Thou Shalt Not Lie...

...unless you are pandering to your base. I think that's how it goes. I would be able to remember the Ten Commandments better if they would just post them in our courthouses and public libraries. Anyway... Today's lie, (or religi-fact, if you prefer) concerns that stalwart of Republican values, abstinence:

Uganda, considered a beacon in Africa for its AIDS-beating policies, is adopting sexual-abstinence-only programs financed by the United States that could undo all its successes, a report released Wednesday says. Human Rights Watch warns that the new policies, which promote abstinence until marriage rather than condom use, leave not only young unmarried people but also women married to unfaithful men without the knowledge they need to protect themselves from infection.

Research within Uganda by Human Rights Watch has found that information on condoms, safer sex and the risks of HIV in marriage has been removed from primary schools, while some materials used in secondary schools falsely suggest that condoms have microscopic holes that allow the virus through. The AIDS awareness programs in schools are funded by the United States and overseen by an American technical advisor at the Ministry of Education. [Minitru]
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Human Rights Watch says condoms have been widely available in recent years in Uganda and have helped keep HIV prevalence down to around 6 percent, after the big fall from an estimated 15 percent in 1992. The infection rate dropped when President Yoweri Museveni's government promoted openness about AIDS and awareness of the dangers of HIV infection.
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Human Rights Watch says Uganda is falling in with the Christian right in the United States, which backs sexual abstinence before marriage and believes that promoting condoms leads to promiscuity. Uganda, says the report, is redirecting its AIDS strategy away from scientifically sound policies. "Although endorsed by some powerful religious and political leaders in Uganda, this policy and programmatic shift [are] nonetheless orchestrated and funded by the U.S. government."
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But while the United Nations and most organizations fighting AIDS back the "ABC" mantra -- abstinence, be faithful and condoms -- Uganda's AIDS commission last November issued a draft "Abstinence and Be Faithful" policy document, which argues that promoting condoms and abstinence at the same time would be confusing for young people.

It's just like how they try to bewilder us with contradictory messages about driving safely, and wearing seat belts. Which is it, Bush? Do you want me to avoid an accident or go around smashing into people with my seat belt fastened?