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This is just a simple Carolina mother's perspective....

Here ya go, the gay muppet.

Bookmarked and Bumped. I am sure the wife's SAHM group will want to read it.

Wow! What an essay! I nominate this essay as "Essay of the Week". I am a mother of 4 grown children (9 grandchildren) and I agree with every word you write.

Nice post.

I heard the HIV muppet is scheduled for viewing in Africa, but I don't doubt that it will show-up here eventually.

We stopped watching Sesame Street long ago... after I saw the episode about the rabbit who is too old to go to day care. An adult asks the rabbit if he went to daycare when he was a child, and the rabbit answers sadly: No, there wasn't daycare back then, so I just stayed home with my mom. The adult responds: Awwwwww.... My reaction: Who the hell do they think is watching this show??

Side note: Ever notice how school policy requires your children to be "fully vaccinated" before admitting them, but then turns around and states that HIV-positive children AND SCHOOL EMPLOYEES need not be tested nor are they required to reveal that information. Double standard. I'm so glad I homeschool my kids.

....and I pray that G-d will watch over them and all the other children of the world...

You might do better by praying to God.

replace the name of this illness with say syphilis, gonorrhea, meningitis, cancer - and see if it would qualify for a pre-school children's television show character...

Very good point.

You're a very powerful writer. Impressive website as well (and I'm the almost-wife of a web designer :)

After all of this, can anyone at Sesame Street please tell me, why would I teach my children that HIV is NORMAL and they should treat it as such?!

They’d preach heroin addiction is normal if they thought they could get away with it. Sesame Street promotes it’s own morality and guess what folks - It ain’t Christian.

Please don't try to use my little children for politically correct ideas, indoctrination or politically protected illness...I'll stop you anyway I can.

The tactics of the left have grown ever more insidious. I still remember the day my wife called me at work and said, “Barnacle, (Can you believe she calls me that?) Tinky Winky is wearing a tutu.” I said, “So what?” She said, “Tinky Winky is a boy!” I thought she was mistaken. But, she was right.

That was the last time Tella-Tubbies was viewed in our home (except for those rare exceptions when we’d forget to turn off the TV.)

Good essay. Bravo!

Bump...and nice profile page Mom!

I think the purple telletubby and the gay muppet were seen in Key West last month.

This is a snippet of the Yahoo story on the HIV Muppet:

“The Muppet character will join the cast of the children's show [in South Africa] in September to help educate children about AIDS at the urging of the South African government.

Some 4.7 million South Africans — one in nine — are HIV positive, more people than in any other country in the world.

There are no plans to incorporate an HIV-positive Muppet in the American or other versions of the show, said representatives of Sesame Workshop, its New York-based production company.”

It doesn’t appear that the lovable HIV Muppet will appear on the American TV version, so you shouldn't have to protect your children from it, or explain this very difficult issue to them.

But I was thinking that maybe this Muppet was the least or your problems. How do you explain away the deaths of two (possibly) beloved uncles to them without dealing with this issue eventually? Weren’t the uncles more lovable and real (and thus more dangerous to your children’s innocence about this subject) than any puppet that Sesame Street could ever create?

I totally understand wanting to protect them from subject matter on television that might make give them the wrong message or make you uncomfortable. But how do you shield them from the tragic HIV realities of your own family?

Is this HIV positive Muppet also homosexual? If not, do they plan on including a homosexual muppet?

Try this - Have some compassion for the unborn children of the future

Tell that to the abortion lovers

Told ya your post was "Over the Top"..;)

This is a rant I wrote a while back...it is somewhat relevant to this topic.

First of all, let me say that I'm angry. I may even let a few four-letter words fly, so if that's a problem, you may not want to read any more of this f***ing rant. I'm angry because a few months ago my daughter was diagnosed with diabetes and it has turned her life upside-down. It has also caused considerable stress in our family.

I will readily admit that prior to her diagnosis, I probably thought about diabetes for a total of about an hour in my whole life. For that, I am truly sorry. I am sorry because I have been unaware and insensitive to the plight of diabetics. And I'm talking about Type 1, juvenile-onset, or whatever you want to call it. Not Type 2 or adult-onset. I now have great compassion for anyone with diabetes, but it is for the children that I weep. I'm sorry that there is such a lack of awareness or "publicity", if you will, in our nation. In the back of my mind, I assumed that diabetics had insulin, and that was all they needed. My father-in-law became diabetic later in life with Type 2. His lifestyle practically begged for diabetes. Even still, no one deserves diabetes, but it is the children that are truly innocent. They cannot "prevent" diabetes as an adult might. They did nothing to cause it. Who will speak for them?

It seems that diabetes is not a favored disease. This is not to belittle the many dedicated scientists and researchers who are working diligently for a cure. Godspeed to them. As a woman says on a diabetes list-serv I belong to, "where's the &*?#*!! cure?" Well, let me be a little more blunt. Where is the f***ing cure?

I am certainly not a scientist or biologist, but it seems to me that a great nation with vast resources like ours, that has cured smallpox, whooping cough, polio, etc. should be able to cure diabetes. We are told how lucky we are. There have been so many advances in diabetes care in the last few years. But I'm thinking, when insulin was first discovered in the 1920's or whatever, they injected it with needles into the lucky diabetics. Granted this was a huge improvement over death, but I can't see how things have changed that much in the subsequent 80 years. My daughter is still injecting her insulin via needle. Yes, we have better insulins, and we can monitor her blood glucose eight times a day if we want, but when it comes right down to it, diabetes is still a crapshoot. We try to give her the proper dose, but half the time we are wrong. So then we have to correct the next dose, and so on. Or we can get her an insulin pump. She can carry it around like a beeper, strapped to her body, with a semi-permanent I.V. tube dripping insulin into her body. And believe it or not, that is state-of-the-art.

