Propaganda

Dedicated to the NIMBYs of Barriefield Village and to CIty Hall, both needing constructive ways to engage with the need for reasonably priced housing.

ON THE BRINK OF POVERTY
BY GEOFF SMITH

ON THE BRINK OF POVERTY, WERE IT NOT
FOR FORTUNE FOR YOU AND FOR ME,
WE’D FIND OURSELVES, DELIVERED AND
SEALED, TO A LONELY POTTER’S FIELD
THAT ONCE HOUSED THE POOR AND ASPIRING,
PEOPLE WHO WORKED AND, THOUGH PERSPIRING.
CALLED KINGSTON HOME AT THE EDGE OF CAMP,
BARRIEFIELD, AN ENTRY RAMP.

FOR SOLDIERS AND WIVES, AFTER THE WAR,
MIGRANTS IN H-HUTS IN NUMBERS GALORE
WITH HOPES AFTER PATRIOTIC DUTY DONE,
RUEING MUD AFTER VANQUISHING THE HUN
FOR THE SECOND TIME IN THIRTY YEARS
THEY CAME HOME TO RAUCOUS CHEERS, AND
SOUGHT THEIR FORTUNES CLOSE TO BE
IN A BURGEONING POSTWAR ECONOMY.

IN THE OLD VILLAGE TOO, NOT ALL THAT WEALTHY
STILL DENIZENS FOUND WAYS TO BE HEALTHY
AND HAPPY TOO. WITH SUCH A GRAND VIEW
OF THE CAT, CITY, & A LOW SKYLINE, THANK YOU.

NOW A HALF-CENTURY LATER, AND ANOTHER SCORE,
BARRIEFIELD BOASTS GENTRIFIED DOORS
AND RESIDENTS WORRY ABOUT THE LOUD SNORES
OF POORER FOLK IN A PUBLIC HOUSING CORE
PROPOSED BY THE CITY WHICH IN ARCANE LORE
THREATENS PROPERTY VALUES, AND EVEN MORE,

AS ALL THOSE PROGRESSIVE QUEEN’S PROFS
AGREE, NOT IN MY BACKYARD, NOT AT ALL FOR ME,
THE CITY’S CRAZY, THEY ARGUE AND SNORT,
THINK OF THE PROPERTY VALUES AND ALL THE TORTS
COMMITTED BY NEWCOMERS LESS ABLE THAN WE,
NO MARKETS, ARENAS, OR RINKS, YOU SEE.

SO BARRIEFIELD WITH ITS COTTAGES PLEASANT
CITY-HALL MENACED, WITH RESOLVE SO REGNANT,
WILL NEVER, AGAIN, GET THE CHANCE TO SHINE
IF THIS PLAN PASSES WITH ITS PRINT SO FINE.
INDEED, LET US HOIST OUR HYPOCRITE’S PETARD,
(THROUGH JANE JACOBS AND MARX’S CANARD)
AND REPEAT THRICE MORE, CON MUCHO BRIO…
NOT, NOT, NOT, NEVER IN OUR BACKYARD.

RETURNING FROM CALIFORNIA a few weeks ago, I’ve been remiss in failing to get back on line with the usual views and shrews. Much to relate about the Golden State, most of it baleful reflections on huge failures in state politics and economics, and the political system itself in a shambles. It will take a moderate-sized miracle to pull out of this one before 2020, and even Terminator (Arnie) Schwarzenegger seems not up to the job. A surfeit of democracy, selfish claims to individual liberty and a dearth of good will and civility in Sacramento seem to have sealed the devilish deal. Perhaps Californians deserve it, so long have they nurtured a collective self-image of superiority over the rest of the Republic (let alone this benighted socialist nation–that, according to one of my right-wing relatives…..But on the other side, those of you who visit California recognize well the glorious natural beauty of the place, ranging from seashore to Sierra mountain-top. And yes, your scribe enjoyed himself immensely, staying away from most watering holes and fleshpots, focusing on the aforementioned Sierra Nevada, near Pinecrest, up to Sonora Pass, and environs. Try it one day. At night, if you can stomach the road over the Pass, you can get out of your car and (literally) take your choice of the (at least) thousand stars in the sky….On the road to Dodge Ridge, off Highway 108, there is also one of the great views anywhere in creation. Walk west about forty yards, look over the cliff, and you are at “Therapy”. The name is apt, as the sun dips in the (much farther) west, creating an exceptional kaleidoscope of colour. When the sun is about gone–and on a clear dusk you can see all the way to Mt. Diablo, on the Bay, a good 150 miles across about five ridges and the valley, someone shouts, “QUIET!” No noise, please, as the pantheist, deist, taoist impulses in us take over and we look at, well, something beyond description. Yellow, purple, green, pink, ochre, go for it…….And then it is darker, and the wine and beer come out again, and the party resumes……

