What About Abstinence? The Black AIDS Institute "may have come up with a strategy that could make a difference" and "help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS" in the black community, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell writes. As part of BAI's "Test 1 Million" initiative, the institute has developed a card that certifies that an individual has been tested for HIV in the last six months. After a consent form from BAI's Web site is signed, a testing facility can send the individual's information to an online database. The individual then receives a card stating his or her HIV status and the date of the test. Phill Wilson, BAI's founder and executive director, said the information will be confidential and each person is identified by a PIN number. The card expires after six months. The organization is working to allow participants to also include their sexual history and have access to their data by cell phone or e-mail, according to Mitchell. Wilson said he would like people to use the card as an incentive to practice safer sex and not as a verification that a person has tested negative, because the card does not reflect the person's behavior since the test was taken. Mitchell writes, "Instead of women feeling pressured to consent to unprotected sex on the strength of 'Baby, I've been tested and I'm clean,' they can ask for tangible proof." She adds, "Black women, particularly, have to find creative ways to protect themselves against the disease, and an HIV/AIDS testing card is a step in that direction. "If nothing else, the existence of this system may help those of us who think we aren't at risk for the disease have the conversation," Mitchell writes, concluding, "Just as the unseemly violence playing out in too many black communities can touch the lives of the law-abiding, HIV/AIDS is a threat to us all"  More than that, abstinence until marriage should be used as protection declares CfD.  And did the Black Institute and the Sun Times forget this heavenly design for protection when realizing that over 50% of Black teenage girls have STDs while 25% of White teen girls are redflagged with STDs?

Chris grew up in Germany where his father was a chaplain to American troops. His dad, a conservative guitarist and songwriter, banned all non-classical music from their home. For bedtime music he would play Mozart or Beethoven. When Chris was five, he would listen to the music, pick out the individual parts and sing along until he fell asleep. In high school, Chris got involved in music and theater. In college, Chris started out in pre-law at Pensacola Christian College in Florida. Then he transferred to Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina.  Chris wanted to major in music. His parents thought music was the most unmarketable degree to get. ''I don't need jobs! I'm going to be a singer!'' Chris said.  He progressed in his school's vocal performance program despite having no previous formal instruction and was invited to the Julliard School and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In December of his senior year, Chris was expelled from college for attending a Christian rock concert.  Looking back, Chris believes it was the best thing that could have happened. Four months later, Chris recorded his first solo acoustic album. He played in coffeehouses and through word of mouth. Over the next several years, he put together several groups, one of which stirred major label interest and elevated him toward a breakthrough in the mainstream pop market. "American Idol" Finalist Chris Sligh

Fourteen Boy Scouts and one adult who attended a popular camp in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains contracted an E. coli infection from a source public health officials have yet to identify. Nine of 50 to 60 scouts and staff who reported being ill have been hospitalized, the Virginia Department of Health said Friday. Citing privacy concerns, they could not provide their conditions. Most of the scouts are from northern Virginia, and one of the confirmed cases involves a Maryland adult. Officials are trying to determine the source of the outbreak, which is most commonly caused by undercooked contaminated ground beef. The department began receiving reports Sunday when boys from about 70 troops returned home after a week at the Goshen Scout Reservation in Rockbridge County. Nearly 1,500 scouts and adult leaders and 200 staff were at the camp from July 20-26, the National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America said in a statement. Department officials have since visited the 4,000-acre camp, located between Lexington and Staunton in western Virginia, and found no obvious sources of the outbreak. The camp includes Lake Merriweather. Mysterious E. Coli Outbreak Strikes Boy Scout Camp

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