It's well-established that John Derbyshire is a schmuck of the highest order. A man who once told the UPenn Black Law Students Association that they were biologically inferior and used the Virginia Tech massacre to chide the victims for not reenacting his favorite Rambo fantasies, his latest endeavor is criticizing George W. Bush's efforts to combat AIDS in Africa.
Hence why this comprehensive evisceration by Peter Wehner at Commentary is so pleasurable to read. What I like about it is that it hits Derbyshire from two very important angles. First, it castigates him for how he "seems eager to celebrate his callousness, as if it were a sign of manliness and tough-mindedness." That's not a sign of toughness, it's the sign of a sociopath. But because so much of this ill-informed pseudo-machismo is based off the notion that "bleeding hearts" just aren't attuned to the "real world" and the "actual consequences" of their efforts, Wehner also simply annihilates Derbyshire on the facts regarding AIDS in Africa, the salience of our reform efforts, and why it is in America's interest to do so (while noting that even if it wasn't in some hyper-narrow sense of "interest", there is no intrinsic reason why America can't or shouldn't be interested in alleviating a massive pandemic catastrophe and saving millions of lives at modest cost).
Showing posts with label AIDS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AIDS. Show all posts
Friday, December 03, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Dropped Letter
Here's a correction you never want to write:
Ouch.
This blog post originally stated that one in three black men who have sex with me is HIV positive. In fact, the statistic applies to black men who have sex with men.
Ouch.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Magic on the Radio
A pair of conservative radio show hosts remarked off-hand that they believed Magic Johnson had "faked AIDS", triggering an apology from the station and a promise to post public service announcements about HIV/AIDS. Johnson himself expressed disappointment at the remarks, but said he did not want the men to lose their jobs, instead saying that they should use this opportunity to educate their audience. Johnson also noted that he has HIV, not AIDS.
I post this not to highlight unbelievably ass-holishness of these men (though believe me, it's quite apparent), but because Magic Johnson was my personal hero when I was a little kid. When it came out he had HIV, I was crushed and terrified. I never would have believed then that he would even be alive today, much less that he would be in such good health and be doing such great things for the American community. I've found other heroes, but he remains an inspiration to me and to us all.
I post this not to highlight unbelievably ass-holishness of these men (though believe me, it's quite apparent), but because Magic Johnson was my personal hero when I was a little kid. When it came out he had HIV, I was crushed and terrified. I never would have believed then that he would even be alive today, much less that he would be in such good health and be doing such great things for the American community. I've found other heroes, but he remains an inspiration to me and to us all.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Civil Rights Roundup: 08/05/08
Your daily dose of civil rights and related news
The WaPo opines against the appalling state of DC's child services department.
The Feds are pursuing a case against a unrecognized Indian tribe which falsely told immigrants that by purchasing tribal membership, they would become American citizens.
The 5th Circuit is preparing to hear whether Texas' moment of silence law is an unconstitutional cover for school prayer.
Texas continues to struggle with getting good teachers to teach at poorer and urban school districts.
Immigrant children get less exercise than other American kids.
AIDS among migrant workers are being neglected during their detention by American authorities.
A death row inmate in Ohio claims that his weight will prevent the lethal injection protocol from working on him, subjecting him to an "excruciating" death.
AlterNet has a good story on the continued tensions between radical feminists and transgender women.
The title is a bit bizarre, but this article on unionizing immigrants is very interesting.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied a request by Jose Ernesto Medellin for a 240-day reprieve or commutation of his sentence, despite his lawyer's pleas that the case seriously threatens American interests abroad by undermining the Vienna Convention.
Even if California voters approve Proposition 8, which would overturn the state's gay marriage ruling, it would not apply retroactively.
The NYCLU wants to know the race of suspects shot at by the NYPD.
Casinos rule in Las Vegas, and it seems they can use their privileged position to get out of liability for gross safety violations.
The WaPo opines against the appalling state of DC's child services department.
The Feds are pursuing a case against a unrecognized Indian tribe which falsely told immigrants that by purchasing tribal membership, they would become American citizens.
The 5th Circuit is preparing to hear whether Texas' moment of silence law is an unconstitutional cover for school prayer.
Texas continues to struggle with getting good teachers to teach at poorer and urban school districts.
Immigrant children get less exercise than other American kids.
