The Washington Post wrote an editorial on December 16 titled HIV/AIDS: The incurable epidemic. HIV can be stopped. If you have sex only with one person who is not infected, and they have sex only with you, you will never be infected, outside of the extremely remote possibility that you could receive a contaminated blood transfusion. Why is sexual abstinence and reduction of the number of sexual partners not emphasized in the Post article.
The promotion of condom use throughout Africa and in the United States and right here in Washington, DC has been a dismal failure. It has not stopped the spread of HIV/AIDS. In fact, Washington DC has the highest rate of HIV infection in the United States. No program anywhere in the world has ever achieved a generalized high rate of condom use across the entire population. Yet programs that emphasize abstinence, such as that adopted in Uganda have been effective.
Sexual abstinence outside of a mutually faithful monogamous relationship and partner reduction must become the main focus of preventing HIV/AIDS.
Dedicated to raising youth leaders to develop good character and to model and teach about the benefits of sexual abstinence, in preparation for marriage and successful family formation. View recent Blog posts at our new site: New Blog
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Challenging the Scientific "Priesthood" on World AIDS Day
Today's (12/1/09) New York Times article by John Tierney, "E-Mail Fracas Shows Peril of Trying to Spin Science," points to the self-serving efforts of British climate scientists to block perfectly legitimate requests by other scientists to see the raw climate data on which their public proclamations about man-made global warming were based as well as their "plotting revenge against those who question the dangers of global warming" and planning "retaliation against the journal and the editor" who dared to publish a skeptic's paper.
As any 9th grade science student knows, silencing of other points of view and ad hominem attacks are the opposite of the open debate and access to raw data that is essential to true scientific debate and progress.
But, on World AIDS Day, it's important for us to realize that man-made global warming is not the only sphere where official dogma reigns, or where suppression/misrepresentation of data and alternative viewpoints are practiced.
Consider the suppression by leading journals and UNAIDS of reports and articles by researchers like Ted Green and Norman Hearst showing that the condom strategy for reducing the spread of AIDS in generalized epidemics such as exist in sub-Saharan Africa was failing and that the ABc approach emphasizing abstinence for youth and monogamy/partner reduction among the sexually active was having lifesaving success in reducing the prevalence of HIV infections in Uganda by two thirds (from 15% to 5%). The stubborn and blind refusal to consider a new approach because of political or ideological agendas in the U.S. and at the United Nations has contributed to the deaths of millions of Africans.
The recent CDC report "Group-based Interventions to Prevent Adolescent Pregnancy, HIV, and Other STDs," which stated the effectiveness of programs that include condom instruction, is another example of agenda-driven science, released just in time to affect proposals in Congress to cut funding for abstinence education programs and to shift it to "evidence-based" programs that promote condom use.
The CDC refuses to release the underlying statistics for public scrutiny by other scientists. Sound familiar?
In the supposedly open and democratic West, which prides itself on basing public policy on evidence, reason and legitimate science, that shouldn't be acceptable, but most of the media docilely accepts pronouncements from experts whose proclamations we are supposed to accept on faith. Shame on the "scientific priesthood," shame on much of the media and shame on us for allowing unexamined claims and half-truths to endanger the physical and emotional health and lives of youth in this country and around the world.
Richard Panzer, Ph.D.
Moderator and Director
Free Teens USA
(http://www.freeteensusa.org)
(http://www.freeteensyouth.com)
(http://culturemachine.com)
(http://thewaronintimacy.com/twoi/?e=freeteensusa)
************
As any 9th grade science student knows, silencing of other points of view and ad hominem attacks are the opposite of the open debate and access to raw data that is essential to true scientific debate and progress.
But, on World AIDS Day, it's important for us to realize that man-made global warming is not the only sphere where official dogma reigns, or where suppression/misrepresentation of data and alternative viewpoints are practiced.
