Friday, May 06, 2005

personally, i love prostitution

The Bush Administration has been more generous than previous administrations in terms of funding for HIV/AIDS programs overseas. Unfortunately, the money has come with strings attached. Instead of distributing condoms, for example, money is being invested in telling people just to stop f*cking, a “just say no” policy that didn’t work in the “war on drugs” and sure as hell isn’t going to work when it comes to getting off.

The Bush Administration has also established a policy that aid recipients take a pledge to oppose commercial sex work. Brazil, a country that is consistently pointed to as a model for effective HIV/AIDS policies due to its stigma-free approach, has told USAID to screw itself and keep its money -- $40 million – because they won’t sign any such pledge.

Senator Brownback (R-KS) thinks that’s just fine. The money, he says, can go to countries that agree with the Bush Administration. As far as he’s concerned, "We're talking about promotion of prostitution, which the majority of both the House and Senate believe is harmful to women.”

Don’t you want to know which members of the House and Senate DON’T think prostitution is harmful to women?

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