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I came across a couple of interesting stories this weekend, and they fit together perfectly.
Rep. Mark Kirk (R, Ill) is pushing the idea of sending free condoms to Mexico as a way to reduce long term illegal immigration. An Alabama company is the last U.S. condom manufacturer. Jeff Sessions, concerned about those condom jobs workers has made sure the U.S. Agency for International Development (Usaid) buys all the condoms Alabama American companies can make before they can purchase condoms from foreign producers. From The New York Times article (link above) Representative Jim McDermott, a Democrat from Washington State, had seen the devastation of AIDS firsthand in the 1980s as a State Department medical officer in Africa. But he said he could not break what he called the “stranglehold” of Alabama congressmen on the condom rules.
Did you know Alabama congressmen have a "stranglehold" on condom rules? The condoms are destined for AIDS prevention and family planning programs overseas. The Alabama condoms cost the government agency over twice what foreign manufactured ones would cost. The federal program is pretty much all that is keeping the condom company in business, so Sessions is protecting several hundred Alabama jobs ($7 to $8 per hour) that would otherwise move overseas. Why do you suppose he isn't tooting his own horn about this? Coincidentally, Sessions is also concerned with illegal immigration. Perhaps he and Rep. Mark Kirk can work out a deal so that the government buys Alabama condoms to give away in Mexico so illegals won't sneak across the border. What? You thought condoms only kept sperm from going where you don't want them -- not fully grown humans? Obviously, you are not a Republican.
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