Free Republic

Call it a condom conundrum. At a time when the federal government is spending billions of stimulus dollars to stem the tide of U.S. layoffs, should that same government put even more Americans out of work by buying cheaper foreign products? In this case, Chinese condoms. That's the dilemma for the folks at jobs, the government is switching to cheaper off-shore condoms, including some made in China. In a move expected to cost 300 American the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has distributed an estimated 10 billion U.S.-made AIDS-preventing condoms in poor countries around the world. But not anymore....

The Bush administration's drug and sexual health policy is a key issue as the World Health Organization chooses its next leader, a post that wields great power in allocating billions of dollars in funds to alleviate misery around the world. ~snip~ Critics say the United States, WHO's largest donor, plays too large a role behind the scenes. They argue that the Bush administration is promoting the interests of its pharmaceutical industry at the expense of poor AIDS patients who could be saved by cheap generic medicines and has adopted an ideological line on issues like abortion. President Bush has made...

<p>WASHINGTON - An unusual coalition of lawmakers is pressing President Bush to increase global spending on AIDS by hundreds of millions of dollars this year alone.</p> <p>The Bush administration has budgeted $780 million for the global AIDS fight this year. Thursday, however, Republicans in the House Appropriations Committee voted to add $200 million in global AIDS money to an emergency measure for homeland security and military spending. The White House had not asked for the money.</p>