Consider the suppression by leading journals and UNAIDS of reports and articles by researchers like Ted Green and Norman Hearst showing that the condom strategy for reducing the spread of AIDS in generalized epidemics such as exist in sub-Saharan Africa was failing and that the ABc approach emphasizing abstinence for youth and monogamy/partner reduction among the sexually active was having lifesaving success in reducing the prevalence of HIV infections in Uganda by two thirds (from 15% to 5%). The stubborn and blind refusal to consider a new approach because of political or ideological agendas in the U.S. and at the United Nations has contributed to the deaths of millions of Africans.
The recent CDC report "Group-based Interventions to Prevent Adolescent Pregnancy, HIV, and Other STDs," which stated the effectiveness of programs that include condom instruction, is another example of agenda-driven science, released just in time to affect proposals in Congress to cut funding for abstinence education programs and to shift it to "evidence-based" programs that promote condom use.
The CDC refuses to release the underlying statistics for public scrutiny by other scientists. Sound familiar?
In the supposedly open and democratic West, which prides itself on basing public policy on evidence, reason and legitimate science, that shouldn't be acceptable, but most of the media docilely accepts pronouncements from experts whose proclamations we are supposed to accept on faith. Shame on the "scientific priesthood," shame on much of the media and shame on us for allowing unexamined claims and half-truths to endanger the physical and emotional health and lives of youth in this country and around the world.
Richard Panzer, Ph.D.
Moderator and Director
Free Teens USA
(http://www.freeteensusa.org)
(http://www.freeteensyouth.com)
(http://culturemachine.com)
(http://thewaronintimacy.com/twoi/?e=freeteensusa)
************
Monday, November 30, 2009
HPV vaccine requirement in Washington DC should be repealed
Over 12,000 adverse reactions to the HPV vaccine have been reported, including 32 deaths and almost 1000 serious reactions, like blood clots, seizures, and heart attacks. This shot is unnecessary and dangerous. Since, HPV is only transmitted through sexual intercourse, why is Washington DC reqriing 6th grade girls to get this vaccine? This policy needs to be repealed by the city council NOW! (One note about the article below: condoms are not effective against preventing HPV)
Study Reveals Serious HPV Vaccine Problems: Fainting, Blood Clots, Death Among Risks
by S. L. Baker, features writer
(NaturalNews) At first glance, a study just published in the August 19th edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) is yet another whitewash job about the safety of the quadrivalent human papillomavirus recombinant vaccine --better known as Gardasil, the genital human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Licensed in June of 2006 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for girls and young women between the ages of nine and 26, the enormously hyped and advertised vaccine is designed to prevent infection with four types of HPV: types 16 and 18 can cause cervical cancer and types 6 and 11 are the most common types of genital warts.
The JAMA report says that the Gardasil adverse events reported have been mostly consistent with data gathered before the vaccine was considered safe enough to be widely administered to young girls. But a close reading shows some disturbing additional facts.
Just as NaturalNews has consistently reported, the vaccine has caused an extraordinary number of adverse side effects (http://www.naturalnews.com/026722_G...). And now comes word from the JAMA report that the HPV vaccine has unexpectedly caused episodes of fainting and life-threatening blood clots. In fact, in a statement to the media, these events were called "disproportional" -- meaning these side effects are anything but rare. What's more, among the 12,424 adverse reaction reports about the HPV vaccine, 772 (6.2 percent) were serious and included 32 reports of death.
Other problems caused by the vaccine include local site reactions, skin rashes, nausea, dizziness, headaches and even Guillain-Barre syndrome (a disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system sometimes causing paralysis) and anaphylaxis (hypersensitivity reaction that can cause sudden death). As just reported by CBS news, the teenage daughter of physician Scott Ratner and his wife was one of the unfortunate girls who became severely ill with a chronic autoimmune disease, myofasciitis, after her first dose of Gardasil. Dr. Ratner told CBS his daughter was so ill with the neurological problem "..she'd have been better off getting cervical cancer than the vaccination."
