Pro-lifers against Buffett-Gates alliance

Associated Press ^ | 06/30/06 | DAVID CRARY

[presidio9]

Warren Buffett's new philanthropic alliance with fellow billionaire Bill Gates won widespread praise this week, but anti-abortion activists did not join in, instead assailing the two donors for their longtime support of Planned Parenthood and international birth-control programs.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to which Buffett has pledged the bulk of his $44-billion fortune, devotes the vast majority of its funding to combating disease and poverty in developing countries. Less than 1 percent has gone to Planned Parenthood over the years.

"The merger of Gates and Buffett may spell doom for the families of the developing world," said the Rev. Thomas Euteneuer, a Roman Catholic priest who is president of Human Life International.

Referring to Josef Mengele, the infamous Nazi death camp doctor, Euteneuer said Buffett "will be known as the Dr. Mengele of philanthropy unless he repents."

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America issued statements praising Buffett and Gates for their generosity. Gloria Feldt, a former Planned Parenthood president, said she was appalled by the harsh attacks on them.

"What an outrage that these people have the gall to cast aspersions on other citizens for standing up for what they believe," Feldt said Thursday. "They have no right whatsoever to criticize people who put their money where their mouths are."

The foundation founded by Buffett, and now named after his late wife, Susan, came under fire from some anti-abortion groups in the 1990s after it gave $2 million to fund clinical trials of mifepristone, more commonly known as the RU-486 abortion pill. The foundation also has supported various abortion-rights and family-planning groups, and Susan Buffett was eulogized after her death in 2004 as a champion of women's reproductive health.

Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, wrote a commentary this week holding the Buffetts partially responsible for the approval of RU-486 in 2000.

"Since then, approximately 500,000 American babies have been killed with RU-486," Perkins wrote. "Buffett's billions have the potential to do damage like this on a global scale."

Staff at the Susan T. Buffett Foundation office in Omaha, Neb., said its executive director, Allen Greenberg, would have no comment on the criticisms.

The Gates Foundation also is a patron of reproductive-health programs, funding research on new contraceptive technologies and initiatives to improve access to birth control.

Planned Parenthood, which is the leading provider of abortions in the United States, has received $34 million from the Gates Foundation over the years — out of a total of $10.5 billion in grants worldwide, according to foundation spokeswoman Jacquelline Fuller. She said the foundation does not fund abortion services, earmarking the grants for other Planned Parenthood programs.

Joseph D'Agostino, a spokesman for the anti-abortion Population Research Institute, said the foundation position "is simply dishonest."

"Abortion services are the primary mission of Planned Parenthood," he said. "If you fund one side of an organization, that frees them up to transfer funds to the other things they do."

Feldt confirmed that the Gates Foundation stipulated that its gifts to Planned Parenthood not be used for abortion services. But that policy has not spared Bill Gates' Microsoft Corp. from anti-abortion protests over the years.

At the 2003 annual shareholders meeting, anti-abortion activists cited Microsoft's support for Planned Parenthood during an unsuccessful attempt to stop the company from directly contributing to charities.

Beyond the issue of abortion, some critics oppose the Buffett and Gates foundations' support for global family-planning and population control programs.

"Some of the wealthiest men in the world descend like avenging angels on the populations of the developing world," wrote Population Research Institute president Steven Mosher, a frequent critic of Gates and Buffett. "They seek to decimate their numbers, to foist upon vulnerable people abortion, sterilization and contraception."

[Antoninus]

Warren Buffett's new philanthropic alliance with fellow billionaire Bill Gates won widespread praise this week, but anti-abortion activists did not join in, instead assailing the two donors for their longtime support of Planned Parenthood and international birth-control programs in-utero child slaughtering initiatives.

There. AP bias corrected.

[Antoninus]

Beyond the issue of abortion, some critics oppose the Buffett and Gates foundations' support for global family-planning and population control programs.

It's funny how what used to be called "philanthropy" looks an awful lot like misanthropy these days.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

ping for future.

Answers in Genesis.

