Saturday, August 2, 2008

An Incomprehensible Double Standard: VIAGRA vs the Pill





Canada: The Viagra Effect: A Rise in AIDS for the 50-Plus Set?
January 22, 2004


Health Canada statistics show that about 12 percent of people who tested positive for HIV in the first six months of 2003 were 50 or older. "I have no doubt that Viagra and similar drugs have dramatically changed the sex lives of some older people and that is going to be reflected in higher rates of HIV/AIDS," said Dr. Réjean Thomas, director of Clinique Médicale L'Actuel.

Paul Lapierre, of the Canadian AIDS Society, said the disease's prevalence among older people, younger women, aboriginals and intravenous drug users reflects the growth and complexity of the epidemic. "Clearly, we have to do a better job of targeting our message," he said.
Lapierre said older Canadians with HIV/AIDS are difficult to reach because of taboos about talking about sex, attitudes toward condom use, and reluctance to get tested. Thomas stressed that contrary to popular belief, Viagra and its new competitor, Cialis, are not used solely by older men. The drugs, he said, have become part of the rave scene, and he noted dramatic rises in chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and herpes in recent years at his STD clinic.

Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, head of STD prevention and control for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, published a study, "Increased Risk of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Disease Transmission Among Gay or Bisexual Men Who Use Viagra, San Francisco 2000-2001" in AIDS (2002;16(10):1425-1428), showing that Viagra users had about 35 percent more sexual partners and 35 percent more STDs than non-users. The average age of users was 32.


***********************************************************************


I first became aware of the problem with Erectile Dysfunction pills and the rising numbers of over 50 AIDS vicitms in a documentary I saw three years ago. The documentary chronicled the lives of 6 AIDS patients in one retirement community in Phoenix. All five women were infected by the AIDS virus by the same male partner. He admitted to contracting the disease from a street prostitute in Las Vegas when he was 'test driving' his new Viagra prescription. Apparently the results of the 'test drive' were so wonderful that he took those results home with him. This is just one of untold stories of AIDS in retirement communities and among the elder set. The statistic quoted above in the Canadian journal are mirrored in the United States.

The increase in AIDS amongst the blue haired set 'coincidentally' came about a few years after the widescale introduction of Viagra. Pfizer, who manufactures Viagra, claims all this is just a coincidence. (By the way, I came across a strange little article which claimed that in May of last year, the Vatican has struck a deal with Pfizer to buy their Nerviano, Italy Viagra plant. If true, this is quite the purchase by our 'celibate' clergy.)

The egregious double standard in all of this is that the Church in some quarters has actively encouraged the use of Viagra as an aid to marriage, especially in Spain. Sales of Viagra are growing most rapidly in Spain. There has been no mention of the fact that Viagra can lead to all kinds of promiscuous behavior, such as the above article shows. Promiscuous behavior which is indicated by increased STD levels in younger populations and the prevalence of ED drugs on the party scene. ED drugs are the most bought and sold illegal drugs in Mexico. Must be a lot of happy marriages in Mexico. I was unable to find one pronouncement from any Vatican authority on the use of Viagra encouraging promiscuous behavior.

How surprising is that when one of the biggest fighters against insurance companies providing benefits for birthcontrol is the Roman Catholic church. The same insurance companies will cover ED drugs with no opposition from church authorities. On average birth control drugs are half the cost of ED drugs. Cost apparently isn't the issue. Nor is the potential for promiscous behavior.

Obviously the Church must think ED drugs are the cat's meow because they increase the ability to procreate. Apparently procreating is such the greater good that all the statistics which point to the abundant use of these drugs for promiscuous sex can be overlooked. The simple fact that ED might be a NATURAL part of male ageing can be overlooked.

The Vatican was even consulted by Pfizer before full scale production to make sure they would have no religious reasons against the use of the drug. Apparently the Vatican decided to see Viagra in the same case as Insulin injections, a medical intervention in the service of life, not a quality of life issue such as birth control or face lifts. I see this as just another way of underlining the fact that male virility is seen as the ultimate expression of masculinity in the 'Natural Law' scheme of things. A pill for that plumbing is Godly. A pill for the other plumbing is Satanic.

So as unsuspecting older women contract AIDS from their ED pilled up male mates, natural law is upheld. Ain't it great to be a Catholic woman. It sure is to be a Catholic man.

11 comments:

  1. Tsk tsk on the Vatican. Double standards galore. I've read through once and I have to go back and take a double take on this. There's something there that has me wondering what the h is going on with these men? God bless their hearts for loving the men so much, and leaving the women in the dust. They truly are blind of their blindness.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tsk Tsk hell - I am royally pissed!