One the lead researchers for Gardasil has also gone public this week, telling CBS news there is no data showing that the vaccine even remains effective beyond five years. That means that if a ten year old girl is given the vaccine and subjected to possibly serious and even life-threatening side effects, the vaccine may offer her no protection at all when she hits her teens or young adulthood.
What makes the debate about Gardasil crazy to begin with is that studies have shown 70 to 90 percent of people with HPV naturally clear the virus from the body within two years of infection -- with no help from drugs or vaccines. So the most effective protection from problems caused by HPV is to avoid being infected by the multiple strains of HPV by not engaging in promiscuous, unprotected-by-condoms sex (the virus is transmitted sexually and condoms do not offer 100 percent protection) and by keeping your body's immune system strong and healthy through good nutrition, exercise and exposure to sunlight.
In an editorial accompanying the JAMA study, Charlotte Haug, M.D., Ph.D., M.Sc., of The Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association in Oslo expressed her concerns about the aggressively promoted Gardasil vaccine: "Whether a risk is worth taking depends not only on the absolute risk, but on the relationship between the potential risk and the potential benefit. If the potential benefits are substantial, most individuals would be willing to accept the risks. But the net benefit of the HPV vaccine to a woman is uncertain. Even if persistently infected with HPV, a woman most likely will not develop cancer if she is regularly screened..."
For more information:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009...
http://www.indiana.edu/~health/hpv.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/025613_c...
Study Reveals Serious HPV Vaccine Problems: Fainting, Blood Clots, Death Among Risks
by S. L. Baker, features writer
(NaturalNews) At first glance, a study just published in the August 19th edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) is yet another whitewash job about the safety of the quadrivalent human papillomavirus recombinant vaccine --better known as Gardasil, the genital human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Licensed in June of 2006 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for girls and young women between the ages of nine and 26, the enormously hyped and advertised vaccine is designed to prevent infection with four types of HPV: types 16 and 18 can cause cervical cancer and types 6 and 11 are the most common types of genital warts.
The JAMA report says that the Gardasil adverse events reported have been mostly consistent with data gathered before the vaccine was considered safe enough to be widely administered to young girls. But a close reading shows some disturbing additional facts.
Just as NaturalNews has consistently reported, the vaccine has caused an extraordinary number of adverse side effects (http://www.naturalnews.com/026722_G...). And now comes word from the JAMA report that the HPV vaccine has unexpectedly caused episodes of fainting and life-threatening blood clots. In fact, in a statement to the media, these events were called "disproportional" -- meaning these side effects are anything but rare. What's more, among the 12,424 adverse reaction reports about the HPV vaccine, 772 (6.2 percent) were serious and included 32 reports of death.
Other problems caused by the vaccine include local site reactions, skin rashes, nausea, dizziness, headaches and even Guillain-Barre syndrome (a disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system sometimes causing paralysis) and anaphylaxis (hypersensitivity reaction that can cause sudden death). As just reported by CBS news, the teenage daughter of physician Scott Ratner and his wife was one of the unfortunate girls who became severely ill with a chronic autoimmune disease, myofasciitis, after her first dose of Gardasil. Dr. Ratner told CBS his daughter was so ill with the neurological problem "..she'd have been better off getting cervical cancer than the vaccination."
One the lead researchers for Gardasil has also gone public this week, telling CBS news there is no data showing that the vaccine even remains effective beyond five years. That means that if a ten year old girl is given the vaccine and subjected to possibly serious and even life-threatening side effects, the vaccine may offer her no protection at all when she hits her teens or young adulthood.
What makes the debate about Gardasil crazy to begin with is that studies have shown 70 to 90 percent of people with HPV naturally clear the virus from the body within two years of infection -- with no help from drugs or vaccines. So the most effective protection from problems caused by HPV is to avoid being infected by the multiple strains of HPV by not engaging in promiscuous, unprotected-by-condoms sex (the virus is transmitted sexually and condoms do not offer 100 percent protection) and by keeping your body's immune system strong and healthy through good nutrition, exercise and exposure to sunlight.
