Tom Emmer says "Just Say No!" to reality

Republican Tom Emmer is disgusted by the fact that an AIDS prevention program uses what he considers to be explicit language in information given to the public on how to stop the spread of AIDS. He would end all funding to the Minnesota AIDS Project, even though the website he objects to doesn't receive any state funds.

As one person on the Minnesota Politics Discussion list said, Rep. Emmer seems to be filling Arlon Lindner's shoes. AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease. In order to talk about how not to spread AIDS, it is necessary to talk about sex. In order to talk about sex, you need to use sexually explicit terms. The alternative is something I read in a Bloom County comic strip of probably twenty years ago, where the editor of the local newspaper decided to sidestep the explicitness problem by writing "If you ever do (a-word) or (c-word) be sure to always use a (c-word number two)." Not particularly effective.

Now, I don't know if Rep. Emmer never had "the talk" when he was growing up, but it sure doesn't sound like it. I, for one, do not feel like giving it to him.