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Alright so I really don't know if I'm making too big of a deal out of this...but honestly I don't care...I feel that this is haneously wrong and something should be done about it...what I'm talking about is the American Red Cross' lifetime ban on active homosexuals from donating blood. Honestly are we still living in the Stone Age??? The main reason that this policy is in effect is because apparently only gay people can contract HIV/AIDS...I pulled this up from the ARC (American Red Cross) website and this is what it says in the HIV/AIDS section of the pre-donation questioning...

"You are at risk for getting infected if you:

-have ever used needles to take drugs, steroids, or anything not prescribed by your doctor

-are a male who has had sexual contact with another male, even once, since 1977

-have ever taken money, drugs or other payment for sex since 1977

-have had sexual contact in the past 12 months with anyone described above
received clotting factor concentrates for a bleeding disorder such as hemophilia

-were born in, or lived in, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea,Gabon, Niger, or Nigeria, since 1977.

-since 1977, received a blood transfusion or medical treatment with a blood product in any of these countries,
-or had sex with anyone who, since 1977, was born in or lived in any of these countries"

So there you have it folks only guys that fuck or get fucked by another guy can contract HIV/AIDS...especially if they've had sex since 1977 because everything was peaches and cream before then...forget about the 60's where people had random sex with anyone and everyone...there is no way you could contract anything from that era...seriously it's not like HIV/AIDS just popped up out of no where in 1977...it's a virus which means in mutated over time to get to where it is today.
There's no denying that the HIV/AIDS count is considerably higher amongst active homosexuals...but seriously how can the ARC completely disregard the rest of the population that has contracted the virus? Here are the latest numbers from the CDC (Center of Disease Control)...

Whites
Male To Male Sexual Contact-98,775
Injection Drug Use-13,268
Male To Male Sexual Contact and Injection Drug Use-11,846
Heterosexual Contact-5,710
Other-1,805
Total-131,404

Blacks
Male To Male Sexual Contact-55,573
Injection Drug Use-34,920
Male To Male Sexual Contact and Injection Drug Use-9,696
Heterosexual Contact-23,304
Other-1,640
Total-125,134

Hispanics
Male To Male Sexual Contact-34,761
Injection Drug Use-15,191
Male To Male Sexual Contact and Injection Drug Use-4,074
Heterosexual Contact-7,509
Other-581
Total-62,117

Asian/Pacific Islanders
Male To Male Sexual Contact-2,603
Injection Drug Use-332
Male To Male Sexual Contact and Injection Drug Use-177
Heterosexual Contact-433
Other-77
Total-3623

American Indian/Alaskan Natives
Male To Male Sexual Contact-56
Injection Drug Use-17
Male To Male Sexual Contact and Injection Drug Use-17
Heterosexual Contact-8
Other-1
Total-100

Those are the latest estimates from 2005...now like I said before yes the numbers are higher in the male to male contact category...but regardless of how many people have it in one category there are still people that have it across the board in all ethnic groups and those are only from the US...what I'm trying to say is that I think it's wrong to have a policy in place that singles out one group of individuals when it's quite apparent that HIV/AIDS is a problem amongst all peoples...I don't know if they're just scapegoating or what but regardless of their intentions the ARC is wrong on this...all this is is remnants of the ignorance of the 80's.
I really just don't understand there is such a blood shortage out there and we are living in an increasingly volatile world why they wouldn't accept blood from perfectly healthy people. I can understand that there is a possibility that the virus won't show up right away in tests. I could even understand if they changed the policy to people that have had unprotected sex...but seriously they are missing out on a whole lot of good clean blood out there that many people would be happy to have especially if it saves their life...honestly if the blood is clean I'm not going to care who the donor fucks as long as I get a better chance of living that's all that would matter to me. You know what? I retract my statement in the first sentence...this IS a BIG DEAL and someone needs to spread the word so our voices can be heard and so we can end this era of discrimination and hatred.

