According to this story, Jesse Helms' forthcoming memoir will include an admission that he was wrong that AIDS is a "disease largely spread by reckless and voluntary sexual and drug-abusing behavior," and that its spread would remain confined to those populations. The former Senator was an outspoken opponent of gay rights and federal funding for AIDS research. Helms attributes at least part of his reversal on the topic to U2's Bono.

In the book, Helms doesn't reverse all of his well known prejudices, however. He defends his opposition to the end of segregation and his belief that integration would occur naturally over time. About the issue Helms writes:

We will never know how integration might have been achieved in neighborhoods across our land, because the opportunity was snatched away by outside agitators who had their own agendas to advance. We certainly do know the price paid by the stirring of hatred, the encouragement of violence, the suspicion and distrust.

Funny stuff, I know. But what I like best is the forthcoming memoir's title, "Here's Where I Stand." The story was accompanied by the picture below.


Jesse Helms, above, wrote his forthcoming and inaccurately titled memoir, "Here's Where I Stand," from the chair in which he's forced to sit.

Analogcabin @ 1:23 PM
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