It’s funny… Before Bush was elected, the plight of Africans and AIDS was considered a threat to the entire world. The left was marching in support of aid to Africa. We had Bono and Bob Geldof and other organizing festivals in support of AIDS programs in Africa. We had ‘We are the Wold’ videos and TV specials.
Then Bush comes along, and actually does serious work to help the problem. We’re not talking about token gestures here. The Bush administration, through all 8 years, put significant effort and money into helping the people of Africa. And now the situation there is much better as a result. But suddenly, it’s just a trivial issue. Who cares? It’s just Africa. Nothing to see here folks, move along.
FTR, I think it’s fantaastic that Bush did that. Not a bit trivial. And I find it very strange that he continues to seek praise for the horrible things he did and doesn’t make more of this very good thing he did, it’s perverse.
But at least he’s got some kind of counterweight to all the death, destruction and misery he caused elsewhere in the world…improves his chances of getting into heaven.
Wait a minute, Sam. You’re favorably citing an activist celebrity who is talking about spending American dollars to help foreign people who are poor or black or both with a sexually transmitted disease, and you are calling out liberals for being inconsistent?
Also, you seem to be ignoring any liberals who do give credit to Bush for this.
Yeah… in 1985 we had “We Are The World” and USA for Africa and the Live AID concerts. The Band AID song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” was released in 1984. You are bringing up things that happened 24-25 years ago, and talking about them as if they were much more recent. And those charities were created primarily for famine relief in Ethiopia, and only secondarily for disease work.
Perhaps you have a cite for all the people who have said and written that the plight of Africa and Africans is “just a trivial issue”? Please show me all the people who have pooh-poohed Mr. Bush’s efforts in Africa. I am curious to know who they are, so that I can direct my ire at them. I’m sure you’ll be posting a long list of people, to support your assertions. :rolleyes:
Bob Geldoff sees it differently than who? Where is your list of people who see Mr. Bush’s efforts in Africa as “trivial”?
From what you have posted, I assume it’s a long list. I’ll wait here while you compile and post the names.
It’s been almost 24 hours since I asked Sam Stone for a list of people to support his assertions, with cites so we can all go read the posts where people on the SDMB said they wanted to stick their tongues in Obama’s ass.
It must be a long list, because I see that he still hasn’t posted it yet.
Sam Stone I think the point you’re missing is the outrageous stuff Bush did.
Consider a cold blooded serial killer of 20 who also saves a bus load of 40 kids.
Good person or bad person? The kids’* parents might say one thing, and the victims’* families would say another. However according to the standards of western society as whole what’s the answer?
The answer I think is anyone has capacity for good and bad. A good person can do bad things, and a bad person can do good things. Because those are value judgments on things and actions. People are in inherently neither and can choose to do both.
Now back to the serial killer example saving the kids is good karma but the murders are bad karma. Our society is set up to punish bad actions. We reward good actions sometimes too, but not proportionally to bad actions. (pulling someone out of the way of a bus might get you a thank you, and possibly lunch. Pushing them in a front of a bus is 20 to life).
The serial killer might qualify for a reduction in sentence based on his good died, but the bad deeds need to be accounted for according to our notions of justice. So he will need lots of jail time.
Bush did a good thing and does deserve kudos and praise for that one thing, but he also committed crimes against humanity and ran the country in to the ground, economical, liberally, and financially.
*where, if anywhere, do I put the apostrophe on this mother of a grammatic bomb?
The idea you had to fry a few people to gain the presidency was a mainstream story down in Australia, I recall Clinton was pro capital punishment as well, perhaps Obarma’s election religates this to urban myth.
Not necessarily. In Uganda, for instance, with their ABCD policy (Abstinence, Be Faithful, Condoms as a last resort, or Death) , the incidence of new HIV/Aids infections was dramatically reduced compared to other African nations that focused more heavily on condoms and biomedical approaches.
Incidentally, I can’t find the other cite right now, but in the last few years, the incidence has been rising again, despite a pretty big increase in the usage of condoms. Another interesting factor? Fidelity and abstinence decreased in the same time period…
Preceding the quote in your post, the abstract (2004) states:
Uganda’s decline in HIV infections is attributed to public awareness about AIDS, how it’s contracted and how it spreads, which led to reduced casual sex partners, but Ugandans still had sex with long term partners. When men did engage in casual sex, they used condoms.
Bush signed PEPFAR in 2003, and the first funds were made available in 2004. Uganda’s reduction in HIV infections happened before Bush initiated his AIDS program. In fact, AIDS activists in Uganda criticized an ideology they believed limited the effectiveness of PEPFAR. Despite the criticism, I think Bush deserves credit for his AIDS program. It has allowed people with desperate need to access medications that extend and improve their quality of life.
The parents of the children might say one thing and the families of the victims another.
But to answer your question, the possessive apostrophe is placed at the end of a plural noun.
And while there’s nothing remotely surprising about my knowing that, given my command of the written word, it is stunning to me that I was able to express it in the correct grammatical terms. Because I have never been good at that. I knows da right way ta be talkin’ and all, but I ain’t so good at explainin’ why.
Those links were great. Found some really funny stuff in there.
One guy holding a sign saying “Power to the people” and the guy next to him holding an identical sign (in color and font) saying “Socialism is not an american value”. That got some giggles from me for some reason. And the angry woman holding the “Cut taxes not defense” sign. Comedy
Also the idea that Obama “loves killing babies” is brilliant. It conjures up all sorts of funny images of Obama as a diabolical villain from some zombie movie.