IF THERAPY stands as one highlight of the trip, a jaunt with an old friend down the coast on Highway 1 also allows for superlatives. On a beautiful Saturday Jill and I drove from her home in Redwood City, up to La Honda (site of much of Ken Kesey’s counterculture excitement during the 1960s) and thence down snaky roads to Big Basin and lunch in Boulder Creek. That’s walking back fifty years (yes, Johnny’s Supermarket still there), and driving through roads made tunnels by huge redwoods, pines, and oh, the wonderful smell of the mountains. From thence through Santa Cruz and down to Point Lobos Reserve. Point Lobos is unparalleled as a hiking site, with three good trails that will keep you busy all day, and draw you back (like Therapy) again and again. The ocean breeze, the trees, cliffs, beach, animals — deer, dolphins, sea otters viewed this fine afternoon — make it clear that religion that claims to mouth truth from within any man-made edifice connected with religion cannot compare with nature…..thence after, as the sun set on the Pacific, dinner at the Nepenthe Restaurant overlooking Big Sur–you cannot do better than this for ambience, which makes the mundane menu more than palatable. A good California wine makes it even better.

SO there are two highlights in a fabulous trip, which also included a visit with my high school basketball coach, whom I had not seen for fifty years, a surreal moment where the first thing we both did was to laugh. Back in the days, ‘57-’59 I had trouble gaining weight. Was a 6-3, 140 lb varsity forward in grade 11, so when the old coach saw me now, he admitted that it was hard to remember the days when I could turn sideways and disappear. He and his wife BettyRae live in Stockton, in a very fine retirement village, and follow their eldest son Pat’s golf career, as he is one of the top two or three amateurs
in the state….Overall, the visit left me with a feeling of closure of one page, kind of a Tuesdays with Morrie kind of thing.

CALIFORNIA IS A WONDERFUL PLACE TO VISIT, but I wouldn’t want to live there…Too much populations density in the urban sprawls, too many cars, too much inequality, and a whole host of other problems……so wonderful to get back to Kingston and painting, gardening, and rudimentary knitting (yes), along with a few other pursuits that shall not be mentioned here….Queen’s University is struggling mightily to turn around some red ink and bad karma, what with the installation last night of Daniel Woolf as its latest Principal and Vice Chancellor. He gave a thoughtfull and — yes — hopeful speech during the ceremony, even underlining the importance of “imagination” in the context of developing Queen’s mission over the next quarter century. Together with “knowledge” and “wisdom,’ the idea of imagination needs hearing. Especially in first year courses. Here is a challenge to the new Principal and the new vice principals to do something radical in reorganizing the way knowledge is imparted, to introduce something different and more exciting and engaging than the large lecture hall, and as Woolf noted, the ability to take teaching as seriously as we do research. We’ve paid lip service to that idea for a number of years….but……only lip service.

The ceremony involved three honorary degrees, greetings from most other Cdn universities and several colleges, and the appearance of the Queen’s bands, cheerleaders, and BooHoo the bear, who tammed the new principal at the end of the ceremony. Most interesting from this scribe’s viewpoint was the juxtaposition of the singing of “God Save the Queen” at the outset with the moving aboriginal chant that immediately followed as the invocation. God knows how much we have taken from the aboriginal nations, without much in return.

And, of course, with the cheerleaders there were gymnastics, with the men throwing around the women, making me wonder why we can’t have women throwing around men. Not kidding on this one people, the time is coming…..

AND THE BANQUET, with signs of hope and good will and optimism, Queen’s people gathering at Ban Righ to sup and toast and toast and toast. Woolf is smart, well-read, cares about teaching, and insightful. Will he be tough enough to do the things he has to do? Will he choose good people to gather round him for the transition period while search committees seek to name everything from the VP Academic to dog catcher…..