hey guys hope yall had a happy hump day...and have an even better valentine's day...i recommend visiting the site of the old clark st garage where the infamous massacre happened...anyways i've been sick lately ugh...idk if it's the flu or what but it's kickin my ass whatever it is...anyways i'm sure yall have been keeping up with the primaries and are hopefully as happy as i am that my man Obama is kickin ass and has now taken the delegate lead woot woot!...but we'll get into that another time cuz im about to go soak in the hot tub and crank up the fire place and hit the sack...i have plenty to write about though so check back in a day or so and there'll be a barage of new topics!
ciao bello!
zach

Gather around children and let me tell you a story about a time long ago way back in 1960...In March of 1960 former President Eisenhower enacted a plan to fight the communist bloc in Cuba...the plan included the end of sugar purchases, termination of oil deliveries, and the continuation of the 1958 arms embargo...later that year a partial economic embargo was imposed on food and medicine...now fast forward to 1962...former President Kennedy added on to the Eisenhower's plan and effectively ended all trade with Cuba and terminated all aid to countries that assist Cuba...the Kennedy Administration will later go on to expand the embargo including the prohibition of travel to Cuba...the travel ban to Cuba would remain in effect until 1977 when the Carter Administration lifted it...yet would be reinstituted in 1982 under the Reagan administration...the Reagan Administration also bans travel of Cuban diplomats to the U.S. and also restricts the travel of students, artists, and scholars. Fast forward again to 2003 and you will find the President Bush banned all vessels that even visit Cuba to come to U.S. ports...which brings us to our present time and being...to date the UN General Assembly has voted 16 years and running for the U.S. to end the embargo with Cuba.
Now tell how does any of this make sense? I mean seriously the Cold War ended in the 1991 with the fall of the Soviet Union. There is no communist threat to the United States anymore. May I also note that during the embargo for the years that it existed the United States traded with the Soviet Union, and when asked about it the excuse the government gave was that the Soviet Union was a permanent government and that Castro's regime was viewed as temporary therefore the embargo is justified. What the hell kind of excuse is that? Another thing, this embargo is bilateral between the United States and Cuba, I know we're the only superpower in the world, but why are we penalizing other countries that do trade with Cuba? The last time I checked that was against international law...but we're America so I guess that means we can do whatever we want (rolling my eyes). We say that we need to fight for liberty and justice for all...not only in our country...but across the world...a major reason why we got into Iraq...well my friends look at what we're doing to Cuba...we have caused so much damage to that country economically that it's hard for them to have any civil liberties when their medicine supply, food supply, and transportation is being severely hampered. Honestly I can't even think of a good excuse for why the embargo is still enacted. I mean it can't be because they're communist, because China is communist also and they're our biggest trade partner. You know alot of our problems in Latin America stem from this issue. From our arrogance towards Cuba. We think we can rule the world at everyone else's expense, it's not right by any means. This embargo is 50 years old this year, most people don't even remember why it was enacted in the first place. Well the time has come and passed and come and passed and come and passed and come to lift the embargo and reestablish friendly relations with this country that poses to viable threat to our nation. So let's end the hypocrisy write to your legislators and call for the end of this heinous embargo.

