Jesse Helms for AIDS : Dispatches from the Culture Wars

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Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science and co-founder of The Panda's Thumb. He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations and conferences, and appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows and on C-SPAN. Ed is also a Fellow with the Center for Independent Media and the host of Declaring Independence, a one hour weekly political talk show on WPRR in Grand Rapids, Michigan.(static)

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Jesse Helms for AIDS

Posted on: July 19, 2008 9:16 AM, by Ed Brayton

This is so absurd that words escape me. Elizabeth Dole has proposed an amendment to rename a bill that would help fund AIDS research and outreach around the world after Jesse Helms. The man who opposed any and all funding for AIDS research. Words fail me.

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Comments

Didn't he do an about-face on AIDS after Bono sat him down for a little talk?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/04/01/ED2779.DTL

Not that I think the naming of the bill is a good idea...

Posted by: pough | July 19, 2008 10:07 AM

If you read that article, you see how little of an about face it was. Bono got to him by talking about it in terms of a plight that affects infants, which likely means that Helms continued to maintain a belief that it was some sort of punishment sent by god to wipe out the homosexuals and fornicators. In fact, though he says differently, Bono probably got to him by speaking to that prejudice, not against it. Also, its rather apparent that the act was largely fueled by his fear of divine retribution, which shows you how big a hypocrite the man was seeing as he obviously thinks he's spent his life in hell-bound activity.

And while on the subject, I'd like to point out how this article shows Helms to be a heretic, along with most Christians, for that matter. Christian theology says nothing about one receiving one's eternal rewards immediately after one dies; in fact, revelations is clear in stating that everyone stays in the ground, asleep, until the day of judgment, at which point they rise from the grave to answer for their lives before the Big Cheese. That is why Christians bury their dead, and why it was a beheadable offense to cremate under the rule of Charlemagne. A very odd belief, if you ask me.

Posted by: Julian | July 19, 2008 10:22 AM

I've been having to take antihypertensive meds since 4th of July to counter the pro-Helms press that surrounds me. In a related issue, y'all probably remember the NC measures and standards official who "retired" after refusing to put his building's flag at half-staff as ordered by the guvnr? Great letter to the editor this morn in the local fishwrapper positing on how the reverse would've been handled:
If Gov. Mike Easley had told Jesse Helms to lower the flag upon the death of Martin Luther King Jr., would he have done it? Probably not. Would he have lost his job because of it? Probably not.

For L.F. Eason to have lost his job over not lowering the flag upon the death of Jesse Helms is just as stupid as government can get. How have we gone so wrong?

Hugh Fowler
Littleton

Posted by: Abel Pharmboy | July 19, 2008 10:35 AM

Just another example of the time-honored and sociopathic Republican tradition of naming bills the opposite of what they should be titled.

Posted by: Gingerbaker | July 19, 2008 10:44 AM

Completely disregarding whether the comment is accurate of not, I find it interesting that the person trying to dictate what Christian theology definitely is (as if Christian theology were one single monolithic thing) is the namesake of one of the most horrible persecutors of Christians, Julian the Apostate.

Posted by: John | July 19, 2008 1:31 PM

Maybe there is a positive side to this. It's irritating when conservatives take credit for supporting positions and ideas they have vigorously opposed, but it's also a tacit admission of defeat. Positions they once held dear are so beyond the pale that they try to erase their own history.

Posted by: Dr X | July 19, 2008 1:34 PM

In the same vein:

The Ku Klux Klan School for Racial Harmony

The Donald Wildmon Center for Free Speech

The Pat Robertson/John Hagee/Rod Parsley Foundation for Religious Tolerance

And of course, The GWBush Center for Science

Posted by: Blaidd Drwg | July 19, 2008 1:36 PM

John - pehaps you should actually read history, rather than projecting history.
Claudius Flavius Julianus (called "Julian the Apostate" by Christians) was hardly "the most horrible of Christians persecutors", ever heard of Domitian or Nero? -DJ

Posted by: DIngoJack | July 19, 2008 1:57 PM

DJ, read John's comment in full: he said "one of the most horrible persecutors of Christians" (emphasis mine).

Posted by: The Christian Cynic | July 19, 2008 3:08 PM

Actually, I think it's a hilarious idea. What better way to insult the bigoted moron?

Posted by: the chaplain | July 19, 2008 3:19 PM

This proposal is a common Orwellian practice among the ranks of the far right. It's as if they are simultaneously condoning (and supporting) Helms' bigoted stance while also posthumously attempting to absolve him of his bigotry.

Posted by: Sadie Morrison | July 19, 2008 3:26 PM

Ugh. I was hoping that Jesse could just rot away quietly. I dealt with too much of him when he was alive.

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | July 20, 2008 12:07 AM

"...(as if Christian theology were one single monolithic thing)..."

It isn't? The Bible (which last time I checked dealt with "Christian theology") is a book. A book, any book, is, again, last time I checked, a "single monolithic thing."

Posted by: daniel rotter | July 20, 2008 4:18 AM

Folks,
Let's not forget that The Left is just as capable of naming bills the opposite of what they're intended to do as is The Right. Remember the "Assault Weapons" ban? Whether you are for or against gun control, that law banned no assault weapons of any kind. Instead, it was aimed (forgive the pun) at semi-automatic rifles. Yes, I realize that this will open up a whole can of worms here, but my point is that both sides of the political debate are in business to acquire, wield, and maintain power, and will do whatever it takes to do accomplish exactly that. If it requires saying that the emperor is fully clothed, partially clothed, or naked on any given day, that is exactly what they will do.

Posted by: Segodnya | July 21, 2008 10:50 AM