    Butterfly, you hit it square on, birth control is for women, therefor it is a sin. Viagra is for men therefore it is good. The vatican continues steadfastly forward with a one track mind, a track that hopefully will derail them and lead to their collapse sooner than later.

    Perhaps the question we should be asking is "how many of the residents of the Vatican are on viagra, and why?"

    Butterfly, what is going on with them is simple, in layman's terms, they have a terminal case of HUTA. No one has ever asked another question, "how many of are leaders are suffering from senility, alzheimers, dementia, etc, and are still making decisions for the church?"

    Has anyone asked the question "how much did being a Hitler youth affect PB's attitudes?" Some of his actions of late are eerily similar to the writings of Mein Kampf.

    The question to ask is "which master are they serving?. Although, as Jesus said, "by their actions" ... by their actions, it is obvious who they are serving, no point in asking that question.

    My sense is of an escalation,
    - a priest is president of paraguay with the popes blessing even though that is a clear violation of canon law
    - flagrant antifeminism
    - election tampering in the US
    - ordering the anglicans to condemn homosexuals and women bishops
    - blatant attempts to destroy the anglican church
    - voting for Obama is a sin???

    I keep wondering what will be the precipitating event that causes the world to turn against the vatican, hopefully not the church as a whole, but against the vatican.

    As I said, I'm royally pissed tonight.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Do you suppose I could petition the catholic church for an annulment of my "conversion"? How much do you suppose it would cost and how long it would take?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Carl, I wrote a poem today. It is a sequel to the other poem I wrote on ncrcafe entitled Strawman's Shadow. Perhaps this will soothe your soul. I might post it on ncr, but on here first tonight. There will be more sequels to this story, that is for sure. I've been in the rhymin' mood lately.

    STRAWMAN’S FILE

    So let's blame all scandal, rape of children by clergy on this
    And then just seal the issue up with a Vatican kiss
    Blame it all on some liberal theologian's twist
    Find a straw-man out there that must be ditched.

    Label and identify and then put it in the file
    Teach by edict, conquer perceived threats, scapegoat is the style
    We've identified the culprit and it’s stacked on the pile
    Like in the good old days when Christians saluted “Sieg Heil!”

    Obey authority that believes you’re mindless and forbids you to think
    March in lock step to this tyrannical conundrum and share in this dogmatic ooze of a drink
    It purifies us of this clerical system's abuse-enabling and magnanimous stink
    Absolute rule is the only way or to hell we'll surely sink.

    Blame it on the 60’s & the 70’s, oh what an awful time
    When protestors challenged authority & identified injustices & crime
    Blame it on freedom of conscience that VI decided to undermine
    Blame it on VII, blame it on concupiscence, and label it truth’s nursery rhyme.

    We’ll call the rhyme of truth the way it’s seen by a tiny gamut of men of rank
    Their office is divinely ordained and nothing from it ever stank
    Jesus Christ they say is head of her, but history shows that notion sank
    When Popes and faithful aligned with iron fists and tanks.

    Proportionalism if one begins to think was at its peak back when we fought the Japs
    Better to use the nuclear bombs was the thought, or rather the unchristian lapse
    Think more and I'm sure this topic will get you thinking of many a Pap
    That started the cockamamie notion of infallibility, which God knows, it’s absolutely crap.

    (Maybe I'll try to put that to some music).

    ReplyDelete
  5. And Carl - "Has anyone asked the question "how much did being a Hitler youth affect PB's attitudes?

    Interesting question that the Pope should answer. "All things shall be revealed."

    " Some of his actions of late are eerily similar to the writings of Mein Kampf."

    Do you have some quotes from Mein Kampf that are "eerily similar."? I'd be interested in hearing this connection.

    I've edited the bit wordy poem already. The newer version here is clearer and easier to work with musically.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Butterfly:

    The poem is good. I like ryhymy poems. Do you have a song in mind?

    I would have to find a copy and reread it for exact references, but cliff note versions as best I can remember:

    Todays scapegoats are the homosexuals instead of the jews

    Indoctrination of the children early - (catholic education is not new, but what are his revisions to it for next year)

    Sow fear and hatred between opposing factions of opposition groups (the anglican congregation, liberal/conservative US catholics) to keep attention shifted elsewhere

    Put loyalists in key government positions (paraguay president, mccain's catholic aid, st stanislaus board) and discredit and purge dissenters (sebelius, bozak)

    Protect the state (papal infallibility) at all costs (blame the victims, use bribery and/or force to silence the opposition - fr bozak, sr louise, Univ of SD)

    Use unexpected overwhelming force (blitzkrieg) to defeat your enemy (the recent spam slam over the euchrist issue, bill donohue, australian legal fines during WYD, opus dei activity?)

