Reagan Commission Member Calls For End To HIV Criminalization Laws

By Zack Ford on Nov 30, 2012 at 3:25 pm

Dr. Colleen Conway-Welch

Dr. Colleen Conway-Welch was a member of President Reagan’s original commission to investigate AIDS, and she now says it’s “probably past time to go back” and reevaluate the laws criminalizing HIV per the commission’s recommendations. These recommendations included creating “affirmative duties” for those infected with HIV to disclose their status to sexual partners or be subject to criminal penalties. All 50 states have policies that could allow for prosecuting a person for intentional transmission of HIV, including 39 with HIV-specific criminal statutes. According to Conway-Welch, these laws don’t reflect current science:

CONWAY-WELCH: Most of the criminal laws were put into place in the early 90s because people were scared, and it would make sense to recommend that they go back. In medicine now, there is a real push for evidence-based interventions, and I think that for those laws that were not evidence-based, I think it would be time to go back.

Indeed, laws punishing the possible transmission of HIV serve more to humor vengeance and fuel anti-HIV stigma than to actually curb infection rates. A study released in July showed that HIV criminalization discouraged individuals from getting tested for HIV or seeking care once diagnosed out of fear for being exposed for prosecution. A similar study in Canada found that because of the laws, many will not get tested or even discuss sexual practices with nurses and physicians, and will in fact have higher rates of unsafe sex. Meanwhile, there is little evidence to show that the laws have any beneficial effect in fighting the epidemic.

Protecting people from HIV infection is an important priority, but maintaining a public bias against those who are positive is anathema to the cause. Efforts should focus more on prevention and less on punishment.

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Security

Poll: Israelis Don’t Support Unilateral Iran Strike

By Hamed Aleaziz and Zack Beauchamp on Nov 30, 2012 at 3:07 pm

Pro-American rally in Tel Aviv.

A large majority of Israelis oppose a unilateral military attack on Iran over its nuclear program, according to a recent poll conducted by the Brookings Institute. A scant 20 percent of Israelis would approve of striking Iran without American support, and when the question is asked without the American qualifier, a majority of all Israelis and a plurality of Israeli Jews still oppose bombing Iran. What’s more, 46 percent of Israelis would support Iran’s production of “low level nuclear fuel that could only be used for producing electricity” — a circumstance some say could be an outcome of a negotiated deal on Iran’s nuclear program.

The poll results also show that just 23 percent of Israelis conclude that a hit on Iran’s nuclear facilities would set back Iran’s nuclear program by more than five years. A small percentage of Israelis, 24 percent, think America will join an attack on Iran if Israel has already done so. And not surprisingly, 88 percent of Israelis believe that it is very or somewhat likely that Iran “will eventually develop nuclear weapons.” Overall, 58 percent of Israeli citizens either strongly or somewhat support a nuclear-free Middle East.

The result on what Israelis think of war with Iran is in line with many other polls taken on the subject. Indeed, many former high-level Israeli officials have come out against a unilateral attack on Iran, echoing the Obama administration’s preference for a diplomatic solution. They have argued that an attack would only delay, not end, Iran’s nuclear program, could hasten Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and also inspire support from the Iranian people toward the Iranian government. Other high profile former Israeli officials support direct discussions between the U.S. and Iran.

International Atomic Energy Agency director Yukiya Amano said earlier this week that a diplomatic solution on the Iran issue must be pursued “with a sense of urgency,” a position that the Obama administration appears to agree with. The White House, while stressing the threat an Iran with a nuclear weapon poses, has favors diplomacy to solve the stand-off while keeping all options on the table to deal with Iran’s nuclear program. The fact that U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies believe Iran has not yet made a firm decision to build a nuclear weapon has allowed the administration to point out that there is time to allow a diplomatic approach to succeed.

Despite constant noise from the right wing in this country that President Obama is not sufficiently pro-Israel, the same Brookings poll also found that Israelis themselves appear to think otherwise. The survey found that 60 percent of Israelis have a “very” or “somewhat” positive view of the president, which is actually somewhat higher than the percentage of Americans that feel the same way.

