV/AIDS physician, researcher, and activist and a member of President Clinton's Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. "Given his depth of experience and his record of accomplishment, I believe that he can successfully implement this plan, which would save countless lives in America and around the world." Richardson also remembered the life of a prominent HIV/AIDS activist, Dr. Scott Hitt. "Today is World AIDS Day, and while we remember the millions of victims of this disease, we also should take the time to celebrate the life and work of one of the great champions in the fight against HIV/AIDS," Richardson said. "Dr. Scott Hitt will be laid to rest today in Los Angeles, California, taken at the young age of 49 not by AIDS, but by that other great challenge, cancer. The world will miss Scott’s leadership. I mourn his death and send my condolences to his family, friends, and partner Alex." Dr. Hitt served as the Chair of President Clinton's Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and as National Chair of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. He also founded the American Academy of HIV Medicine. Governor Richardson addressed Dr. Hitt’s advocacy organization, ANGLE, in June of this year. To read Governor Richardson’s HIV/AIDS policy, click here: http://www.richardsonforpresident.com/issues/aids.

For World AIDS Day, Huckabee Endorses ETHA

The suffering and loss of life caused by HIV/AIDS is a national and international tragedy. Here at home, more than a million of us have HIV or AIDS, with 40,000 new cases last year. The incidence of new infections has not declined in fifteen years. This disease is especially devastating to our minority communities, which account for two of every three new cases. While African-Americans are only 13% of our population, they are half of our AIDS cases. The rate of infection is ten times as high for African-Americans as for whites, and three times as high for Latinos. Ending this disparity must be one of our top goals. While we must continue our global leadership on HIV/AIDS, we must also take care of our own. My administration will be the first to have an overarching strategy for dealing with HIV and AIDS here in the United States, with a partnership between the public and private sectors that will provide necessary financing and a realistic path toward our goals. We must prevent new infections and provide more accessible care. We must transform the promise of a vaccine and a cure into reality. In some areas, such as reducing mother-to-child transmission and securing our blood supply, we have achieved dramatic success. But we have so much more to accomplish. In most states today, only those with AIDS are eligible for Medicaid. We must expand that coverage to those with HIV because early intervention will result in better management and longer life. We must continue to fund the Ryan White CARE Act, which provides much needed treatment and support services to low-income Americans, and make certain that the money goes to the communities and parts of the country where the disease has migrated. We must provide more funding for research, such as that done at our National Institutes of Health. I am proud that the United States has led the global battle against HIV/ AIDS. We have both a strategic interest as the world's only superpower and a moral obligation as the world's richest country to continue to do so until this scourge is a memory. The magnitude of the numbers is heartbreaking: the United Nations' report for 2007 shows more than 33 million people have HIV/AIDS, with 2.5 million newly infected and over 2 million deaths. At the end of each day, about 5,700 people have died from AIDS, and 6,800 are newly infected. Behind these statistics lies the individual story of a unique human being, stories of great suffering and sorrow, of children deprived of their nurturing mothers and their bread-winning fathers. There are almost 12 million AIDS orphans in Africa, many living in institutions or on the streets. It seems overwhelming, but there is also good news: antiretroviral drugs cost just 40 cents a day, and the number of people in Africa receiving them grew from just 1% to 28% between 2002 and 2006. We must do even better in the next four years. I support President Bush's proposal to double our initial commitment from $15 billion to $30 billion over the next five years for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). PEPFAR has already done an extraordinary amount of good, by providing drugs for over a million people and care for four-and-a-half million people, but it expires in 2008 and must be reauthorized. I support an increase in our commitment to the Global Fund. Through PEPFAR and the Global Fund, we can do our fair share to meet the Millennium Development Goals we affirmed in 2000, which include universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care. We must always be mindful that "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required." Permalink: http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=778

Rudy Giuliani Statement on World AIDS Day

http://www.joinrudy2008.com/article/pr/1039

Mayor Rudy Giuliani released the following statement on World AIDS Day:

“Over 33 million people are infected with HIV around the world. More than 2 million people have died of AIDS in 2007 alone. Thanks to the dedicated health professionals, researchers, and innovators in the United States, many HIV-positive people are able to live longer and more fulfilling lives. But our work is far from done – especially in addressing the unique challenge which HIV/AIDS presents to developing countries. As President, I will continue America’s life-saving role as a leader in the global fight against HIV/AIDS until the day humanity can declare victory against this deadly disease.”

