AIDs Funding

Dubya has done something that...oh God, I can't even say it....he has done something that I am actually....in favor of! Wow...that is a hard thing to throw out...

Yes, all of my progressive patriot friends! Dubya has done something good! Yesterday, he asked Congress for three times the amount of money they have put into his international AIDs initiative. Along with the $30 billion dollars he is requesting, he is also asking for the initiative to be extended another five years, increasing it to a ten year program. This is a phenomenal request.

Think about this. Tripling the amount of money they have put into this initiative can boost its success greatly. We may be able to greatly decrease the rate of people gaining HIV, and hopefully reduce the amount getting AIDs as a result. This would be an awesome thing to do, if the desired result actually happens.

What makes me a bit skeptical is this: what has the initiative done since it was announced and put into effect, in 2003? Has it decreased the rate of the spread of AIDs? Not at all. The number of people with both HIV and AIDs increases each and every year, and, by 2030, it will move from the fourth largest killing disease to the third. Has it made more countries aware of AIDs? Possible, but even if we have made countries in Africa, and other third world countries, more aware of AIDs, the statistics are showing that they either: 1, don't care, or 2, don't understand. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were 39.5 million people living with AIDs last year, and a whopping 25 million lived in the sub-Sahara region of Africa. Thats the majority of people with AIDs, in one, contained area.

So, that is the question. Whether I believe adding money to this program is an awesome idea or not, the question remains the same. What will it do? What has the program done in recent history, since 2003? Because, from what I see, it has done nothing to reduce the number of cases of AIDs. So, what does it do? What has it done? Give me something- a statistic, an outline of expectations, something! If you can't tell me, why should the American People back such a program?

Personally, I believe they must revise the initiative somehow to make it more beneficial. I hope that the bulk of this funding goes to AIDs research, so that we can somehow make a groundbreaking finding and get a cure to this murdering machine. It doesn't even have to be a cure! Maybe something that helps increase the amount of T-Cells in an HIV patient, so that they aren't brought into the hold of AIDs. Something! If we are going to invest over $30 billion, we better have some type of outline that shows us how this money will be spent, and what it is expected to do.

HIV/AIDs is a terrible killer. Personally, I believe that when we talk about health care, we can not just talk about the uninsured, though they must be the top priority. But I believe we must also keep in mind diseases such as AIDs. When we speak of universal health care, we must also think of finding a cure, or finding a way to reduce the amount of cases we have. AIDs must be a top priority. If not, it will keep gaining ground until one day we look around and see that there is nothing we can do about it.

So, for the first time, and probably only time, I will say it- a half pat on the back goes to you, Dubya. You, for once, made some type of sense. You asked for more money to go to something actually BENEFICIAL to humanity, rather than destructive. Now, all you need to do, is change the initiative to make it more successful.

Dubya, doesn't it feel good to ask for money that will actually help rather than hurt? Do you think you could do that more often? Yeah... I guess I am pushing my luck on that one...