(2007-11-20) — Top United Nations’ scientists plan to acknowledge this week that they wildly overstated the size and the spread of the AIDS epidemic, but that all the millions of people who don’t actually have AIDS will soon drown in the rising tide caused by man-made global climate change.
Faulty methodology caused the scientists to miss the fact that AIDS has been in decline during the same decade when U.N. reports about its rapid, unchecked spread boosted AIDS funding 30-fold, to about $10 billion per year.
“No matter how you look at it, the news is tragic, and more funding is needed,” said Peter Piot, the Belgian scientist whose U.N. AIDS agency reports have driven fund raising. Mr. Piot has previously reported that …
- “the pandemic and its toll are outstripping the worst predictions”
- the epidemic threatens to burst beyond its epicenter in southern Africa to generate widespread illness and death in other countries
- in China alone, there would be 10 million infections — up from 1 million in 2002 — by the end of the decade.
Now, Mr. Piot said, the fate of countless millions has gone from bad to worse.
“A man who might have died quietly in his bed of AIDS,” said Mr. Piot, “now faces the terrifying specter of watching his neighbors slip from their rooftops one-by-one, screaming until the rising deep muffles their voices, knowing that he faces the inevitable moment when his fingers slip from the chimney, the brine subdues his own shrieks and the sea becomes his tomb.”
Mr. Piot denied accusations that he makes alarmist statements to serve a political and fundraising agenda rather than following rigorous scientific processes.
“My alarmist statements have resulted in billions of dollars in funding for research,” Mr. Piot said. “I’m making sure scientists get paid. What could be more scientific than that?”
24 responses so far ↓
1 conserve-a-tips // Nov 20, 2007 at 8:38 am
May Americans return to God, that He may bless this nation!
2 conserve-a-tips // Nov 20, 2007 at 8:42 am
oops. Global Warming drowned my post.
3 conserve-a-tips // Nov 20, 2007 at 8:42 am
Ah…thanks for the life preserver, Scott!
4 Darthmeister // Nov 20, 2007 at 8:45 am
UN: Millions Not Suffering AIDS Now Doomed to Drown
… or die from the devastating effects of the Ozone Hole. (cue/Twilight Zone music)
5 gafisher // Nov 20, 2007 at 9:06 am
“… the rising tide caused by man-made global climate change.”
“Rising tide?” What happened to the tsunamis? How do you show “rising tide” in a twenty-second news clip and make it look threatening?
6 Right Voices » Blog Archive » UN: We Are A Little Off On The Aids Epidemic Estimate..Things Not As Bad As They Said // Nov 20, 2007 at 9:51 am
[...] Scott Ott: Top United Nations’ scientists plan to acknowledge this week that they wildly overstated the size and the spread of the AIDS epidemic, but that all the millions of people who don’t actually have AIDS will soon drown in the rising tide caused by man-made global climate change. Bookmark to: Tags: United, Nations, , Aids [...]
7 Don Surber » Blog Archive » AIDS ‘cut’ by 20% // Nov 20, 2007 at 10:19 am
[...] Scrappleface points out the new peril they face! [...]
8 UN: Millions Not Suffering AIDS Now Doomed to Drown « digitalinsurgents // Nov 20, 2007 at 11:19 am
[...] http://www.scrappleface.com/?p=2787 [...]
9 everthink // Nov 20, 2007 at 11:58 am
D’yall see Dumbyah pardon them turkeys today?
It was something to watch, Bush squinted up one eye, that way he does, and commenced to reading Carl Sandburg. It was so embarrassing!
10 Effeminem // Nov 20, 2007 at 1:25 pm
No, ET.
More importantly, CNN reports that scientists have regressed adult cells into stem cells.
‘ “People didn’t know it would be this easy,” Thomson said. “Thousands of labs in the United States can do this, basically tomorrow.” ‘
Of course it’s not perfected yet.
11 woodnwheel // Nov 20, 2007 at 1:49 pm
“A man who might have died quietly in his bed of AIDS,†said Mr. Piot, “now faces the terrifying specter of watching his neighbors slip from their rooftops one-by-one, screaming until the rising deep muffles their voices, knowing that he faces the inevitable moment when his fingers slip from the chimney, the brine subdues his own shrieks and the sea becomes his tomb.â€
Pure poetry!
