Obama's legacy

[Boxlicker101]

You do have evidence to back up this version of history, right?

I remember the time quite well.

ETA: Here are more details from back then. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histo...sponse-to-the-aids-epidemic-180948611/?no-ist

 

[phrodeau]

I remember the time quite well.

You remember that all the straights were using condoms and the queers were not? Personal experience?

 

[sr71plt]

which resulted in shrill cries of protest from gay men, and refrain from sharing needles. In other words, prevention would be the key. But thousands of gay men refused to do the things heterosexuals do routinely, which caused the epidemic to be much worse.

Umm, no. They were scared shitless and were in panic as guys they'd been with withered and died around them and they sat waiting for their own death sentence. And I'm pretty sure I was there far more than you were.

 

[AlwaysHungry]

Gays were manipulated by conservative budget-cutters into opposing public health measures that are normally used to prevent the transmission of STDs. Not that this on topic.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Umm, no. They were scared shitless and were in panic as guys they'd been with withered and died around them and they sat waiting for their own death sentence. And I'm pretty sure I was there far more than you were.

You might have been, but I was around in the 1980's also, and I remember US Surgeon General C. Everett Coop recommending safe sex, especially among gay men. He warned about promiscuity and anal sex, and this caused protests among the gay community, who seemed to think their rights were being trampled on. They weren't; these were strictly recommendations.

The recommended measures would not have cured anything but they would have slowed the spread of AIDS among gay men. Eventually, this fact came to be universally recognized and is one reason why most of us include the use of condoms in our stories.

 

[sr71plt]

You might have been, but I was around in the 1980's also, and I remember US Surgeon General C. Everett Coop recommending safe sex, especially among gay men. He warned about promiscuity and anal sex, and this caused protests among the gay community, who seemed to think their rights were being trampled on. They weren't; these were strictly recommendations.

The recommended measures would not have cured anything but they would have slowed the spread of AIDS among gay men. Eventually, this fact came to be universally recognized and is one reason why most of us include the use of condoms in our stories.

Were you gay in the 1980s, Box? If not, shut your yap up about what gays thought and did about AIDS in the 1980s. Just shut your ignorant yap about that.

 

[AlwaysHungry]

Meanwhile, another important part of Obama's legacy is that he will be remembered as the president who ended manned space flight by the US. That, to my mind, is one of his greatest offenses.

 

[sr71plt]

Because flying around in space at great expense took our minds off everything deteriorating on earth and not getting attention?

 

[Sean Renaud]

Meanwhile, another important part of Obama's legacy is that he will be remembered as the president who ended manned space flight by the US. That, to my mind, is one of his greatest offenses.

Wait, Obama makes the budget now?

 

[sr71plt]

Wait, Obama makes the budget now?

Well, yes, the executive does set the budget up and then Congress tears it apart. In this case, though, it was the executive department that cut back on the space program. The Congress just didn't bother to shove money back into it.

But I'd have to agree that there are a lot more important infrastructure, environmental, and poverty-fighting programs to concentrate on here earth for a while before a lot more space exploration.

It is sort of interesting, though, that the voices who cry out for more spending on pet programs are the same ones that don't want to pay taxes to cover them.

 

[BotanyBoy]

this caused protests among the gay community, who seemed to think their rights were being trampled on. They weren't; these were strictly recommendations.

Gay community is largely Republican? Since when?

 

[Boxlicker101]

Gay community is largely Republican? Since when?

How on Earth did you ever come up with that Idea? I certainly made no mention of partisan politics in the gay community. I suppose their voting registration varied from one person to another, just as in most substantial groups.

Remember, this is the 1980's I am referencing.

 

[phrodeau]

Meanwhile, another important part of Obama's legacy is that he will be remembered as the president who ended manned space flight by the US. That, to my mind, is one of his greatest offenses.

WTF are you talking about? NASA is still sending people into space.

 

[AlwaysHungry]

WTF are you talking about? NASA is still sending people into space.

As passengers on vehicles built and launched by other nations. Here, you have some catching up to do.

 

[phrodeau]

As passengers on vehicles built and launched by other nations. Here, you have some catching up to do.

It's called outsourcing. DOD does it too, going back to the Revolutionary War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roderigue_Hortalez_and_Company

 

[RUlookingup]

Were you gay in the 1980s, Box? If not, shut your yap up about what gays thought and did about AIDS in the 1980s. Just shut your ignorant yap about that.

You didn't need to be gay in the 80s to understand the uncertainty of the times. No one knew much about t cells and I remember a co-worker who was beset with AIDS and a tumor of his lymph.nodes and just like that he was gone. The gay community organized and helped lead the way to solutions. No community has all the answers, we need to work together and.....Make America great again..

 

[BotanyBoy]

How on Earth did you ever come up with that Idea?

Most of the people screaming about their rights being trampled when they aren't in any way shape form or fashion are on the right side of the isle.

No institutionalized church government or Christian dogma forced at the end of a government rifle?That's destroying religious freedom according to the RW.

Treating non Christian nuclear family types like human beings? Destruction of religious freedom....

Anyone disagreeing with their views? Suppression of free speech....

You didn't need to be gay in the 80s to understand the uncertainty of the times.

Yea but he's paid 'dues' so he's the ultimate authority on everything and he ain't going to hear any fuckin' different.

 

[AlwaysHungry]

It's called outsourcing. DOD does it too, going back to the Revolutionary War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roderigue_Hortalez_and_Company

Dude, that was not outsourcing, nor was there a DOD at that time. However, you are right that we are outsourcing space flight now. Outsourcing is what empires in decline do, when they have degenerated past the point of being able to meet their own needs.

 

[sr71plt]

You mean like North Korea diverting most of its resources to nuclear weapon research makes it a healthy empire?

I think setting priorities for use of limited resources makes for a pretty stable empire. If the government wants to decide that exploring space is a back burner priority for using our resources at this moment (baring evidence that a possible belligerent is developing weapons-in-space technology), I'll applaud its use of common sense.

 

[AlwaysHungry]

The only thing more pathetic than the current generation of leaders in the US and Europe, is the courtier mentality of some of the people who live in those countries (I won't dignify them with the term "citizens") who know that they are never going to belong to the 1%, but are falling all over themselves trying to utter opinions which will be pleasing to those who do belong. Meanwhile, the suicide rate in the US is growing by leaps and bounds.

I take some solace from watching what China, India and Russia are doing. Those nations have a vision of the future; they don't try to make a buck by exploiting the rest of the world. They are going full steam ahead with science and technology. They are building fabulous infrastructure projects. They (especially China) are helpful to the nations of the Third World. Their leaders enjoy the enthusiastic support of their citizens. Their cultures are optimistic. And their combined military spending is a fraction of ours. Obviously, they are all out to get us.

 

[sr71plt]

I'm pretty sure that the vision of the average citizen in China, India, and Russia is focused on living until next week.

 

[AlwaysHungry]

I rest my case.

 

[sr71plt]

I rest my case.

Having just seen it go up in flames, resting it does seem to be a good idea.

 

[AlwaysHungry]

We have known the agony of war. Let us now find the courage, together, to spread peace, and pursue a world without nuclear weapons,"

...wrote the man who initiated a $1 trillion expansion of America's nuclear weapons program. That will be a big part of his legacy, for sure. BTW, he wrote that comment at a ceremony at Hiroshima. He has taken hypocrisy to a new apex.

 

[Sean Renaud]

Maybe in the extremely long run but otherwise that won't be part of the Obama Legacy.