Virgil Goode recently announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in 2012 in New York City. This video does not capture the entire thing, and the wind obscures a bit of the sound, but the basic idea is there.
Virgil Goode Announces Presidential Candidacy
If anyone has the full video, please share it.
Adding to an ongoing list of controversial statements, American Family Association President Bryan Fischer is now claiming that HIV is not the cause of AIDS or the AIDS epidemic.
Fischer made the comments Wednesday on his syndicated radio show, Focal Point, during an interview with Peter H. Duesberg, a discredited scientist who also claims that the disease manifestation known as AIDS is not caused by HIV. The apparent cause, according to Fischer and Duesberg — who authored the AIDS denialist manifesto “Inventing the AIDS Virus” — is too much homosexual sex and recreational drug use.
And what evidence does Fisher have that HIV does not cause AIDS?
Fischer: I read a story about Earvin Johnson — Magic Johnson–
Duesberg: Ah, yes.
Fischer: A very prominent diagnosis of AIDS in 1991, I think it was.
Duesberg: That is correct.
Fischer: And everybody thought he’s going to die, he’s going to keel over, he’s going to wither away. And here he is 20 years later — and the article was celebrating the 20th anniversary of his diagnosis. You look at the guy and he is absolutely as healthy as a horse, but he’s been HIV-positive for 20 years and that would fit your theory that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS.
Duesberg: And so are 100 million Americans that been HIV-positive in ’85 — and even now in 2012, it’s still 1 million HIV-positive Americans. On average, they have the same life expectancy as the rest, else otherwise they would have disappeared by now.
What Fischer and Duesberg don’t note in this exchange is important. First, Johnson was never diagnosed with AIDS. He was diagnosed as HIV-positive. AIDS is a clinical manifestation of the disease process caused by the virus — HIV — which includes a significantly compromised immune system and one of several infections not found in people with healthy immune systems. Second, neither Duesberg nor Fischer note that as a very wealthy man, Johnson had access to the best medical care and best medications from the moment of his diagnosis. In fact, that flies in the face of a claim by Duesberg that antiretroviral drugs are toxic and kill more people than HIV itself does.
And finally, neither notes that Johnson himself, on Nov. 7, 1991, denied having AIDS. From CBS News:
“I just want to make it clear, first of all, that I do not have the AIDS disease.”
CBS News also reports that Johnson’s care was overseen in part by Dr. David Ho, the scientist who is credited with discovering protease inhibitors, a powerful drug which stops the virus’ replication process.
The folks at the National Association of People With AIDS are not keen on Fischer’s venture into AIDS denialism either.
“There’s no excuse for denying that the HIV virus causes AIDS,” said Peter Kronenberg, communications director for the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group. “It’s been accepted for years that HIV passes all the standard tests for identifying an infectious agent as the cause of a disease. With very rare exceptions (which can be traced to other health conditions), the virus is present in all patients who display the complete immune system breakdown that characterizes advanced AIDS. Transmission of the virus to uninfected persons causes steady progression towards AIDS as long as the virus is left untreated and unchecked. When the virus is finally treated, even very advanced AIDS patients come back from the brink of death as their immune systems begin to rebuild themselves. There’s nothing left to prove: HIV causes AIDS.”
Watch the Right Wing Watch has the entire Duesberg-Fischer interview:
Photo: Bryan Fischer at the 2011 Values Voter Summit (AMERICAN INDEPENDENT/Sofia Resnick)
First video message from Jill Stein, a candidate for the Green Party presidential nomination:
The security camera on a Las Vegas street catches pissed-off city-slicker Mitt Romney fighting trash-talking cowboy Rick Perry after Tuesday’s GOP debate. When the other Republican hopefuls, along with Anderson Cooper, are unable (or unwilling) to break it up, sheriff … Continue reading
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An Austin supporter of Ron Paul wants to know if there are any women who have engaged in promiscuous activity with Rick Perry. Paul refused to comment on the print ad Friday, saying it would provide something “rather silly” with “too much credibility.”
Robert Morrow, the Paul supporter responsible for the ad, spoke briefly with reporter Justin Elliott of Salon, indicating that the organization noted on the ad — Committee Against Sexual Hypocrisy (CASH) — was really just himself.
In part, the ad reads: “HAVE YOU EVER HAD SEX WITH RICK PERRY? Are you a stripper, an escort, or just a ‘young hottie’ impressed by an arrogant, entitled governor of Texas? Contact CASH, and we will help you publicize your direct dealings with a Christian-buzzwords-spouting, ‘family values’ hypocrite and fraud. … Offer not valid for enabling wives wearing Hillary Clinton boots. Note to gay people: If you know the truth about Rick, please QUIT covering for him.”
Although there is no evidence of extramarital affairs by Perry, Morrow claims to know women in August who have stories about the Texas governor, but who are unwilling to come forward. That’s why he took out the advertisement on page 14 of The Austin Chronicle.
Paul, appearing Friday on Fox News, brushed off an opportunity to discuss the print ad, indicating he knows nothing about it.
“I don’t know how something like that qualifies as a question on national TV as if it is something serious,” Paul told host Martha McCallum.
Christian Heinze of The Hill has video of the exchange, which is embedded below:
At a campaign stop in Iowa on Friday, a member of the audience grilled Tim Pawlenty on his views about rights for LGBT people. Gabe Aderhold, a senior at Edina High School, asked Pawlenty why he has “not had the courage to stand for me and my friends. You are discriminating against me and it hurts.” Pawlenty said he will never be at the point “where I’ll say that every domestic relationship is the same as traditional marriage.”
