Still curious that Dick Morris was left out of the historical flashbacks...hmmmmm.

I'm sure there will be scandals on both sides.  However, I go after irony when reporting sex scandals.  Morris already was in a profession that is below that of an escort  girl.  Tobias, like Ted Haggard, was preaching abstinence.

Anyway, this is all pretty much an essay in irony for me.  Personally, I think prostitution should be legalized and regulated.

I cam across a very interesting four-author scholarly article in which the writers split into two camps, taking somewhat different looks at Uganda.  http://medicine.plos...

The article is: Was the "ABC" Approach (Abstinence, Being Faithful, Using Condoms) Responsible for Uganda's Decline in HIV?  The standard argument against abstinence-only and what I'll call abstinence-dominant education in a third world setting is this:

***[Q]uestions remain as to whether the ABC-related behavior changes are attainable in other developing countries, given many women's relatively limited control over their sexual relationships. Influential AIDS policy makers have expressed doubt that ABC-related behavior changes can take place in settings where women seem to have little control over their sex lives. On the eve of the 2004 International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, for example, the deputy executive director of UNAIDS observed that, "Most of the women and girls, as much in Asia as in Africa, don't have the option to abstain when they want to. Women who are victims of violence are in no position to negotiate anything, never mind faithfulness and condom use". An influential woman's advocate reinforces this view: "Most prevention messages?focus on the `ABC' approach to fighting HIV-AIDS?. While important messages, these things are often not within women's power to control".
***

These concerns are valid. Gender inequity is an indirect but powerful factor in the sexual spread of HIV. Gender norms create inequality between the sexes in power, autonomy, and well-being, typically to the disadvantage of females . An extensive literature on women's subordinate status in most societies-but particularly in poor countries-points to widespread patterns of male privilege, visible in social discrimination such as lower levels of investment in the health, nutrition, and education of girls and women . Institutionalized economic inequalities keep land, money, and other resources out of women's hands, making women financially dependent on men, less likely to be able to negotiate sex with a partner, more likely to practice survival or transactional sex, and more subject to violence. Violence against women varies by country but is a global problem and a well-documented risk factor for HIV. In many countries, women's sexual subordination exposes them to elevated reproductive health risks: coerced sex and rape, maternal mortality, unsafe abortion, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV.

Yet ABC behaviors were attainable in Uganda, a society where many women had little power at the outset of the AIDS epidemic.  The first two authors credit this in great part to the courageous leadership of Uganda's president.  This is a remarkable story -- the entire article is well worth reading:

In 1986, Museveni, a hero of Uganda's civil war, declared that the nation was still at war and the enemy was AIDS. He undertook public education on HIV, and his ongoing series of radio AIDS messages urged men in particular to change their behavior-to be sexually responsible-and encouraged "mutual respect" between spouses, widely interpreted as mutual fidelity. Women's groups also played a key role by mobilizing and publicizing women's difficulty in controlling the circumstances under which they had sex. Museveni responded by highlighting the importance of promoting sexual behavior change and equity between men and women (F. Kitabire, personal communication). ***

Museveni spoke out on these issues:
***In the fight against HIV/ AIDS, women must be brought on board. In sub-Saharan Africa, most women have not yet been empowered and men dominate sexual relations. To fight this epidemic, the women must be empowered to take decisions about their sexual lives, and women in Uganda have been empowered and participate today at all levels of governance. This has made them more assertive of their rights than ever before. To fight AIDS effectively, we must empower women.

President Museveni ensured that affirmative action policies that enabled women to participate in local and national politics were written into Uganda's national constitution. Museveni also created a Ministry of Women's Affairs, charged with vigorous enforcement of laws against sex with minors. Both public and private school systems designed and implemented sexuality education, which included gender equity messages. The Museveni government developed both macro- and micro-credit schemes for women and fostered government and nongovernmental programs that promoted gender equity among women, men, and youth. 
 

The problem with focusing on abstinence while neglecting condom education is this.  Such a focus assumes abstinence

will allow young women to focus on going to school, controlling their relationships, and becoming socially empowered, and yet it fails to acknowledge the social circumstances driving sex in the first place. Many sexual relationships include transactional or commercial sex, in order to pay for post-secondary schooling, [or] to gain financial independence from family obligations***

An article highly critical of the Bush administration's AIDS campaign can be found here:
http://www.rollingst...

The writer of that article opines:

But under pressure from the Bush administration, Uganda has taken a dangerous turn toward an abstinence-only approach. In April, the country's Ministry of Education banned the promotion and distribution of condoms in public schools. To make matters worse, the government has even engineered a nationwide shortage of condoms, issuing a recall of all state-supplied condoms and impounding boxes of condoms imported from other countries at the airport, claiming they need to be tested for quality control. As of this year, a top health official announced, the government will "be less involved in condom importation but more involved in awareness campaigns: abstinence and behavior change."

This is the campaign Ambassador Tobias engineered. 

The anti-condom order issued by Tobias is already having a chilling effect among the groups most effective at combating AIDS. Population Services International, a major U.S. contractor with years of experience in HIV prevention, says it can no longer promote condoms to youth in Uganda, Zambia and Namibia because of PEPFAR rules. "That's worrisome," says PSI spokesman David Olson. "The evidence shows they're having sex. You can disapprove of that, but you can't deny it's happening."

Meanwhile, Tobias says he no longer gets "massages" through Pamela Martin Associates. 

Tobias, who is married, said there had been "no sex," and that recently he had been using another service "with Central Americans" to provide massages.

