Sarah Palin’s Choice

Much will be said about our country’s likely next Vice President.

Lost in the political calculations will be the story of a mother who knew before the birth of her fifth child that he would have Down Syndrome. As much as I personally oppose abortion, I understand that such a realization forces a choice that no one would ever want to have to make and cannot begrudge a mother who chose an abortion in such a case.

That said, Palin chose to have the baby in spite of the enormous physical, emotional and financial costs involved.

Having witnessed a close friend agonize (and paying a nearly unbearable price for her choice) from her experience declining an abortion and having a baby girl with a debilitating disorder, I cannot help but admire Palin’s choice ever the more.

The Search For Pragmatism: Whores, Politics And Invisible Cures

The good news? Two exceptional recent works on HIV/AIDS belie the notion that its African ascendancy will be replicated in India, China and elsewhere.
The bad news? Recent generous upticks in US HIV/AIDS funding are the epitome of the peril of good intentions, wasting valuable resources on junk science and flawed history.

Two women; Helen Epstein, a molecular biologist and public health specialist and Elizabeth Pisani, a journalist turned epidemiologist, translate their experiences combating the spread of AIDS in Africa and Asia into valuable lessons for turning the tide and saving tens of millions of lives.

In The Invisible Cure: Why We Are Losing the Fight Against AIDS in Africa, Epstein upends assumptions about African culture and pinpoints concurrent relationships as the super-highway for AIDS infection. Whereas modern Western relationship patterns may find many people experiencing numerous sexual relationships over the years (each happening within a committed relationship for however long it lasts), some Africans engage in concurrent relationships, having ongoing sexual relationships with 2 to 3 people over the years that heighten the risk of AIDS infection.

If, as in Uganda in the 90’s, campaigns were crafted to encourage monogamy, the infection rates could decline considerably. Tragically, Washington’s misplaced focus on the unfounded theory of abstinence promotion (including severe funding restrictions on NGO’s and government policies that recognize reality and try to promote monogamy instead) has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars and threatens to unravel what little progress has been made.

In The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS, Pisani recounts her experiences trying to stem the epidemic in Muslim Indonesia and China (providing glaring insights into AIDS-centric UN and NGO bureaucracies and offering what amounts to a primer on modern urban epidemology), exploding myths about AIDS along the way. Her perspective from the brothels, street corners and clubs is a valuable perch she utilizes to introduce the prostitutes, transgenders and ordinary people who advance her arguments and differing perspectives.

She discounts hype about the virus becoming an sub-Saharan Africa-style epidemic in the rest of the world while pinpointing the difficulties of getting democracies to take action to help those those truly at risk; IV drug users, prisoners, prostitutes and gays. She is open with her self-criticism and withering in her critique of the broader AIDS fight, particulary the ideological blowhards in Washington and elsewhere pushing crackpot ideas and hampering efffective work on the ground.

Pisani has enthuastic praise for the Chinese, who she originally considered overly secretive and uninterested in the AIDS problem. Over time, the wide-ranging pragmatism of the Chinese government in countering the AIDS spread in the country won her over.

In the long run, the pragmatism of the Chinese (or for that matter the Iranians) may be the better model for a more effective counter-AIDS effort in sub-Saharan Africa and even India.

Learn & Earn + School Vouchers= No Children Left Behind (Vote Pat McCrory!)

An innovative education reform program, Learn & Earn, pioneered by the outgoing NC Democratic governor will give motivated high schoolers the gift of a lifetime; the opportunity to earn an associates degree while in high school and if successful, go on to a university for their bachelors at the state’s expense. This is an incredibly great program for kids to maximize their potential and avoid the “lost year” syndrome many seniors experience. It does a fine job of taking care of the 67% of the student population that goes to decent or better schools.

A pity then that the Democratic candidate for governor, Bev Perdue, supports this program but not vouchers for poor students and those who attend failing schools. She cares about the future of the 67% of students fortunate enough to attend schools that function as intended. Her ideological opposition to school vouchers for the 33% of NC students who attend failing schools renders her talk of supporting children and families hollow. Even if she thinks she has these students’ best interests at heart by defending the public school system, she is punishing those students who attend failing schools. Even if she believes she can be the governor to somehow overcome incompetence and indifference at the federal, state and local levels and save those 33% of schools that fail their students day in and day out, she is still then abandoning these students to failing schools for years to come while she fixes the system. That is unacceptable.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory , the Republican candidate for governor, supports school vouchers. He would not only ensure the Learn & Earn program offers teens the opportunity to get an invaluable head start on adult education, but would give EVERY NC child the opportunity to attend a school that fulfills it mission and offers a quality education, ensuring that as few children as possible are left behind. The 67% and the 33% are joined together in what over time could become one of the nation’s best school systems. McCrory’s education policies would help lay the grounds for a strong, secure and dynamic NC for decades to come, a better environment for businesses, citizens and communities alike.

 

Bev Perdue wants to continue to abandon the children in poor and failing school districts (disproportionately minorities). She’s running spiteful ads that portray Pat McCrory’s ambition to offer ALL NC children the freedom to a quality education as an attack on the middle class. Bev Perdue is engaging in class warfare and fear mongering. Pat McCrory is daring to stand up for freedom in North Carolina. There is no greater freedom for a child than access to a quality education, one that can open countless doors throughout life. Vote freedom, vote for the future, vote for the children. Vote Pat McCrory!