VERY LITTLE of the Queen’s story made the local paper, which featured a fine shot of the principal and chancellor David Dodge doing the Oil Thigh; it’s too bad we don’t have someone writing education at the Whig. But, sadly, like an Agatha Christie novel, fewer and fewer live writers remain active at what was once — not too long ago — the Whig Building. And the material the paper prints? Increasingly tabloid junk, stale crime news, names of transgressors. Guess that one reads the paper these days only for the obits…said that before, can say it again.

More to come on Kingston and Queen’s in the near future….

Here’s Sonora Pass!

Here’s Therapy Just After Sunset!

enjoy…..

ANOTHER GORGEOUS MORNING in K-Town, with mere gossamer wisps sullying blue pastel, and the promise of another run of summer days in the week before autumn begins. You gotta love it, and wonder, with Huw Davies, why we did not have this weather in July.

LATE SUMMER is often hot, hot, hot in K-Town, we sometimes forget, with some classrooms at Queen’s like your neigbourhood sauna, a possible petri dish, we are warned by Peggy Watkin at the U, that swine flu may be lurking around here somewhere. The experts say it won’t hit until November, about the time students get sick anyway from burning their candles at both ends, but given evidence from U.S. colleges and universities, that time frame may be a bit off.

Indeed, for those scratching their collective noggins on what to do about the BIG street party planned for the 26th, come hell or high water, Homecoming or none, swine flu might be an ally. Who knows?

ONE THING FOR SURE, yes, the students are back, those RMC, St. Lawrence, and Queen’s men and women who keep the cash flowing into K-Town coffers and often keep the neighbours up all night. This year, we hear, local police will issue “tickets” for drinking violations, such as underage imbibing, etc., and the etc. covers a lot of ground. Speaking of students, one wonders why they cannot keep the grounds in front and around their apartments free of detritus. Three minutes a day would do the trick. Too much trouble, one hears, and this scribe sees the problem as an offshoot of teenage refusal or inability to clean rooms at home. So be it, but perhaps each house could have a rotating responsibility to get the gradoux off the ground….

THAT detritus attracts all sorts of vermin, ranging from the little rats with tails that we all love (had one in the house the other day), to chipmunks, and larger rats without tails. Saw one of the latter the other day and said, hmmm, we are getting to be a big city…..

AND VERY MUCH LIKE STUDENTS milling about on TH FR and SAT nights, while the weather remains good, the wasps are also back, those little dart machines that love anything sweet, from the products at market square offered by Wolfe Island Bakery, to your favourite underarm deoderizer or hair gel. The little buggers are dangerous, when aroused, which is the main reason to try to leave them alone.

I AM TOLD THAT WASPS have lost their bite over the last few decades, what with Canada and the U.S. becoming increasingly examples of ethnic and racial pluralism. (The mythic U.S.
melting pot seems now a pressure cooker what with all the hoodoo over immigration). But the garden variety remain dangerous, especially in a can of coke or a beer, when one is not aware. A sting can be lethal, similar in allergy-producing outcome as peanuts, for the wrong person. So, best not to go over them, lest they go after you. They are quicker than we are, and often have friends. The best way to deal with WASPS beside ignoring them? Carry a couple of fabric softeners –the kind you put in your dryer — in your shirt pocket or nosegay.

NICE TO SEE THE DEFENCE come to the fore Saturday for the Golden Gael football team, which vaquished Mac 8-7. Quite a turnaround from the 52-49 win (lucky) over Guelph the previous week. The Gryphons are good this year, as are the Marauders, how good we do not know. Nor do we know how good the Gaels are. Next week’s game with Ottawa in Ottawa will tell some of the story, and one has to like Thomas Howes, the 3rd string qb who came off the bench in the 4th quarter to do some very polished things. But, again, the D was the thing for those of us in the know.

ONE BOTHERSOME ITEM about Queen’s athletics is its choice to “honour Kingston military families” at a football game each year. Given the history of Queen’s and RMC as interlocking academic and athletic entities, no problem. But given the historic role of the Canadian military as a peacekeeping establishment, not a warmaking organization, the Afghanistan War gets in the way of good feeling. This conflict, folks, is a bad war, an undertaking that has little chance to succeed on Western terms (what can “victory” in Afghanistan possibly mean?), a war that is far more an American than a Canadian battle. So, yes, we can honour the local military men and women, and their families, but we must question their civilian superiors — both Liberal and Conservative — who have us there. What might Queen’s athletics do to support these families? Certainly a tank rolling into Richardson Stadium seems absurd, although at least it left immediately this year after the national anthem.

