On Sat, Jul 18, 2009 at 7:32 AM, Nick Arnett<nick.arn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The fundamental truth behind that writing is conveniently ignored by > champions of "liberty" who insist that "freedom" frees them from a > community's obligation to organize itself to care for those in need. > > It is a strange sort of liberation that frees us from our deepest bonds, > best fought with its true name, greed. http://www.weforum.org/pdf/whitepaper.pdf > A child born in Niger today is 40 times more likely to die before > her fifth birthday than a child born in the United Kingdom. A > 15-year-old boy in Swaziland has only an 18% chance of celebrating > his 60th birthday; if he had been fortunate enough to have been born > in Switzerland, he would have a 91% chance. A young woman in Uganda > is 300 times more likely to die in childbirth than her sister in the > United States. The impact of poor health on economic growth and > political stability in Sub-Saharan Africa has been devastating; two > African heads of state have predicted that their countries will cease to > exist if HIV/AIDS is not brought under control. More than 300 million > people—nearly half the population—live on less than US$1 a day. Compare the need of these people to that of a wealthy 87-year-old American who can have his life extended a few months (in constant pain) for $100K. I think of how many more people, younger people with many years of life ahead of them, could be helped by that $100K. And I resent the government forcing me to spend much of my surplus income on people like the 87-year-old so that I have much less to help people like the child born in Niger. _______________________________________________ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
