Elizabeth Dole should be ashamed of herself

Yesterday I wrote about the legislation on the senate floor, officially titled the "Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2008".

Elizabeth Dole has introduced an amendment to that bill which would add Jesse Helms name to the title.

From Joe.My.God

Jesse Helms, the man who in 1987 described AIDS prevention literature as "so obscene, so revolting, I may throw up."

Jesse Helms, the man who in 1988 vigorously opposed the Kennedy-Hatch AIDS research bill, saying, "There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to sodomy."

Jesse Helms, the man who in 1995 said (in opposition to refunding the Ryan White Act) that the government should spend less on people with AIDS because they got sick due to their "deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct."

Jesse Helms, the man who in 2002 announced that he'd changed his mind about AIDS funding for Africa, but not for American gays, because homosexuality "is the primary cause of the doubling and redoubling of AIDS cases in the United States."

Many people hold Ronald Reagan responsible for adding to the early AIDS death toll by his inaction on the pandemic, but it was Helms' actions in thwarting early research that inarguably hastened the demise of many thousands of Americans. How many of my friends, of your friends, would be alive today if the life-saving medications had arrived just one fucking year earlier?

Fuck YOU, Senator Dole. Fuck you with something hard and sandpapery.

I don't really have much to add except that the HIV infected blood of millions of people is on the hands of Jesse Helms.

Elizabeth Dole may be rewriting history for herself as well. With her husband running for President, Ms. Dole, as President of the American Red Cross had the organization rewrite an HIV prevention manual to cater to Christian right sentiments about homosexuality, premarital sex and condom use.

I have spent 18 years attempting to undo the damage that Helms and Dole and their cronies did.
Their blood is on your hands too, Elizabeth.