Tanks, war, and Queen’s athletics are not coeval, and Queen’s should not honour militarism in this way. Athletics at the University are touted, hugely, as an extension of the academic experience. So, again, is war a Queen’s value? Should it be? Or, put a bit differently, the university might add a “DAY FOR PEACE” at one of its upcoming contests. Perhaps have Bruce Cockburn and Neil Young on hand. A couple of songs at the outset, a short comment on the futility of war and the sadness at the loss of so many fine soldiers and Afghan civilians, and a call to consider the terrible impact of our presence in the area….There, I’ve gotten that off my chest, I had to do so. Go Gaels!

People reacted to the interview in the Whig-Standard on Saturday morning on this question in several ways. Anger at the old, retired prof; criticism of government policy; name-calling on-line after Mike Norris’s story. A few people thanked me at the game for making the point that I did. Others yelled at me when I held up my “No War” Sign. But at least people around the u and around town are thinking about the issues.

Sitting here at home, gazing out the office window, musing a la blog on the glories of retirement, thinking of how lucky I am to be in this burg, rather than TO or Montreal. I must be strange, but there is something about K-town when the weather is good, no, very good, that makes me smug, happy, ready to go out and beat the day, or at least a couple of the students who have just moved in down the street….Ah, Kingston, the breezes swooping down Princess Street, surprisingly strong for a late, late summer day; the wonderment that after such a crummy summer (every weekend wet, it seemed), that we can have this. Clear air, cool nights, hot afternoons, and music dancing in my brain, yes, the Hip, Beatles (ah-hah), as a bowdlerized version of “Goodbye Columbus” might have it, a harbinger of autumn for the eye, and the nose….

LOVE THE Kingston police department for getting that wonderfui equestrian patrol through Sydenham Ward. We don’t have to go to Farmer Jack for manure any more–it’s right there on the street. Let a few cars run over it, go out and pick it up with a shovel, and put it in the garden. Couldn’t do better at Quatrocchi’s….Speaking of Sydenham Ward, more particularly William Street, it has become the new Brock, what with the road work blocking the real Brock. Lots of traffic, need for caution, fewer rolling stops and such. Control people, control. Watch for pedestrians and bikers. Oh yes, and keep those bicycles off the sidewalks please.

READING THE WHIG-STANDARD over a cup of tea, an easy exercise these days because the paper is so light, one wonders whether we’ll ever see a newspaper worth its name again in these parts. Sad that so many good people have been laid off by Sun Media, while others have departed for other fields. Little is left. Indeed, the heft of the paper is such that it now usually sails over our three-storey home like a paper airplane. Little left upon which to chew…bad crime stories with little humour (why not a daily police blotter on youthful student antics under the influence–THAT would be entertaining), told after-the-fact and always from the point of view of the law….and “IN THE COURTS,” what is all that about, been there forever, I suspect like a latter-day dunking stool to correct behaviour by miscreants and to keep the real estate values up, south of Princess St.

KINGSTON and the law, and the big move-in, with the blue-jackets like so many wasps climbing over themselves to ticket cars, often the parents helping students move in, but yes, K-Town needs the money, as this administration has expended more than most predecessors. One cannot help but wonder where the local treasury would be without the parking tickets. And, again on William Street, why one side free between Barrie and Clergy (the south), and the north side posted, 11-12 and 2-3. Why not both sides?? Obviously, this is free parking for Hotel Dieu employees. This blogger calls for equal treatment for both sides, and especially equal treatment for homeowners who live along these streets…

AH KINGSTON, where small businesses emerge almost daily along Princess Street and disappear almost as quickly. One would love an accouting, say, over the last 25 years, to see which landlords raised which rents, how far. Who IS getting rich from Princess Street land development? And what about MIdtown Princess–goodness, that venue is beginning to look like Flint, Michigan. Is there hope here, or have recession and rents pushed too many enterprises over the brink…In trouble, we hear, White Mountain Ice Cream, down on Ontario, which raises the big question for Icescreamers……why is it so hard to keep good ice cream downtown, or anywhere, for that matter? Probably the November-March season, where ice is everywhere, especially on our sidewalks…..

