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PBS's Erbe: Pope Benedict 'Horrifically Ignorant'
NewsBusters ^ | March 18, 2009 | Ken Shepherd

Posted on 03/19/2009 3:15:50 AM PDT by Zakeet

Hell hath no fury like a feminist writer directing a hissy fit at the pope.

Bonnie Erbe -- the US News & World Report contributing editor and PBS "To the Contrary" host who argued that Bristol Palin is more "mature" than her abstinence education-advocating mother -- finds the pope "horrifically ignorant" when it comes to HIV/AIDS.

What exactly did the pontiff say that set Erbe off? Try, "AIDS cannot be overcome by the distribution of condoms," hardly a controversial, implausible statement, but one that, to Erbe, showed the pope has "no sympathy" for women in Africa.

Yet in the midst of her sermon, Erbe showed it was she herself who was woefully misinformed:

The Pope is correct in saying that AIDS cannot be eradicated by condom use alone. Clearly, when young women are raped or otherwise forced into sex against their will, the men abusing them will not commit to use condoms.

But instead of offering these women useless verbiage, the Pope could have offered the vast resources of the Church to distribute anti-viral foam to young married women in AIDS-infested areas. Foam is the only form of AIDS prevention that young wives completely control and can use without their husbands' permission.

Distributing anti-viral foam to young married women would help prevent the spread of AIDS while still creating the babies the Church so desperately needs to fill its pews. But Pope Benedict made no mention of offering such help to African AIDS victims. He showed no understanding of the terrible lives these women endure, or the damage done to their children, many of whom are born HIV-positive or with AIDS.

But wait a minute, these foams are still in the experimental phase and of questionable preventative effect, commenter "Annette of PA" replied, citing the World Health Organization (WHO):

What "foams" are ready to be distributed? Antiviral foam to prevent HIV transmission is not yet available according to the WHO's website:

http://www.who.int/hiv/topics/microbicides/microbicides/en/

The most promising anti HIV gel, PRO 2000 is still in clinical trials. It's most recent efficacy rating in preventing HIV transmission is 30%.

Also, these foams may not have the desired effect as in SubSaharan cultures, "dry sex" is desired. Without changing the attitude of all (as Benedict is calling for), women will still be victimized.



TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: anticatholicbigotry; benedict; catholic; defundpbs; erbe; pbs; pope
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More Catholic bashing garbage -- this time from taxpayer supported PBS. For another horrible example from todays MSM, check out the Washington Post's editorial titled Impeach the Pope.

1 posted on 03/19/2009 3:15:51 AM PDT by Zakeet
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To: Zakeet

God, thank you for sending us Pope Benedict!


2 posted on 03/19/2009 3:20:18 AM PDT by sneakers (FUBO)
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To: Zakeet; NYer; Salvation; narses; wagglebee; Coleus; Pyro7480
At times one gets the impression that our society needs to have at least one group to which no tolerance may be shown; which one can easily attack and hate. And should someone dare to approach them – in this case the Pope – he too loses any right to tolerance; he too can be treated hatefully, without misgiving or restraint.

Benedict XVI, 3/12/2009

3 posted on 03/19/2009 3:20:46 AM PDT by markomalley (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus)
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To: sneakers

> God, thank you for sending us Pope Benedict!

Amen


4 posted on 03/19/2009 3:31:50 AM PDT by DieHard the Hunter (Is mise an ceann-cinnidh. Cha ghéill mi do dhuine. Fàg am bealach.)
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To: Zakeet
another horrible example from todays MSM...

Yuppers. Of course if Erbe said something similar about the ROP it would be ...OFF WITH HIS HEAD!

MSM fools!

prisoner6

5 posted on 03/19/2009 3:35:19 AM PDT by prisoner6 (Right Wing Nuts hold the country together as the loose screws of the Left fall out.)
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To: Zakeet

She just hopes they all get cervical cancer...as condoms don’t prevent the spread of HPV.


6 posted on 03/19/2009 3:35:42 AM PDT by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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To: Zakeet
Uganda Leads by Example on AIDS
ABC stands for "Abstinence, Be Faithful, or use Condoms," in that order of emphasis. It is also what public health experts call the program begun in Uganda in 1986, when HIV infections and AIDS began washing over Uganda's citizens like a plague.

Many Western experts derided the project when it began, but today it is considered the brightest success story in the course of the pandemic.

...And while USAID distributed condoms by the billions and the numbers of HIV infections in the rest of Africa skyrocketed, the number of Ugandans becoming infected declined each year.


7 posted on 03/19/2009 3:46:40 AM PDT by syriacus (Will Obama DARE to give 39% of daughter Malia's babysitting earnings to her sister Sasha?)
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To: Zakeet
Just exactly how have popes managed for centuries without the received wisdom of towering intellects like Erbe? It's amazing there is even a Catholic church left.