I wonder if Mr. Tobias is aware that there is an entirely legitimate profession of therapeutic massage, which employs educated, trained, licensed massage therapists?  Now you generally must go to their places of business.  Often they are allied with fitness clubs, or chiropractors.  As a personal user of therapeutic massage for over 20 years, I can attest to the many excellent health professionals in that business.  Among other things, it has eased my back and shoulder problems, and a simple diaphragm massage technique erased my GERD symptoms almost overnight.

USAID required groups to sign an anti-prostitution pledge despite concerns over its constitutionality. The pledge required all organizations receiving USAID money overseas to renounce prostitution, which some groups interpreted as abandoning efforts to prevent prostitutes from spreading AIDS.

The Brazilian government, which has had success in decreasing AIDS by working with prostitutes, refused to sign the pledge and lost a $40 million grant.

In an affidavit for a lawsuit over the matter, Pedro Chequer , director of Brazil's AIDS program, said his country strived to adhere to ``the established principles of the scientific method and not allow theological beliefs and dogma to interfere."

Does this really mean that USAID would not fund efforts to prevent prostitutes from spreading AIDS?  I think more investigation of this needs to be made.

On Friday, [ABC News'] Ross broke the news that U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Randall Tobias had frequented the escort service. Ross added new details to that story tonight, recounting how he asked Tobias in a telephone interview "if he knew any of the young women, their names. He said he didn't remember them at all. He said it was like ordering pizza."

I guess now it's like ordering Central American take out food.

Now here's a perfect use of understatement in writing:

Under President Bush, Tobias oversaw a program helping men in poor countries "develop healthy relationships with women."

And we shall see what comes out of this --

ABC News' Brian Ross revealed tonight that the list of customers of an alleged Washington-based prostitution service includes White House and Pentagon officials as well as prominent attorneys.

"There are thousands of names, tens of thousands of phone numbers," Ross said. "And there are people there at the Pentagon, lobbyists, others at the White House, prominent lawyers - a long, long list." Ross added that the women who worked for the service, potentially as prostitutes, "include university professors, legal secretaries, scientists, military officers."

"We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom pizza."

The champagne corks were popping at the Agency for International Development late Friday upon news that administrator Randall Tobias had resigned. President Bush's polls may be low, but he can take solace that Tobias's popularity amongst the rank-and-file was even lower.***

A recent American Foreign Service Association poll of 368 AID folks found that only 21 percent thought Tobias had been doing a good job in getting resources for the agency and its workers. One-third rated his efforts as poor and 45 percent described them as fair.

***The survey found 67 percent said overall work conditions were worsening. About 48 percent said morale was "low to poor" and only 12 percent said it was good. One person, perhaps a bit ahead of the curve, thought morale was excellent.

Think Progress has a piece on this too.  http://thinkprogress...

. . . a Bush administration economist, the head of a conservative think tank, a prominent CEO, several lobbyists and a handful of military officials.

http://blogs.abcnews...

We still don't know the most effective strategy for decreasing the number of new cases of HIV in Africa.  And since "the paper" is really an editorial, even that conclusion is unproven.

Although PLOS Medicine is a "peer reviewed" journal, the article entitled "Was the "ABC" Approach (Abstinence, Being Faithful, Using Condoms) Responsible for Uganda's Decline in HIV?" is clearly labeled a "PLOS MEDICINE DEBATE".

There's a lot of "pop sociology", "pop archeology" and "pop psychology" on RK parading around as Hard Science.  I'd encourage readers to remain skeptical and consult original sources and check out criticisms of these sources.

thanks for all your intellectual contributions to the Raising Kaine website!

The blog should also require some sort of registration (with no ID) to prevent people from using multiple identities.  (It is hard to believe that the three trolls who frequent this blog are not the same person, given the content and quality of their comments.  Frequently, they cannot even write in standard English.)

All in all, I agree with you that there are people here who "employ doublethink," "disrupt the flow of the debate," etc.  I guess the question is how aggressive we should be in banning those people.  Should we have a community vote on this?

On the other hand . . .

When someone makes up stuff, or mischaracterizes what one said -- it is a pain to have to go and show them why they were wrong, or how they misrepresented one's comments.  Detcord and Lobo do this all the time.  Or they go off on tangents, especially when they're backed into a corner.  And when someone gives them a total intellectual smackdown, one does not hear from them again for a while.  I conclude from such tactics that they are not interested in honest debate.  They only want to be disruptive, and vent their internal angst.  (It is a rotten time to be a conservative given the near collapse of the Bush Administration and the expose of its corruption.)

Interestingly, when most of the commenters on this site have disagreements, one does not find these intellectually dishonest "tricks."

For now, I'm adopting a new short tag, NWAR, to stand for "Not Worth A Response." 

Sorry.

CHICAGO - A leading group of pediatricians says teenagers need access to birth control and emergency contraception, not the abstinence-only approach to sex education favored by religious groups and President Bush.

The recommendations are part of the American Academy of Pediatrics' updated teen pregnancy policy.

"Even though there is great enthusiasm in some circles for abstinence-only interventions, the evidence does not support abstinence-only interventions as the best way to keep young people from unintended pregnancy," said Dr. Jonathan Klein, chairman of the academy committee that wrote the new recommendations.

There is no reputable medical organization that favors abstinence only programs.

This blog covered some of this topic weeks ago:  http://www.chinadail...
A Congressionally mandated report  by the Mathematica Policy Research firm found that elementary and middle school students in four communities who received abstinence instruction - sometimes on a daily basis - were just as likely to have sex in the following years as students who did not get such instruction.

Stop wasting the time of the readers on this blog by distributing misinformation.