[Carry_Okie]

It is curious that you negate the moral distinction between contracting HIV and the common cold. Unless I lived in a sterile environment I could wash my hands all day and still get the common cold, while the first word in AIDS is "acquired;" i.e., one must actively choose to engage in activity one knows carries the risk of infection in order to be infected.

IOW your analogy is worthless for the purpose of positing moral equivalence. Given that there exists an easily-understood and effective means of rendering its epidemiological impact to one of extreme rarity, and that said means (monogamy) is demonstrably beneficial to the general good of a society, then to argue that hundreds of billions of money be confiscated by force to be spent on prevention and treatment does not put HIV on the same level as any other infectious disease.

[garbanzo]

It is curious that you negate the moral distinction between contracting HIV and the common cold.

And ladies and gentlemen, this is why people believe conservatives are morons. Let's simply ignore the people, like children, who contract HIV infections without any sort of immorality on their parts. Hey let's let them die because stupid conservatives think you can only get HIV from receptive anal sex.