Speaking of AIDS and other STDs, though, here’s from an e-mail I received this morning:
Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling has joined The Family Foundation of Virginia and other faith based organizations to ask Governor Tim Kaine to reconsider his decision to withhold $275,000 in state funding for programs that encourage young people to abstain from sexual activity outside marriage.
Last week, Kaine announced that he had cut $275,000 in funding previously approved by the General Assembly for five statewide abstinence only programs on the basis that the programs were ineffective. Kaine supports broader programs, such as those offered by Planned Parenthood, that stress “safe sex†to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
I can’t find the online version of the e-mail, but here’s a link to the press release on his website.
12 All Spin Zone » Faith vs. Fact: Saying Not To Science Because The Bible Tells Me So? // Nov 20, 2007 at 2:02 pm
[...] The most recent example is the response to a report to be issued by the United Nations in which the organization will lower its’ estimates on the size and scope of the AIDS epidemic. Pouncing quickly, many on the right wasted little time in using the revelation to conclude that the UN’s data on global warming must therefore also be inaccurate…or fabricated. [...]
13 Bring It On! International News » Faith vs. Fact: Saying Not To Science Because The Bible Tells Me So? // Nov 20, 2007 at 2:06 pm
[...] to conclude that the UN’s data on global warming must therefore also be inaccurate…o r fabricated. Let me be clear. I’m not suggesting that the United Nations is beyond reproach or that they [...]
14 everthink // Nov 20, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Effeminem,
You are so right!
15 boberinyetagain // Nov 20, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Excellent post Mr Ott!
When will they “discover” that tobacco smoke is the best thing for you?
Woodnwheel, a man with sanity? How bizzare! Better kids get pregnant/disease then learn about ways to prevent such things. Never, ever, even in the “good old days” was abstinence a viable option. Of course it’s a great idea for a variety of reasons, it’s just that none of those reasons matters a whit when the time comes. But, they might (slim chance but a chance none-the-less) remember that there is a safer way to do what they are danged well going to do anyway.
16 Kibi // Nov 20, 2007 at 5:29 pm
But do they reall want to fix Global warming?
You gotta wonder if these guys have considered the horror lurking behind all this – the possibility that folks might live to a ripe old age and have to die slowly, unbearably, knowing all along they could have gone out in blaze of global warming glory (or at least AIDS-y pathos)
The humanity!
17 Effeminem // Nov 20, 2007 at 6:30 pm
If your goal is to stop teenagers from having sex, then you should just teach them to play Dungeons and Dragons. Problem solved.
18 Ms RightWing, Ink // Nov 20, 2007 at 9:55 pm
MORE PICTURES ON THE CAFE’S WALL
Enlarging the photos destroyed some of the contrast. The blog site said they offer a slide show but it looks as if I had to change the way my page looks to accomplish that–I’m not sure. Someday I may try that.
http://shellyscafe.blogspot.com/
19 mig // Nov 20, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Is anyone excited about the over population problem being solved?
20 Libby Gone // Nov 21, 2007 at 8:15 am
Sounds to me like another thinly veiled UN “Money for Lies” program………….
21 Maggie // Nov 21, 2007 at 9:03 am
Good Morning All and Happy Thanksgiving
I am thankful for Scott Ott’s vision of Scrappleface; a comfortable place to visit with dear friends and laugh at ourselves and view the world thru Scott’s newsmaking satire.
Where else can we go to exchnge opinions without obscenity?
Thank you Scott for sharing your brilliance with us.
22 Hawkeye // Nov 21, 2007 at 9:29 am
Great post Scott. Another winner!
And Maggie #21… I’ll second that.
Morning all. Wishing all my ScrappleFriends the very best Thanksgiving!
(:D) Best regards
23 gafisher // Nov 22, 2007 at 6:09 am
Bober Re:15: “Never, ever, even in the “good old days†was abstinence a viable option.”
It has never, ever failed. If that’s not viability, it comes awfully close. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, of course, but the “everybody’s doing it” (or the corollary “they’ll do it anyway”) attitude falls squarely into the “soft bigotry of low expectations” which tends to promote the very thing it purports to combat.
24 its-just-me // Nov 24, 2007 at 11:03 am
They’re gonna drop out of school, too, eventually – so why bother trying to keep them in?
Especially blacks and hispanics … Don’t tell them how much better their lives can be with an education. Just give them a list of jobs they can do without an education – that way, they can make the second-best choice…
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