In an editorial accompanying the JAMA study, Charlotte Haug, M.D., Ph.D., M.Sc., of The Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association in Oslo expressed her concerns about the aggressively promoted Gardasil vaccine: "Whether a risk is worth taking depends not only on the absolute risk, but on the relationship between the potential risk and the potential benefit. If the potential benefits are substantial, most individuals would be willing to accept the risks. But the net benefit of the HPV vaccine to a woman is uncertain. Even if persistently infected with HPV, a woman most likely will not develop cancer if she is regularly screened..."
For more information:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009...
http://www.indiana.edu/~health/hpv.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/025613_c...
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Michelle Rhee should resign over sexual misconduct cover up
The role of Michelle Rhee in covering up sexual misconduct by her fiancee, Sacramento California mayor and former NBA player Kevin Johnson has just been revealed in a congressional report. As reported in The Washington Examiner, The Washington Times and many other media, Ms. Rhee handled "damage control" as a member of the Board of Directors of St. Hope Academy, the school that Kevin Johnson founded.
The congressional report says that Johnson made inappropriate sexual advances toward three young women involved in the St Hope program. One AmeriCorps volunteer working there allegedly was offered $1000 per month to keep quiet. Michelle Rhee was informed of the sexual misconduct by a staff member.
Ms. Rhee has politicized DC Public Schools. All the while, she claims that she is acting in the best interests of children.
In 2007, Ms Rhee told the character based abstinence education program that I founded, ULTRA Teen Choice to stop its programs in DC Public Schools. It was alleged, falsly, by her special assistant Richard Nyankori, that all outside health programs were being stopped. Nyankori and Deputy Chief for Youth Engagement Chad Ferguson, in a private meeting told me that since I did not express explicit personal support for same sex relationships, and since I testified against now adopted health standards that effectively promote same sex relationships as normal, that our program would not be welcome in DC Public Schools. Later, Ms. Rhee became personally involved in our case, and even falsely claimed that I had held a meeting at a school without permission and changed a school's entry log (doesn't she have anything else to do)? Find our the details here.
It is ironic that Ms Rhee refers to the "safety and security of children" in the letter. It is also ironic that she worked so diligently to block a character based program that helps children to abstain from sexual relationships, while she covered for her fiancee who made inappropriate sexual advances on those under his supervision.
The Washington DC City Council should open an investigation into Ms. Rhee's misconduct at the St. Hope Academy, as well as her misconduct in the termination of the ULTRA Teen Choice program. The council should also look into other ways in which Ms. Rhee has politicized the school system by bringing in programs that support her views in issues such as same sex relationships, while blocking or ousting programs that promote traditional values. At the same time, Ms. Rhee should tender her resignation effective immediately.
The congressional report says that Johnson made inappropriate sexual advances toward three young women involved in the St Hope program. One AmeriCorps volunteer working there allegedly was offered $1000 per month to keep quiet. Michelle Rhee was informed of the sexual misconduct by a staff member.
Ms. Rhee has politicized DC Public Schools. All the while, she claims that she is acting in the best interests of children.
In 2007, Ms Rhee told the character based abstinence education program that I founded, ULTRA Teen Choice to stop its programs in DC Public Schools. It was alleged, falsly, by her special assistant Richard Nyankori, that all outside health programs were being stopped. Nyankori and Deputy Chief for Youth Engagement Chad Ferguson, in a private meeting told me that since I did not express explicit personal support for same sex relationships, and since I testified against now adopted health standards that effectively promote same sex relationships as normal, that our program would not be welcome in DC Public Schools. Later, Ms. Rhee became personally involved in our case, and even falsely claimed that I had held a meeting at a school without permission and changed a school's entry log (doesn't she have anything else to do)? Find our the details here.
