There's Always Someone

Who could object to Warren Buffett's donation of $44 billion dollars to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the purpose of ridding the world of disease and suffering? Well, to paraphrase the immortal Gilda Radner, there's always someone.

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. And the Gates Foundation does not permit its gifts to Planned Parenthood to be used for abortion services.

"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." [CNN]

And to quote the immortal Woody Allen, "What an asshole."

With people like Euteneur, it makes you really wish there was such a thing as retroactive abortion.