Posted on 07/17/2012 7:33:32 PM PDT by nickcarraway
It's not Saturday night, but apparently the time is right for fighting between Elton John and Gov. Rick Scott. In his upcoming memoir, Sir Elton criticizes the unpopular pol for attempting to cut funds to Florida's AIDS Drug Assistance Program. Elton even wrote a letter to the governor, and the response he received from Scott's surgeon general was essentially, Well, if you care about Florida's AIDS patients' lives so much, why don't you come down here and perform a few charity concerts?
ADAP programs help poorer patients with HIV get access to lifesaving but exorbitantly expensive medications. Florida's ADAP program has one of the longest waiting lists in the nation, and in 2011 Scott and Republicans in the state legislature were considering changing the requirements. That would have resulted in thousands of people being cut off from those medications. The restrictions did not go into effect, but the state has been slow to provide additional funding for the program. Thousands of people still remain on the waiting list, and about half of those people live in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
The international superstar founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation and wrote a letter to Scott urging him to avoid restrictions and better fund the program. The Miami Herald has a PDF of the letter here. John did not receive a letter back from Scott himself, but rather his then-surgeon general, Frank Farmer.
"We welcome any suggestions or ideas you have to help us do more with our existing funding,'' Farmer replied. "I once again cordially invite you to consider an ADAP fundraising concert series in Florida. I know you have a big fan base here, and we would love to welcome you to the Sunshine State."
John is no slouch in helping raise money for AIDS/HIV-related causes, but the suggestion that one pop star alone can help fund a large state's ADAP program is sort of ridiculous.
Here's Sir Elton's take on the matter, from an interview with NPR's Morning Edition today: On asking Florida not to cut funding for HIV and AIDS patients, and Florida Surgeon General Frank Farmer suggesting he play a benefit to help raise money
"[EJAF is] an AIDS organization, and whenever anybody's funding is cut -- and it's usually cut, especially in this case in Florida, [for] the people that can afford it least ... then we're going to write a letter about it. And we wrote a letter to [Florida Gov. Rick Scott] himself. ...
"It's not my job to [fund a state's AIDS program]. It's the government's priority to do that. I can't do benefit concerts for Florida, for the people with AIDS in Florida. It's their responsibility; they need to do what's right. And cutting funding for the people that [can] least afford it is criminal."
On why funding for AIDS treatment is the government's responsibility
"We can solve this AIDS problem forever if the government gives the funding. If people are encouraged to come out and say they're HIV-positive and they're given their treatments, then obviously the people who are marginalized -- like intravenous drug users, prisoners, people who are made to feel less-than -- if they're given the support of the government and they're given the funding, then it's going to help solve the spread of AIDS and HIV in America. We have to try and get rid of this shortsightedness when it comes to HIV and the stigma around it." According to Naked Politics, John included the exchange in his new memoir, Love Is the Cure.
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About 8 years ago official info stated that a person with AIDS runs up well over one million ($1,000,000) dollars of US Taxpayer funded medical costs.
There voluntary risky and fatal homosexual life style completely ignores the obvious well known facts.
One thing about ol’ Fidel Castro in Cuba - he puts AIDS infected people in guarded sanitariums where they cannot spread the “gay” cancer to others.
If someone in the USA has tuberculous and does not take their medication they are picked up and locked away from society.
But - Oh No! - American cannot protect the public from crazy infected homos.......
FUN FACT:
Homosexuals have a considerably higher income than the average hetrosexual person.
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I'm a Conservative - I voted for him & I love him!! He's a realist, has a good head on his shoulders & is doing all the right things for Florida.
Maybe RINO Progressives feel differently about him.
Although no fan of Rick Scott...especially since he is working with Al Sharpton and New Black Panthers to lynch George Zimmerman....that was a great reponse to the Brit Tart.
LOL
But for a miracle, I fear you are indeed correct.
What’s this ‘Sir’ crappola? The Queen, in all due respect, needs to get a more realistic perspective.
Next thing you know they’ll be awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to obama even when he hasn’t done a thing...
I like the charity concert retort.
Sir Elton, which is better: (a) taking money for AIDS treatment from people who give it voluntarily, or (b) taking money from people at the point of a gun (the government way)?
Obviously it's not, you pillow biting fairy; nor should it be. Lie down with dogs; wake up with fleas. Lie down with sodomites and wake up with AIDS.
Why should taxpayers in the Sunshine State have to pay for what you stuck where the sun don't shine?
Dear Sir John,
Thank you for your viewpoint. As you’re well aware, government must prioritize funding, but thankfully, benefactors such as yourself step forward all the time to help out where help is needed.
We are looking forward to your check of 5.5% of all the profits you’ve made off of selling your albums in the United States. This money will go a long way towards restoring some of the money we were forced to cut from the ADAP program, and will certainly be appreciated by those who are participating.
In the mean time, I would very much like to urge you to apply the remainder of the money from the proceeds of your albums to buy the patents for these exotic drug cocktails and to contract for the production of them in large quantities for a very much reduced cost.
Again, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks for your assistance, and am looking forward to working with you more in the future.
Gov. Scott.
PS: If the letter you sent was merely to inform me of your opinion, I would urge you to simply pick up the phone and call someone who cares. I’m sure they’d be very grateful to hear your opinion.
As a taxpayer, I wish to thank Governor Scott for being frugal with taxpayer money when it comes to giving it away to buy drugs for irresponsible perverts. To hell with “Sir” Elton John.
He is unpopular with the gay fascists of the DNC, that’s for sure. Bet the reporter is a little gay boy.
What John spends on clothes and flowers in a month COULD probably fund our AIDS program. And I guess he also has no idea what is going on here in FL, either. EVERYTHING is getting cut. They aren’t hiring teachers, our car regisration fees are through the roof, etc. THERE’S NO MONEY.
The FL economy is heavily dependent on construction, and not only does no one have a job anymore, but nobody is buying houses. I guess John and the writer of this article want us to tax the old folks who are barely making it on SS so the AIDS folk can get their money.
Clueless. Clueless. He has NO idea.
I’ll tell you what Reg, (Eltons real name is Reginald Dwight), why don’t you take your faggot ass back to Jolly Old England and tell your soon-to-be Saracen dominated country you want it to donate more money to AIDS research? See how long you last doing that, you old poof*. *(Brit slang for a homo.)
Not in this Tampa home. I guess he was "unpopular" enough to get elected, and I guess he's "unpopular" with the leftist rags.
All the funding in the world will not change the BEHAVIOR of people that causes them to contract HIV, and then AIDS.
Stop sharing feces and stop whining for other people’s money. Sheesh.
Guys that plunge their you-know-what into the you-know-whats of lots of other guys have good reason to be concerned about the spread of aids.
I saw Elton sitting at a bar once and asked if I could push in his stool. Evidently, that was the wrong thing to say.
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