Quote:— By Bernie Woodall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sesame Street will soon introduce its first HIV-positive Muppet character to children of South Africa, where one in nine people have the virus that can lead to AIDS.

The upbeat female Muppet will join "Takalani Sesame" on Sept. 30 for its third season on the South African Broadcasting Corp.

The character -- which has yet to have a name or final color or form -- will travel to many if not all of the eight other nations that air versions of the educational children's show that began in the United States in 1969, said Joel Schneider, vice president and senior adviser to the Sesame Street Workshop.

Schneider said talks are under way to introduce an HIV-positive character to U.S. viewers.

Schneider announced the new character this week at the 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain, where he spoke by telephone on Thursday.

"This character will be fully a part of the community," Schneider said. "She will have high self-esteem. Women are often stigmatized about HIV and we are providing a good role model as to how to deal with one's situation and how to interact with the community."

The program is aimed at children from 3 to 7 and the messages delivered by the new character will be "appropriate," said Schneider, meaning that there will be no explicit mention of sex.

"Not every show will deal explicitly with HIV/AIDS," Schneider said. "We want to show that here is an HIV-positive member of our community who you can touch and interact with.

"We will be very careful to fashion our messages so they are appropriate to the age group. What do I do when I cut my finger? What do I do when you cut your finger? That sort of thing."

"Takalani Sesame" will be the second children's show in South Africa to have an HIV-positive character. But it is believed to be the first among shows designed for preschoolers, said Beatrice Chow, spokeswoman for the Sesame Street Workshop in New York.

In some parts of South Africa, 40 percent of women of child-bearing age are infected with HIV, and in 2000, about 40 percent of adult deaths in South Africa were attributed to AIDS, according to the State Department.

Copyright 2002 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Albert Hidel Wrote:“Public Enemies,”

Albert Hidel Wrote:Even that bearded commie bastard Castro figured out how to rid his little island of AIDS.  He just followed traditional, time-tested procedures and quarantined the lot.  People who haven’t the will to take the simple steps necessary to halt a fatal, contagious, incurable disease do seem ill-equipped to handle terrorists.

Quote:By Joseph Farah
Posted: January 08, 2010
1:00 am Eastern
© 2010  

Should the U.S. invite foreign tuberculosis carriers to emigrate?

Should the U.S. welcome foreigners suffering from Hepatitis A, B or C?

How about other sexually transmitted diseases?

Barack Obama chose this moment in history, when America is conducting a grand experiment in nationalizing its health-case system and suffering from the worst economic calamity since the Great Depression, to throw open the nation's immigration doors to foreigners suffering from HIV/AIDS.

Make sense to you?

Oh, sure, just what America needs – more AIDS patients.

That's what the man in the White House has decided in lifting a long-standing ban on visitors with the deadly communicable disease.

"Twenty-two years ago, in a decision rooted in fear rather than fact, the United States instituted a travel ban on entry into the country for people living with HIV/AIDS," he said. "Now, we talk about reducing the stigma of this disease – yet we've treated a visitor living with it as a threat."

Actually, communicable diseases are a threat.

That's why those attempting to enter the country with tuberculosis are stopped – because the federal government's first and foremost job (some might argue only) is to protect U.S. citizens. It's not the job of the federal government of the United States to de-stigmatize communicable diseases. Communicable diseases are bad. They should be discouraged, controlled, contained, prevented, cured. Government's proper role is not to make people feel good about their communicable diseases. It's not to reduce the fear of them.

But that's what Barack Obama thinks – or so he says.

Of course, I'll believe him when he imposes a quota to ensure he's got a significant percentage of AIDS patients and others with various communicable diseases working inside the White House – and especially the residence side.

What an opportunity Obama has if indeed his goal is to reduce fear and stigma associated with AIDS – hire infected people to work his Secret Service detail, hire them to be nannies to his children, hire them to be his food preparers.

Somehow, I don't think that's going to happen.

Obama's brand of "compassion" is so cheap. None of his decisions will affect his own privileged life – whether it's raising taxes or penalizing producers of carbon dioxide or rationing medical care. He and his family will be exempt from the effects of his own phony benevolence.

As a former community activist, he still thinks his job is social change, without regard to the law, the costs and human toll.

As president his main job is executing the laws of the land and protecting the American people. Please tell me how this latest action upholds either one of those principles.

AIDS is a health issue.

It's not a political issue.

It's not a human-rights issue.

It's not a social-justice issue.

At least it shouldn't be.

But, of course, we live in a time when everything is political – at least to the Saul Alinksy disciples running the White House and Congress of the United States.

How are the American people better off with more AIDS patients in the country?

That's the question Americans should ask themselves in evaluating Obama's new policy.

It's tough to think of any advantages, isn't it?

But it's not difficult to understand the disadvantages.

Let's face it. Lots of foreigners want to come to the United States. They always have and they always will. We do not just accept anyone. We discriminate. We accept people who bring benefit to the country. For the same reason, we do not welcome criminals and child predators – or shouldn't. It's a threat to the safety of the American people.

Likewise, it's a threat to our health safety when we import sick people.

Once again, Obama has shown his absolute disregard for the best interests of the American people and their country.

Quote:"Twenty-two years ago, in a decision rooted in fear rather than fact, the United States instituted a travel ban on entry into the country for people living with HIV/AIDS," he said. "Now, we talk about reducing the stigma of this disease – yet we've treated a visitor living with it as a threat."

Quote:AIDS is a health issue.

It's not a political issue.

It's not a human-rights issue.

It's not a social-justice issue.