Obama said during “The Beginning of the End of AIDS,” an online conference organized by ONE International, “a grassroots advocacy and campaigning organization that fights extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa”:

Today, I’m announcing some new commitments. We’re committing an additional $15 million for the Ryan White program that supports care provided by HIV medical clinics across the country. Let’s keep their doors open so they can keep saving lives. And we’re committing an additional $35 million for state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs. Now, the federal government can’t do this alone. So I’m also calling on state governments, pharmaceutical companies, and private foundations, to do their part to help Americans get access to all the life-saving treatments.

Florida has the longest AIDS Drug Assistance Program waiting list in the United States. According to National Alliance of State and territorial AIDS Directors, “as of November 17, 2011, there were 6,595 individuals” (.pdf) on ADAP “waiting lists in 12 states.” More than 3,200 of those people live in Florida.

ADAP provides life saving medications for the treatment of HIV and AIDS for people who cannot afford to pay because they are unemployed, uninsured or underinsured. States have implemented a variety of cost containment measures that include waiting lists since 2010, when ADAPs began facing an ongoing funding crisis.

“With bipartisan support, we reauthorized the Ryan White CARE Act,” Obama said today. “And, as I signed that bill, I was so proud to also announce that my Administration was ending the ban that prohibited people with HIV from entering America. Because of that step, next year, for the first time in two decades, we will host the International AIDS conference. So we’ve done a lot over the past three years.”

The president added: “We know that treatment is also prevention. And today we’re setting a new target of helping six million people get on treatment by the end of 2013. That’s two million more people than our original goal.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vital Signs November report issued this week indicates that in the U.S. alone “about 1.2 million people are living with HIV” and “about 240,000 don’t know they are infected.”

Vital Signs adds that “each year, about 50,000 people get infected with HIV in the US. Getting an HIV test is the first step to finding out if you have HIV and getting medical care.”

The National HIV/AIDS Strategy, approved in 2010, highlights among other measures the need for increasing access to treatment and focusing on HIV prevention programs.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., spoke at the ONE conference panel, saying HIV/AIDS “is a good example of how government can work with other institutions in society and around the world to be a positive difference maker.”

Rubio added Democrats and Republicans agree that “the U.S. was a great country in the 2oth century” and “some of the debate that’s happening now is whether the United States will remain a great country in the 21st century.”

The senator acknowledged that “we need to recognize that there are still thousands of people in the United States on waiting lists to receive medication, certainly in my home state of Florida that is the case.”

Rubio concluded that the “economy will be even tougher if people around the world are dying, can’t enter the workforce and can’t be our business partners in economic trade and development.”

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., founding co-chair of the first ever congressional HIV/AIDS caucus, highlighted today the need to increase HIV testing at the domestic level, adding, “We need a domestic PEPFAR; that’s what we are working on.”

PEPFAR, the United States President Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, was created to “help save the lives of those suffering from HIV/AIDS around the world.”

Photo: President Barack Obama (Flickr/The White House)

Scott acknowledges in his statement that Florida has the third highest rate of HIV infection in the U.S., “with 135,000 Floridians living with the disease.”

The Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus points out in a written statement that Florida:

• [has] the greatest number of people living with HIV/AIDS incarcerated in a state prison;
• [has] the greatest number of people on a wait list to access HIV-medications through the state’s AIDS Drug  Assistance Program (ADAP)
• [has] a greater number of people living with HIV/AIDS who are victim to HIV-criminalization and being arrested because Florida has laws that are outdated and not based on modern day science;
• falls short in its in HIV/AIDS care, treatment and prevention programs;
• bans evidence-based programs like syringe-exchange programs, despite the fact they are proven to decrease the  number of new HIV and Hepatitis C-infections;
• ignores the realities of LGBT-youth who are most at risk of infection by failing to establish a minimum state standard for sex education, inclusive of LGBT-people;
• fails to have a strategy to effectively reduce the number of HIV-infections, reduce health disparities or improve access to care and health outcomes for People Living with HIV.

Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said this week “we have the tools to stop HIV from spreading in the individual patient and we have the tools to greatly reduce its spread in communities.”

Frieden added that a recent study shows “that treatment for HIV can prevent spread of HIV to others. For too many years there has been sometimes friction between HIV treatment and HIV prevention, and this study brings home that treatment is prevention, that treatment is essential to prevention.”

A public service announcement launched today by the National Minority AIDS Council and Gilead Science Inc. states: “HIV is not the same epidemic it was 30 years ago, but it is far from over,” telling viewers to “take the 20 minutes to get tested”:

The ADAP Crisis Task Force (PDF) and Gilead Sciences announced today that they reached new terms “that extend additional voluntary discounts and rebates for most Gilead products purchased by state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs).” This at a time when Florida is home to almost 50 percent (more than 3,200 people (PDF)) of all the individuals on AIDS Drug Assistance Program waiting lists in the U.S.

