President Bush's Africa plan doesn't acknowledge that often it's husbands who infect wives.

Religious groups are fixated on the need to stop HIV transmission through premarital and extramarital sex, but what's killing African women by the millions is http:///unprotected sex with their husbands. Yet the United States spends more on promoting abstinence and fidelity programs ($198 million in fiscal 2007) than on promoting condom use ($147 million in 2007). Roughly 10 million African girls under the age of 18 are married each year, many to older men who seek HIV-free brides. To those wedded to HIV-positive men, marriage often means a death sentence. They have little power to control their husbands' condom use or extramarital behavior; they are more likely than young men to contract HIV; and those who know they're infected and do not want to bear children often have no access to contraception.

By providing life-saving drugs to HIV-positive pregnant women, the president's program claims to have prevented 157,000 infants from becoming infected. This is a huge accomplishment. What the U.S. funding hasn't done is reduce unwanted pregnancies. In a clinic in Uganda where pregnant HIV-positive women were receiving anti-retroviral treatment, 93% reported that their pregnancies were unintended. It's no surprise that many HIV-positive women do not wish to bear children whom they might infect with the virus or leave orphaned. It's cruel to deny contraception to such poor and sick women should they desire it. And as a public health matter, it's far cheaper to prevent unwanted pregnancies than to prevent mother-child HIV transmission. Yet U.S. funding for family planning has flat-lined.

Hmmm

The state decides, that now, during a budget crisis, they want to increase graduation rates

The incoming leader of the state Senate said Thursday that he wants to overhaul California's programs for reducing the number of high school dropouts, calling it a top legislative priority.

Under existing requirements, Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles would be allowed to take more than two centuries to bring its graduation rate up to 82.9%, which is the current state standard, said Sen. Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento).

Steinberg, who will take over as Senate president pro tem in November, has drafted a bill that would reset the bar for schools in California to boost the number of students who make it to graduation.

"We think 250 years is slightly too long," he said. "It's unacceptable. The current goal, to put it charitably, is not nearly ambitious enough."

The idea of setting higher graduation goals is supported by many education experts, including state Education Secretary David Long.

"There has to be that perfect balance between raising the bar and making it achievable, because school districts have a lot of other things on their plates," Long said.

However, Delaine Eastin, a former state superintendent of public instruction, said the Legislature would have to come up with more money to help schools increase their graduation rates, adding that after-school and preschool programs are important elements.

"They are going to have to make some investment. It's not easy, and it's not free," she said.

Just yesterday I posted and article about how California schools districts were going to lose a lot of money due to budget cuts, even to the point that they are closing schools and laying off teachers. So, to me, this means, overcrowding, less time for one on one instruction and more students falling through the cracks. And now they want to increase the graduation rate. Ha!! Good luck with that. I am heading into a nightmare, but I can't wait till I can raise some hell.

Gray Wolves to lose endangered status

My favorite part:

All three Rocky Mountain states were required to submit wolf management plans for a delisted population before Thursday's announcement, and they have agreed to maintain a minimum population of about 150 wolves per state. Ed Bangs, Fish and Wildlife's wolf recovery coordinator, who headed the reintroduction effort, predicted that the regional population would not fall below 900 to 1,200 wolves.

"It's a pretty good feeling to know this final part of this recovery project is happening, and the future conservation of wolves is secure in state hands," he said.

In Wyoming, the state Game and Fish Department will maintain at least seven breeding pairs, or half the current number, outside Yellowstone National Park, Bangs said. The term "breeding pair" refers to a successfully reproducing wolf pack; a pack usually includes about 14 animals, he said.

The Wyoming plan classifies some wolf populations as "trophy game animals," subject to certain rules including kill limits, and others are deemed "predatory," allowing wolves "to be taken at any time by anybody," said Eric Keszler, a spokesman for the Game and Fish Department. This includes methods such as baiting and aerial shooting, he said.

Im so tired of this bullshit. 1) This is not a celebratory moment like it should be. There are obvious problems, in the end the wolves loose once again. Heres an interesting article about the "wildness" of Yellowstone which is relevant to the plight of grey wolves 2) I highly doubt the livestock they do end up eating is all that significant that it warrants them to be killed in large numbers 3) who the fuck hunts wolves anymore! 4) Nature has a way of controlling itself. If the population were to boom, it would thin out because there would not be enough prey, livestock is hardly a logical option. Also, reducing numbers leads to the reduction of genetic diversity, and we all know how I feel about that 5) Im all for taking the wolves off the endangered species list, but it seems really stupid to let them be killed again within limits. This plan was not thought out very well and it sounds like the forestry dept doesn't really care either.

How great is this!?

Fuck, all this time waiting and now this:

California's schools brace for sweeping layoffs

So this is the new home of my blog. For a good laugh, read my old entries!

Some interesting finds:

Check out Cheers and Jeers: Thursday at Daily Kos for a Liberal Manifesto!

Also, a new cartoon at Mark Fiore's site called Doreen the Downer
I highly doubt the Chino slaughterhouse is an isolated incident.

From CNN Money:

"Power generation takes water. Pumping water takes power. As the nation struggles to meet electricity demand - expected to surge 50% in the next 30 years - big sections of the country are suffering from drought conditions.

"We're going to have both water and power shortages, maybe in areas where we aren't used to them," said Peter Gleick, President of the Pacific Institute, an environmental research organization. "Atlanta in the last few years is a good example of that."

Most people don't realize how closely power and water are linked.

In California, the water pumps that keep the Los Angeles area hydrated are the single largest users of power in the state, according to Gleick. Running a hot water faucet there for five minutes uses as much energy as keeping a 60-watt light bulb on for 14 hours, he said."

I often struggle with why information like this is not reported in such detail, it starts to remind me of the local news when it rains in Southern California. How is it that we know more about Britney Spears then of where our energy, food and products come from and the cost we are really paying for them? How do we change this? I get tired just thinking about it, for my idealist views are never really going to be mainstream.

Ok, today is the day I really start trying to work on this blog. Myspace, although rather addictive, is getting old, at least for my purposes. So, to commemorate the holiday ( one I thoroughly disagree with) here is a cute YouTube clip



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