African aids aide, drop it or keep it going?

[Emsworth]

We had a discussion about that a few months back, and the general consensus was that foreign aid is unconstitutional, unless proposed by the president and ratified by 2/3 of the Senate, as an exercise of the president's treaty-making power.

Certainly, there are very few constitutional limitations, as such, on treaties. I agree that a treaty would permit one to avoid the issue of constitutionality here.

[A18]

With respect to foreign countries, yes. With respects to internal law, the president can't do anything, as the Supreme Court has consistently ruled now for quite some time (an early ruling would have allowed the president's treaty-making power to effectively amend the Constitution, reading to an uproar in Congress, and almost a constitutional amendment prohibiting such, but the Supreme Court reversed itself).

[senatortombstone]

I say it should continue to exist as it has.  Give money to countries that promote the ABCs.  Abstinence, be fatihful and use condoms.  It's a behaviorial issue.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Wow, another old Opebo thread.

[opebo]

Wow, another old Opebo thread.

No, not really.  I'm still skeptical about the accuracy of the statistics.  However I would certainly double the monetary aid, just as a gesture of international good will.  Whether the rate of HIV is 5% or 25%, there is no harm in spending a lot more on the problem.

I also think that the key to reducing transmission would be coming up with some kind of cream or lube that could be applied by the woman - possibly even without the man's knowledge - prior to sex.  Obviously such a preventative would not be as effective as a barrier method, but I think it would be far easier to get people to use. 

I think it is folly to expect any group to consistently use condoms over the long haul, considering how poor condom-sex is relative to real sex.  Least of all third world males who do have some power and a fairly fatalistic attitude (not unreasonable given their situations).  The answer is to try to develop realistic strategies - better to get an 80% effect strategy used by 80% of the people, than a 99% effective strategy used by 20%.