ADAP provides medications for the treatment of HIV and AIDS for people who cannot afford to pay because they are unemployed, uninsured or underinsured. States have implemented a variety of cost containment measures that include waiting lists since 2010, when an ADAPs began facing an ongoing funding crisis.

From CNN:

Bill Clinton came to Rick Perry’s defense Monday over a law the Texas governor signed granting in-state college tuition to children of illegal immigrants.

The former two-term Democratic president said it makes his “skin crawl” when Perry’s Republican rivals attack him “for one of the best things he did.”

“What would they like?” Clinton said during an interview with USA Today. “Would they like the kid to stand on a corner and sell dope or something?”

Long considered a friend of Latinos in Texas, most of his Republican competitors have taken shots at him for offering undocumented immigrants an incentive to come into the country illegally. Perry has defended his record while also showing a willingness to possibly move right on the issue.

In other immigration news, Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce’s recall election is today. Polls show a toss-up between him and another Republican. It’s complicated by the fact that their is a third candidate on the ballot. Olivia Cortes dropped out of the race after it came out that she had been recruited by associates of Pearce, who wanted the Hispanic woman on the ballot to siphon votes away from Pearce’s real competitor.

Pearce outspent his opponent almost 4-1, drawing support from more than 40 states.

Chamlee talks about her piece, which zeroes in on Big Sugar, and about the larger series the story is a part of, which you can find out more about at CampaignCash.org.

Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group that aims to shut down women’s health clinics that provide abortions, has been at the center of anti-abortion activism for quite some time. #

NPR reports: #

The Obama Justice Department has been taking a more aggressive approach against people who block access to abortion clinics, using a 1994 law to bring cases in greater numbers than its predecessor. #

The numbers are most stark when it comes to civil lawsuits, which seek to create buffer zones around clinic entrances for people who have blocked access in the past. Under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, the Justice Department’s civil rights division has filed eight civil cases since the start of the Obama administration. That’s a big increase over the George W. Bush years, when one case was filed in eight years. #

Among the several lawsuits the Obama Justice Department has filed so far, is one against West Palm Beach’s Mary Susan Pine. #

According to The Palm Beach Post, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder sought an injunction against Pine last year that prevents her from entering any driveway leading to a clinic in West Palm Beach that she once blocked a car from parking in front of. She was charged with violating the FACE Act. #

Reproductive rights advocates and clinic employees tell NPR that there has been a “relatively low level of extreme violence” because of the Justice Department’s dedication to enforcing the FACE Act. #

However, Troy Newman disagrees. He told NPR that the Justice Department’s approach to the FACE Act is “a political tool to shut them up, shut them down and make them go away”: #

“This is a ridiculous overstepping of the federal government’s bounds and with the intent of restricting our freedom, our liberties and our speech,” says Newman, who says he was sued under the same law by the Justice Department when Bill Clinton was president. #

Newman previously told The Florida Independent that he has “yet to find an abortion mill that doesn’t violate the law” and will continue to work hard to “expose the abuses of the abortion-cartel.” #

Late this past June, Newman announced that Operation Rescue will be conducting a “massive research project to identify every abortionist in the country.” Newman says he needs fellow anti-abortion advocates to contribute any information they can about abortion providers where they live. #

The board currently consists of 14 judges appointed by the U.S. attorney general without U.S. Senate confirmation that exists within the Executive Office for Immigration Review in the Justice Department. The Aug. 11 decision was issued by a panel of three board members: two appointed by Bush-era attorneys general (one by John Ashcroft and one by Michael Mukasey), and one appointed by Clinton Attorney General Janet Reno. The decision was written by Roger Pauley, the Ashcroft appointee. #

The decision comes at a time when immigrant rights groups have criticized the Obama administration for harsh immigration enforcement efforts, a practice inherited from the previous administration, which escalated deportations over the course of the 2000s. #

The issue at the heart of the board’s decision is timing. Federal immigration officials are constrained by the Fourth Amendment and the Due Process clause of the Fifth Amendment, as well as by the Immigration and Nationality Act and federal regulations. Regulations provide certain protections to immigrants that are not in the Constitution, among which is the requirement that federal officials notify immigrants of their rights to obtain an attorney (not at the government’s expense) and that anything they say will be used against them, before they are placed in formal deportation hearings. #

The time period between when an immigrant is arrested by the authorities without a warrant — for example, during a workplace raid, or while federal officials are entering a house or workplace with a warrant for some reason other than arresting the immigrant — and when they are placed in deportation proceedings has been a gray area as far as the immigrant’s specific rights are concerned. #