[LIConFem]

Buffett-Gates Axis

[presidio9]

The Negro Project: Margaret Sanger's Eugenic Plan for Black Americans

[Paperdoll]

The day it was announced that Buffet was throwing his billions into the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation bright red flags went up for me. The Foundation's support of Planned Parenthood coupled with Buffet's overt support of same, and a firm believer in population control sends shivers down my back. Population control doesn't only entail abortion, but also euthanasia, as well as genecide.
How sad that those billions of dollars couldn't be spent in cleaning up America of pornography and obscene television "sitcoms"; raising the standards of our system of education at all levels; getting rid of anti-American movements by exposing them; funding wholesome activity for latchkey kids; and making grants to teach welfare recipients how to earn their own bread; and even establishing a newspaper dedicated to the truth, to present the who, what, when and where only of the news without all the yellow varnish. These men could be heros rising from the ashes to fight evil, but instead they choose to fund it.

[Element187]

Warren Buffett's new philanthropic alliance with fellow billionaire Bill Gates won widespread praise this week, but anti-abortion activists did not join in, instead assailing the two donors for their longtime support of Planned Parenthood and international birth-control programs.

These anti-abortionist are starting to get on my nerves.. Who cares?!?! there is far more pressing issues to deal with ... like congressional pork spending, winning in iraq, stopping illegal immigration and fair tax reform.

[presidio9]

That's the second idiotic post out of you today newbie. Maybe you're trying to be sarcastic, but how about giving it a rest?

[weegee]

So with $30billion dollars... the US taxpayer will NEVER have to fund an abortion again, right? Right?

These rich socialists could set up private administration of all the social programs they want. How about health care for the poor? Oh wait, the lines would grow exponentially as they begin to hand out money?

I'm fearful of the influence of this much money on government. The best government Soros types can buy.

[weegee]

Yeah, 50million dead Americans are nothing compared to 10million butchered under Hitler or 20million under Stalin. < /sarc >

[weegee]

They don't want a smarter America. Keep them dumb, voting as a bloc, and keep them entertained so they don't commit much crime or have time to organize (or educate themselves).

[linda_22003]

You may not like the causes Buffett supports, but do you deny his right to leave his money as he wishes? You can leave your billions somewhere else, after all.

[H. Paul Pressler IV]

It is his money and he can do as he wishes with it.


However, you could match his 40 Billion by donating your estate to a cause in which you believe.

[familyop]

There's more to it than the abortion issue.

Bill Gates against repealing the inheritance tax
http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_inheritance.html

"Gun-Control Group Changes Name, Keeps Agenda"
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=%5C%5CNation%5C%5Carchive%5C%5C200106%5C%5CNAT20010615a.html
(and Bill is a contributor)

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/july-dec97/guns_11-4.html
(more money for gun control from Gates and his father)

"Is Bill Gates a closet liberal?"
http://archive.salon.com/21st/feature/1998/01/cov_29feature.html
(Bill Gates for gun control, pro-abortion, etc.)

http://vikingphoenix.com/news/madminute/1997/mm970040.htm
(Gates on gun control)

The Left-Wing Billionaire Collectivist Pigs
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/9/25/191020.shtml

Billionaire Collectivist Pigs on a Roll
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/10/11/171315.shtml

"Bill Gates Is No Free Market Hero"
http://brian.carnell.com/articles/2000/12/000046.html

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave $8.8 million to the Planned Parenthood Federation.
http://www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/women/12/11/health.women.gates.reut/

[GSlob]

"How sad that those billions of dollars couldn't be spent on [the list follows]... "
Well, the solution is right on surface: you are more than welcome to spend your billions however you see fit, or pool your resources with other like-minded people if you somehow come a few pennies short. Nothing obstructs you. It is their money, and how they choose to spend it within the law is nobody's business but theirs. In works of charity even the left hand should not know whose pocket the right hand is picking.

[presidio9]

It is his money and he can do as he wishes with it.

Where did either of you get the idea that anybody was suggesting otherwise? The point is the fact that a lot of his money is going to a cause founded to reduce the black population of this country means that he may not be the big-hearted softie that the MSM has been fwaning over.

[Antoninus]

You may not like the causes Buffett supports, but do you deny his right to leave his money as he wishes? You can leave your billions somewhere else, after all.

I'm impressed with how tolerant, non-judgmental, and relativist you are. You'd no doubt be fine if he gave $34 billion to NAMBLA or the KKK, right? Would you come out publicly and defend his right to do so?

Giving money to support an evil cause is evil. Defending someone's "right" to do evil makes you a party to their wickedness.

[Antoninus]

It is his money and he can do as he wishes with it.

Would you feel the same sense of calm resignation if he gave all that money to MoveOn.org?