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Climate Progress

House Committee Leaders Deny Climate Change While Extreme Weather Devastates Their States

By Climate Guest Blogger on Nov 30, 2012 at 3:00 pm

by Jackie Weidman and Whitney Allen

On November 27th, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announced the new and returning House committee chairmen (and yes, they are all men). Some of these congressmen will run committees with jurisdiction over federal climate, energy, and environmental programs. This includes funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Clean Air Act, balancing the use of our public lands between energy production and recreation, and determining the infrastructure needs of a nation that now faces unpredictable extreme weather threats linked to climate change.

The vast majority of these chairmen voted for legislation that would dismantle EPA’s ability to limit industrial carbon pollution, and for retention of special tax breaks for the oil and gas industry. Oil and gas, coal, and electric utility companies have cozied up to many of these chairmen, giving them roughly $3.8 million in campaign contributions over the course of their careers.

Meanwhile, many climate-related extreme weather events have severely afflicted Americans over the past two years, including in their home states. Record-breaking drought and heat waves, severe floods, and heavy storms wreaked havoc for the families living in the chairmens’ backyards. Scientists predict that these weather events will become more frequent and/or severe if the industrial carbon pollution responsible for climate change remains unchecked.

Let’s take a look at some of the Republicans who will oversee federal climate, energy, and environmental programs over the next two years, as well as their campaign contributions from the industries responsible for most climate pollution:

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Economy

Infrastructure Spending Needed: Century-Old New Jersey Bridge Collapses For Second Time In Four Years

By Aviva Shen on Nov 30, 2012 at 2:50 pm

A bridge in Paulsboro, New Jersey collapsed Friday morning, derailing a train carrying highly flammable and carcinogenic vinyl chloride into Mantua Creek. The most recent reports say at least 28 people are having trouble breathing from the spill’s vapors and residents are being evacuated. Local schools are in lockdown.

This is the second time in four years that this bridge has collapsed. In 2009, the bridge buckled and plunged several coal cars into the creek. The bridge has certainly weathered a lot of wear and tear since it was built in 1873. Residents were not surprised last time it collapsed:

Gary Stevenson, a former Paulsboro fire chief whose two-year-old house is a matter of yards from the buckled bridge, said he has become accustomed to a “boom, boom, boom” noise as trains cross the span. “The exact section where they are at,” Stevenson said, pointing to Conrail workers surveying the damage. “Boom, boom. The exact section.” Conrail crews, “are there twice a week” as of late, Stevenson said. The bridge with an iron A frame dates to 1873 two years older than his grandmother’s house on whose ground Stevenson built his residence. … [Mayor John] Burzichelli observed “things could have been a lot worse.” No rail cars overturned. Burzichelli noted the affected cars were carrying coal not hazardous liquids.

Even if the Mantua Creek bridge is successfully repaired after this latest disaster, there are thousands of similar “time bomb” bridges around the country ready to collapse at any moment. The average American bridge is now 43 years old — and a 2008 Department of Transportation survey determined that 72,868 are “structurally deficient,” while 89,024 are “functionally obsolete.”

Despite the urgency of this crisis, US spending on infrastructure is projected to fall short by $139 billion or more over the next decade. Meanwhile, Republicans have pushed for a devastating cut of $871 billion in infrastructure investment.

Paulsboro Mayor Burzichelli apparently reached out to Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) for expedited repairs to the Mantua Creek bridge in 2009. Lautenberg introduced a bill in 2011 to encourage private investment in infrastructure and bolster federal funding. The bill, unfortunately, went nowhere.

As Paulsboro struggles to clean up this most recent mess, it’s worth remembering that infrastructure investment is not only desperately needed, but would also provide a huge boost to the economy. A new study found that every dollar invested in infrastructure has a return for state economies of at least $2. The effects are even more pronounced during an economic downturn.