AIDS among migrant workers are being neglected during their detention by American authorities.
A death row inmate in Ohio claims that his weight will prevent the lethal injection protocol from working on him, subjecting him to an "excruciating" death.
AlterNet has a good story on the continued tensions between radical feminists and transgender women.
The title is a bit bizarre, but this article on unionizing immigrants is very interesting.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied a request by Jose Ernesto Medellin for a 240-day reprieve or commutation of his sentence, despite his lawyer's pleas that the case seriously threatens American interests abroad by undermining the Vienna Convention.
Even if California voters approve Proposition 8, which would overturn the state's gay marriage ruling, it would not apply retroactively.
The NYCLU wants to know the race of suspects shot at by the NYPD.
Casinos rule in Las Vegas, and it seems they can use their privileged position to get out of liability for gross safety violations.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Civil Rights Roundup: 07/30/08
Your daily dose of civil rights and related news
Sorry for the delay folks, I was on the Hill this morning.
In a resolution offered by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), the House of Representatives has formally apologized for slavery and Jim Crow.
There is much to criticize with regards to the efforts against AIDS in the Black community.
In a related story, if Black Americans were a country, they'd rank 16th in the world in AIDS infections.
ICE has got a fool-proof new immigration strategy: Deport yourself!
The US will finally and belatedly end its ban on HIV-positive travelers.
The Catholic community is registering its concern with stepped up immigration raids.
The Houston Chronicle: If Hispanics don't succeed, Houston doesn't succeed.
Californians may soon be able to register to vote online.
The Federal government has gotten involved in the case of a racially-tinged fatal beating of a Hispanic immigrant.
Hispanics in West Palm Beach, Florida are complaining that immigration authorities are racially profiling them.
Three men who were assaulted in a scrap yard are filing a federal civil rights claim against their attackers.
Backers of the ballot initiative which would strip gay couples of their right to marry in California are pissed that voters will be told that their initiative will tell voters... it would strip gay couples of their right to marry in California.
The House once again is looking to circumvent DC's right to home rule by getting rid of its revised gun registration rules.
The Massachusetts legislature passed a bill repealing a 1913 law which prohibited out of state gay couples from marrying. The bill was originally targeted at inter-racial marriage.
Sorry for the delay folks, I was on the Hill this morning.
In a resolution offered by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), the House of Representatives has formally apologized for slavery and Jim Crow.
There is much to criticize with regards to the efforts against AIDS in the Black community.
In a related story, if Black Americans were a country, they'd rank 16th in the world in AIDS infections.
ICE has got a fool-proof new immigration strategy: Deport yourself!
The US will finally and belatedly end its ban on HIV-positive travelers.
The Catholic community is registering its concern with stepped up immigration raids.
The Houston Chronicle: If Hispanics don't succeed, Houston doesn't succeed.
Californians may soon be able to register to vote online.
The Federal government has gotten involved in the case of a racially-tinged fatal beating of a Hispanic immigrant.
Hispanics in West Palm Beach, Florida are complaining that immigration authorities are racially profiling them.
Three men who were assaulted in a scrap yard are filing a federal civil rights claim against their attackers.
Backers of the ballot initiative which would strip gay couples of their right to marry in California are pissed that voters will be told that their initiative will tell voters... it would strip gay couples of their right to marry in California.
The House once again is looking to circumvent DC's right to home rule by getting rid of its revised gun registration rules.
The Massachusetts legislature passed a bill repealing a 1913 law which prohibited out of state gay couples from marrying. The bill was originally targeted at inter-racial marriage.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Civil Rights Roundup: 07/23/08
Your daily dose of civil rights and related news
The HIV/AIDS infection rate for American Latinos is skyrocketing. In some urban cities, the proportion of gay Latinos who are HIV positive rivals that of sub-Saharan Africa.
Being handicapped in one's ability to have sexual relations constitutes a major life impairment under the ADA. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruling is here.
New York City will officially begin offering services in six foreign languages: Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Italian and French Creole.
I couldn't resist linking to this Houston Chronicle letter to the editor, where a Texan says of Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), "How dare he even set foot here." Conyers was in town for a panel on abuse by local law enforcement officials.
The Chronicle also has an editorial up urging the state not to execute Jose Ernesto Medellin until the review ordered by the World Court can be completed. Legally, it's Texas' call whether to comply, but failing to do so could seriously undermine the protections of the Vienna Convention.
