October 26, 2007 | Main | November 9, 2007
November 1, 2007
DEAD PEOPLE DON'T VOTE
 |
Protesters in Philly:Lack of AIDS care is a scary sight |
Trick or treat? More than 400 activists, many decked out as skeletons, goblins and ghosts, converged on the Democratic debate in Philadelphia Tuesday night to scare the candidates into putting forth serious domestic and global AIDS plans, addressing racial health disparities and supporting universal health care. Protesters targeted Sen. Hillary Clinton, in particular. Of the three campaign frontrunners, she is the only one who has yet to reveal her plan to combat AIDS in the U.S.
"It's clear that we have many people who are not going to sit back and vote for any candidate who doesn't show a firm commitment to universal health care and global and domestic AIDS funding," said Kaytee Riek, an organizer with Health GAP and a member of ACT UP Philadelphia, which planned the rally.
The Halloween-themed happening got started when speakers from the American Medical Students Association and ACT UP Philadelphia pumped up the crowd at a rally on the Drexel University campus. The hundreds of protestors—led by skeletons pushing wheel-barrows and carrying shovels and signs that read "Clinton Health Plan: Dig More Graves"—marched to the plaza outside Drexel's Main Building where the debate was held. Participants banged drums and chanted, "We want health care. Not corporate welfare." They shook signs singling out specific candidates, calling for $50 billion for Global AIDS, and reminding pols that "Dead People Don't Vote."...
Read the rest: "DEAD PEOPLE DON'T VOTE"
PLEDGE CENTRAL
|
Everyone's pledging this week! |
In a whirlwind week, five candidates signed the Presidential Pledge for Leadership on Global AIDS and Poverty and committed to spending $50 billion over five years to fight global HIV/AIDS and to take steps to fight global poverty. Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), John Edwards, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) signed the pledge this week to help the 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, joining Gov. Bill Richardson who was the first to sign on a few weeks ago.
"It's been fantastic to see these candidates stepping up to the plate pledging the kind of policies needed to defeat the virus," said David Bryden of the Global AIDS Alliance fund, which has presented the pledge to all of the presidential candidates.
After Clinton was informed last Friday by a New York Times blogger about Tuesday's protest in Philadelphia, she quickly signed the Global AIDS Alliance pledge. Rivals Edwards and Obama signed the pledge later that weekend. Edwards had already called for $50 billion in his HIV/AIDS plan weeks ago, and included many of the plan's recommendations, such as appointing a cabinet person to fight global poverty. But the pledge-signing was the first time Obama has clearly supported the figure, which experts say is the amount needed to combat AIDS worldwide, in particular, increasing the number of health care workers in countries who have left for better pay elsewhere.
Candidates who signed the pledge agreed to:...
Read the rest: "PLEDGE CENTRAL"
A FIGHT HE CAN WIN
 |
When do we want it? NOW! |
New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has been bogged-down and spinning his political wheels in recent months, hampered by the Troopergate scandal, a nationwide furor over his plan to allow undocumented immigrants to receive driver's licenses and questions about his political skills and viability.
Spitzer says universal health coverage is a top goal for his administration. He’s sent his health and insurance commissioners, their top aides, and outside advisers and experts around the state for eight hearings on universal health coverage—the latest ones were this Tuesday and Friday, (Housing Works testimony is here)— with a goal of a final plan for universal coverage by the end of May, 2008.
But many political observers and activists are now asking: Why wait for May? Why shouldn’t Spitzer get into a good fight now—a fight he might be able to win?...
Read the rest: "A FIGHT HE CAN WIN"
WHY, OH, WHY, OHIO?
 |
Condoms shouldn't be scary |
The Ohio Department of Education (DOE) has chosen not to apply for a five-year $1.25 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to teach "evidence based" sex education to fight HIV/AIDS, making it one of two states—the other is Utah—to reject such funding. Ohio snubbed the CDC dollars in 2000, as well. Why would these pols actually turn down money?
The DOE now claims it doesn't have the staff to implement the funding or an approved HIV-prevention program to teach. Local advocates think it's more likely the DOE is just advancing the view of legislators, who seven years ago expressed concerns about the promotion of condom-use in a teacher-training program. That year, the legislature instead passed a law requiring that schools stress abstinence as the only 100 percent effective protection against sexually transmitted diseases. When Gov. Ted Strickland came to town this year he vetoed legislation for abstinence-only dollars, and has been supportive of comprehensive sex education.
"The problem seems to be with the words 'evidence based,'" Kevin Sullivan, executive director of the Ohio AIDS Coalition told the Update. "Many in the state legislature are really opposed to comprehensive sex education, and my understanding is that abstinence-only education isn't very evidence-based."...
Read the rest: "WHY, OH, WHY, OHIO?"