developing on drudge

[Gop guy]

LOL, You are jusy trying to be funny, right?

 

[rspencer]

Yes, I was kidding.

 

[nycflasher]

Originally posted by KarlMarx

7. AIDS was caused by lack of funding by the Reagan administration

from a list of supposed "lies concocted by libs"...

I found this one interesting, KarlMarx. I have never heard this one but...have you heard this?:

RONALD REAGAN DID NOT MENTION "AIDS" PUBLICLY UNTIL 1987, AT WHICH POINT THERE WERE SOME 75,000 AIDS CASES IN THE U.S AND 40,000 DEATHS ATTRIBUTED TO THIS DISEASE.

Even after his friend and former co-star, Rock Hudson, died from the disease in 1985.

Check it.
Apparently Ronnie was listening a little to much to his campaign contributors, many of whom could give a fuck about this "gay" disease. A little more funding THEN might have gone a long way towards stemming this epidemic NOW.

I don't blame Reagan for AIDS, that's just stupid. I do wonder if his leadership weren't a bit lacking during this 80's health crisis though.

 

[freeandfun1]

In February 1986, President Reagan's blueprint for the next fiscal year stated: "[T]his budget provides funds for maintaining — and in some cases expanding — high priority programs in crucial areas of national interest…including drug enforcement, AIDS research, the space program, nonmilitary research and national security." Reagan's budget message added that AIDS "remains the highest public health priority of the Department of Health and Human Services."

Precise budget requests are difficult to calculate, as online records from the 1980s are spotty. Nevertheless, New York University's archived, hard copies of budget documents from fiscal year 1984 through FY 1989 show that Reagan proposed at least $2.79 billion for AIDS research, education, and treatment. In a Congressional Research Service study titled AIDS Funding for Federal Government Programs: FY1981-FY1999, author Judith Johnson found that overall, the federal government spent $5.727 billion on AIDS under Ronald Reagan. This higher number reflects President Reagan's proposals as well as additional expenditures approved by Congress that he later signed.

Table 5 of Johnson's report shows annual federal AIDS spending during Ronald Reagan's watch. This is hardly the portrait of a do-nothing presidency:

Government Spending on HIV/AIDS

Fiscal Year
($ Millions)
% growth over previous year

1982
8

1983
44
450.00

1984
103
134.09

1985
205
99.03

1986
508
147.80

1987
922
81.50

1988
1,615
75.16

1989
2,322
43.78

Total
5,727

Reagan also is accused of staying mum about AIDS. According to The Encyclopedia of AIDS: A Social, Political, Cultural, and Scientific Record of the HIV Epidemic edited by Raymond A. Smith, "Reagan never even mentioned the word 'AIDS' publicly until 1987."

Actually, as official White House papers cited by Steven Hayward, author of the multi-volume Age of Reagan show, the 40th president spoke of AIDS no later than September 17, 1985. Responding to a question on AIDS research, the president said:


ncluding what we have in the budget for '86, it will amount to over a half a billion dollars that we have provided for research on AIDS in addition to what I'm sure other medical groups are doing. And we have $100 million in the budget this year; it'll be 126 million next year. So, this is a top priority with us. Yes, there's no question about the seriousness of this and the need to find an answer.
President Reagan's February 6, 1986 State of the Union address included this specific passage where he says the word "AIDS" five times:


We will continue, as a high priority, the fight against Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). An unprecedented research effort is underway to deal with this major epidemic public health threat. The number of AIDS cases is expected to increase. While there are hopes for drugs and vaccines against AIDS, none is immediately at hand. Consequently, efforts should focus on prevention, to inform and to lower risks of further transmission of the AIDS virus. To this end, I am asking the Surgeon General to prepare a report to the American people on AIDS.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After I got out of the Army in 1992 I wrote a paper in college comparing the amount of money spent on aids research compared to the amount spent on cancer.

I do not recall the number exactly, but we spent something like 20 x more on aids research (federal funding) yet cancer killed something like 250 x the number of people that aids did.

 

[deaddude]

"We have a proven track record of using that power responsibly. That's the difference. We're better. We've stabilized the world for 5o years, and civilization has advanced due to this stability. The aaaayyyy rabs want to take society back to a time when tribalism was the predominant form of "government"; that's what they're good at. We're good at constitutional republics, and individually rights focused societies, it's more advanced, by any measure. Isn't progress the goal?"

If the terrorists wish to return to the old ways of tribalism then we should stop calling them Radicles. We should call them Reactionarys. Just to be technical.

Also if our track record is good on using nukes responsibly then everyone else's must be sparkeling. As I recall we are the only people to have ever used a nuke in a non-test situation.

Also be carefull how you use the term "better", it smacks of eugenics.

 

[KarlMarx]

Originally posted by nycflasher
from a list of supposed "lies concocted by libs"...

I found this one interesting, KarlMarx. I have never heard this one but...have you heard this?:

RONALD REAGAN DID NOT MENTION "AIDS" PUBLICLY UNTIL 1987, AT WHICH POINT THERE WERE SOME 75,000 AIDS CASES IN THE U.S AND 40,000 DEATHS ATTRIBUTED TO THIS DISEASE.

Even after his friend and former co-star, Rock Hudson, died from the disease in 1985.

Check it.
Apparently Ronnie was listening a little to much to his campaign contributors, many of whom could give a fuck about this "gay" disease. A little more funding THEN might have gone a long way towards stemming this epidemic NOW.

I don't blame Reagan for AIDS, that's just stupid. I do wonder if his leadership weren't a bit lacking during this 80's health crisis though.

First off, the spread of AIDS was not caused by Reagan's lack of leadership but by the epidemic of irresponsible behavior e.g. intravenous drug abuse and promiscuous sex.

Secondly, according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), in this country HIV/AIDS cases since 1981 break down thusly...

Male-to-male sexual contact 420,790
Injection Drug Use 240,268
Male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use 59,719

Heterosexual contact - 135,628
Other - 20,869

So, in this country, AIDS IS primarily a gay disease or a disease affecting intravenous drug abusers. The total number of HIV/AIDS cases is LESS than 900,000 total infections. The amount of funding by the federal government on HIV/AIDS for the year 2002 is 15 billion dollars. That works out to about $16,666 per AIDS victim.

Compare this with Alzheimer's disease. An estimated 5.5 million cases in this country by 2010 and is expected to grow to 14 million cases by 2050. The total amount spent on Alzheimer's by the Federal Government - $515 million dollars, less than 1/30 spent on AIDS (or about $93 per Alzheimer's victim)

So who gives a "F***" about that? No one knows what cause Alzheimer's disease, there is no cure, no vaccine on the horizon. And Alzheimer's has been around at least as long as AIDS. But hey, it only affects old people and hell, they've lived long enough! It seems to me the national priority is to save drag queens and junkies at the expense of our elderly.

Also, in spite of the increased amount of funding by the government on AIDS research and prevention there been an INCREASE in the number of AIDS cases over the past few years. Mostly, because gays are abandoning "safe sex" practices and engaging in irresponsible sexual behavior. So the argument that Reagan was irresponsible in stopping the spread of AIDS because he didn't throw enough money at it doesn't hold water either. If that were the case, we should expect to see a decrease in AIDS cases now.

No, blaming Ronald Reagan for anything to do with AIDS is stupid. The blame for its spread mostly lies with the gay community and the absolute refusal on their part to accept responsibility for what they clearly brought on themselves. Meanwhile, thanks to the gay movement's incessant moaning and playing victim, greater health menaces e.g. Alzheimer's disease and the like are being underfunded and ignored.