Hillary Clinton proposes integrated global HIV/AIDS and development plans

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=4437

11/29/2007

Clinton Builds On HIV/AIDS Plan With Global Development Agenda

Would Set Goal To End All Malaria Deaths In Africa

Just days after announcing a comprehensive strategy to fight HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and abroad, the Clinton campaign unveiled an aggressive agenda to combat other infectious diseases and poverty in developing nations. Hillary Clinton will discuss her proposals at the Third Annual Global Summit on AIDS and the church hosted by Pastor Rick and Kay Warren at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA.

The plan includes at least $50 billion to provide universal access to treatment, prevention, and care for global HIV/AIDS by 2013. The plan also includes a $1 billion per year commitment to address malaria infection in Africa, with the goal of stamping out malaria deaths in Africa altogether by the end of her second term.

Groups working to fight malaria lauded the plan and Clinton’s leadership on the issue. "The Roll Back Malaria Partnership applauds Hillary Clinton’s bold commitment to fight malaria," said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Minister of Health of Ethiopia and Chair of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership Board.

The Clinton plan also includes investments in providing the world’s children with free, basic education, expanding opportunities for women, and eliminating the debt of the world’s poorest countries.

HILLARY CLINTON’S PLAN TO COMBAT DISEASE AND POVERTY AROUND THE WORLD

Today, Hillary Clinton unveiled her strategy to fight disease and raise hope, opportunity and human dignity around the world. Her plan will reduce poverty, improve health outcomes, increase educational opportunity, expand economic development, and improve political and economic stability around the world.

America has a long and proud history of fighting poverty and encouraging economic development around the world. But that commitment has lagged relative to our own wealth, and in comparison with other prosperous nations. We need again to reclaim this great tradition, which is a testament to the kindness, generosity, and wisdom of the American people. America has long represented the ideal of opportunity. We must once again reclaim our leadership in promoting opportunity around the world. We do this first and foremost because it is right. And we do it also because it is smart. Gnawing hunger, poverty, and the absence of economic prospects are a recipe for despair. Globalization is widening the gap between the haves and the have-nots within societies and between them. Today, there are more than two billion people living on less than $2 a day.

As First Lady and Senator, Hillary Clinton has a long record of advocacy for increased development assistance. She has sought to increase funding for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria programs, raised awareness about the transformative power of microcredit programs, fought to expand education to all children, worked to improve access to essential health services, and has lead efforts to expand recognition of human rights as women’s rights, and women’s rights as human rights. As President, she will continue her leadership, with a focus on:

• Investing $50 Billion for Global HIV/AIDS by 2013 to Ensure Universal Access to Treatment, Prevention and Care
• Committing to the Bold Goal of Ending all Deaths from Malaria in Africa
• Ensuring US Leadership in Achieving Free Basic Education for All
• Expanding Women’s Opportunity as a Tool for Development
• Improving Health and Opportunity for the World's Children
• Eliminating the Debts of the World’s Poorest Countries
• Maximizing the Impact of Increased Development Assistance