Three months ago, I was the type of parent who was paranoid about giving my kids children's Tylenol. I would always give them a conservative dose, probably to their detriment. Now I'm drawing out insulin (or supervising) in a syringe, with life-or-death implications three times a day.

Let me tell you what happens when she gets too much insulin. Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, sets in. She becomes dizzy, she feels faint. Today she felt nauseous. If she is able to recognize her hypoglycemia, she will eat something sweet, candy or juice. This will normally bring her around and she feels better. If she is unable to tell us she feels bad, and the low blood sugar becomes worse, she may become incoherent and difficult to deal with. Thank God we haven't been to this stage yet, but I wake up every morning thinking this will probably be the day. If she can't eat or drink, we can squeeze some glucose gel or cake frosting into her mouth and hope that somehow she ingests enough of it to make a difference. If she completely passes out, we have been given a special syringe with glucagon in it. We are supposed to inject it immediately, and this will cause the liver to release stored glucose. When they told us about the glucagon syringe at the hospital, I dismissed the likelihood of us needing it. As responsible parents and caregivers, we would never let her get to that state. What a truly barbaric remedy. Come to find out, it's not all that unusual. My friend's sister, diabetic for 40 years, has needed the glucagon many times. She has often been found unconscious in her bed. That freaks me out. If the glucagon doesn't work, then 911 is called. Hopefully, it's not too late. I've read about this... it's called "dead-in-bed" syndrome. I try not to dwell on it.

If she receives too little insulin, her blood sugar gets high. She gets cranky, headachy, and nauseous. If it remains too high for too long, she will begin (and has begun) down the slow, inexorable path to the pathetic complications of diabetes...neuropathy, nephropathy, retinopathy. As you probably know...as I knew, but never really thought about....diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in our country, consuming 10% of our healthcare dollars. But with insulin, it's manageable, right?

Now I'm getting around to the politically incorrect part of this diatribe. If you are squeamish or very P.C. then I would by all means recommend you read no further. Because you see, diabetes is not a P.C. disease. I know that millions of dollars are donated to diabetes research every year and for that, I have become almost nauseatingly grateful. When my daughter was diagnosed, I began donating to the cause, but soon realized the pitiful amount I could manage would not be a drop in the ocean. I have even fantasized that maybe it's not too late for me to become a brilliant scientist and "cure" diabetes. Needless to say, that is not happening and I am feeling quite inadequate.

Money may not cure this disease but it will sure as hell help. There is a small army of researchers with very expensive toys trying to find a cure. If there were more money available, there will be more toys for them to play with and more incentive to find the cure. We need more money, more scientists, and more equipment.

I think we all know what diseases are politically correct. Breast cancer is P.C. Prostate cancer is not, even though both kill approximately the same amount of people. One of these days, men may learn to organize like women have on behalf of their disease. But I digress. I do not begrudge any dollars spent on breast cancer research. After all, if my daughter survives diabetes, I certainly don't want her dying of breast cancer. And of course, cancer is not a disease one can readily prevent. But the most P.C. disease is of course AIDS. Why, there has been more publicity and hoopla generated on behalf of AIDS in the last 5 years than there has been for diabetes in the last 100.

Now I'm beginning to get very f***ing angry. I am not a homophobe. I wish that so many thousands of young men in America had not died of AIDS or had not become ill. I have had several good friends who were homosexual. They were some of the most delightful people I have known. I have attended "gay-liberation" balls in college that were wildly entertaining, if not decadent. But the simple fact of the matter is that AIDS is almost entirely preventable already. There is no need to spend multi-millions of dollars on this disease. There is no need for big Hollywood stars to make themselves feel good by lending their name to this cause. There is no need to wear a f***ing red ribbon on your lapel to show that you are hip and caring.

Why is there no need?

Because all we need to do to prevent AIDS is for these people not to put their penises in other men's anuses. That is a little blunt, but is quite apt. If the thousands of young men had not engaged in homosexual sex they would not have died. It's not a question of whether it's perverted sex or if God is punishing gays. It is simply a fact that most AIDS victims are homosexuals. Surely, 95% of the people on Earth (and 99.9% in the USA) already know how you get AIDS. Some just choose to ignore these inconvenient facts.

I don't understand why Hollywood stars like Elizabeth Taylor are so adamant about defending and encouraging the right of men to put their penises in other men's anuses. Does she really care or is it just P.C.? Are the Hollywood stars (I don't mean to pick on them... there are plenty of non-Hollywood types with the same predilections) really concerned about everyone having this option? They always act like AIDS is this mysterious scourge sweeping across the planet, endangering everyone, when in fact, it mainly affects men who engage in this type of sex. And intravenous drug users. Don't get me started on intravenous drug use. I've seen enough of it in the last few months. And Africa. The pathology of AIDS in Africa is not relevant to this rant.

Anyway, I don't really begrudge funding for AIDS research. But let's get real. AIDS is preventable. Diabetes, one of the oldest diseases known to mankind, is not. I will have respect for these Hollywood types when they advocate for diabetes sufferers like they do for AIDS. Surely innocent children are more deserving of compassion than young men who choose to ignore the dangers of unsafe sex.

Well, it didn’t take any time at all - FOX news says the South African AIDS Muppet is now being considered for broadcasts in America.

Anyone surprised?

Just a little bit?

Anyone?

No?

This is just a simple Carolina mother's perspective....

And you are absolutely right. I have lost five friends to AIDS. How I begged and pleaded with them to be careful, but they wouldn't listen to me, and now they are dead.

Outstanding.

God bless you and your family.