So last Tuesday (Super Tuesday)...it became quite evident that Senator John McCain is the frontrunner in the Republican race for president, and will probably be candidate of choice at the Republican National Convention this summer. He has now set his goals on uniting the Republican party and focusing on how to campaign against the Democrats for the election in November. I for one think Senator McCain is a very honorable man. He stays true to his word, and doesn't follow the "status quo" just to please his party, in fact he has pissed off just about every Republican in Washington D.C. For example, Senator McCain has voted against the tax cuts for the wealthy upper-class not once but twice...although now he has stated that he will vote to make these tax breaks permanent...but unfortunately that's the way the cookie crumbles in Washington...you have to say or do certain things if you want to get elected...another thing (which hits close to home for most of you reading this) Senator McCain has voted against the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage...it's nice to see someone in the political system these days that doesn't vote only with his party...he votes in the best interest of the American people...people like you and me...many people in conservative party and political shock jocks Rush Limbaugh and Ann(the bitch)Coulter complain that McCain isn't a true Republican because he isn't loyal to the "Bush Regime"...they even have the nerve to call him a Democrat (not that that is a bad thing but it's pretty insulting if you look at it from their perspective) and because he actually has the guts to reach across party lines to work on resolutions to actually get things done...since when is it a bad thing to actually work together to get things done???I mean come on people we don't elect these people to just sit there and bitch and complain all day like kindergarteners...we elect them to get things done for our best interest...think of it this way if you were the boss at a job would you hire someone that just sat around all day and twiddled their thumbs? Or would you hire someone that comes in on time and busts their ass to get their job done?...I think we would all pick the latter of the two...another issue that we all know about yet most people hardly talk about anymore is the war in Iraq...as a former service member I do have a little insight on this matter...many people in this country and in Washington D.C. are calling for the immediate withdrawal of our troops...now I firmly believe that our elected officials should listen to our wants and needs I mean we're the ones that put them in office the least they can do is listen to us...however...this would be a huge mistake and big blow to our security both at home and over-seas...if we were to pull out all of our troops say tomorrow while basic necessities like food, potable water, electricity (most people in Baghdad only get 4 hrs of it per day), and a basic sense of security are not guaranteed then all it would do is leave a huge void thus creating a power vacuum...and who do you think will be the first to fill that void?...yep you got it...organizations like Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Hezbollah, or even worse...Iran...if Iran were to basically create a stronghold in Iraq they could funnel more resources to attack us albeit inadvertently...but still they could attack us in Afghanistan (which is already starting to fall apart)...they could attack our allies such as Israel (which if that happens I WILL guarantee you WW III will result)...basically what I'm trying to say is that pulling out of Iraq prematurely (laugh it up you sicko's) will do nothing but harm us in the long run and cause us to have to enter a much larger conflict that can be avoided if we just stay and resolve the major issues...now I'm not saying we should sit there and hold their hand and basically give the Iraqi government a blank check like we have been doing...we need to set benchmarks and basically lay it all on the line and tell them if you don't get your act together then we won't be here to support you economically or militarily...no one wants to see their country fail...and honestly if they don't have us helping them right now they would fail and fall to the hegemon that is Iran. All of this ties in to who I was talking about originally, Senator McCain...he has fought in Vietnam and was a POW for many years getting to be an oh so lucky guest at the infamous Hanoi Hilton, and he also has his son who is a Marine being deployed to Iraq...so as far as the war goes I honestly do believe that Senator McCain would be the best Commander-in-Chief out of all the candidates Democrat or Republican...he knows the mechanics behind war and would actually listen to his generals and military advisors and not fire them when they disagree with him (ie Colin Powell)...now don't get me wrong I'm not endorsing Senator McCain by any means...I think he's a good guy and has done a tremendous job serving our country...however I don't think that he's the right man for the job...but like I said before I don't believe it's right for people to go "anti-McCain" just because he's "too liberal" and works across party lines...I think even the notion of that is pathetic and childish...anyways well I hope all of you voted last Tuesday...and if you feel as passionately and deeply as I do about the general election in November then get out there and spread the word to people...go volunteer for your candidate of choice...this will be a major turning point in our history...and yes my friend...every vote counts

If you're not signed up to volunteer and/or donate to a candidate here are their websites:

www.barackobama.com
www.hillaryclinton.com
www.johnmccain.com
www.mikehuckabee.com
www.ronpaul2008.com
www.gravel2008.us

Hey guys...so yea...it's been quite a while since I've posted anything on here...anyways things have been going quite well for me...have a new lover in my life...his name is nick and honestly I couldn't ask for better...the modeling gig is rolling along pretty well too...I've also been workin with the Obama campaign...so I'd say my life is going pretty well right now...anyways ill be doing more political blogs...I've just been really busy lately and haven't really felt that "urge" to write anything...anyways well g2g...goin to bake cookies with my boo!!!!
ciao
zach