DETAILS OF HILLARY CLINTON’S PLAN TO COMBAT DISEASE AND POVERTY AROUND THE WORLD

1. $50 Billion for HIV/AIDS to Ensure Universal Access to Treatment, Prevention and Care: Hillary Clinton will commit $50 billion for global HIV/AIDS by 2013, which will help ensure universal access to treatment, prevention and care. Hillary will double the number of people receiving AIDS treatments through U.S. programs and strengthen prevention programs across Africa and the developing world. She will invest in a major effort to help African countries build their health infrastructures, including by increasing the number of health workers in place or in training in Africa by 1 million. She will also increase the U.S. commitment to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and strengthen bilateral efforts to halt and begin to reverse the incidence of tuberculosis globally. She will also work to strengthen partnerships with faith-based groups and other non-governmental organizations that have been a critical in helping to address HIV around the world. The details of Hillary’s plan to fight global AIDS are at: www.hillaryclinton.com.
2. Bold Goal of Ending all Deaths From Malaria in Africa: Hillary believes we need a full frontal assault on malaria, which needlessly kills more than 1 million people each year and eats up 40% of public health expenditure in many African countries. Combating malaria is also critical to truly strengthening health infrastructures and effectively combating AIDS, tuberculosis and other diseases. To that end, Hillary has set a bold goal of ending all deaths from malaria on the African continent by the end of her second term. Malaria kills more African children than any other disease—more than AIDS and tuberculosis combined. An African child dies from a mosquito bite every 30 seconds. And malaria exacts a devastating economic toll, lowering economic growth by 1.3% in countries with high transmission rates. As President, Hillary will commit $1 billion per year as a major down payment to end malarial deaths in Africa. This investment, alongside U.S. commitments to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, will help spur global action to achieve universal access to treatment and preventative measures by the end of 2012. With universal access to a set of low-cost interventions—including treatment with effective medicines, free long-lasting insecticide treated bed-nets, and indoor residual spraying where appropriate—this initiative will dramatically reduce transmission and, by the end of Hillary’s second term, stamp out deaths due to malaria altogether. Similar approaches in countries like Kenya and Tanzania have already produced striking results, and faith-based groups and other non-profits are helping in countries across Africa to combat malaria at the community level. Senator Clinton’s malaria effort will put us on a path to achieve the long-term goal of completely eradicating malaria from the planet. Hillary will direct the NIH to work with leading research and non-profit institutions to move toward that goal. She would also encourage use of research prizes and advanced market commitments to spur innovation to address other neglected diseases that cause needless death and suffering in poor countries.
3. US Leadership in Achieving a Free Basic Education for All: Hillary was the original Senate sponsor in 2004 of the Education for All Act, which she helped reintroduce in 2007 as bipartisan legislation with original House sponsor Congresswoman Nita Lowey as well as Republican Senator Gordon Smith and Congressman Spencer Baucus. The bill calls for the US to take a leadership role in helping all children complete a free, quality basic education, in part by expanding funding to $3 billion annually by 2012. Education, particularly for girls in poor nations from Africa to South Asia to Latin America has been shown to be one of the highest returning investments any nation can make in its people—especially when we open doors to secondary as well as primary education. Education increases incomes, reduces poverty, strengthens communities, prevents the spread of HIV/AIDS, improves child and maternal health and helps empower women and girls. A strong American leadership role can help win hearts and minds and point more young people to peaceful and constructive futures. Hillary is adamant about the elimination of formal and informal school fees, the need for school feeding and health initiatives, and the importance of ensuring that educational access, quality and accountability go hand in hand. Through the Education Fast Track Initiative, she believes we can work cooperatively to ensure predictable and adequate funding, so that we can hire the teachers and commit to an expansion of quality education without overcrowding. Hillary further recognizes that if we are serious about “education for all,” we must have a strategy to reach the children that too often fall through the cracks. That is why she supports Senator Tom Harkin’s effort to work with the ILO to get children out of dangerous child labor and into school, and also recognizes the need for special strategies to provide education for orphans, children who are victims of trafficking, those with disabilities, and the tens of millions of young people who are internally displaced, refugees or in countries emerging from conflict.