It is ironic that Ms Rhee refers to the "safety and security of children" in the letter. It is also ironic that she worked so diligently to block a character based program that helps children to abstain from sexual relationships, while she covered for her fiancee who made inappropriate sexual advances on those under his supervision.
The Washington DC City Council should open an investigation into Ms. Rhee's misconduct at the St. Hope Academy, as well as her misconduct in the termination of the ULTRA Teen Choice program. The council should also look into other ways in which Ms. Rhee has politicized the school system by bringing in programs that support her views in issues such as same sex relationships, while blocking or ousting programs that promote traditional values. At the same time, Ms. Rhee should tender her resignation effective immediately.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Murder at 14th & H St. NE
Twenty one year old George Rawlings was murdered on Veteran's day while boarding a Metro bus heading west at 14th St. NE and H St. NE around 11:40 a.m. In March, Crystal Washington was murdered about 200 feet away at 14th st. NE and Maryland Ave. NE at about 9 a.m.
So, what kind of things need to be done to help stop this type of violence? One study of adolescents charged with murder found that seventy-two percent grew up without their fathers.
So, you would think that there would be more public and private officials and organizations promoting the formation of stable families by encouraging youth to not have sex before marriage, or at least to wait to have sex.
However, instead we find Councilmember David Catania spending thousands of dollars on a report that actually encouragessexual experimentation.
And school Chancellor Michelle Rhee eliminates numerous community based programs form DC public schools that encourage sexual abstinence and help youth to build strong character.
And the only response to the HIV/AIDS crisis is to hand out ever more condoms.
And instead of giving a clear goal to youth of striving to have a successful family with a Mom and a Dad, the DC City Council wants to redefine marriage as any two people who live together. And if you believe that marriage is only between a man and a woman, it will actually be illegal to teach that in public schools What does this say to our youth about the value of striving to form a family where they can raise and nurture their children?
So, what kind of things need to be done to help stop this type of violence? One study of adolescents charged with murder found that seventy-two percent grew up without their fathers.
So, you would think that there would be more public and private officials and organizations promoting the formation of stable families by encouraging youth to not have sex before marriage, or at least to wait to have sex.
However, instead we find Councilmember David Catania spending thousands of dollars on a report that actually encouragessexual experimentation.
And school Chancellor Michelle Rhee eliminates numerous community based programs form DC public schools that encourage sexual abstinence and help youth to build strong character.
And the only response to the HIV/AIDS crisis is to hand out ever more condoms.
And instead of giving a clear goal to youth of striving to have a successful family with a Mom and a Dad, the DC City Council wants to redefine marriage as any two people who live together. And if you believe that marriage is only between a man and a woman, it will actually be illegal to teach that in public schools What does this say to our youth about the value of striving to form a family where they can raise and nurture their children?
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sexual Health means more sexual exploration?
Washington DC at large City Councilmember David Catania's Youth Sexual Health Project has just released a 140 page report.
Mr. Catania's brave new world will teach that "youth sexual health is the ability to understand, respect, and enjoy the different dimensions of sexuality". A sidebar in the introductions quotes from the Canadian Health Education Guidelines, 2008 "Sexuality encompasses sex, gender identities and roles, sexual orientation, eroticism, pleasure, intimacy, and reproduction. Sexuality is experienced and expresssed in thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes, values, behavior, practices, roes and relationships".
The word "abstinence" is mentioned only four times in the entire document. "Condoms" are mentioned about 50 times. The report includes a newly developed sexual health curriculum for 7th to 12th grade called "TRISH", for Teen Relationships, Identity, and Sexual Health. Two thirds of the curriculum deals with "Identity" (Sexual Orientation), and "Gender". There is a lot of very objectionable material in this curriculum, and I will be examining it in subsequent posts.
How can a major document written by four supposed "experts" and six research assistants working in the city with the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates in the nation not even mention reducing the number of sexual partners as a goal for sexual health? Also how can there be almost no focus whatsoever on promoting sexual abstinence? This is because the report is based on the flawed view that all kinds of sexual exploration are healthy for youth and that you should not discourage sexual exploration.
