The gays and the straights and the whites and the spades: Everyone has AIDS!

64 percent of physicians and 63 percent of the overall population believe that "mandatory, federally funded HIV testing would improve the overall health of the U.S. population," says a new survey.

Addendum, at the suggestion of H&R stalwart Pavel: 59 percent and 60 percent believe "the associated health care benefits of mandatory, federally funded HIV testing outweigh the social implications."

Comments

[Adam]

i'm tellin ya there's no problem we can't solve without one more federal program. because government kicks ass.

[Ted B.]

First comes the "mandatory testing".
Next comes the databases.
Followed by armed raids, and "...rounding up the usual suspects".
From there it's tattoos and "legal" sanctions.
Then the "camps".

From my cold, dead hands."

[Pavel]

Tim, you really picked on the wrong part of that survey.

If somebody asked me, "Would mandatory, federally funded HIV testing would improve the overall health of the U.S. population?" I would have to respond "yes."

It's the follow up that's the killer.

[Ken Shultz]

"...mandatory, federally funded HIV testing would improve the overall health of the U.S. population."

...and just think what it'll do for the ultra-right wing nuts!

Imagine the local sheriff knockin' on some armed to the teeth, mad as hell, proto-militiaman hillbilly in Indiana and sayin', "We're here to check you for HIV Duane. Now, stick your arm out."

...Better yet, why don't they try it in South-Central LA first?

[CodeMonkeySteve]

"For every action there is an equal and opposite government program."

[Tim Cavanaugh]

You're right, Pavel. Additional information above (and of course, in the article itself).

[Ball of Confusion]

But will the results of the test be encoded onto my not-national-ID-card?

[Poustman]

Adam: guffaws.

[NoStar]

The gays and the straights and the whites and the spades
Everyone at the party has AIDS!
Freakin at the Freaker's Ball

[Stevo Darkly]

Does this mean every American would need to get tested? Even people who are at a very, very low risk (essentially zero) of getting a sexually transmitted disease, such as:

- Nuns?

- People who have been in a coma for the past 20 years?

- Teenagers in the after-school Dungeons & Dragons club?

- Stevo Darkly?

[Ken Shultz]

"Freakin at the Freaker's Ball"

I've always thought of myself as a free speech advocate. Then someone makes a Dr. Hook reference, with impunity apparently, as if that kind of behavior doesn't have any social consequences.

A Dr. Hook reference! Here in America? It's...it's...

...indefensible.

[Ersatz Datura]

Stevo,

I think we can rule out nuns.

[Zzzz]

"We're here to check you for HIV Duane. Now, stick your arm out."

Actually, the newest method of HIV testing requires only a single drop of blood to be tested and yield a result in 20 minutes. It's in fact as easy as testing one's blood sugar level, which makes me wonder if mandatory testing would occur without the knowledge of the test subjects. After all, why bother mandating people's cooperation through a change in the law when you can simply violate existing laws and get the same result without delay or difficulty?