CELEBRATING FIFTY YEARS OF WEDDED BLISS, we learn, Annabelle and Ross McCullough, two of the nicest people you could ever meet. Annabelle, an actress and singer of superior merit, Ross, one of the leaders of the Hometown Boys at Glen Supply…both good friends and good people.

ANOTHER GOOD PERSON, back in town, is Daniel Woolf, new principal at Queen’s. Dan is young and eager to get at what promises to be the biggest job to face a local principal since the Great Depression, rescuing the financial fortunes of the university, which the admin of Karen Hitchcock let slide. Hitchcock herself seems less culpable than some of her underlings in this story that is yet to be told in its entirety. Freelancer Alec Ross wrote a good piece “What’s happening at Queen’s?” (great question!) in a recent KINGSTON LIFE issue (yes there is life in Kingston, though the publication thoughtlessly did not mention OLIVEA in its restaurant section), and he directed light at some darker corners. But the darkest corners remain to be illuminated. Start with the name Andrew Simpson and go from there, I am told by an informer…..

Yes, another beautiful day, time to get out and weed, and will not have that chance for long. Autumn is nearly upon us, and with autumn, K-town becomes the urinal of the gods. Speaking of which, why not some useful public urinals downtown to take care of all that business at the watering holes that we love so much….

This column will appear (at least) twice weeky, to generate interest in Kingston, stimulate discussion of issues, and to fill a hole (yes another one, move over Henden) left by the demise of the Whig-Standard, which is now a mere shopping news. Oh, sorry, yes, that gives a bad name to K This Week, published by the same folks who bring you the toupee. Oh the monopoly!

If you have news, gossip, whatever, and wish to share, hit me at smithgs@queensu.ca
Yes, I have lawyers…..and am aware of the common law meaning of “fair use” HAVE A GREAT DAY!

THIS RETIRED PROF DOES NOT THINK SO……

RECENTLY I RECEIVED A QUESTIONNAIRE FROM THE QUEEN’S GAZETTE: “HOW ARE WE DOING?” IT INQUIRED. NOW, THOSE OF YOU WHO PAY ATTENTION TO SUCH MATTERS KNOW THAT THESE ARE PROFORMA ACTS OF ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE NEW (SMALL) CORPORATE EMPIRE THAT STILL POSES AS A UNIVERSITY. SO I CALLED CELIA RUSSELL ON IT, BET THAT SHE WOULD NOT RUN MY RESPONSE QUESTIONING THE BASIS OF THE ENTIRE UNDERTAKING, AND WAITED THROUGH TWO REVISIONS AND A FINAL “WE HAVE RUN OUT OF SPACE, ALAS AND YOU ARE ON THE CUTTING-ROOM FLOOR.” WELL, I HAVE BEEN ON CUTTING-ROOM FLOORS MANY TIMES, AND CAN LIVE WITH THE VENUE.

BUT HERE IS THE LETTER, SHORN OF SPLEEN. I’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU ON YOUR VIEWS WHETHER AT THIS JUNCTURE “HOW ARE WE DOING?” IS A QUESTION BETTER PUT ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY AS A WHOLE…..

——————————–
12 JUNE 2009

“HOW ARE WE DOING?” A MODEST REJOINDER TO THE QUEEN’S GAZETTE SURVEY……

GEOFF SMITH, EMERITUS

Recently I received a request from the Gazette to complete a questionnaire that asked, in essence, “How Are We Doing?” My response, tongue-in-cheek, is “not badly, given that Queen’s news organ now seems to have more writers than the Kingston Whig-Standard.” Indeed many Gazetteers are former Whigs. And, yes, collectively you do a fine job keeping the university community in the know about all the good things transpiring on campus. I could embrace sarcasm, oh, so easily, and underline the point that I LIVE for the Gazette, thrill to the same expert faces week after week, learn of new VP and other corporate appointments adding to Queen’s top-heaviness, and in all those puff pieces see how well Queen’s is doing in the Queen’s firmament. Oh yes, colour photography is a great thing.

