The irony here is so intense, there really is nothing more than I can say....

Helms pledges to make AIDS a priority
Ann Rostow, Gay.com / PlanetOut.com Network
Thursday, February 21, 2002 / 12:40 PM
SUMMARY: Speaking to an audience of 800 Christian AIDS activists, Sen. Jesse Helms said he had been "too lax, too long in doing something really significant" about AIDS.

Speaking to an audience of 800 Christian AIDS activists on Wednesday afternoon in Washington D.C., Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., said he had been "too lax, too long in doing something really significant" about AIDS.

"I'm so ashamed that I have done so little," he said.

The retiring lawmaker, one of the staunchest conservatives in public office, pledged: "I am not going to lay it aside on my agenda for the remaining months I have in office."

Helms's remarks, said Human Rights Campaign (HRC) spokesman David Smith, were "intriguing, coming from an individual who has done more to ensure that the disease has gone unchecked … and done more harm to people with AIDS than any other person."

Helms has earned a zero rating from the gay rights lobbying group, and Smith adds, "you can add four exclamation points" to the score.

Helms "has thwarted at every turn an effective prevention strategy for curtailing the spread of AIDS," says Smith. "In the mid-eighties, the government knew how the disease was spread, but because of the extreme anti-gay prejudice of Jesse Helms and others like him, the government did not execute a prevention campaign to teach people how not to become infected, and as a result, people died." Jesse Helms, says Smith, "was primarily responsible" for the government inaction that allowed the epidemic to run rampant.

Yesterday's mea culpa was pronounced at the Prescription for Hope conference, organized by Franklin Graham and the Samaritan's Purse relief agency that Graham heads.

"Sermons about how to avoid AIDS are good but provide no solace to those 40 million already infected with the virus," says Graham, son of the evangelist Billy Graham, on the conference Web site. "As the church of Christ, we must reach out with open arms in love, encouragement and compassion rather than condemnation."

Helms made no reference to sexual orientation during his talk, instead noting that there is "no substitute for the joy brought by strong and healthy marriages," and instructing the audience "not to hesitate to share this truth," with others.


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Makin Groceries

Prarie Belt canned smoked sausage


No, I didn't buy any of this! I just love the can. And it's a fairly honest product; not a high end gourmet treat, but then it doesn't pretend to be anything more than what it is.

While Robea and I were makin groceries out in da parish yesterday, we got into reading all the labels on the cans and just looking at all the stuff on the shelves, not just the stuff that we were going to buy. It's amazing really, there seems to be such a variety in American grocery stores; there is a lot of stuff, but so much of it is crap!

How did we get so far away from what is real food? So much of the stuff is just weird! Many of the "convenience meal" type things are simply inedible; most of the frozen meals are laughable and a lot of the new microwave products are hideous. The people who design these products try to come up with something simple to make, but it all ends up like pretend food; more like a representation of a meal. "Home cooked taste"? Not in Casa Durlx! It's no wonder that most groceries are installing kitchens and doing take out meals. This instant stuff sucks, and I think it's even worse than it has to be; it could be done better.

The other thing I noticed yesterday, (oh, we were in the store for 2 hours...) was how so much of the packaging promised some kind of health benefit. For instance, graham crackers...A Good Source Of Calcium! And the whole reduced fat, low fat, no fat thing; again, another group of products that pretend to be something, but are not. With all these "healthy" products, you would think the nations health would be better, but that's not true either. (BTW, most "health food" stores are also filled with tons of this kind of ersatz crap as well.)

We've bought into this ridiculous cycle of imitation food that is supposed to be good for us, and it's anything but. Where did we go so wrong? Why do we buy and eat these things? I think I know, but I'll get to that in a future journal entry.


A Fond Farewell

Micheal, Sammy, Wiley, Nina, durlx, and Robea


Our street is empty. The last of our visitors hit the road today. Nina headed out this afternoon for Indiana and eventually back to St. Louis. She'll be back later this year. Wiley headed down to Venice, LA for a few days. He'll be stopping back this way by the end of the week. It's been nice to walk out of the house with a cup of tea in the ayem and sit and talk with everyone. We're gonna miss em.