4. Expanding Women’s Opportunity as a Tool for Development: In 1995, Hillary Clinton traveled to Beijing to represent the U.S. at the United Nations Conference on Women, and delivered the message that human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights. While the world has made great progress in the years since, we are still far from achieving that vision. Failure to involve women fully in the economic, political, and social sectors around the world needlessly limits our potential for progress. Greater economic diversity cannot be achieved if half the population cannot participate in business, inherit property, or attain skills needed to seek employment. And science, research and innovation will stagnate unless we ensure that women have access to education. Women make up the majority of the poor in the world, and are often underpaid for their labor in nontraditional workplaces. As President, Hillary Clinton will expand access to women's economic development opportunities, and seek to bring microcredit programs into the global marketplace. More than 500,000 women die annually in childbirth, and for each of one those women, another 20 experience serious complications from pregnancy. Hillary will expand access to health care and nutrition for all women, reduce the burden of maternal mortality, and improving their access to essential reproductive health and family planning services. Women produce about half of the world's food, but own only about 1% of the land upon which it is grown. Hillary will work to ensure that women have equal protection under the law, and are not denied property or inheritance rights that lock them into poverty. She will also work to improve enforcement of anti-trafficking and anti-violence laws that protect women’s health and well-being around the world – laws that have been enacted and carried out in part through the advocacy of modern-day abolitionists, including many faith based groups.
5. Improving Health and Opportunity for the World's Children: Throughout her career, Hillary Clinton has fought to help children, and as President, she will ensure that children’s needs are addressed in her poverty reduction strategy. Simple investments in nutrition, vaccination, and public health can save the lives of millions of children annually. Spending less than 10 cents annually on Vitamin A supplements could save more than 500,000 children. Spending less than a dollar on measles vaccinations could save another half a million. Hillary believes that the U.S. can be a leader in achieving the Millennium Development Goal of reducing deaths of children under 5 by two-thirds. As President, Hillary Clinton will work to extend access to lifesaving healthcare and treatments for children, and work to ensure that pediatric health services are integrated with other essential care and support services. She is also committed to improving access of children to nutritious food and clean water. Poverty, disease, and conflict have increased instability for far too many of the world’s children. More 200 million worldwide have been orphaned, and another 20 million are estimated to have been forced to leave their homes due to situations of conflict. These children are vulnerable to traffickers, militias, and others who would exploit them. Hillary will work to improve enforcement of anti-trafficking regulations, and create safe spaces for displaced children in schools.
6. Eliminating the Debts of the World’s Poorest Countries: The international community’s commitment to debt relief is working to reduce poverty and increase economic opportunity in many of the world’s poorest countries. Led by the Jubilee movement and President Clinton’s historic commitment in 2000 to provide enhanced debt relief to the poorest nations, the major donor nations have forgiven more than $70 billion in poor country debts. These resources are being invested in improving health and education outcomes for poor countries, and are improving their ability to access investment necessary for economic growth. However, many poor continue to face high debt burdens that are undermining their ability to combat HIV/AIDS and invest in their people. As President, Hillary will ensure complete debt cancellation for all Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) countries, and will expand HIPC to include more than 20 additional poor countries that commit to using the resources freed up from debt relief effectively. Hilary will ensure that this new debt relief results in additional resources for poor countries to invest in health, education and other key priorities.
7. Maximizing the Impact of Development Assistance: Hillary Clinton is committed to increasing development assistance and making significant progress toward spending an additional 1% of our budget on foreign assistance. She also wants to ensure that increased U.S. development assistance is spent in a smart, coordinated and efficient manner with a measurable impact on people’s lives. Recent attempts to reform foreign assistance have met with opposition and concern that there is not sufficient transparency or input from experts in the field. Hillary Clinton will engage in a comprehensive review of U.S. assistance efforts, in consultation with experts and those carrying out programs at the country level, to identify areas where our development goals are at odds with our development bureaucracy. As part of this review, she will consider consolidating program authority under a single cabinet-level poverty and international development agency. She will also seek to improve coordination with other donor governments, so as to minimize the administrative burdens on recipient countries, and also examine ways in which we can make US aid more efficient and better track, monitor and evaluate the use of U.S. funds. In addition, Hillary would improve operations research, so that we can easily identify and replicate successful programs.