But, of course, these kudos comprise only part of the story. The other part is a bit darker, and it is this darker side that needs illumination. Why not inquire into the growth of the administrative bureaucracy, in all areas of the university. How much money, for example, now goes to apparatchiks and other fund-raisers, rather than new professors? Might the Gazette mine the status of different faculties and departments and find out what is good, and what is not so good? Might there be room for the examination of big decisions that are being made amidst financial crisis, such as the “demoting” of faithful, non-unionized staff members, many of whom have been on site for many years? What is staff morale these days? What can be done to improve it?

So the question “How Are We Doing?” becomes a different sort of question, and that is, logically, “how is the university doing?” The latter is oh, so important as Queen’s moves forward into a difficult future. The Gazette has good people–let them loose, and let administration agree to let them loose. The health of a corporate unit–an apt description of Queen’s these days–is only as strong as its weakest links. Yes, there is much that is good taking place here. But if these things need airing, which they do, so too does critical commentary. In my view, Queen’s has lost sight of its prime mission, which is to educate undergraduates well and to equip them to be skeptics of our global society. A good place to begin would be moving faculties and departments to do some serious thinking about their curricula an d especially the way first-year courses are conducted. Interdisciplinary courses, with the BEST research/teaching profs in the university should be a feature of first-year courses. At present, we find very little creativity, passion, and conviction in these courses. And that is just a starting point.

I realize that like Pravda in its heyday, the Gazette must serve as a mouthpiece for power. I challenge you to become more than that. Perhaps this will mean the necessity of your finding new jobs. If so, we should know that too. Yes, we need to know more about the crevices, nooks, and crannies of power and its application. As a journal in an environment of higher learning, you need to revisit and revise your mandate, if that is possible.

Sincerely,

Geoff Smith

Faith in ignorance
GEOFF SMITH
March 18, 2009
Kingston — So Pope Benedict is in Africa, ministering to the sick, and observing that condoms will not help allay the HIV/AIDS crisis. This is the same thing as arguing that quinine does not help with malaria, that quitting smoking does not lessen chances for cancer or emphysema, and that not drinking will not help with a hangover. Welcome back to the 16th century. Yes, this from a Catholic, lapsed for obvious reasons.

Print Edition - Section Front

FRANCE AGREES WITH GEOFF SMITH

The French foreign ministry has voiced “sharp concern” following the Pope’s rejection of condom use to fight Aids.
Benedict XVI, who is on a tour of Africa, said handing out condoms only increased the problem of HIV/Aids.
The Roman Catholic Church says marital fidelity and sexual abstinence are the best way to prevent the spread of HIV.
But France, echoing the reaction of some aid agencies, said it “voices extremely sharp concern over the consequences of [the Pope’s comments]”.
“While it is not up to us to pass judgment on Church doctrine, we consider that such comments are a threat to public health policies and the duty to protect human life,” foreign ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said.
The Pope arrived in Cameroon on Tuesday at the start of his week-long African tour.
“A Christian can never remain silent,” he said, after being greeted by President Paul Biya.
HIV/Aids was, he argued, “a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which can even increase the problem”.
The solution lay, he said, in a “spiritual and human awakening” and “friendship for those who suffer”.
But some activists were dismayed by the approach, saying condoms were one of the few methods proved to stop the spread of HIV.
Rebecca Hodes, of the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa said: “His opposition to condoms conveys that religious dogma is more important to him than the lives of Africans.”
Some 22 million people are infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, according to UN figures for 2007.
This amounts to about two-thirds of the global total.

ANOTHER AUTHORITY AGREES…..

HAS THE POPE HEARD ABOUT COPERNICUS AND GALILEO?

Roland S. Martin: Black church should have helped support fight against HIV/AIDS
Martin says the Catholic Church also has not faced up to reality about the disease
Pope Benedict XVI wrong to condemn the use of condoms, Martin says

By Roland S. Martin
CNN Contributor

Editor’s note: A nationally syndicated columnist, Roland S. Martin is the author of “Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith” and “Speak, Brother! A Black Man’s View of America.” Visit his Web site for more information.

Roland S. Martin says the Catholic Church’s opposition to condoms is increasing the toll of HIV/AIDS.

(CNN) — The African-American religious community deserves considerable praise for taking leadership of the civil rights movement during the first half of the 20th century.

