Thanks to Lindy for directing me to Scoop, a marvelous reservoir of leftist gas that I can probably goof on for months.

New Zealand AIDS activists are shocked that this billboard to celebrate National Penis Day (I am not making this up) actually offends some people. Imagine! What sort of Neanderthals could possibly object to a dozen huge schlongs hanging out for all the kiddies to see?

The activists explain it as follows:

"The whole idea of National Penis Day is to highlight the need for men to be able to talk about sex in a healthy way and to be able to take seriously their own sexual health and that of their partners. The main obstacles to these goals are the rigid masculine roles men are expected to play and the silence and shame surrounding men’s sexuality."

"In the 1980s, AIDS activists used the slogan ‘Silence = Death’ to illustrate the tragic consequences if we fail to change our cultures in ways that enable us to be able to talk about previously taboo subjects like sex. Surely we’ve got beyond that by now?"

Okay then.

Let's talk about taboos and cultures.

How about the taboo that, since the early 1980s, has avoided the fact that AIDS is almost impossible to catch through heterosexual activity, or monogamous sexual activity of any kind? And cultures? How about we discuss the "culture" that glorifies buggering dozens to hundreds of total strangers in bars and bathhouses, even through holes in toilet stalls? The "culture" that screamed "bigotry" when San Francisco tried to close down the bathhouses that were massive petri dishes for this disease? The "culture" that refuses to acknowledge that their psychotic promiscuity, and nothing else, was responsible for wiping out thousands of gays in the 80s and later? The "culture" that pushes the false concept that such promiscuity must be part and parcel of gay life? The "culture" that won't acknowledge that gays who were monogamous from the 80s onward were never threatened?

Sure, some AIDs is caught through heterosexual means, but usually as a result of one partner either being promiscuous (gay or otherwise) or a drug user. Not a problem for monogamous types. And no, Virginia, a condom is not a wonderful cure-all for disease transmission, despite what your teacher is telling you. And yes, some poor people got it from blood transfusions, or were born to parents with it, but there were very few of these. I'm sorry to bust any "taboos," but AIDS is largely the Gay Disease, (or to be more precise, the Promiscuous Gay Disease) and always has been.

They're spending hundreds of millions to wipe out AIDS. You want the Big Secret? Keep the goddam needle out of your arm and don't have sex with someone you're not in a permanent relationship with, never mind total strangers.

I'll take a certified check.