AIDS Cure?

I'm going to show you the cure for AIDS. This is it:


According to a man known as Brian Marshall from Melbourne, this is the cure. He's been selling it to people in Papua New Guinea. And their Government are annoyed. Our Government is annoyed about this as well.

This isn't very good to begin with.

Granted, the HIV/AIDS rate in Oceania is actually quite low compared to other countries, but PNG actually has the highest rate of HIV in the area, which is, according to this report from UNAIDS is about 1.3%.

Which means that it is an epidemic.

Personally I don't really think that it is, but it is the highest in the region.

Unfortunately for people who like to believe that homosexuality is the reason that HIV spreads it isn't the case in PNG. According to this country profile from WHO, the rate of transmission from heterosexual sex is 84%.

Now PNG has a low HIV rate compared to other developing countries. I'm sure that it would be in the best interests of everybody to keep it that way. This man however has most likely helped to make the problem worse.

There is an education programme going on in PNG to slow the spread of the disease. Unfortunately this man has helped to undo that by preying on the stupidity of people. They see a man saying "Bottled water cures AIDS" and would think "Why didn't they tell us this? Why do we have to wear a condom when all we have to do is drink some bottled water?". And they go with the "easier" option, and don't bother trying change their habits.

I hope that they do find him. I don't know how exactly you could punish him adequately though. Perhaps all his assets in PNG should be confiscated and the proceeds donated to AIDS research or education or something like that.

A Response to the WBC Site "God Hates Australia" Part 5.

In this part we look at the last section of the Westboro Baptist Church's "God Hates Australia" site.

If you are joining us late, please start from part 1.

But on with the show. The section in question is "Australia's Poster Children For Sin". Because we all know that sin has to have poster children. So in this case they are talking about celebrities.

Their first "poster child" is of course Heath Ledger. A man who is only here because he played a gay man in a movie. That was it. They even start this page of with the following:

Two words…..BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN!!!!

This is what they have to say on Heath Ledger:

Heath Ledger: Actor, died by an overdose in January of 2008. This young man was raised by parents who were divorced (I know shocker, right) who taught him to chase after every lust in his evil heart. Not only that, but do whatever it takes to be famous because that’s more important than serving God. This is what happens when you spit in God’s face with fag propaganda….you are sent a strong delusion by the hand of your God!

Based on only the laziest of research (I'm putting in a little more then they put in to make this site though) they ignore the fact that apart from being divorced, both his parents had remarried, and neither of them were gay. I don't know what exactly they taught him but I personally doubt that he was taught to "chase after every lust in his evil heart".

Now I would like stress here that the only thing that causes him to be "evil" is because he was in Brokeback Mountain that is his only crime. If he weren't in that movie I would be certain that he wouldn't be on this page.

There is one thing here that I have noticed. Back in Part 3 I pointed out that they used their "religion" page to basically bash Catholics. But nowhere have they mentioned Mel Gibson. I find that a bit odd, but I wonder whether it has something to do with the more fundamentalist views that Mr. Gibson holds, even though he is a Catholic. I suspect that they might consider him to be doing "God's work".

But continuing on, we meet our second "poster child for sin":

Portia de Rossi: Actress, Ellen Degeneres’ so called wife. This lady has a platform that instead of doing her duty and obeying her God, she would rather live in defiance! Shame on you, Australia, for teaching this woman from her youth up that it’s ok to be gay…look at what you’ve done. She will be held accountable for her actions, but don’t think for one second that you are innocent regarding this matter!

Portia de Rossi was born in Geelong, Victoria in 1973. However I really doubt that Australia taught her that it was ok for her to be gay. In Part 4 I posted the paragraph that mentioned that homosexuality was finally decriminalised in all states in 1997. I however didn't really go on about it there. I will here however.

The history of the decriminalisation process for homosexuality started in 1972 in South Australia. For those playing at home you would remember that back in Part 1 I pointed out that SA has the fewest rights for homosexuals compared to the rest of Australia. It's somewhat ironic in a way that a state that led the way is now backwards.

This process started during the time of Don Dunstan (who is one of our greatest premiers) which saw the passing of a "consenting and in private" type of defence, not knowing all of the facts I'd assume it was watered down by the hostile Legislative Council but the Sodomy law was repealed in 1975. It still had to be in private but it was a start. The ACT would follow in 1976 and they also equalised their age of consent.

De Rossi would have been 8 when they finally decriminalised homosexuality in Victoria, in 1981. NSW would outlaw descrimination against people who were, or were considered, homosexual. NT would legalise homosexuality in 1984 and WA, confusingly to me at least, decriminalised male homosexuality in 1989, and set the age of consent for homosexual acts to 21. Queensland repeals their sodomy law in 1991. Finally in 1997, Tasmania repeals the laws preventing you from being gay in private.

Although the law worked like that, public opinion takes far longer to change. Even today I would think it fair to say that homosexuality is only tolerated in Australia, but people aren't as accepting. The gay community is still fighting for acceptance and equality among the wider community.

Lastly, Portia de Rossi was married to Ellen DeGeneres in 2008 in the United States. However I don't know how their marriage has been effected by the passing of Proposition 8.

They separate these two people with the following Bible verse:

Proverbs 16:5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.

Well it's a proverb so you can't really quote mine the Bible here, but I would guess that it refers to proud people regardless of sexual orientation. I suspect that the interpretation used by the WBC here is actually a narrowed interpretation of the proverb in question.

