This is what you wrote:

It is in fact the inability to know before having sex that leads to it's spread.

Nowhere did you state that sex was the statistically most common means of transmission. You are the one who ignored other means, not me. I was simply refuting your one-track over-simplification on transmission.

while completely ignoring the entire premise that one can't tell by looking at someone, who has HIV or not.

Certainly you can't tell by looking at everyone, but anyone who has seen pictures of AIDS victims in third world countries and those who are familiar with long-term survivors here in the US, would dispute that there are no physical manifestations apparent with this disease. Did you honestly not know what was killing Rock Hudson when you saw pictures of him?

My claim was that I have experience dealing with this disease, Shooter, and that is true. I have never claimed to be an expert. I also never claimed that sex wasn't the primary mode of transmission (see above). Statistics on transmission vary depending on the population you are considering, just as they do with other diseases.

Here's a good primer for you so you can educate yourself in hopes you'll stop sounding so ignorant in the future. The table with statistics is on page 5 of this UNAIDS report:

http://data.unaids.org/pub/Manual/2007/mot_manual_2007_en.pdf

The prevalence of HIV in injection drug users is 20%, the same as in MSM. The prevalence in those who have casual heterosexual sex is 13.1%. In sex workers it was 40%. So your point that sex is the main transmission risk factor is well-documented and understood by those who work in the field, but my point that IDU is also a significant factor is also well-documented.

As for your insults, since I do provide cites to back up my 'bitching' (as you would have known if you'd actually read my initial reply to Bucky), then I guess I'm an uncommon scold. Better to be an informed scold than an ignorant asshole.

Of course he's a misogynist or, at the very least, the sort of condescending he-man that makes it hard to hold one's gorge when they're spouting off ill-informed 'corrections' to the "little ladies" who dare to step out of their place and tell them they're full of beans and unimpressive gonads.

What he doesn't know is that I consider "bitch" a compliment since I fully understand why men like him apply it to women like me.

Shooter's misogyny, it seems to me, is a subset of his more general misanthropy.

I'm inclined to agree, though his dyspepsia toward me, at least lately, seems distinguished by his use of the word "bitch". My aim was to educate, but if my "bitching" is getting under his skin, well then, good for me. I, too, have friends living with HIV, so I can relate to what you are saying. Shooter's casual ignorance and complete lack of compassion are telling, as you noted.

I guarantee you it had nothing whatever to do with misogyny on my part.

The thought never crossed my mind. It's not hard to recognize the he-man woman-haters that lurk around here. No one in their right mind would try to jam that shoe onto your foot.

Another example of Republican hot air:

http://www.jokesunlimited.com/picture.php?jokeid=1124

It is the unfamiliar which Bush mangles, times when he has to think about or remember things in which he really lacks any interest.

Does Miller say anything about anxiety level? It seems he deteriorates at times when he is experiencing a lot of opposition - i.e. uncomfortable questions for which he has no good answers (or prepared lies).

Just my own observation.....

The NYTimes is going to hire Bill Kristol as a weekly columnist in 2008.

Unfortunately, yes. After reading about this, and having a recent bout with the flu, I can tell you definitively that having an empty stomach is not a deterrent against further rounds of retching.

No, "common" pretty much covers it. You could have generously offered your information without being snide, but I don't think you have that in you.

Since I did offer facts, by your own definition (below), I don't qualify as common. Or do you do that Republican, "sliding definition thang whenever confronted with your own quotes?

Common scolds tend to a little light on the facts.

As for being snide, it's how I respond to rudeness. It wouldn't have come out if you hadn't tossed 'common scold' my way. You reached the gutter first when you called my attempt to bring facts into the discussion "bitching". That's what engendered "ignorant asshole" since you assume that anyone who knows enough to offer facts when you spout untruths (or partial truths, as the mood sways you) is a "bitching common scold" and not someone to be taken Seriously.

You never mentioned what you thought of the statistics I showed you how to look up.

Mike Huckabee

"Well ... these three chickens all said they would not vote for me on caucus day. You see what happened? You reporters stay on the other side of the road there, now. Wouldn't want any of you to get hit."

So Peggy Noonan is a year older than her father?

She's her own grandpa. ;->

So Peggy Noonan is a year older than her father?

She's her own grandpa. ;->

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0s5Kn9QXtU

You'd like to think he's bright enough to figure that out.

Ted Haggard

YES! That chicken crossed the road!

And, YES!! We should condemn that crossing!

But we should LOVE that chicken....while we HATE the crossing!!!

(can someone pull the pluck on that stoplight camera please?)