Subj: Fwd: Fw: MORE OF YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK
----- Forwarded Message ----
Subject: MORE OF YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK
AND WE WONDER WHAT HAPPENED TO THE STIMULUS MONEY AND WHY JOBS ARE NOT BEING
CREATED. MAKE YOU REALLY FEEL GOOD ABOUT PAYING TAXES...
AS JOE BIDEN SAID.. 'IT'S THE PATROITIC THING TO DO"
Feds Spent $800,000 of Economic Stimulus on African Genital-Washing Program
Monday, September 13, 2010
By Matt Cover
(CNSNews.com) – The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a division of
the National Institutes of Health (NIH), spent $823,200 of economic stimulus
funds in 2009 on a study by a UCLA research team to teach uncircumcised African
men how to wash their genitals after having sex.
The genitalia-washing program is part of a larger $12-million UCLA
studyexamining how to better encourage Africans to undergo voluntary HIV testing
and counseling – however, only the penis-washing study received money from the
2009 economic stimulus law. The washing portion of the study is set to end in
2011.
“NIH Announces the Availability of Recovery Act Funds for Competitive Revision
Applications,” the grant abstract states. “We propose to evaluate the
feasibility of a post-coital genital hygiene study among men unwilling to be
circumcised in Orange Farm, South Africa.”
Because AIDS researchers have been unsuccessful in convincing most adult African
men to undergo circumcision, the UCLA study proposes to determine whether
researchers can develop an after-sex genitalia-washing regimen that they can
then convince uncircumcised African men to follow.
“The aim of the proposed feasibility study is to evaluate the feasibility and
acceptability of a post-coital male genital hygiene procedure, which
participants will be asked to practice immediately post-coitus or at least 12
hours after,” reads the abstract.
Entitled “Community-Based HIV VCT: South Africa,” the name of the broader
umbrella project, the program plans to test how well received the penis-washing
regimen is among South African men.
If most of the men in the study wash their genitals after sex, are willing to do
so after the study ends, and report that their partners accept the regimen, the
researchers will develop another study to see if the “penile cleansing
procedure” actually works to prevent HIV infections.
“If we find that men are able to practice consistent washing practices after
sex, we will plan to test whether this might protect men from becoming HIV
infected in a later study,” the grant says.
The study’s lead investigator Dr. Thomas J. Coateswas the fourth highest-funded
researcher in the country in 2002 and is currently conducting HIV research on
three continents.
CNSNews.com asked both Coates and NIMH the following question: “The Census
Bureau says the median household income in the United States is $52,000. How
would you explain to the average American mom and dad -- who make $52,000 per
year -- that taxing them to pay for this grant was justified?”
Coates, who was unavailable for comment, directed CNSNews.com to ask
grant-related questions of his assistant, Darya Freedman, who did not respond.
The NIMH also declined to respond to CNSNews.com’s question.
Fwd: Fw: MORE OF YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK
Sent: 9/20/2010 5:57:32 P.M. Central Daylight Time
9/24/2010 11:52:00 AM
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AFRICA
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10 comments:
So in other words, the government spent money to advance scientific research and improve public health.
Money that went to pay the salaries of scientists and other workers, who in turn spent that money in ways that help the economy while producing a public good.
This is bad... why?
Of course, we could probably do even more to stop HIV if we were to distribute more condoms, which would cut down on the disease. But of course that would freak right wingers the fuck out, since everyone knows that abstinence until marriage is the only way to go!
Because that's worked out so well for Republicans in real life.
Nat'l Institute of Health funds grants for a vast range of scientific studies, which in turn employs US scientists to complete beneficial research enuring to the pubic good.
This is like Sarah Palin whining about the CDC fruit fly research which Palin said was a giant waste of YOUR tax dollars. Yet that research was in aid of avoiding birth defects, among other things.
There's a serious AIDS crisis in Africa, which ultimately has a far-reaching global impact.
Typical T-party racist tribalism mixed with inaccuracy, stupidity and lack of understanding of what scientific research is supposed to accomplish and how it's done.
P.S. NIH got a certain amount of stim $$$ bc the grants were for projects that were "shovel ready" and could be started immediately. It was a good use of our tax dollars.
I googled this... it's in tons of rightwing blogs, etc. Guess they got their rocks off saying "penis." booga booga
I really don't think Right Wingers understand that the US gives aid to other countries in many forms, medical, military, agricultural, security/police. So I guess they're often surprised by stories like this wherein we give tax-payer money to "furiners." They probably don't know a lot about the epidemic of AIDS in Africa either. Pity the ignorant tools.
To last anon: true, but also the money was used to give US citizens JOBS, which happened to be dealing with health care issues in Africa.
The article mentions that only in passing while focusing on the dastardliness of doing something in Africa. Of course, this is just like manna from heaven for these racist twits, who wouldn't get it anyway.
Although $800k is a lot of money for an "average citizen," it's really chump change in terms of the US budget overall. Even tho the stimulus should have been much more, imo, $800k is chump change in terms of the stim budget.
Agree that the money was mostly spent on giving some US citizens jobs, which was the goal, but the inherant racism of this article is the telling clue of why it's being promulgated so broadly in the conservative press and blogs.
Also, foreign aid is what, 2% of the federal budget?
The Census figures for foreign aid are a little out of date, but if they have grown at a similar rate, we are probably not spending more than $50 billion.
Wikipedia says our total expenditures for the 2010 federal budget are $3.552 trillion.
So, 1.5%.
Because $800,000 spent on giving some citizens jobs to assist with public health issues in "darkest Africa" (findings will inure to the benefit of US citizens) could be much better spent on killing US soldiers and others in senseless wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, etc etc.
rightwing think tank alert! freak out the racists so that they'll want to give all $$$ to military indus complex. Screw public health and safety issues, yadda yadda socialism! blah blah blacks in Africa! etc etc Kenyan Obama natter natter wasting tax dollahs! yabber yabber....
I don't wonder anymore that America will fail,
and fail utterly. No one in government or our
gloried but hateful punditocracy will admit
otherwise. No, we'll fall, and fall hard.
What concerns me is that we won't go quietly
and will, instead, lash out at the rest of the
world as we plunge.
All of this could have been avoided.
All of it.
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