Distriction: DC HIV/AIDS Rates Surpass West Africa

Because it's not just a third-world problem, it's a problem on Third and Maryland Ave too


More imperative -- but innately intertwined -- with the "Anti-Journalism" movement is the need to debunk the (mediated) HIV/AIDS mythologies within the U.S. For example: toting Africa as the world's AIDS haven. HIV/AIDS -- like hunger, like poverty, like inadequate education -- does not stop at our doorstep. The sooner we come to terms with social pandemics -- and take accountability and ownership of them as our own -- the sooner we can solve the problem.

As the Obama Administration aims to reconnect the U.S. with our international partners, it is key that we as Americans look -- beyond politics, to people -- at shared experiences between ourselves and our fellow global citizens -- flaws and all.

Hopefully, this sparks an expansion initiative for the Project Red -- who's brilliant campaign stimulates charity, capitalism, and consumption ... all in one! The brand's mission to "fight AIDS in Africa," would provide worlds of support -- literally -- to fight the AIDS within the U.S. as well. Even a campaign to establish sub-projects -- country/region specific extensions within the larger "Project Red" umbrella -- would present the gravity in sheer breadth of the social crisis, but more so the solidarity behind the solution.



Watch this space

Kathie Lee: Because Oklahoma is spelled A-F-R-I-C-A ... the silent A threw me off

Pretense: Keep in mind it's March, Kathie Lee can't be expected to know about Africa matters beyond February -- it's called being fair. As far as Hoda's birthplace, just be happy Kathie Lee pronounced Kotb's name right. That said ...



Hoda and Kathie Lee: From the Sphinx to the Champs-Élysées. It's like Oprah and Gayle tripping across the country -- but more Kesey, less cornrows, more GPS, less coherence, more lost in translation, and much more kevlar -- or not at all like Oprah and Gayle's roadtrip...