The next grouping of people are as follows:

Here are a few more proud, arrogant, rebellious brute beasts!

Peter Allen: Entertainer, died of AIDS related throat cancer.

Peter Allen who died in 1992, did die of AIDS related throat cancer. What puts him on this list would be, I suspect, because he is The Boy from Oz. The musical is based on his life. However, if this were the case then I would have thought that Hugh Jackman would have also been on this list. I would assume that had Brokeback Mountain either really sucked, or was never made, he would be.

Rob Astbury: Journalist, highest paid sports journalist in Australia but is more famous for being the ex-lover of Graham Kennedy; HIV positive.

Was. He was the highest paid sports journo. He also, after Derryn Hinch decided to be a jerk and outed him, his HIV status and claimed that Kennedy (who is considered the King of Comedy/Australian Television, even after his death) was also HIV positive, took a more active role in gay rights and AIDS education.

This is actually the second HIV positive person mentioned in this list. I guess the WBC still believes in the old "AIDS is a gay only disease" argument.

Darren Hayes: Singer of Savage Garden, is currently in a civil partnership with his boyfriend in England…YIKES!

Darren Hayes entered into a civil partnership with Richard Cullen in 2006. He is from Queensland, so it would be impossible to claim that "Australia taught him that it was ok to be gay" because he would have been 20 when the law regarding sodomy and homosexuality was finally repealed.

Anthony Venn-Brown: Evangelist for the Assemblies of God dog-kennel; the original founder of Youth Alive (you know how these fags love to attract children to their filth)!

Anthony Venn-Brown was an evangelist for the Assemblies of God. He is now a gay ambassador (apparently that is the term he uses), and has been since he came out in 1991. He has an autobiography entitled A Life of Unlearning which talks about his struggles within himself and being part of an organisation that considers homosexuality to be an abomination.

I don't know how long exactly this page has been around for, I can't find anything for the main site so I think that it has only appeared in the last 6 months. But this kind of innacuracy is to be honest unacceptable. He hasn't been a minister for 18 years but they still list him as a member.

It should also be noted that the WBC does not seem to think highly of the Pentacostal organisation, we all know that the "dog-kennel" is a dead giveaway.

Lastly, I suspect that Mr. Venn-Brown is only on here because of his past as a preacher, because it reflects badly on denominations that aren't the WBC and for his founding of the Youth Alive programme, because it is "evidence" that "homosexuals are paedophiles", even though there is no evidence that supports that. It is however a view that is used continuously by the WBC.

We finish this look at the last section of this site with a Bible quote:

Isaiah 13:11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

It's actually from a passage relating to Babylon. Not gay people. You fail again Westboro Baptist Church.

Kenya and Circumcision

The BBC story makes it look like most of them are rejecting a plan for free circumcision.

On the whole circumcision issue I'll readily admit that I am biased, so I'm going to try and be as neutral as possible.

Apparently some studies have shown that circumcision helps in the prevention of HIV/AIDS, an issue that is plaguing Africa at the moment.

The Luo Council of Elders won't sanction circumcision because it is against their culture.

What I like about this story though is not that they might be dooming themselves to an increased risk of HIV/AIDS (who the hell would want that?) but the views of the elders.

The BBC article states:

The elders are afraid that some men will think that being circumcised is an alternative to using condoms, which will put them at a higher risk of infection, our correspondent says.

And:

But individual members of the community who want to be circumcised are free to do so, the council says.

The first snippet is something that I agree with. If you get people thinking that they will become superman and won't get any diseases by getting circumcised will probably ruin any benefit by increasing the amount of unsafe sex that they have.

This is a region where there are accounts of young girls being raped because of some supposed "cure for AIDS" if you sleep with a virgin. Then the girl contracts the disease and the bloke isn't cured.

Education is still one of the most effective methods for preventing transmission of HIV/AIDS. It doesn't matter if you are cut or not, or have that CD4 mutation, you still have a chance of getting the disease.

The latter snippet is good too because although they have said that it is against their culture for people to get circumcised, or to force them, they will let those that want to go ahead and get cut.

As opposed to certain Imams in Muslim countries issuing fatwas and wanting people that disobey to get punished.

ITK Blocker a Cure For AIDS?

Well no actually, but it is a catchy title.

According to the BBC, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (A pdf can be found here) reported that it has been found that blocking the ITK protein causes a decrease in HIV replication. Here is a better page from MedPage Today.

In really simple terms what they have found is that blocking ITK can slow down the progression of the virus in quite a few ways:

1. Impedes infection
   
2. Slows down replication

Clearly it doesn't stop HIV from being transmitted but it sure screws things up for the virus.

If you want a Numb3rs-type analogy I would say think of your own but make sure that it has zombies in it.

Apparently the effect that it has on us is just a slowed immune response, but we are not completely harmless.

But it does show a change in the way we are thinking of combating HIV. Instead of trying to kill the virus itself, which mutates quickly and is slowly becoming immune to the drugs, we are looking for ways to make our own bodies a rather hard place for it to survive. Such a drug that could block ITK production in T cells would mean that instead of developing drugs to combat viral infections we develop drugs that make it harder for viruses to infect you in the first place.

Think of the benefits, although we do need more testing to see how adverse the side effects could be.