News Flash Bonnie: Everyone is born with a lifetime supply of ignorance; few have held it as close and as valued as you have.

8 posted on 03/19/2009 3:47:08 AM PDT by muir_redwoods ( O.B.A.M.A. = One Big Asinine Mistake, America)
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To: Zakeet

In order to bash the Pope on this, one must completely ignore the experience of AIDS prevention in Africa. Programs that have stressed condom distribution and direct prevention have failed miserably. Programs that have stressed fidelity and discouraged promiscuous sex have succeeded.

The Pope is right. But he contradicts the feminist notion that sex should be devoid of responsibility or consequence, and thus he must be condemned.


9 posted on 03/19/2009 3:47:43 AM PDT by gridlock (The wheels on O's bus go thump thump thump!)
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To: Zakeet; informavoracious; larose; RJR_fan; Prospero; Conservative Vermont Vet; ...
+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.

Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment

Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”

10 posted on 03/19/2009 3:52:50 AM PDT by narses (http://www.theobamadisaster.com/)
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To: Zakeet

This woman is a first class twit.


11 posted on 03/19/2009 3:59:25 AM PDT by sauropod (Welcome to O'Malleyland. What's in your wallet?)
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To: Zakeet
Concur. They'll never back off the Catholics, as long as Catholics have spines.

Hey, Bonnie. He's ignorant? How's your Greek, Bonnie? You fluent in Latin?

Thanks for playing. Please step back and make room for the next player.

12 posted on 03/19/2009 3:59:34 AM PDT by lentulusgracchus ("Whatever." -- sinkspur)
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To: sneakers

Can you imagine? The Pope talking and acting like a Catholic! Such chutzpah!


13 posted on 03/19/2009 4:01:43 AM PDT by Scanian
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To: Zakeet; DieHard the Hunter
Zakeet, when I read the opinion column you cited in the Washington Post, I was ---- excuse me if this sounds naive --- actually astounded, even though I have known for years what a left-biased source the WaPo is.

I mean, it was factually incorrect in at least a dozen places --- with distortions which could have easily been cleared up by fact-checking for 15 minutes with Google --- and constituted an entirely unwarranted, vile attack on (aside from religious considerations) the most courteous and reasonable commentator on the world scene today.

Please forgive me for re-stating the obvious. There aren't many words left in my Thesaurus to express how appalled I am at the level of ignorance and malice on display.

And DieHard, how's your progress toward Catholicism coming? Despite growls and clucks and the prodigious stinks you'll find inside the Ark, you need to get on board. It really won't do for you to keep swimming along behind! :o)

14 posted on 03/19/2009 4:12:18 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("I have a mustard seed, and I'm not afraid to use it." ------ attributed to +Benedict XVI)
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The battle lines are being drawn, hoofbeats coming in the distance. Good thing we know the ending of the book, cause its gonna be made into a movie, with a cast of billions right in front of our eyes.....


15 posted on 03/19/2009 4:13:33 AM PDT by wombtotomb (I would rather die on my feet as a free man, than live on my knees as a slave)
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To: Zakeet
Also, these foams may not have the desired effect as in SubSaharan cultures, "dry sex" is desired.

A place where Bonnie's particular charms are appreciated.

16 posted on 03/19/2009 4:13:46 AM PDT by Oratam
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To: syriacus
But what happened in Uganda appears to be proof that the general population can and will change its behavior. In the end, said Mr. Green, the most significant behavioral change may have come through B, stressing fidelity in marriage or in monogamous relationships.

17 posted on 03/19/2009 4:49:18 AM PDT by narses (http://www.theobamadisaster.com/)
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To: Zakeet

Fang-toothed feminazis are in direct opposition with the Catholic Church. That’s why they have used all their power to try to destroy it. The power of the press, which they control, and the power of cowardly politicians who cringe, cower and become incontinent when an angry feminazi tells them how to vote.


18 posted on 03/19/2009 4:51:09 AM PDT by Leftism is Mentally Deranged (liberalism is a mental disorder.)
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To: Zakeet

My local paper has started running Bonnie Erbe columns. I’m about to drop my subscription.


19 posted on 03/19/2009 4:55:59 AM PDT by caver (Obama's first goals: allow more killing of innocents and allow the killers of innocents to go free.)
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To: Zakeet

Bonnie Erbe hates older women (probably because she is one, but can’t admit it) and wants them to get AIDS and die. They’re just useless eaters cluttering up the government health system.

(Applying Ms. Erbe’s brilliant logic to her repeated emphasis on the needs of *young* women.)


20 posted on 03/19/2009 5:11:07 AM PDT by Tax-chick ("Even for a thin-skinned solipsistic narcissist, Obama seems a frightful po-faced pill." ~Mark Steyn)
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