The.Bird@f38.n135.z1.fidonet.org (The "Bird") (10/18/90)
Maybe the following as described in detail on PBS's AIDS QUARTERLY will clear
up some misconceptions.
Congress in it's ultimate wisdom did not want to get involved in any kind of
controversy over education about a sexually transmitted disease. They very
wisely appropriate money for the purpose but turn it all over to the CDC. So
far not bad policy.
The CDC through some formula divies out the money to STATES based, at least in
part, on incidence of the disease. The states are then at liberty to spend the
money as they see fit. There is a very, very loose definition of education and
prevention in the grants. Colorodo spent all their money on computers and
tracking cases. The whopping $2 million for South Florida is given to the
Florida HRS where the bulk goes for administrative salaries and other overhead
charges. The chief HRS Bimbo was quite proud to say on TV that their best
accomplishment was an AIDS information booth at a Mexican-American fiesta.
Sorry but do you know how small a minority mexican- americans are in Miami and
Ft. Lauderdale.
The point is that federally funded AIDS education is and has been tailor made
for each state in the Union. There never has been a Nationally coordinated
AIDS education policy. The only guy who ever tried, C.Edward Koop, was canned
for trying. He set aside his extremely conservative religous and political
views for the good of the public health. The present administration couldn't
control him so he got the axe.
Personally I think they should just forget about dishing the educational
money out as long as FOOLS are in charge of developing the material. So if you
don't like what you are getting for your money, don't blame congress; Don't
blame the CDC. They very wisely gave YOU and YOUR STATE LEGISLATURES the
choice of how to spend the available educational funds.
And please don't get pissed 'cause the GMHC and other organizations DID
SOMETHING EFFECTIVE with private funds. They did it without much(if any) help
from the government and an awful lot of government attempts at intervention.
Would everybody who has actually read the Surgeon General's Report on AIDS
please raise their hands. I've even seen it on bbs's as a downloadable file.
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