Melinda Gates Pledges $560 Million For Contraception 451
theodp writes "Melinda Gates has pledged $560 million as part of a campaign to expand access to contraception for women. From the article: 'The funding commitment was unveiled on Wednesday at the London Summit on Family Planning alongside pledges totaling $4.3 billion from the British government and leaders from African nations wrestling with the health and social problems brought on by high rates of unplanned pregnancy.'"
Re:I hate her now (Score:0, Interesting)
an unborn human is a diferent human
Re:I hate her now (Score:0, Interesting)
Re:Buying Windows does some good in the world! (Score:3, Interesting)
She and her husband continue to show the best side of capitalism.
Hmm, I tend to think capitalism is at it's best at a small scale where there are minimal power imbalances (asymmetry in information, wealth, etc.) - for example, a regular customer at a small family restaurant: in that case, capitalism essentially provides both a framework and an incentive for both parties to be nice to each other.
On the other hand, I'm not quite sure what charity has to do with capitalism - unless the idea is that pure capitalism inevitably results in massive wealth inequality (i.e. poverty) which then creates a need for charity.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Buying Windows does some good in the world! (Score:0, Interesting)
Humans are by nature generous and loving. At least, most of the ones I know are.
It really depends which traits you promote and which traits you repress, and who you choose to associate with. The underlying motivation for any particular regime is self-fulfilling.
Anyway, we haven't really had capitalism since the 1920s - it failed long before the Soviet experiment.
The solution is probably a balance. Certainly everything which says "X is the only way!" - e.g. "the free market is the only way!" - is wrong.
Catholic != papist (Score:4, Interesting)
The greatest theologian of the Catholic Church, Hans Kung, is barred from teaching doctrine by the same Ratzinger. In effect, Catholic thought has been hijacked by a relatively small clique of backward authority figures. You could say the same thing about the British Conservative Party and the Church of England. Comment on the USA would be superfluous, as HuffPost does a rather thorough job. Eventually, Popes die.
The point is that Melinda Gates is more typical of Catholics than is the Pope, and Hans Kung articulates the beliefs of educated Catholics far better than Ratzinger's entire hierarchy. It is the Pope that needs to go into unearned retirement.
And, for information, I'm a kind of atheist. I just think that clear thinking about what goes on in religions is much better than simple name calling.
Re:I hate her now (Score:0, Interesting)
A typical Slashdotter. How pathetic. "a human that does not (yet)".
Obviously you're still a virgin, and have no understanding of what an unborn baby goes through - how big of you! You idiot.
"stop unwanted pregnancies".
And how are those of us who are against abortion supposed to do that? Most abortions are BIRTH CONTROL - i.e. the stupid women get themselves pregnant 'by accident' (yeah right, I believe you), and then kill their own babies in order to get out of it.
WHY are so many women getting pregnant "by accident"? Did you stop to think about that? It's nothing to do with a lack of contraceptives, it's to do with an increase in the dysgenic mass of selfish, worthless SCUM, who are destroying this planet by their very existence. Selfish, stupid women will have sex with violent, selfish men, who can't maintain erections while wearing condoms, and thus the women eventually get pregnant "by accident".
The problem lies with women - they choose to sleep with losers who can't maintain erections with a condom on.
Re:She is not a good person after all. (Score:3, Interesting)
There are Jews in the world.
There are Buddhists.
There are Hindus and Mormons, and then
There are those that follow Mohammed, but
I've never been one of them.
I'm a Roman Catholic,
And have been since before I was born,
And the one thing they say about Catholics is:
They'll take you as soon as you're warm.
You don't have to be a six-footer.
You don't have to have a great brain.
You don't have to have any clothes on. You're
A Catholic the moment Dad came,
Because
Every sperm is sacred [youtube.com].
Every sperm is great.
If a sperm is wasted,
God gets quite irate.
Re:Buying Windows does some good in the world! (Score:5, Interesting)
Capitalism would do a better job with education, housing and healthcare if government would stop introducing massive distortions in the market.
The three most dysfunctional sectors of our economy from the standpoint of the consumer are housing, higher education and healthcare. Skyrocketing costs for healthcare and education. Students and mortgage borrowers awash in debt with under-valued assets (homes and useless degrees). Millions unable to access basic medical services. Poor price/quality tradeoffs. This is not because "capitalism has failed", it is because government has decided that their central planners can "manage" these things better than the market. They have failed miserably as all central planning systems do.
Art? Are you F***ing kidding? You're saying that painting, sculpture, theater, music and film would cease to exist without the power of governments? LOL The free market has produced some quite amazing advances in medical technology. If the government would stop its practice of mandates, price controls, cost shifting and barriers to competition, medical services would once again be affordable. Education? Plenty of excellent private schools. If you want the service, pay for it. The free market has been superb with communications. Look at the evolution of cell phone technology. Steadily smaller, faster, cheaper and more capable. Thank $deity government isn't in the cell phone business. Housing? Another government clusterf***. We have an over-abundance of cheap food and I'm confident that we could ensure that people don't die of thirst without having men with guns confiscating our wealth and throwing us in prison.
This is the only thing that can save Africa (Score:5, Interesting)
While many say that there are great famines in Africa, they still have the fastest growing population among the continents. The biggest problem of Africa is overpopulation.
Re:Buying Windows does some good in the world! (Score:5, Interesting)
It all depends on how you skin the cat.
Tell you what, give me 100 times more money than I could ever spend in my lifetime even if I bathed in champagne each morning, paid my kitchen maid escort fees and never used the same helicopter twice - and I wouldn't even flinch when you ask me to part with half of it.
Now give me an average family that barely makes ends meet and has been saving for a new car for two years, and tell me again that they are not charitable if they give as much as a buck.
Who gave more in absolute terms? The rich guy.
Who gave more in relative wealth? The rich guy.
Who actually felt the loss?
Look, let's get away from Gates, who quite frankly is an asshole who abuses even his Foundation to drive out competition and control markets, and let me say that I do think rich people giving to charity is a good thing.
I just don't think that it deserves headlines when many people sacrifice more to give to others and don't get any mention in the news.