Thank you, Katharine Marshall, and thank you, Katharine Lloyd, for the thoughtful reply.

Ms. Marshall writes
"We need to listen to different presentations without resorting to angry monologues; they rarely convince or produce new ideas. And they don’t help in the effort to forge new kinds of alliances and partnerships."

It is hard advice to follow when the debate has become so bitter and divided that even decisions with serious consequences seem to be taken to score debating points. A couple of years ago my wife and I were visiting Thailand with American Jewish World Service, and visited the Thai Aids Action Group, an NGO engaged in treating AIDS sufferers and in education to help prevent the spread of AIDS. Unfortunately, its (partial) funding from the United States foreign aid program had been cut off abruptly when a US inspector discovered in one of its offices a poster urging drug users not to share needles and to use needle exchange programs to get clean needles. While this organization itself did not run needle exchange programs, it did teach that AIDS could be spread through the sharing of needles. Its US funding was cut off since it was "aiding criminals"; its advice might prevent a drug user from getting AIDS, and of course we mustn't do -that-.

When we came back from that trip, it was awfully hard to avoid engaging in, as you say, "angry monologues."

We live in Memphis, Tennessee, where the "just say no" teaching approach and a complete refusal of the schools to talk about sex in any detail appears to have led to a significant increase in the number of abortions. I would very much like to see a dramatic decrease in the number of abortions, and a dramatic decrease in the spread of AIDS; but these will requite multifaceted approaches, not simplistic ones.

Edward Ordman

WELCOME Mrs & Mr. Uncle S*A*M:

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PEACE, PAZ, SALAAM, SHOLOM:........______________
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton МИР,평화, 和平:

"Think Globally Act Locally!"

DOWN with McCAIN,

DOWN with McCAIN, What a SHAME! Lies & Two faces is their game.

GOOD BYE JOHN McCain!

HELLO MRS. & MR. President R*O*M*N*E*Y!

VOTE! Vote! vote!

Mr. & Mrs. ROMnnnnnneeeey!

Mr. & Mrs. ROMNeeeeeeeeeeeeey For PREZ, YEA!

WE are Together-Forever Mitt Romney & SOURCE-ONE!

Ya Ya Yo! Ya Ya YO! Ya Ya YO!

DOWN with McCAIN,

DOWN with McCAIN, What a SHAME!

PS: It is TiME to TERMiNATE 'Liquid-Metal' John McCain, & his "TERMiNATOR" Arnold himself!

Go get'm MITT!

Do the ROMNEY roll-over the 'Governator' thing & any one else whom cometh ye way!

Eeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaa ME Cow Boy's & Gal's!

Hello Hollywood!

GOOD BYE Mr. & Mrs. JOHN McCain!

HELLO MRS. & MR. President R*O*M*N*E*Y!

VOTE: BLUE BLOOD who bleeds RED, NOT Arnold & Drunkin citizen McCAIN who bleeds BRiNE.

Ya Ya Yo!
Ya Ya YO!
Ya Ya YO!

Remember; It was the R*O*M*N*E*Y's who stuck it out 'Thick-n-Thin' when His Hon. Martin Luther King Jr. [pbuh] needed the ROMNEY's the Most!, not McCAIN. Not Huckabee, not Giuliani!

To Learn more about good HUMATES , then please see this Link on folks like Elvis Presley

et al, rumored to be LDS or connected somehow and more Trivia. thanks.

http://famousmormons.net/rumor.html

Please also help with "ASTRONOMY W.OUT BORDERS" to educate indigent Kids & Parents & supply them with Free or near free Telescopes, On Sweet Sweet Space-Ship Momma Poppa resilent EARTH, aka S.S. GAiA, aka S.S. GEOiD, aka S.S. TELLUSng something! Thanks.

http://www.astronomy2009.org/

"Think Globally Act Locally!"

(((((> Peace Love Rockn Roll nRap, Mitt-ROMNEY for Prez 2009 YEA! Thanks HUMATES! >)))))))))>

The answer to the AIDS pandemic will not be found in secular or religious beliefs. It is found in understanding the virus and the behaviors of its reservoirs.

Secular Faith is in condoms and Religious Faith is in abstinence/monogamy. Both belief systems have enormous Faith in overcoming the virus through medical research which has (so far) only resulted in producing a rise in antibiotic-resistant infections.

Some more letters for your alphabet soup=

PQRS

PLEASE QUARANTINE-REMEMBER SUSCEPTIBILITY

(for reasons that have more to do with human rights than epidemiological insights there is no quarantine for persons exposed to HIV infection)

I have worked hands on voluntarily with AIDS patients, and continue to support those with AIDS.
I am said to state the closed faces I note when teaching in classes the closed, judgemental faces and the lack of compassion. I use three main teaching mores,viz:

The good woman who has been faithful throughout life until her husband passes and who marries again, with no knowledge of the past relationship history of her new husband.

Those of cultural background such as some of the Pacific Islanders and West Africans where is is considered appropriate that the brother of a deceased man should have that man's children by his widow in order to keep the deceased's family line going.

Those who it has recently been discovered to have contracted the virus from having organ transplants.

"Judge not, for as ye judge, ye shall be judged also" needs to be remembered by many.

Mother Theresa of Calcutta summed it up:

The greatest sin is the absence of love or charity - the terrible indifference toward the neighbour who right on the street falls victim to exploitation, to corruption, to starving and to sickness.

Katherine Lloyd

katherine.lloyd@wideband.net.au