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LGBT

Rabbinical Council Tries To Distance Itself From Jewish Ex-Gay Group

By Zack Ford on Nov 30, 2012 at 2:30 pm

The Rabbinical Council of America, which represents 1000 Orthodox Rabbis, has released a statement distancing itself from the Jewish ex-gay ministry JONAH. Former JONAH patients filed suit this week accusing JONAH of “consumer fraud” for marketing the promise of changing their sexual orientation and instead of subjecting them to humiliating and shaming practices. RCA wants a letter it once printed removed from JONAH’s website:

As rabbis trained in Jewish law and values, we base our religious positions regarding medical matters on the best research and advice of experts and scholars in those areas, along with concern for the religious, emotional, and physical welfare of those impacted by our decisions. Our responsibility is to apply halakhic (Jewish legal) values to those opinions. [...]

Despite numerous attempts by the RCA to have mention of that original letter removed from the JONAH website, our calls, letters, and emails remain unanswered… We want it taken down. JONAH said it was a letter of support, but if you read the letter it is not. They took an informational statement and reprinted it, and the use of that as an endorsement is an error.

Though RCA points out that numerous Orthodox leaders have rescinded their support for ex-gay therapy, the letter in question does in fact read as supportive, encouraging rabbis to refer individuals from their congregation to JONAH:

Rabbis may refer any individuals within their congregations who are dealing with unwanted same sex attractions or any families who have a member thereof facing such an issue. Please contact them if you need referrals for therapists who specialize in working with this population or for programs that may be of assistance. JONAH’s numerous support groups may be of value to congregants, either for those struggling with the issue and/or for their families.

Rather than worry about a letter, RCA might consider simply making a clear condemnation of ex-gay therapy. This may be less likely, because the Orthodox community has traditionally been an unwelcoming place for LGBT people, Chaim Levin, one of the plaintiffs in the suit against JONAH, has frequently pointed out.

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Justice

Rate Of Incarceration Declines, But U.S. Remains World’s Number One Jailer

By Nicole Flatow on Nov 30, 2012 at 2:30 pm

One in every 34 U.S. adults was under some sort of correctional supervision in 2011 – whether it be in prison or jail, or on probation or parole, according to new figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. This is the lowest rate since 2000, and the third consecutive year in which the rate has declined. The number of people incarcerated also declined 1.3 percent, but the United States nonetheless remains the number one jailer in the world, with a rate of incarceration that far eclipses that in every other major developed nation.

The consequences of the U.S. system of mass incarceration extend far beyond individuals’ time in prison. Even after they are released, they are subject to supervision by the correction systems, and then to countless laws and policies that limit future opportunities for, or pave the way for discrimination against, those with criminal records in areas ranging from employment to housing. Many of these individuals become entrenched in this system because of nonviolent drug offenses.

This figure does not even include youth, and juvenile detention is an entirely separate and equally alarming system, fueled in part by the school-to-prison pipeline that disproportionately funnels minority students into the criminal justice system for school disciplinary violations. What’s more, many juveniles convicted of crimes are placed in adult prisons.

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Politics

DONATE: Why LGBT Rights Advocate Zach Wahls Needs You To Support ThinkProgress

By ThinkProgress on Nov 30, 2012 at 2:23 pm

Thank you for reading ThinkProgress. Help us meet our goal. Before our fundraising campaign ends at midnight, DONATE HERE to help fund our one-of-a-kind, progressive reporting.

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Alyssa

Winnie Holzman’s Lost HBO Show, ‘Sex And The City,’ And An Alternate History Of The Golden Age of Television

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Nov 30, 2012 at 2:10 pm

My friends Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz have a long and marvelous (and I’m not just saying that because they are my friends) conversation about Alan’s new book, The Revolution Was Televised (about which more later) up at Press Play. And something Alan said helped a lot of my thinking about the era of anti-hero television over the last year or so snap into place. He told Matt:

When Carolyn Strauss told me that HBO’s decision of what to do as their first show after Oz came down to The Sopranos or something by Winnie Holzman, the creator of My So-Called Life, about a female business executive at a toy company, I immediately stopped paying attention to the interview for a good five minutes, because all I was thinking about was an alternate timeline where this Winnie Holzman show was the next big HBO show. I was asking myself, would the other show have spawned imitators? Or would it not have, because “Female business executive at a toy company” is not as inherently cool as “New Jersey wiseguy in therapy”?