Before the Aug. 11 decision, the federal regulation dictating the timing of rights notifications had been interpreted in conflicting ways by different courts. Immigration lawyers argued the notifications should occur before questioning, and two federal appeals courts, the Second and the Eighth, have agreed. In 2009, however, the Ninth Circuit argued that the language of the regulation implies that notifications don’t have to precede questioning. #

The Ninth Circuit has a jurisdiction that covers two of the states with the largest proportions of unauthorized immigrants in America, California and Arizona (according to the Pew Hispanic Center), so its opinion on this matter carried some impact. But with the Justice Department’s own appellate body weighing in on the side of the Ninth Circuit, decreased protections for immigrants arrested without warrants could become a reality throughout the entire nation. #

One important caveat is that current U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder can still vacate the board’s decision, an action that is rare but was recently done in the case of a man who wished to stay in the country with his male partner but whose deportation was upheld by the board under the Defense of Marriage Act. Whether Holder wishes to intervene and override the panel, none of whose members were appointed by Holder, in an effort to preserve legal protections for immigrants, remains to be seen. #

Sean Avery, an NHL enforcer, one of the most fist and stick happy guys in the league, has shot a video endorsing gay marriage. He becomes one of the very few male professional athletes in the country to speak out publicly for gay rights.

From The New York Times:

Since September, advocates for same-sex marriage in New York have released 30-second videos of celebrities endorsing their cause. More than 30 have taken part, including the actors Julianne Moore and Sam Waterston, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the former first daughter Barbara Bush. On Thursday, former President Bill Clinton released a written statement of support, too.

In a video that is part of the New Yorkers for Marriage Equality campaign, Avery says, “I treat everyone the way I expect to be treated, and that applies to marriage.”

Until now, supporters have come mostly from the worlds of politics, entertainment, theater and fashion. One type of New York celebrity was conspicuously absent: the athlete.

Enter Rangers forward Sean Avery.

He recently recorded a video, becoming one of only a few active athletes in American team sports to voice support for gay rights, and is believed to be the first in New York to publicly advocate for same-sex marriage. No active male player in a major American team sport has declared his homosexuality, and homosexual slurs remain in use to insult opponents and officials.

Avery, a 31-year-old from Pickering, Ontario, has played nine seasons in the N.H.L. Known as a fashion-conscious, on-ice agitator, he has never been afraid of what others think of him.

According to The Palm Beach Post, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder sought an injunction against Pine last year that prevents her from entering any driveway leading to a clinic in West Palm Beach that she once blocked a car from parking in front of. She was charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

According to the Associated Press, other anti-abortion activists include “a Texas man who threw his body across the door of a patient waiting area in San Antonio; and a Pennsylvania man who posted on the Internet the names and addresses of abortion providers and extolled his readers to kill them.”

The number of lawsuits filed by Holder stands in stark contrast to the previous administration. Compared to the one lawsuit filed during the eight years of the Bush administration, the Obama Administration has shown more resolve in enforcing current law protecting access to abortion clinics.

The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act was enacted during the Clinton Administration in the wake of a surge in anti-abortion activism across the country. Activists staged “massive sit-ins at clinics, clinic bombings and other anti-abortion activities that culminated with [George] Tiller being wounded in a 1993 shooting,” according to the Associated Press.

Tiller, a physician that provided legal abortions in Wichita, Kansas, was gunned down by an anti-abortion extremist in 2009. Since the shooting, the Justice Department has aggressively pursued anti-abortion extremism in the U.S.

The schools in question were founded by Fethullah Gülen, an Islamic political figure from Turkey who currently lives in the Poconos. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the FBI and the Departments of Labor and Education are investigating “whether some charter school employees are kicking back part of their salaries to a Muslim movement founded by Gulen known as Hizmet, or Service, according to knowledgeable sources.” #

The investigation has no apparent link to terrorism. The Inquirer reports instead that “it is focused on whether hundreds of Turkish teachers, administrators, and other staffers employed under the H1B visa program are misusing taxpayer money.” #

According to a Turkish newspaper, a 2005 U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks says that the Gülen community seems to be a “moderate Islam model that keeps its distance from violence and terrorism.” #

Gülen currently has more than 120 schools across the country: The school network’s website shows endorsements from President Bill Clinton, as well as photos of students visiting the White House to display award-winning science projects. #

The Jacksonville chapter of ACT! for America — the same controversial group that led an aggressive campaign against Dr. Parvez Ahmed’s appointment to the city’s Human Rights Commission last year — sent out a press release yesterday, alleging that the investigation is related to terrorism. #

