Pope & Condoms

So, Pope Benedict XVI decides to go on a week-long trip through the continent of Africa. This past Tuesdays he makes comments on condoms and how they are used to fight HIV. I'm not sure of his exact quote, word-for-word, but it was something along the lines of, "condoms do not help fight HIV, in fact they increase the problem." I would have to respectfully disagree with his comments, and first say, "Are you serious? You're the Pope and you think condoms increase the numbers of HIV in Africa [or maybe around the world in general]." This is why he is not a scientist and I am not the pope.

First, I have to put myself in his shoes and look at this from his perspective. I truly believe like, Pope John Paul II, that abstinence is the key to absolving this world of HIV/AIDS. I'm an optimistic person, but that's not gonna happen. That is unless there is a sexually transmitted disease that will cause someone's body to disintegrate after 30 days. Maybe then people will start to learn. But abstinence has always been and will always be the key. So I level with him and see that he might be saying that since condoms are available it is somewhat giving people the option to have sex, sex, and more sex.

Then I step back into the real world and think of an analogy....Aha....Having condoms readily available--especially in Africa where it is most prevalent--is like being a firefighter in Africa without a suit, gas mask, oxygen tank, and etc. You would be fighting fires and saving people from burning buildings while getting burned too. Sooner or later you would die while trying to save someone without any form of protective gear to shield yourself from the flames. Stations would go through firefighters like clockwork. That is until there is either the smart fireman or the smart fire station that makes the sacrifice to purchase the protective gear. Other firefighters and stations will look in awe like, "Aww man. I could have prevented that burn on my face I just had last week if I had that protective gear on." And the individuals wearing the gear would say, "Now I can really do my job. Ahhhh. This is safer and I feel even better living life and fighting fires." I use analogies a lot to help people understand something that I may not have the words for, and analogies are great.

If there weren't condoms this epidemic would be a whole lot worse than it is now. For someone who has such a respected opinion he should have thought about this a lot more. Now Catholic followers can use that in saying, "Well the Pope said that condoms aren't helping, so let's not use them at all." That's looking at his statement in relative to people out there who prey on women and vice versa.

Condoms are HIGHLY effective in preventing HIV infection. In a two year study, in which one partner was HIV-infected and the other was HIV-negative, no uninfected parter became infected among couples using condoms correctly and consistently at every act of vaginal or anal sex versus 10 percent of those using condoms inconsistently (www. advocatesforyouth.org).

They are needed and the concept of sex should be discussed in more households. I hope the Pope rethinks his thoughts, because many families and individuals around the world listen and follow everything the Pope says.

Those are just my thoughts as an eternal student, though.

Arrogant...Ignorant...Greedy (aka A.I.G.)

I am quite sure that there are more people than myself, who are livid with AIG literally handing out bonuses using some of the recently received bailout money. First, no one within that organization is deserving of a "bonus" for whatever so-called hard work they have put into keeping the company afloat. Second, their lame excuse of "trying to hold onto the talent that they already have and not losing them to other companies" is not valid at all. If the government chose not to give them any bailout money there would not be any bonuses to hand out. What would have happened then? Hmmpf? If they want to go to another company let them go! I cannot see any other company hiring them with their current track record of almost assisting in the downfall of AIG. Who would want them? No one! And Finally, these are taxpayers dollars they are handing out, but I know there is a process that goes with approaching this and it starts with the Board of Directors. A friend mentioned that they should have done something similar to that automotive companies who have received bailout money. They reworked their structure and how the money would be spent. I'm sure there were no bonuses given out either. AIG needs to follow suit and hold people accountable for their mistakes. There should not be any bonuses for anyone; plain and simple.

Airports, Desk Attendants, and Random Cowboys

So I was heading outta town this past weekend, and previously booked a flight with Jetblue. I knew I had to get there at least a good 30 minutes before departure. When I was on the train out to JFK though I soon realized that the train from Harlem all the way out to BK is alot longer than what it should be...smh...so I ended up getting a good 10 minutes before departure and would have made it to the gate in time, but I had to get the angry desk attendant talking about, "You're not gonna make it." Obviously I wasn't going to make it with her halting my progress. What options did I have...let's see...the flight I missed was the last one out of JFK, and the next one didn't leave until 6:45 AM and it was 11 PM! It took me 2hrs on the train to get out there...so I only have one option and that's to sit and wait at the airport :-(

She gives me some paper, and I try to get through the gate in order to sit at the bar and drink my sorrows away...lol...but she says I can't check in until 3:45 AM and I won't be able to go through security until 4 AM. Just great.

So I sit down and revert back to my happy-go-lucky normal self. I listen to some music on my BlackBerry Storm and relax while reading the latest edition of Gentleman Quartlery Magazine. After about a good hour I notice some cowboy-esque guy sitting a few seats from me. He was asking everyone questions. I think I have "nice guy" or "willing to talk to strangers" as a neon sign right above my head, and only other people can see it. Someone I got drawn into a conversation with this guy, which lasted all the way up until 4AM where we went our separate ways...that's 5 hours with only 2 power naps (i.e. 25-30 minutse of resting eyes) in between.