It’s striking to me that while both of them talked about this alternate world, neither, at least in the edited version of the interview that appears online, mentioned Sex and the City. There’s no question that The Sopranos, which began airing seven months after the debut of Sex and the City in the summer of 1998, is the more formally ambitious show. But Sex and the City has never really gotten the credit it deserves for its deeply probing discussions of, among the factors my friend Emily Nussbuam at the New Yorker has identified, romanticism and cynicism, second- and third-wave feminism, and libertinism and prudishness, nor for its foundational role in the rise of HBO. Both in terms of acting as a destination show that brought viewers to the network while it elevated the traditional sitcom, and in the income it provided to HBO through syndication, Sex and the City deserves both critical and financial recognition for its role in elevating both the network and cable television in general.

And it, and the possibility of this long-lost Winne Holzman, raise the specter of an alternate universe of prestige television drama that’s dedicated to the rise and deconstruction of female fantasies in the way that shows like Breaking Bad or Mad Men paint glorious specters of masculine badassery that are the primary draw for some viewers, and then reveal the rot in them, a process that’s the primary draw for others. I can dream up a lot of the kinds of shows that we’d have in that bizarro world: in genre, the She-Hulk procedural I bring up so often I know it’s annoying, a functional version of Powers with Katee Sackhoff as Deena Pilgrim, in period shows, something about Helen Gurley Brown and the rise of women’s magazines, or a kicky vision of the seventies and eighties in Washington and New York through the eyes of a woman suspiciously like Nora Ephron, in crime, maybe a story about the DC Madam. I suspect the dynamics of this world would be similar: a period of establishing the competence and coolness of these women, followed by overreach, downfall, and accountability (arcs, by the way, that Sex and the City and Girls‘ most determined critics never give those shows enough credit for following). But the details would be different: we’d have to have audiences that accept private lives as important as power struggles, sex as something to be explored rather than simply had, frivolity as not more condemnable than violence or anger.

I wouldn’t want to have to choose between this fantasy world and the one we’ve got. I don’t want to give up Game of Thrones or The Wire for any of these other things. I just wish they could exist too, that Sex and the City wasn’t written out of history, and that Damages could have worked better on FX and on DirecTV, and that we weren’t still stuck on the idea that male fantasies are the stuff of literature, and female fantasies are treats.

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Health

The Details Of Obama’s Entitlement Cuts In One Chart

By Adam Peck on Nov 30, 2012 at 2:08 pm

As leaders from both parties jockey for position in the ongoing debate over the fiscal cliff, Republicans have sought to label their Democratic counterparts as unwilling to compromise, disinterested in anything other than raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, and on the whole not serious about tackling the nation’s long-term entitlement spending.

“I’m disappointed in where we are, and disappointed in what’s happened over the last couple weeks,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) told reporters. “And I would hope the White House would get serious as well.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he “burst out laughing” after seeing President Obama’s proposal and insisted that he should detail specific cuts to entitlements.

If Republicans want specifics, they know where to look. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner laid forth a detailed plan on Thursday containing proposals long held by the administration to both raise $1.6 trillion in additional revenue over the next 10 years and cut billions from Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs. On top of the $716 billion in savings included in the Affordable Care Act, in February, the administration detailed an estimated $360 billion in reductions by cutting back excessive provider reimbursements, securing more favorable drug rebates, and eliminating waste, redundancies, and inefficiencies. Obama has repeatedly claimed that those reductions are now on the table. Here is the detailed breakdown of that plan:

While the administration’s proposed cuts are designed to weed out inefficiencies within the health care system without impacting beneficiaries, the GOP’s plan — to the extent that it resembles Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) proposal — would to transform Medicare into a voucher program and shift the cost of health care to beneficiaries without lowering overall health care costs.