    Mercilessly crush the opposition (excommunication of women priests, lawsuit against st stanislaus)

    I admit, it may look like a bit of a stretch right now, and if it hadnt been for his background, I would probably not have made a connection. It may only be a coincidence ... time will tell.

    After I started writing, I realized that what has been gnawing at me is not so much the individual issues as the pattern that is unfolding. I really hope I am wrong on this one.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Carl, I agree with you totally. It's the pattern, and it's a purposeful agenda. They seem to be trying to create an homogenous energy or a totally committed team.

    I keep wondering why. If it's just to protect the tradition or the clerical system then it's evil, pure and simple.

    But if this has another agenda, they need to come out with it so people can make a real choice as to whether they want to participate in the Catholic form of collective spiritual energy.

    A divided Catholic spiritual energy is a castrated form of spiritual energy. It's interesting to me that at the same time the world wide spectrum of indigenous spiritual leaders are coming together and dropping their secrecy and exclusionary habits, Christianity is taking the opposite tact.

    I truly believe we are in a cosmic battle and just won't admit it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Carl, I read through your list and I don't know "if Todays scapegoats are just the homosexuals instead of the jews. Could be that women are the scapegoats, along with homosexuals. Anyone it seems with a shred of questioning doubt about the Pope's or the hierarchy's decisions or behavior or views could be considered a "liberal." A liberal or progressive, or enlightened minded person seems to be the general scapegoat, because they are not in agreement totally with them. A liberal to them is someone who has a question of their authority, spirituality or logic, even a legitimate one. They "equate" a liberal or progressive or enlightened view as being against God, because they believe that God is on their side and not on ours. The conservative religious are the Christian's version of a Taliban in a public square whipping people into submission to their ideology and laws and disallowing any disagreement with them.

    Being liberal minded as they see it is to think differently or able to think on one's own two feet. That would be an adult and in their view they are the adults, we are not. Their teachings are for children to obey without question. Notice how Thomas always talks about sexual sins? Rather than talk about issues in their broader social context, he's been 'programmed' to recite the catechism and zoom in on all those sexual sins. We've got a major Presidential election coming up and he's talking about sexual sins. Sure, there are plenty of people being immoral, but why zoom in on just the hormonal aspects of life and not on the immoral aspects that are militaristic and the evil war-mongering and the disastrous economic policies of the last eight years and the effects of NAFTA on the US economy? I was writing again late into the night and came up with a list of reasons that could be used to "wrongly justify" any type of sin. I'm considering submitting it to Thomas on ncrcafe. I think it is important we don't allow him to hog up the boards with his program of teaching of the catechism and treating us as if we were born yesterday and didn't have a brain in our head. I wonder who Thomas' boss is, how old or young he is? He's got a serious case of HUTA and RUTA. (replace head with religion).

    Years ago, as a sidebar, in my immediate family, I was treated as coldly and judgmentally as these HUTA's and RUTA's. Judgementalism, if there is an ISM to blame, is the biggest problem in our world today. On 9/11 it was vengeful judgmentalism which is a form of scapegoating, not judgement from God, that caused religious fanatics to use airplanes as missiles and kill thousands of people in the US. Part of today's psychology has to take into account the "fear factors" of the general US population. In the Churches, for the conservatives, their fear is that the cause of the religious fanatics judgement against us is due to "sexual sins" and taking God out of prayer and the pledge of alliance to the flag, etc. The "religion" factor has interesting parallels when one reads anything about Germany in the in 1930s. All of the points you mentioned are being used which are eerily similar characteristics and are a result and symptomatic responses to their many phobias and pathological disorders and fears.
    They are the result of errors in judgement, justification for sin, but they are too blind to see it. They are as blind as those who nailed Jesus to the cross when you really think about it. Jesus was a scapegoat too, rejected, despised. If they treated him that way, so will we when we follow Jesus.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Colleen, I am in agreement we are is a "cosmic" battle. We are in a battle for consciousness of the planet. On the one side we have the light consciousness of love championed by Carroll, Walsh, Williamson, us, etal. On the other side is the darkness consciousness of fear, championed by organized religions.

    While the obvious battlefront is the escalating flurry of journalistic rhetoric that is flying back and forth, I believe the real battle is the one being waged between "our ears" and behind "our eyes". The battle will be won or lost by how well each of us holds our consciousness in harmony and alignment with the higher consciousness of love. The other side is just shadow, shadow that disappears whenever we turn on "our" light. It only takes one small light to make the darkness disappear.

    ReplyDelete
  11. At first I was hesitant about ordering from online pharmacies but I ordered from WWW.MEDSHEAVEN.COM and I can tell you that I had a good experience,my medication was delivered.I was not scammed and their medications are effective.no prescription required.

    ReplyDelete