But there is no doubt that toward the end of the 20th century, the black church, primarily because of its opposition to homosexuality, has abdicated its responsibility and totally disregarded the human toll that HIV/AIDS has had on the members it largely serves. It only has been recently that pastors have opted not to turn a blind eye to what is clearly a state of emergency.

Unfortunately, we are seeing the same kind of ignorance of reality from the Catholic Church and its leader, Pope Benedict XVI.

The church has long been opposed to the use of condoms and other forms of birth control because it strongly believes that sex is for procreation and enriching the union of a married couple. But for the church to continue to ignore the definitive research that condoms play a huge role in decreasing the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases is mind-boggling.

Pope Benedict is in Africa this week on a six-day tour, his first since his ascension to the papacy, and he made some remarks that have sparked outrage in the motherland, where Catholicism is spreading like wildfire.

In response to written questions from reporters, the pope said this about HIV/AIDS: “You can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, it increases the problem.”

He is absolutely correct that condoms are not the solution to stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS. He is also 100 percent correct that the only surefire way of stopping HIV/AIDS, when it comes to sex, is to practice abstinence. That is clearly within the teachings of the Bible and the Catholic Church, and he will find no disagreement from me.

Now the reality.

People are having sex. Catholics are having sex. Heck, some Catholic priests have abandoned their oath and have had sex.

As a layman and the husband of a pastor, I know the difference between utopia and reality, and it is the responsibility of the faith community to deal with the real world.

And frankly, Pope Benedict clearly shows he doesn’t get it.

What we need today are our church leaders preaching, teaching and imploring their members not to go to bed with anyone and everyone. We also need church leaders who are willing to stand up and tell folks that if they do choose to sin — that’s what the church and other faith leaders consider sex outside of marriage — then you had better take the necessary precautions to protect yourself.

Folks, there is nothing in the Bible about wearing a seat belt. But it would be foolish of any pastor not to tell his or her members to use the safety device when driving. Churches all across the country trust and love their fellow members, but you can bet that an accountant is employed by many churches to ensure that no one is stealing the tithes and offerings.

Pope Benedict surely loves God and sees him as his protector and provider, but he goes nowhere without armed bodyguards. The pope has to know that murder is against God’s will. He has to believe that every person has the choice to be a moral and upstanding person. Yet not everyone abides by those religious views, and his security is there to prevent him from being harmed.

So how are condoms any different?

While Catholicism expands on the continent of Africa, we are seeing the expansion of HIV/AIDS as well. Sub-Saharan Africa has 22 million people infected with HIV.

The refusal of the Catholic Church and other religious denominations to accept the reality of the situation on the ground is doing nothing for the issue. If the church used its powerful voice — while continuing to speak out against sex outside of marriage — to also implore people to practice safe sex, it could have a major impact on slowing the spread of the disease.

This is one time where silence is not golden.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Roland S. Martin.

Stenson’s strip tease actStenson’s strip tease act
Tiger’s opening round

By Simon Evans

MIAMI, March 12 (Reuters) - Swede Henrik Stenson briefly took the limelight from Tiger Woods when he stripped down to his underwear to play a shot at the WGC-CA Championship at Doral on Thursday.

Stenson’s wayward drive on the third hole landed in muddy terrain near a water hazard and he decided to get down to basics rather than play the rest of his round in muddy clothes.

“I was only wearing two things when I hit the shot, my jocks and my golf glove,” he told reporters.

“Shirt, trousers, socks, shoes, hat, the lot was off.”

“Obviously, playing in Florida I didn’t have any rain gear in the bag, so that option went out of the window and I felt that if I could hack it out, I could secure a five and that is what I did,” said Stenson.

“Because of the mud I couldn’t really afford to play in any of my clothes as they would have been a real mess down the last six or so holes so I had no option.

Stenson said he had no regrets about his unorthodox approach.

“I felt that I would definitely save a shot by actually playing the ball. If you are saving a shot, that has to be worth taking your shirt and trousers off,” he said.

But the 32-year-old said he was expecting some ribbing.

“I’m sure I’ll hear a few comments and once the pictures get out I’ll hear a few more no doubt.

“I’ll probably take that to the grave with me. I don’t think I scared too many spectators off the course…I hope,” he said.

“You never know, I might have a new endorsement with Playgirl or something like that”.

(Editing by Ed Osmond)