This guy had stories for days. I'll summarize it though:

He was dressed in all black...black cowboy hat, black trenchcoat, black boots with silver spurs, black jeans and a black shirt. He was a retired military veteran who was coming from ukraine where he met with this woman he has been in constant contact with over the internet. This guy was like late 50's, early 60's. The ukranian woman was in her late 30's, early 40's (note: he showed me a video of her on his camcorder). He was telling me stories of how much he's traveled while with the military, and afterwards. His descriptions of ukrane were as follows, "I have never been to a place where if I look out the window I could see more drop-dead-gorgeous woman than I will ever see in a lifetime in the US." The culture is definitely different out in ukrane and he's looking to take the ukranian woman away from a culture that marginalizes her. She divorced her husband who was an alcholic, which is the case for a lot of men out there, supposedly, and she later divorced him. Divorce is frowned upon, especially more so for the woman...To each his own right...and on another note this guy lives in South Florida, and has 3 kids that live in Minnesota. He couldn't take the cold weather any more, so he entered a better environment for himself, and now he's about to bring the ukranian woman back with him later on in the year. He proposed to her and she accepted...

...an interesting guy indeed. I might have a few more posts about some interesting stories he told me...that's all I have for my 7 hours at JFK airport...

...but what really sucked was after going through security I went straight to the bar to find out that they couldn't start serving any alcoholic beverages until 8 AM! I couldn't even get a Mimosa...smh

Racist or Not? You decide...

I know this was a hot topic for all last week and is also an ongoing effort for Rev. Al Sharpton as we speak, but I wanted to give my perspective on this cartoon.

I would like to think that American's aren't racist. I would like to think that American's are accepting of our nation's first African-American President; even though he is half White as well. I would like to think a lot of things, but that's just not how the world is. Your imagination is a great tool to work out the kinks of HOPE, which is the driving force for some, but not many. It is the driving force particularly for those trying to bring about CHANGE to world that continually struggles between the forces of right and wrong.

Honestly, when I first saw this cartoon it was with the headlines reading [something along the lines of] "Racist photo featured in NY POST." I used to read the NY POST just because my uncle read both the DAILY NEWS and the POST, but read the POST most often. When I saw that they were supporting John McCain and Sarah Palin the NY POST officially lost my support. Yes, indeed. When you have both the DAILY NEWS and the NY TIMES supporting "CURRENT" President Barack Obama, why not support the future president? So I decided to stop supporting the newspaper. When I first heard about it people already began protesting outside of the NY POST. I tried to block out everything outside of the cartoon and the blurb of "They'll have to find someone else to write the stimulus bill," there were still racial undertones that just couldn't be denied. FIRST, President Barack Obama, whether he or any one else likes it or not, is the face of the stimulus bill. There is no doubt about it. Even if he wasn't the only writer, or if Congress was passing it....blah, blah, blah, blah....he's still the face. SECOND, American's aren't stupid to believe a simple excuse of using the recent story of a loose chimpanzee as a sattirical expression of the stupidity of the stimulus plan. No way Jose! Ughn! Ughn! Not gonna happen. THIRD, and FINALLY, how did this get passed after going through all the editors and however many people are supposed to see this before it goes to print? No one thought, "Hmmmm...this might be borderline racist?" I guess if they did they still didn't mind because it was going to stir up the population, and especially Rev. Al Sharpton, who I happened to run into around my block after he got his fresh perm...smh...he's a necessary component in our day in age. You can't knock his hustle.

I'm leaving this alone from now on, because the NY POST got what they wanted and I'm not going to continue to feed into [even though I am by posting this blog]. I just wanted to express myself and see what others thought. 

Comedy

I don't watch much TV, but definitely keep my ear to those that do. I love comedy and have become of a fan of the videos that Saturday Night Live (SNL) puts out on their show. OMGosh! These things are hiliarous. I'm gonna update this with some of my favorite as time goes on.

Here's my first..."I'm on a BOAT MUTHAF**KA!!!" LOL!!!


"Jizz In My Pants" is a classic!


"The ROCK Obama"

Realization

With the completion of the 16th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), which is a scientifically focused meeting of the world's leading researchers working to understand, prevent, and treat HIV/AIDS and its complications, I had the sad, but true, realization of how this dilemma could easily be behind us if drugs and medication were readily available to everyone. We are a world where we have currency and if you don't have much of it many things won't be accessible. In ABSOLUT world though...



...you can only hope and dream, or make a commercial and smile. Sad but true.

What also confuses me is how people who knowingly carry the virus still have sexual intercourse not just with one partner, but many, like nothing is wrong. Not sure how that will make the world better, but people will do what they will do. In my opinion, if one should somehow acquire the virus their thoughts should circumnavigate the planet of Hope which is sister to the planet Right and nowhere near the planet Wrong. This is a sign, from a Higher Power [i.e. GOD], saying maybe this sex thing really isn't for you, or you have to stop being selfish or whatever you feel you is the debt you will have to pay for the rest of your life.

In an absolute world everyone would think for others and instead of their own well being. If that happened everyone would be all right. Did you follow that? I hope so. It may not sound like the answer, but it sure sounds pretty good.

Stimulus Plan/Package

So...It seems like people just want this to just go through and they can get their cut. Are people really paying attention to what is being distributed though? I would hope so, but I don't think so. I'm still formulating my opinion of the plan, but I follow a few newspaper articles and this website (www.readthestimulus.org) which helps me stay up-to-date for right now. It's very comprehensive, but I think it will get the job done. I have faith in President Obama. What people should be worried about is whether a large portion of people will take heed to what the President is actually proposing. He really is hoping that individuals will be smart with the small amount of money they will be given. What stands out to me mostly are his plans at saving the US money over time by improving the technology we rely on, and government buildings as well. I'm curious as to how others feel and whether or not they think it will work? We will shall see. I've attached a graphic from the Washington Post which is a relative breakdown of what the Stimulus should look like. Comment as you see fit and express your perspective. Thank you.