Did Chicago police engage in acts of torture to secure confessions during the 20 year period between 1972-1992?
Obama helps introduce bill to allow voter registration drives on VA campuses.
A group of progressive media watchdogs is handing over a petition to Fox News demanding they stop their racist attacks on Michelle Obama. Particularly egregious cases include calling her "Obama's baby mama" and Bill O'Reilly saying that a "lynching party" was the way to deal with her.
Four Yonkers residents are suing the local police for civil rights violations stemming out of a warrantless search.
A Honduras man is urging immigration authorities create a new justification for asylum: sexual abuse. His three children were sexually abused by a relative. My knowledge of immigration law is slight, but based on what I do know I'm very skeptical his claim will succeed.
Latino groups are launching a huge new voter registration effort.
Latino transit workers in Boston are pissed about anti-Latino comments made by, of all people, the transit authority's anti-discrimination chief.
The city of Minneapolis has approved a settlement regarding its city police force that would require it to more closely oversee diversity and race issues. The lawsuit had been filed by five Black police officers alleging a long history of discrimination.
The HIV/AIDS infection rate for American Latinos is skyrocketing. In some urban cities, the proportion of gay Latinos who are HIV positive rivals that of sub-Saharan Africa.
Being handicapped in one's ability to have sexual relations constitutes a major life impairment under the ADA. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruling is here.
New York City will officially begin offering services in six foreign languages: Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Italian and French Creole.
I couldn't resist linking to this Houston Chronicle letter to the editor, where a Texan says of Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), "How dare he even set foot here." Conyers was in town for a panel on abuse by local law enforcement officials.
The Chronicle also has an editorial up urging the state not to execute Jose Ernesto Medellin until the review ordered by the World Court can be completed. Legally, it's Texas' call whether to comply, but failing to do so could seriously undermine the protections of the Vienna Convention.
Did Chicago police engage in acts of torture to secure confessions during the 20 year period between 1972-1992?
Obama helps introduce bill to allow voter registration drives on VA campuses.
A group of progressive media watchdogs is handing over a petition to Fox News demanding they stop their racist attacks on Michelle Obama. Particularly egregious cases include calling her "Obama's baby mama" and Bill O'Reilly saying that a "lynching party" was the way to deal with her.
Four Yonkers residents are suing the local police for civil rights violations stemming out of a warrantless search.
A Honduras man is urging immigration authorities create a new justification for asylum: sexual abuse. His three children were sexually abused by a relative. My knowledge of immigration law is slight, but based on what I do know I'm very skeptical his claim will succeed.
Latino groups are launching a huge new voter registration effort.
Latino transit workers in Boston are pissed about anti-Latino comments made by, of all people, the transit authority's anti-discrimination chief.
The city of Minneapolis has approved a settlement regarding its city police force that would require it to more closely oversee diversity and race issues. The lawsuit had been filed by five Black police officers alleging a long history of discrimination.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Civil Rights Roundup: 07/07/08
Your daily dose of civil rights and related news
An inspiring story in the Boston Globe of a graduate of one of Boston's struggling public schools. The Globe also has the story of a teen mother from the same school who is heading off to college.
Chicago is bracing for challenges to its gun ban in the wake of the Supreme Court's Heller decision.
The Washington Post reports a new surge in law students studying immigration. Anecdotally, when I've asked folks attending law school what they want to study, immigration law has in fact been a surprisingly common response. Most of these folks are liberals -- I wonder if its a counter-mobilization to recent conservative demagoguery on the issue?
A new trend sweeping American states is to try and keep illegal immigrants out of college. Apparently, we're so blinded by rage in this issue that we actively want to make gang life the only salient option for these kids. I, for one, support meritocracy -- it's not like we have a surplus of smart people out there.
Immigration reform isn't being sunk because it offers amnesty. It's being sunk because it's being wrongly characterized as offering amnesty.
Wal-Mart lost another multi-million dollar lawsuit regarding its wages-and-hours practices. As Lindsay Beyerstein points out, though, the settlement amounts to less than $3.25 per violation.