Pawlenty has opposed all efforts in Minnesota to give same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexual couples. And his opposition extends beyond marriage equality. He vetoed legislation that would give same-sex couples the right to fulfill a deceased partner’s last wishes in 2010. In 2008, he vetoed a bill that would allow local units of government to provide health care benefits for same-sex couples.
Also in 2008, he vetoed a bill to allow government employees, including same-sex partners, to use sick time to care for a seriously ill family member. The Minnesota Family Council pressed for a veto and got one.
“The end game in all of this is a legal imposition of homosexual marriage upon the state of Minnesota,” said Tom Prichard, the group’s president, at the time.
AMES — Tensions reached their apex Thursday night during the Fox News/Washington Examiner GOP presidential debate, sending Republican enthusiasm through the roof with less than 48 hours until the Ames Straw Poll gates open Saturday.
Debate topics were typical: conflict in the Middle East, American’s floundering economy, immigration, states’ rights, and of course, hot button social issues. Not to be missed were references to dog food and Mickey Mouse.
Atypical? How candidates came out swinging — at each other, at President Barack Obama and even at the debate moderators.
Twice, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn), a Straw Poll favorite and tea party darling, and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty traded heated words about the other’s political records and policies.
Poised and never appearing flustered, Bachmann deflected attack after attack fired by Pawlenty, including her compromise on raising Minnesota’s state tax on cigarettes in 2005. Pawlenty was then Governor, Bachmann, a state lawmaker.
Bachmann explained she initially opposed the tax, but later compromised upon learning of a provision in the same legislation that gave strong support to the anti-abortion community and platform.
“You can get money wrong, but you can’t get life wrong,” she said in the debate.
Pawlenty, who has been slow to gain momentum in the Hawkeye State, came back swinging, claiming the Congresswoman’s D.C. record was void of anything substantial.
“As to her record: she’s done wonderful things in her life, absolutely wonderful things, but it’s an undisputed fact that her record in Congress in nonexistent,” Pawlenty said. “She’s got a record of misstating and making false statements.”
“You’re killing us,” Pawlenty told Bachmann, drawing audible reaction from the audience.
The Congresswoman remained on point, countering the Governor by comparing his own record to Obama’s, stating: “You said the era of small business is over. That sounds a lot like Barack Obama if you ask me.”
Within the first hour of the debate, Bachmann and Pawlenty’s volleys almost overshadowed the other six candidates. Forty-five minutes passed in the debate with only a couple minutes from former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, a Catholic Conservative from Pennsylvania. Finally, in the second hour, a frustrated Santorum called Fox News moderator Bret Baier out for not giving him the same face time as Bachmann and Pawlenty, raising his hand and declaring, “I haven’t gotten to say a lot.”
Santorum and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) sparred over American intervention in Iran, with the long-time Congressman blaming the U.S. for hostilities in Iran.
“Anyone who says Iran is not a threat is not seeing clearly,” Santorum said.
The former Senator also had his chance to stand out late in the debate, when he gave an impassioned argument on why the debt ceiling had to be raised — a stance the other candidates, particularly Bachmann, have taken vehemently against. Santorum maintained while it had to be raised, it should have been done so with a balanced budget in place.
Prominent Atlanta businessman Herman Cain seemed to spend a significant amount of his face time clarifying past comments and telling America that it “needs to learn to take a joke.” However, Cain also touted his private sector experience in repairing the economy.
“It is imperative we get this economy going in the in next 90 days,” after the next president is inaugurated, he said. One of the foundations to that is making tax rates permanent and setting a maximum tax rate for corporations.
Frontrunner Mitt Romney, who earlier in the day incited political fireworks at the Iowa State Fair, stuck to oft-heard phrases on his campaign stops.
But when asked about the bipartisan legislation that raised the debt ceiling, Romney bluntly said, “I’m not going to eat Barack Obama’s dog food. What he served up is not what I would have done as President of the United States.”
Fellow candidate Newt Gingrich, who served as U.S. House Speaker in the 1990′s, was even more blunt, calling the super-committee borne from the debt ceiling drama “dumb,” and characterized debate moderator Chris Wallace’s questions as “playing Mickey Mouse games.”
Obama was the target of several political missals from the candidates, who admonished the President’s economic and fiscal policies, as well as his military strategies overseas.
New to the candidate stage was former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr. Though previously pledging to skip Iowa during his campaign, Huntsman, who was also Ambassador to China under the Obama administration, visited the Iowa State Fair before the debate.
Huntsman stood out from the other seven participants on stage: the practicing Mormon believes “in traditional marriage first, but also civil unions. Our country can do better when it comes to equality,” and added the issue of marriage should go to the states. Most of the other candidates who spoke on the issue, with the exception of Paul, support a federal amendment defining marriage between one-man-one-woman exclusively.
Huntsman also has not publicly presented an economic development plan. However, he stated Thursday he would repeat the policies implemented in his native Utah.
“I’m going to do exactly what I did as Governor. It’s called leadership,” he said. “We cut taxes historically and created the most business-friendly environment in the country.”
And to those who are still flirting with a 2012 bid? Bring it on, candidates said.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry — expected to join the fray this weekend — and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have not officially declared candidacy, but should they choose to, their would-be opponents are ready to welcome them to the field.
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I think you guys will like this video. Give it a watch and let me know what you think Author’s Description: John Stockwell is a former CIA officer who became a critic of United States government policies after serving in the Agency for thirteen years serving seven tours of Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, [...]
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