*Perilous Times and Decaying Morality
Brazil president tosses condoms to pagan carnival crowd*
By BRADLEY BROOKS
The Associated Press
Monday, February 23, 2009; 1:41 PM
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazil's president is taking his hedonist nation's
anti-AIDS campaign into his own hands.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tossed out condoms to pagan Carnival
revelers early Monday during Rio's samba parades.
A presidential spokesman says Silva wanted to show the importance of
Brazil's campaign to prevent the spread of AIDS.
Brazil is handing out 65 million free condoms this month; that's up from
the usual 45 million.
Brazil is buying 1.2 billion condoms this year for its program, making
it the world's biggest government buyer of prophylactics.
The spokesman talked on condition of anonymity, per department rules.
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