I don’t know why I bother to read the news anymore.  Can’t spend 5 minutes online without getting angry.

Bill Gates Worried About Deadlock of Government

Bill Gates is upset because all this arguing over the budget may mean less aid to other countries.  His foundation works alongside the government in helping others.  He’s hoping that extremists in our government move to a more centrist position (apparently “centrist” means “likes to give money away”).  blah blah blah.  I should have stopped reading there.  But, no, I went on.

We need to spend money on “public health,” he believes.  I’m all for that.  Let’s get rid of polio, shall we?  Let’s fix cleft palates and club feet and give these kids more productive lives.  Let’s train midwives in safe and hygienic childbirth procedures.  Better health means less premature death and longer lives, right?

I’m not so sure that’s what Bill Gates means by “public health.”  Let’s look at this quote:

The Microsoft co-founder also views public health spending as necessary for the nation’s security, making it in his opinion a particularly valuable category in terms of federal spending.

“By saving those lives you avoid the kind of population growth and instability that lead to huge national security issues. You know, countries like Nigeria, Yemen — if we let them triple in population because we don’t help out with their health issues, we’re going to have huge costs and instability,” he said.

If we “let them” triple in population?  We have people in this country who think that the U.S. has no right to tell another country that they can’t have nuclear weapons.  We have people in this country who think it is none of our business if another country imposes a death penalty on people who practice something other than the state religion.  We have people in this country who think it’s a violation of national sovereignty to tell another country that imprisoning their citizens for criticizing their government is wrong.  We can’t give arms to rebel troops, we can’t try to influence elections, we can’t import our pop culture, and we certainly can not try to market Christianity as an alternative to radical Islam.

But we will help with their “public health” by making sure that their fertility rates drop.  Let’s not deal with the political or social instability that causes tension and may lead to violent youth.  Let’s ignore the misogynist religion and culture that prevents women from receiving an education or from living independent lives.  We’ll just encourage them to sneak off to the clinic every now and then for birth control or an abortion.

All we really need to do is import fast food, video games and rock and roll. In twenty years, they’ll all be fat and happy and childless.