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Climate Progress

Irony Alert: American Petroleum Institute Calls For Obama To Aid ‘Economic Catastrophe’ Due To Warming-Fueled Drought

By Climate Guest Blogger on Nov 30, 2012 at 2:00 pm

by Katie Valentine

This summer’s historic drought hasn’t let up (in fact, it’s actually expanding in some areas) and it’s causing a lot of trouble in regions whose economies are driven by major bodies of water.

The drought, coupled with a seasonal dry period, has caused water levels on the Mississippi River to fall to near-record lows, which has hurt the Mississippi shipping industry badly. If water isn’t replenished soon (which doesn’t look likely, according to the NOAA Climate Prediction Center), the major waterway may be closed to cargo companies in the coming weeks. Right now, the river is about 13 feet deep in many places, which is 15 to 20 feet lower than normal. If it dips to around 9 feet – which National Weather Service hydrologists predict could happen by Dec. 9 – protruding rocks will make it nearly impossible for barges to pass. A closed Mississippi – or even closed portions – would mean companies would have to find other ways of shipping crops, fuel and other goods throughout the country.

These conditions have caused many members of congress and the business community to call on President Barack Obama to help Mississippi River shipping businesses get back to normal. They want the president to allow the Army Corps of Engineers to dynamite the rocky riverbed near two southern Illinois towns – Thebes and Grand Tower – to deepen the shipping channel, allowing ships to pass through on less water. They also want the Corps to stop reducing water flow from a Missouri River reservoir, which the Corps does each year to conserve water for the spring. Members of congress have sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers and spoken out about the issue, and on Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute, National Association of Manufacturers, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other trade groups and organizations sent a letter to President Obama, urging him to declare emergency in the region and calling for “immediate assistance in averting an economic catastrophe in the heartland.”

Ironically, many of these organizations have refused to acknowledge a growing problem behind the Mississippi’s water woes. Climate change will impact water levels in the U.S. for years to come: science has shown that a warming earth will likely lead to more frequent and more intense droughts like the one the U.S. is experiencing now.

“The drought that we are currently experiencing is consistent with an observed warmer climate,” said a group of Iowa scientists in a group statement earlier this month.

But these organizations actively fight against climate policy: the Chamber of Commerce, API and the National Association of Manufacturers were three of the major opponents of the EPA’s greenhouse gas regulations. In a statement on behalf of API and several other groups, National Association of Manufacturers CEO Jay Timmons called the final regulations “devastating” and “a setback for businesses.” Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue has had little regard for the dangers of climate change during his tenure; in January of this year, he called for expanded fracking, shale oil, and tar sands development in the U.S., saying that the country needs to use the hundreds of billions of tons of fossil fuels it contains under its surface.

The Mississippi River isn’t the only body of water that’s still being affected by the drought. The Great Lakes are also losing water: levels have fallen to near-record lows in Lakes Michigan and Huron, and water levels in Lakes Erie, Ontario and Superior are below average. Like on the Mississippi, shipping is a major industry in the Great Lakes region, and water levels have a major effect on its success.

Glen Nekvasil, vice president of the Lake Carriers’ Association, told the Wall Street Journal that the loss of water depth between this year and last means a 1,000-foot vessel is carrying about 1,200 to 1,500 fewer tons per load. The drought is also affecting other industries in the Great Lakes: low water levels in some places are causing marinas to be too shallow for boat docking, with the Army Corps of Engineers estimating that about 30 Great Lakes harbors will need attention in the next couple of years.

A recent Center for American Progress report, “Heavy Weather” indicates that droughts and heat waves in 2011-12 alone will cost the U.S. $40 to $88 billion. Jeff Masters of the Weather Underground reports that the damages could be as high as $150 billion.

With water levels down in many of America’s major waterways, it looks like the costs of this year’s drought will only increase.

Katie Valentine graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Journalism. She is currently an intern on the international policy team at the Center for American Progress.

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