Bend Over for AIDS: France Airline Passengers Get the Shaft

[Guest]

Thanks to the Chirac government, passengers departing from France will be paying what is essentially an "AIDS tax", a levy tacked onto the cost of an airline ticket, thanks to the UN, that is allegedy going to pay for AIDS drugs in poor countries.

However, knowing that the UN is involved, that's probably the last place it will end up.

Story here.

Fortunately, when I go home on leave in August, I will only be on the ground at CDG for less than two hours, so I won't take it in the ass from the French government just because I don't have AIDS.

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[slug 1]

Hi Mark

I'm thinking the FAA alao levies aairport tax here in the US for the airport trust fund,

That money is used to improve all different sizes airports in the US including the same airports that are asking DZ's/skydivers to leave.

It's a free country so You could drive north to canada and fly from there and avoid the airport tax in the US.

"It's easier to get forgiveness than permission" You tax $$$ at work in the US.

BTW the UN has expenses also so there isn't going to be 100% of french funds collected going to AIDS patients.

I sure would like to help Bill Gates administer his charity foundation. 1% admin costs would be big $$$ in my world.

R.i.P.

R.I.P.

[Guest]

You make a valid point.

However, this isn't an aviation user fee, some of the proceeds of which will ostensibly go to airport improvements, etc.

This is an excise tax on those who don't have AIDS, just because they don't, and for no other reason.

How many other diseases have their own dedicated tax?

mh

.

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[mr2mk1g 10]

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This is an excise tax on those who don't have AIDS

No, it's a tax on everyone irrespective of whether or not they have AIDS.

The proceeds do have a dedicated target of buying medication for tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS, but that's hardly unprecedented.

[Andy9o8 3]

Mark, your problem is you've spent too much time around American Republicans, and their toxins have rubbed off on you. Wash, boy, wash, and let some socialism take you to a higher plane. (As it were.)

PS: by the way, most Africans don't get AIDS through getting it up the wazoo M2M, they get it from standard heterosexual intercourse. That being said, your title is amusing.

PPS: I didn't invent this saying, but: if the world spent as much money on treating AIDS in Africa as it does on pills to give affluent white men erections, maybe AIDS woulda been licked by now.

[Guest]

Interesting remarks, but AIDS is still the only disease (social disease) that has its own political agenda.

Cancer and heart disease kill far more, and yet there is no air travel levy imposed by the French government for those.

mh

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[jakee 1,610]

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Interesting remarks, but AIDS is still the only disease (social disease) that has its own political agenda.

Viruses aren't capable of thought, let alone abstract concepts like politics.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[freethefly 6]

I just do not know what to say about your post. I find it offensive. Are you hoping to discourage AIDS funding? I hope that you find yourself alone in being discouraging. Besides, this is old news. Also, why are you against what it takes to ending a global epidemic? Comparing AIDS to cancer and heart disease is akin to comparing apples and oranges. AIDS is in a class all of it's own. To hell with any political agenda when the subject is preserving human life. There is far too much suffering on this planet. It is EVERYONES responsibilty to end strife and suffering of every kind.
Imagine what kind of good that could had been accomplished with the money that has been wasted in Iraq.
http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
A HUGE THANK YOU TO FRANCE for their brave effort.

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

[tbrown 26]

This is an excise tax on those who don't have AIDS, just because they don't, and for no other reason.

How many other diseases have their own dedicated tax?

[Gawain 0]

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\BTW the UN has expenses also so there isn't going to be 100% of french funds collected going to AIDS patients.

How true...they have a large tally of people to pay off to front programs that don't work.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[ExAFO 0]

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It is EVERYONES responsibilty to end strife and suffering of every kind.

Bullshit. Some third-world sewer is neither my fault nor my responsibility to alleviate.

You're just torqued off because a cause near and dear to your heart is being debated, and it's not 100% YOUR view..

Illinois needs a CCW Law. NOW.

[kallend 2,180]

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Quote

It is EVERYONES responsibilty to end strife and suffering of every kind.

Bullshit. Some third-world sewer is neither my fault nor my responsibility to alleviate.

You're just torqued off because a cause near and dear to your heart is being debated, and it's not 100% YOUR view..

You didn't choose your parents or the country of your birth. Neither did you achieve them by your own hard work or brilliance. You happen to be a citizen of a very wealthy country by luck.

A little bit of humility and compassion goes a long way.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[ExAFO 0]

Quote

Quote

Quote

It is EVERYONES responsibilty to end strife and suffering of every kind.

