How safe is stimulus without protection?

A final thought is warranted on the STD prevention programs cut from the stimulus bill after John Boehner (R-OH) and conservative factions raised umbrage about "spending hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives," if only to prove the ability of politicians to obfuscate and mislead the electorate.

The House version of the bill contained $335M that was partially intended to help low-income women who qualify for Medicaid pay for contraception. 

Several Republicans and right wing groups mischaracterized the funds as "money for condoms," which, of course, grabs headlines and sways those who have neither the resources nor inclination to sift through the garbage and find the truth. Why do the legwork when omniscient blowhards like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh can just tell you how it is?

But let's go with that. Let's say all $335M of the $787B would have been spent solely on prophylactics.

Let's say your son and his college friends are heading to Costa Rica for Spring Break. You want him to have a great time in this, his last hurrah before hopefully joining the workforce in May, so you float him $500 for the trip.

You expect the lion's share of this money to go to the essentials — transportation, lodging and food. Of course, SCUBA, souvenirs and cocktails are part of the deal, expenditures both fun and good for the economy.

Would you not, then, for the love of your son's health and future demand that he spend one quarter of that $500 on condoms to protect himself from disease and pregnancy?!

Of course, if your head was buried in the sand like this woman, you would not.