The president signed the bill in the ornate East Room of the White House, surrounded by lawmakers and people affected by AIDS whom he met on his February trip to Africa.
The legislation is a rare case of relatively easy cooperation between the Democratic-controlled Congress and the White House. It passed the House last week by a 303-115 vote and the Senate earlier in the month by a vote of 80-16.
It renews Bush’s original five-year, $15 billion program called the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which was set to expire in September.
[...]
The program’s five-year renewal comes with some significant changes that took months to negotiate: a third of prevention funds will no longer be reserved for abstinence education; a “conscience clause” gives religious groups the right to refuse participation; more focus is placed on women and girls; and HIV-positive people will find it easier to get visas into the United States.
Bush said the goal for the new funding is to prevent 12 million new HIV infections, treat more than 2 million with anti-retroviral drugs, support care for 12 million and train at least 140,000 new health care workers.
The United States is one of only 13 countries that ban HIV+ people from visiting or immigrating. The others: Armenia, Brunei, China, Iraq, Qatar, South Korea, Libya, Moldova, Oman, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.
Let's hope this ploy does better than attaching the Matthew Sheppard Act to that defense appropriations bill did. A similar bill was introduced in the House of Representatives last August, but remains in committee.
Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence's Duomo) to the right,
The "reviled" frescoes of the Duomo, painted by Vasani in 1579 (with close-up).
Note the devil sodomizing a man with a flaming pitchfork!
Statue of Achilles battling a centaur,
located in the Loggia del la Signoria, a public outdoor gallery designed in 1376.
Basilica di Santa Croce, started in 1294, completed in 1385. It is the burial place of famous men such as composer Rossini, author Macchiavelli, sculptor Michelangelo and scientist Gallileo. 
Mad Professah (left) and the Other Half, after walking up 463 steps to
reach the top of the Duomo with views of the city of Florence behind us.
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| The place settings at Peck Italian Bar. Very sleek and modern looking. |
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| Salmone marinato, leggermente affumicato (marinated salmon, lightly smoked) | Riso mantecato alla zucca (pumpkin risotto with manteca cheese) |
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| Cotoletta di lonza alla Milanese con patate rosolate (Traditional Milanese breaded cutlet with roasted potatoes) | Arrosto di vitello con patate al forno (Roasted veal with baked potatoes) |
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| Tiramisu | Gelati |
Mole Antonelliana,
Palazzo Reale,
Palazzo di Citta,
Il Duomo di San Giovanni,
Stazione Porto Nuova,
Ponte Umberto I
Metro San Babila
Il Duomo
Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle II 
Castello Sforzesco
Il Duomo, the 3rd largest church in the world
Mad Professah and the other half are going to be spending the first two weeks of 2008 in northern Italy. We'll be spending 3 nights in Milan, 8 nights in Turin and 4 nights in Florence.
Last year on World AIDS Day, President George W. Bush pledged to issue "streamlined" new regulations with a "categorical waiver" that would make it easier for the HIV-positive to receive exemptions.Are you going to let them get away with it? Go to http://www.regulations.gov/ and look for USCBP-2007-0084 and submit your comment before December 6. Do it as your way of celebrating World AIDS Day!
"Unfortunately, despite using the terms 'streamlined' and 'categorical,' in reality these regulations are neither," said Victoria Neilson, legal director of Immigration Equality, which works on behalf of LGBT and HIV-positive asylum seekers and immigrants.
Neilson told Gay City News, "This is a big disappointment, given the rhetoric of the Bush administration that the US was making it easier - because the new regs simply add more heavy burdens for the HIV-positive traveler."
Among other provisions, under the new rules proposed by DHS, a visitor would need to travel with all the medication he would need during his stay in the US; prove that he has medical insurance that is accepted in the US and would cover any medical contingency; and prove that he won't engage in behavior that might put the American public at risk. The maximum term for any waiver would be 30 days.
The new regulations purport to speed up the waiver application process because consular officers would be empowered to make decisions without seeking DHS sign-off. However, by using this "streamlined" application process, waiver applicants would have to agree to give up the ability to apply for any change in status while in the US, including applying for legal permanent residence.
The purpose of fast-tracking the new regs and setting a super-tight December 6 deadline for public comment before they take effect was to catch the AIDS community - busy with preparations for World AIDS Day on December 1 - unawares. To a certain extent, the ploy has worked.
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| Buttermilk pancakes with soft-scrambled eggs and bacon for Ron | Chicken enchiladas with choice of eggs (over-easy) for Dean |
The third day of the road trip was spent driving from Sunnyvale to San Francisco and hanging out with friends and family in "The City." We walked along Valencia Street in The Mission District and had amazing sandwiches for lunch at Bi-Rite Market with ice cream at the Bi-Rite Creamery across the street. We split dog-sitting duties as Mad Professah took a detour to go to a meeting in Marin County and took the ferry back from Larkspur Landing Ferry Terminal to the Ferry Building in San Francisco, walked to the Embarcadero Station and took Muni to the corner of 24th and Church a few blocks from where we were staying in the Mission District. The whole trip on public transportation took about 2 hours and cost under $10. I got back just in time for barbecue chicken and a vicious game of Blokus (won by the expert player pictured below).