Mr. Catania's brave new world will teach that "youth sexual health is the ability to understand, respect, and enjoy the different dimensions of sexuality". A sidebar in the introductions quotes from the Canadian Health Education Guidelines, 2008 "Sexuality encompasses sex, gender identities and roles, sexual orientation, eroticism, pleasure, intimacy, and reproduction. Sexuality is experienced and expresssed in thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes, values, behavior, practices, roes and relationships".
The word "abstinence" is mentioned only four times in the entire document. "Condoms" are mentioned about 50 times. The report includes a newly developed sexual health curriculum for 7th to 12th grade called "TRISH", for Teen Relationships, Identity, and Sexual Health. Two thirds of the curriculum deals with "Identity" (Sexual Orientation), and "Gender". There is a lot of very objectionable material in this curriculum, and I will be examining it in subsequent posts.
How can a major document written by four supposed "experts" and six research assistants working in the city with the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates in the nation not even mention reducing the number of sexual partners as a goal for sexual health? Also how can there be almost no focus whatsoever on promoting sexual abstinence? This is because the report is based on the flawed view that all kinds of sexual exploration are healthy for youth and that you should not discourage sexual exploration.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Is it discriminatory to promote abstinence in preparation for marriage?
One of the most common arguments against promoting abstinence until marriage is that same sex couples cannot marry. The argument goes that this is discriminatory against same sex couples.
But is it really? The premise is that same sex attraction disorder (SSAD)is something that you are born with. But there is absolutely no conclusive evidence that this is true. That is why those vehemently promoting SSAD normalization are so against those who provide guidance and counseling and services for those who wish to deal with their SSAD and change. It also follows that if people are not born SSAD, and that many, if not all, wish they could change, and many do change to heterosexual lifestyle, that is is a choice to remain SSAD, that could be changed.
This idea totally undermines the argument for special privileges, rights to marry, etc for SSAD couples. That is why they insist that people can't change, yet SSAD people can and do change their sexual orientation.
If SSAD is recognized, then there is no basis for special privileges and rights, including the argument that it is wrong to talk about abstinence in preparation for marriage.
Promoting abstinence in preparation for marriage does not discriminate against anyone. Many people can and do change their sexual orientation.
Furthermore, if you eliminate the definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman, then any type of relationship must be accepted, since there is no longer any definition. What about polygamous relationships or incestuous relationships? What would the basis be to deny these groupings "rights"? Ironically, giving special rights to those with SSAD leads to discrimination against those who hold religious, moral or social views that uphold the institution of marriage as being between only one man and one woman.
But is it really? The premise is that same sex attraction disorder (SSAD)is something that you are born with. But there is absolutely no conclusive evidence that this is true. That is why those vehemently promoting SSAD normalization are so against those who provide guidance and counseling and services for those who wish to deal with their SSAD and change. It also follows that if people are not born SSAD, and that many, if not all, wish they could change, and many do change to heterosexual lifestyle, that is is a choice to remain SSAD, that could be changed.
This idea totally undermines the argument for special privileges, rights to marry, etc for SSAD couples. That is why they insist that people can't change, yet SSAD people can and do change their sexual orientation.
If SSAD is recognized, then there is no basis for special privileges and rights, including the argument that it is wrong to talk about abstinence in preparation for marriage.
Promoting abstinence in preparation for marriage does not discriminate against anyone. Many people can and do change their sexual orientation.
Furthermore, if you eliminate the definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman, then any type of relationship must be accepted, since there is no longer any definition. What about polygamous relationships or incestuous relationships? What would the basis be to deny these groupings "rights"? Ironically, giving special rights to those with SSAD leads to discrimination against those who hold religious, moral or social views that uphold the institution of marriage as being between only one man and one woman.
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