Bullshit. Some third-world sewer is neither my fault nor my responsibility to alleviate.

You're just torqued off because a cause near and dear to your heart is being debated, and it's not 100% YOUR view..

You didn't choose your parents or the country of your birth. Neither did you achieve them by your own hard work or brilliance. You happen to be a citizen of a very wealthy country by luck.

A little bit of humility and compassion goes a long way.

Non-sequitor. It still does not assign the vast majority of us the liability for the situation, or responsibility for alleviating(sp?) it.

Illinois needs a CCW Law. NOW.

[billvon 3,132]

>This is an excise tax on those who don't have AIDS . . .

Just as the airport tax is applied to people who don't have airports.

>How many other diseases have their own dedicated tax?

?? None. This one isn't dedicated to HIV either. Read the article!

[Guest]

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>This is an excise tax on those who don't have AIDS . . .

Just as the airport tax is applied to people who don't have airports.

>How many other diseases have their own dedicated tax?

?? None. This one isn't dedicated to HIV either. Read the article!

I did read it, however, that's not the point I'm trying to make.

Untold billions have been spent over the decades on Africa for food aid, immunizations, etc.

Nothing has changed except that now there are more people than ever living in disease and squalor, and they insist that we in the First World do more about it.

They forget that it was our compassionate aid and assistance that caused it all in the first place.

Frankly, I think they should fend for themselves.

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[warpedskydiver 0]

Just think of all those poor uneducated carion eaters that will suffer due to the increase in carcasses infected with HIV

[feuergnom 29]

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They forget that it was our compassionate aid and assistance that caused it all in the first place.

MAJOR BULLSHIT!
africa has suffered first from eurpean rule, when they finally got rid of us, international companies took over. big oil and big mining of every kind is still trying to squeeze everything out of this continent. don't believe me? do some research, then come back.

btw: i wish you a pleasant life without ever getting sick and desperately calling out for help.

ps: i take it you are american. if you feel so mistreated why don't you get a lawyer and sue france?

The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle

dudeist skydiver # 666

[billvon 3,132]

>Nothing has changed except that now there are more people than
> ever living in disease and squalor, and they insist that we in the
> First World do more about it.

No, WE insist that we do something about it. We spend about $1 billion "officially" (i.e. US government funding) a year for HIV prevention/treatment. Total US aid to that area is about $3.5 billion. No hard numbers exist for private donations from the US to Africa, but they are comparable. No one is twisting our arms or threatening us with pre-emptive invasion if we don't act a certain way.

>They forget that it was our compassionate aid and assistance that
>caused it all in the first place.

If "causing" a quarter of a million people to survive is the worst outcome of that money, I am glad it was so well spent.

>Frankly, I think they should fend for themselves.

If we had no problem spending money to start wars but thought dying people are undeserving of our support, we would be a morally bankrupt country indeed. I'm glad we spend the money we do to save lives. That $1 billion equates to about $4000 a life saved; I think that's a cost worth paying.

[livendive 8]

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This is an excise tax on those who don't have AIDS, just because they don't, and for no other reason.

So HIV-positive passengers are excluded from paying the tax?

This thread smacks of something downright ugly.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[warpedskydiver 0]

Bill sometimes I wonder if the entire campaign would do better if they called it "Save the Scavengers"
Then there may have been decent oversight and organization. The UN can fuck up nearly anything.


Seems there is an enormous amount spent without parallel results.

How is it that no matter how much money is spent worldwide, that on one particular continent it seems to not even matter. Is there that much corruption?

What is the problem?

P.S. the French law sucks

[billvon 3,132]

>How is it that no matter how much money is spent worldwide, that
>on one particular continent it seems to not even matter.

??? I think that saving the lives of 250,000 people "matters."

[Erroll 80]

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Bill sometimes I wonder if the entire campaign would do better if they called it "Save the Scavengers"

What arrogance! I suspect that you have never been really hungry in your entire life.

[crotalus01 0]

believe it or not, many Africans feel the exact same way. They feel the aid money from the international community is creating a welfare mentality within most (if not all) African states.
African problems will NOT be solved by throwing money at the situation....you have to go back to the colonial boundries set by the original colonists (Belgium, Britian, France et al) to see that they grossly conflict with Tribal boundries. Tribal boundries are MUCH more important in African thinking than the convienient "borders" set by the occupying colonial forces 100 years ago....

As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...