AIDS Issues, A Rascally Referee and 140 Vicodin?????

"Morning Meeting" is a recap of our daily editorial meeting. If we had a show today, these are some of the stories you would probably hear.

Good morning all you Leos on the first day of your month long astrological dominance. You are both creative and enthusiastic but can be a little full of yourself and fly into rages when your integrity is challenged. Sound like any little NPR show in development you know? It was a busy news weekend and an equally active Monday morning...so let's get to it.

NEWSCAST: The first ever YouTube debate is tonight. New HIV infections outnumber treatments. American ally Turkey re-elected its Prime Minister who leads an Islamic inspired party. The last King of Afghanistan died at 92. The nearly completed Dubai Tower to become world's tallest building. Tens of thousands without power as the UK experiences its worst flooding in 60 years. Car bomb kills 12 in mainly Shiite area of Baghdad. A 35-year old minor league baseball coach for Tulsa Drillers, Mike Coolbaugh, died after being struck in the head by a line drive.

 

LOSING GROUND BUT WHY?: Both the United States and the UK's top docs in charge of fighting AIDS in developing countries said the number of infections out-pace the number of people getting treatment. While at what is being billed as the "world's biggest scientific HIV/AIDS conference," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said prevention was the key. We wondered: Is it possible certain groups that provide aid can dictate the type of prevention information being dispensed. Guest: Someone to discuss the politically reality of fighting HIV/AIDS.

AN H.I.V. FIGHTER, LITERALLY: When heavy weight boxer Tommy Morrison tested positive for H.I.V in 1996 his blossoming career took a hit. (sorry!) He started a downward spiral and wound up in jail for 14 months. Now he is back in the ring because new tests on his blood, allegedly his blood, show no sign of the virus that causes AIDS. The old tests may have provided a false positive. The New York Times printed an excellent piece on his story. Guest wishlist: John Eligon and Duff Wilson who wrote and reported the story and/or a doctor on the viability of HIV testing in the past 10 years.

IS WHAT'S GOOD FOR GOOGLE GOOD FOR YOU? : The headline screams: GOOGLE OFFERS 4.6 BILLION FOR OPEN WIRELESS.
That's a lot of money. And we like the idea of wireless things. However, we were a little foggy on the details. The FCC is going to sell off some radio spectrum and Google can buy it if it meets certain criteria. Huh? It seems Google wants it to advertise on mobile devices. I think. We want to get a tech-type to explain why all the geek sites are really excited about this possibility.

WHILE YOU WERE OUT (possibly drinking): Our weekly segment on big news you may have missed over the weekend would include the death of Tammy Faye Bakker Messner and her impact on the gay community— details from an NPR report, President Bush signs an order banning certain tough CIA interrogation techniques, Senator Clinton and the Pentagon get in tussle over her request for details of a troop withdrawal, Al Gore's son was charged with a felony after he allegedly had as many as 140 Vicodin on him when he was arrested for allegedly driving more than 100 mph in a Prius, the Taliban claims to have shot a German hostage — which leads to our breakout ....

TALIBAN TROUBLE: The Taliban is threatening to kill 23 South Korean hostages if the Afghan government doesn't release an equal number of Taliban members held prisoner. Even though the U-S and Afghan forces killed 48 Taliban fighters this morning, are you concerned we are having to talk about the Taliban again as a viable fighting force? For a few years the description of a post-Taliban Afghanistan seemed like it could become permanent. What happened and what should we learn from the years leading up to September 11th that could help us now. Guest wishlist: Thomas Gouttierre-Dean of International studies at the University of Nebraska, expert on Afghanistan. (PS - Read "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by the author of "The Kite Runner" if you want a reminder of how evil they were in the 90's.)

LONELY GIRL 15 HAS A QUESTION FOR THE SENATOR: It will either be a 'what were they thinking' event for the candidates or it could set off the most interesting discussion of the early debate season. On CNN tonight, the candidates will field questions from members of the YouTube community who submitted video queries. Look for one of the BPP's loyal posters, Steve Peterson. Rumor has it his question made the cut. Which leads us to ask, if the videos are already chosen and it is so tightly scripted, will there really be any spontaneous moments? Any cringe-tastic queries? Will this rally provide a forum for regular people? Guest Wishlist: Steve Peterson and/or Wonkette.

RAMBLE: Stories worth an honorable mention. Harry Potter is the king of all media — the film has made $558 million worldwide and the book sold 8.3 million copies in 24 hours in the States. Dan Radcliffe turns 18 today and he is rich, but small book stores aren't. Apparently the book is so discounted at big box stores, smaller stores are feeling the pinch. The building of the monument to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is being outsourced. The FBI is investigating an NBA referee for game fixing. And it's madame president on the new season of "24".