1. Comment #19909 by 42nd on January 30, 2007 at 3:42 pm

this is beyond morbid. Those folks are no longer satisfied by using fear of imaginary hellfire as a tool of control, they use real death now. What they are saying in essence, is this: I want my daughter to die if she chooses to have premartal sex. There is just no other way to put it, it's not like shame or something else that produces minor inconvenience, we are talking about CANCER here.

How is this actually less barbaric than stoning adulterers to death?

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2. Comment #19911 by Daniel Stoker on January 30, 2007 at 4:00 pm

But that's exactly how religious conservatives think. In their worldview, STIs are a punishment for transgressing the boundaries of their particular brand of sexual morality. When AIDS first appeared, they claimed it was God's punishment for gay sex (he apparently doesn't care that much about lesbian sex).

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3. Comment #19925 by Duff on January 30, 2007 at 5:10 pm

God doesn't want anyone legislating against gay sex!!! He wants the gays to die from the various diseases he has sent to them!!! Lesbian sex is ok. God doesn't find that too abhorrent, in fact He finds it somewhat exciting!
If you don't know why I speak with authority on this subject, you haven't been paying attention.

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4. Comment #19950 by k1mgy on January 30, 2007 at 8:32 pm

Greenwald is a great writer and advocate for American civil rights (and human rights). Unfortunately in this piece, he chooses a rather poor analog. By suggesting that resistance against a new HPV vaccine (Merck's Guardasil) is the stuff of idiots, Greenwald overlooks several valid arguments that call the vaccine, and others, into question - arguments that rest in science. Haggardists resist the vaccine because they see it, like condoms and the birth control pill, as providing license for sex and sex, of course, is bad bad bad. The more rational resist vaccines for perhaps three reasons: the long-term genetic, immune, and nervous system effects are unknown; those predisposed to hypersensitivity to the genetically-altered cells, adjuvants and preservatives in vaccines (delivered directly into the bloodstream) are not screened out; and because there are, plainly, very little justification for almost all of the widely-used vaccines, making the risk-benefit analysis quite clear.

Greenwald should, as I argued in comments posted to the original piece, become familiar with the fascist forced-vaccination proponents who are working in the current US government and who have already gained new laws and powers which will permit wholesale violation of informed consent to "medical" treatment.

The right over one's own body is about as sacred as you can get and is above all the other arguments that Greenwald posits.

As I also suggested in my comments - there are plenty of other reasons that make the Haggardists out to be complete idiots. Greenwald has unfortunately picked the wrong analog to pursue an otherwise justifiable claim.

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5. Comment #20002 by Luthien on January 31, 2007 at 3:32 am

The more rational resist vaccines for perhaps three reasons: the long-term genetic, immune, and nervous system effects are unknown; those predisposed to hypersensitivity to the genetically-altered cells, adjuvants and preservatives in vaccines (delivered directly into the bloodstream) are not screened out; and because there are, plainly, very little justification for almost all of the widely-used vaccines, making the risk-benefit analysis quite clear.

Ooh, I'll bet you hate the MMR jab too (in spite of the media hysteria, the studies showing its safety are very conclusive).

Perhaps you should be lobbying for the compulsory registration of ALL studies; at present they only publish the favourable ones.

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6. Comment #20071 by linck on January 31, 2007 at 8:40 am

I am a happily married heterosexual monogamist.
This means it is my right/ duty to make hell of other people's life that don't embrace my life style?

Heck, promiscuity is great! (- has enough followers)
If homosexuals can never be truely happy why is it so popular?

I don't come around evangelical houses to carry them off to the local orgy, so they should not impose their sexual preferences on others!

If it give satisfaction to two (three, four..) people it is fine.
Whatever works for you!

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7. Comment #20233 by John Phillips on February 1, 2007 at 7:53 am

Klingy: I am sorry, but did you really say that there is little justification for all the commonly used vaccines. How about orders of magnitude lower infant mortality rates for one. A classic example of what happens when you stop the vaccination is Nigeria where Imams have told their flock not to take the Polio vaccine because it makes you sterile and this is a deliberate plan by the West. The effect, a steady rise in Polio rates compounded by those attending mass muslim religious festivals such as at Mecca and the like passing it on to others. Similarly, when the MMR scare was at its peak in the UK measles rates started to rise and there was fears that the herd immunity would be lost if it continued to fall. Fortunately, due to a number of responsible journalists and action by the BMA over the the conflict of interest by the doctor responsible for the unfounded scare as well as a mass of evidence that finally laid to rest any link between MMR and autism has lead to an increased take up.

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8. Comment #20263 by tomjlawson on February 1, 2007 at 10:35 am

This was the stance that the Family Research Council had one year ago...

"However, we also recognize that HPV infection can result from sexual abuse or assault, and that a person may marry someone still carrying the virus. These provide strong reasons why even someone practicing abstinence and fidelity may benefit from HPV vaccines." - Moira Gaul, Policy Analyst for the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C.

Source: http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=LH06B03

Are they really against it, or is there an agenda to make the social conservatives look like idiots? Have they changed their minds? Perhaps they are merely wishy-washy because they are both for the vaccine as well as against it, just like they are for condom-use, but don't want them handed out to their teens. Sounds like the zealots just being zealots, and the innocent children of these people may suffer for it, but unfortunately child abuse is protected by religion because it's condoned in the scriptures...

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