I guess I'm just not a very good Christian. And probably I have no right to harden my heart. On the other hand, as I keep getting told about Iraq and am begining to believe, we (the US) cannot solve every problem.

As I say, I am all for whatever efforts are made to cure and prevent because there are many innocent victims of it.

I still disagree with hoya that there is a homophobic issue here (that is a rediculas term by the way, but I'll adhere to the convention), rather I think many people don't see it as "our" problem. Maybe this is sort of how I feel about it. I think that anyone in the US who is "uneducated" about the risks can be lumped in with those who don't know smoking is bad for you. AIDS deaths in the US have declined sharply for many reasons. That leaves us with Africa basically.

You are right to point out that there is a destabilizing impact there, though I'm not (very seriously) sure how Africa could be less stable than it is now.

In any case, I am very interested by your comments that "privacy" concerns have hampered us in treating this like other diseases. I had not heard that before. I wonder who it is that is asserting these privacy concerns? It seems intuitive to me that the gay rights groups would have the biggest beef there but I may be wrong. What more can you tell me about that?

For example if someone has gonorrhea, that is reportable by law to public health. HIV is not.

For example, I don't now need to do 10 minutes of paperwork and consent to test for gonorrhea. But for HIV I do. (a disincentive to test in the name of privacy and rights).

If we were truly interested in stopping this disease we would treat this like an epidemic outbreak. Public health would contact partners and test them.

Yes but these deviations in exercise of police power are not the results of homophobia but instead the result of gay rights. Gay rights were paranoid about treatment of the disease as any other disease so they robbed the state of its traditional police power, thereby creating a path of ignorance. So in the end, it was not paranoia by the Chiristian crowd but by the gay crowd that led to its spread.

I don't see where people get this gay paranoia belief that AIDS has not been aggressively treated. Now whether we've tried to solve all of Africa's problems is another matter. There are many African problems we've ignored and will continue to ignore, but it's not the result of homophobia, but the result of not enough money being available.

Ironically enough there was a local story last night that HIV cases in Salt Lake County have more than doubled in the past 6 months and that the Utah Department of Health is encouraging others to be more careful of engaging in risky behavior.

Of course now this is where someone again uses their biased personal Urim and Thummim and translates the term risky behavior into an attack against homosexuals.

Why do some believe the US has the obligation to cure the world's problems?

To me, it shows a sense of ignorance of history and of the role of nations.

The US has the duty to be fair to itself and its citizens, nothing more, nothing less. Becoming a world cop is counterproductive to its interests. We are also not the world's economic healer. To the extent, we can benefit our citizens, then it makes sense to become involved. To the extent, we are not benefitted, then it makes no sense.

Elder Russell M. Nelson - - - "Aids is a plauge abetted by the immoral"

So is obesity.

So sticking a corndog in one's mouth is akin to sticking something else in one's mouth then?

quote? link?

I don't see how this is either ironic or pertinent to what you are quoting in my post above.

As an aside, people do need to be careful about engaging in risky behavior. Some people are reckless in their actions, causing harm to themselves and others. I am not condoning those actions. Are you under the impression that I am?