Like Hilzoy, I have refrained from blogging on Sen. Jesse Helms death because it seems unseemly to speak ill of the dead. But also like Hilzoy, I am stunned at the degree to which the right is claiming Helms as an exemplar of their movement, given that he was -- how to put this gently? -- an unabashed force for evil in the world. Yet there they are. Jim Lindgren clearly protests too much. Also, it is amusing that in the wake of this out-pouring of admiration for a open-and-shut racist, Republicans will indeed probably attempt to reach out to Black voters once again -- and then wonder why they fail.
A discrimination lawsuit against the Minneapolis police force is moving forward after a Latino veteran of the force was turned down from a position with an elite anti-gang unit.
Pam's House Blend calls gay bars one of the "worst offenders" with regard to anti-trans discrimination. Yay, solidarity!
Wal-Mart blocks an HIV-prevention and testing awareness event to be held on its site under pressure from "pro-life" groups (Planned Parenthood was running the show). How life-affirming.
An inspiring story in the Boston Globe of a graduate of one of Boston's struggling public schools. The Globe also has the story of a teen mother from the same school who is heading off to college.
Chicago is bracing for challenges to its gun ban in the wake of the Supreme Court's Heller decision.
The Washington Post reports a new surge in law students studying immigration. Anecdotally, when I've asked folks attending law school what they want to study, immigration law has in fact been a surprisingly common response. Most of these folks are liberals -- I wonder if its a counter-mobilization to recent conservative demagoguery on the issue?
A new trend sweeping American states is to try and keep illegal immigrants out of college. Apparently, we're so blinded by rage in this issue that we actively want to make gang life the only salient option for these kids. I, for one, support meritocracy -- it's not like we have a surplus of smart people out there.
Immigration reform isn't being sunk because it offers amnesty. It's being sunk because it's being wrongly characterized as offering amnesty.
Wal-Mart lost another multi-million dollar lawsuit regarding its wages-and-hours practices. As Lindsay Beyerstein points out, though, the settlement amounts to less than $3.25 per violation.
Like Hilzoy, I have refrained from blogging on Sen. Jesse Helms death because it seems unseemly to speak ill of the dead. But also like Hilzoy, I am stunned at the degree to which the right is claiming Helms as an exemplar of their movement, given that he was -- how to put this gently? -- an unabashed force for evil in the world. Yet there they are. Jim Lindgren clearly protests too much. Also, it is amusing that in the wake of this out-pouring of admiration for a open-and-shut racist, Republicans will indeed probably attempt to reach out to Black voters once again -- and then wonder why they fail.
A discrimination lawsuit against the Minneapolis police force is moving forward after a Latino veteran of the force was turned down from a position with an elite anti-gang unit.
Pam's House Blend calls gay bars one of the "worst offenders" with regard to anti-trans discrimination. Yay, solidarity!
Wal-Mart blocks an HIV-prevention and testing awareness event to be held on its site under pressure from "pro-life" groups (Planned Parenthood was running the show). How life-affirming.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Huckabee's AIDS Gaffe
Mike Huckabee -- with a bit of dodging -- refused to recant his 1992 comments that we should "isolate" AIDS patients. Notably, by 1992 it was well established that AIDS was not transmitted through casual contact. But AIDS still carried with it an unbelievable amount of stigma, and Huckabee was playing into that. I have to admit that I am surprised he didn't repudiate those words though. It seemed like a no-brainer.
This seems to me to be the grand Huckabee paradox. He does have a lot of personal charm and charisma. To counteract that, he has a lot of positions that are -- bluntly -- crazy. This can be a winning combination (it won in 2000 and 2004), but unlike its current poster boy, Huckabee seems to lack the instincts of a true politician. He doesn't know when and how to spin, when to hold the line and when to break. In this, he's a bit refreshing, actually. But it's a flaw as a candidate, and if it prevents someone with his retrograde views on all manner of issues from taking office, so much the better.
This seems to me to be the grand Huckabee paradox. He does have a lot of personal charm and charisma. To counteract that, he has a lot of positions that are -- bluntly -- crazy. This can be a winning combination (it won in 2000 and 2004), but unlike its current poster boy, Huckabee seems to lack the instincts of a true politician. He doesn't know when and how to spin, when to hold the line and when to break. In this, he's a bit refreshing, actually. But it's a flaw as a candidate, and if it prevents someone with his retrograde views on all manner of issues from taking office, so much the better.
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