WELCOME TO THE 51ST STATE - AT 10:24 A.M. ET:  From some excellent reporting in the Washington Post:

In a city whose HIV/AIDS rates are ten times the national average, one in three of D.C.'s AIDS dollars earmarked for local groups in recent years went to organizations cited for falsified documentation, few or no clients, incomplete spending records or not running any AIDS programs whatsoever. Meanwhile, District residents living with HIV/AIDS have struggled to find care.

And...

While the sick languish in alleyways and on park benches in the city with the nation's highest AIDS rate, D.C. government has allowed widespread waste throughout its system of HIV/AIDS services.

COMMENT:  Repeat after me:  "We need more government involvement in health care."

Well, the fact is, some jurisdictions do a reasonable job, but D.C. doesn't.  And D.C. wants to be the 51st state. 

This is just another classic example of political correctness run amuck:  Don't hold people responsible for their failures, even when they're using government funds.  We must "understand" their cultural deprivation. 

Sure, understand cultural this and cultural that, but people are dying.  D.C. is a federal area.

Looks like another ACORN scandal.

October 18,  2009