In the picture above, you may notice that Sammy is wearing a mask. He had just gotten up and decided that he was not ready to face the camera. I'm thinking of making some flyers up with this picture of him, sort of a reward poster... Have you seen this man? Call... and posting them all over the neighborhood...

hehe, evil grin...

Caravan of Caravans!

Now there are two...


Nina is still here and she has been joined by another friend of hers from the road, Wiley, (another welcome addition to our little neighborhood.) In talking to them, I've been thinking that I'd kind of like to hit the road in an RV... but I'll probably get over it. Both Nina and Wiley travel a lot every year and that certainly appeals to me.

Wiley has in interesting license plate



Lovely day



I've been feeling crappy for the last few days; picked up some kind of gastro flu, spent a lot of time in bed. I read three William Gibson novels; Idoru, Mona Lisa Overdrive, and Virtual Light. I love Gibson's vision of the future and cyberspace and his sense of humor.

I felt well enough today to join the crowd on the front steps and spent part of the morning chatting with Robert, Nina and Wiley. Then I got ambitious and took down the remaining Mardi Gras decorations. Now I just have to finish stowing away the stuff that's still laying around inside and do a final glitter patrol. (It's never really all gone...)


The Message Board

Just amazing! You were all very busy these last few days! There have been about 400 posts since Friday evening, and yes, I have read them all. Over all I think it's going fairly well; everyone seems to be playing nice, for the most part. Remember to respect each other; it's important to me, but I think it's important no matter what board you post on.

In case you were feeling old today...

Cora Rousseaux, 113, a witness to history



02/19/02

By Natalie Pompilio
Staff writer/The Times-Picayune

Cora Hamilton Rousseaux, a homemaker born during Grover Cleveland's presidency who lived to see both world wars and the invention of the automobile and the airplane, died Wednesday at her home. She was 113.

Mrs. Rousseaux was born in Plaquemine in 1888 and is thought to be among the oldest persons to have been born in Louisiana.

She lived briefly in Chicago, moving to New Orleans after her husband's death in 1948. She and her mother owned a four-plex on Laurel Street close to Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. They lived in one apartment and rented out the other three for income, said Audrey Pierce, a longtime friend of Mrs. Rousseaux.

Mrs. Rousseaux volunteered at the church rectory, helping with housekeeping. She was the oldest parishioner of the Josephites in Louisiana.

Well into her 90s, Mrs. Rousseaux did her own cooking. She once sent Pierce on a mission to find fresh rabbit for her to prepare. She was also a talented baker.

"Her cakes would rise so high and I would say, ‘How do you do that?' " Pierce said. "She didn't believe in cake mixes at all."

Mrs. Rousseaux grew more tired as the years passed, but her mind remained sharp, Pierce said. She sometimes talked about her advanced age, one time noting, "I know I'm 103, but I don't really think I'm that old."

"Even as she got older, 110, 111, 112, we'd take her to church and then out to eat breakfast and for drives to Audubon Park," Pierce said.

In the final few months of her life, Mrs. Rousseaux told friends she was tired and that she missed her mother, who died in 1981. She began asking for her strong morning coffee in bed. She would have turned 114 on Feb. 18, but she told Pierce she could not attend a party her church was organizing.

On the night Mrs. Rousseaux died, Pierce heard her speaking aloud in her bed.

"She kept saying, ‘What are you waiting for? What are you waiting for?' " Pierce said. "She was ready. She was absolutely ready."

She was a member of the Knights of St. Peter Claver Ladies Auxiliary Court No. 47, for whom she had been a volunteer cook.

A Mass will be said today at 10 a.m. at Blessed Sacrament Church, 5018 Constance St. Burial will be in St. Vincent No. 2 Cemetery. Louisiana Undertaking Co. is in charge of arrangements.

Amazing.