According to the release, Jacksonville’s “South Side Science Academy” is under investigation for “Islamic Indoctrination or ‘Brain Washing’.” A Google search turned up no school with that name, but there is a “Rivercity Science Academy” which some blogs have accused of ties to Gülen. #

ACT!’s Randy McDaniels writes in the press release that one of the school’s board members, also a member of the Amity Turkish Cultural Center, has been conducting annual “INFLUENCE OPERATIONS” by paying for the travel expenses of prominent officials in the community to Turkey. The release lists Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford and Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll as two such officials. #

Calls to McDaniels and Rutherford’s office have not been returned. #

FBI spokesman Jeffrey Westcott says the bureau has not confirmed any of the allegations brought forth by ACT! #

“Unless someone has been charged or a search warrant has been issued, we don’t confirm investigations,” he says. “So it’s bizarre for someone to say that we are investigating.” #

According to the Washington Post, federal agencies are preparing, individually, to operate at reduced levels in the event of a government shutdown, which the Obama administration has said it is trying to avoid. Exactly which departments would be closed and which federal workers would be sent home has not been revealed.

But when a government “shuts down,” it doesn’t actually shut down completely — just those those services that are not considered to be “essential,” such as tours at the National Mall or getting rid of the animal poop at the National Zoo (which actually happened during the last government shutdowns in 1995 and early 1996, the Washington Post’s Ed O’Keefe told Fox 5 Morning News).

Watch O’Keefe’s analysis of the situation on Fox 5 Morning News:

Temporary Spending Bill Needed To Avoid A Government Shutdown: MyFoxDC.com

“Essential” services, according to the Office of Management and Budget, are defined as those that are “essential to the national security or the safety of life and property”; provide for benefit payments and the performance of contract obligations; and provide essential activities that protect life and property, such as medical and emergency care, public health and safety, air traffic control, border surveillance, law enforcement and protection of federal prisons.

Per a Congressional Research Service report from November 1999, the five-day federal shutdown in November 2005 resulted in the furlough of about 800,000 federal employees. The 21-day shutdown from December to January 1996 resulted in approximately 284,000 furloughs, while another 475,000 federal employees continued to work “in a non-pay status,” meaning their federal health benefits continued.

Other consequences of the’05 shutdown, according to the report:

• New patients were not accepted into clinical research at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, and hotline calls concerning disease were not answered.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ceased disease surveillance.
• Toxic waste clean-up work ceased at 609 sites.
• The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms experienced delays processing alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives applications.
• Work on more than 3,500 bankruptcy cases was suspended.
• Delinquent child-support cases were suspended.
• 368 National Park Service sites were closed.
• 200,000 U.S. applications for passports went unprocessed, as did 20,000-30,000 applications by foreigners for visas every day.
• All 13,500 Department of Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs employees were furloughed.
• An estimated 25,000 American Indians did not receive timely payments of oil and gas royalties.

But the mail was delivered.

According to CNN Money.com, this time around, if the government shuts down, we could see hundreds of thousands of federal employees being furloughed, during which time they will not be paid, but should expect a retroactive payback sometime later, unlike federal contract workers. CNN Money points out that the longer the shutdown lasts, the more difficult it becomes for agencies to determine which workers are still essential.

Congress has stated its plans to discuss a short-term spending plan to prevent a shutdown. On Tuesday, Senate Democrats proposed to extend current stimulus-level appropriations for at least a month, meaning a suspension of President Obama’s additional proposed spending increases for the time being, according to FoxNews.com. Republican leaders are working on a counter-proposal that could be released today. According to the network, aides have suggested the counter-proposal will likely call for a short-term plan of two to three weeks, with pro-rated cuts from their original $61 billion cut proposal.

House Republicans posit that Democrats really want a shutdown, as a way of making the Republicans look weak and avoiding budget cuts. And in a statement released today, House Speaker John Boehner said:

“The American people want Congress and President Obama to enact legislation that keeps the government running while cutting spending.  Heeding their will, the People’s House has passed such legislation; the Democratic-controlled Senate, by contrast, has not.  Americans understand we need to stop the spending binge in Washington to create a better environment for job creation.  So I ask Senator Reid, with all due respect: what are you willing to cut?

Instead of huddling with lobbyists to stop spending cuts, the Republican-led House has listened to the people and passed legislation to keep the government open through September while cutting spending.  If the Senate refuses to vote on this bill, the House next week will pass a shorter-term bill to keep the government open that also cuts spending.  We will give Senator Reid and his colleagues every opportunity to follow the will of the people we serve. Our goal is to cut spending to create a better environment for job creation – not to shut down the government.”