Quantifying George W. Bush's Hate For Black People

From the Washington Times via K-Low @ The Corner by way of DrewM. @ Ace:

Former President George W. Bush's international AIDS-fighting campaign has reduced by 10 percent the mortality rates in 15 targeted countries, primarily in Africa, and has saved 1.1 million lives, according to a study that for the first time quantified the successes of his program.

The study by two Stanford University doctors showed the treatment part of PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which involves making drug treatment available to about 2 million people, has shown solid success while the prevention efforts under the program have not yet produced the same concrete results.

Remember, Bush is one of those conservatives who "only care about babies before they're born" and couldn't care less about them or anyone else after birth or something like that.


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Compassionate Conservatives: Putting Their Money Where Their Mouths Are

I've had an ongoing debate with so-called moderate/independents (post-partisans, if you will. and I know Morgan will) about supposed conservative hypocrisy. They bought into the pro-abortion talking points about conservatives which allege that social conservatives only care about babies until they are born, and then, well, who cares. I have argued, w/o getting much headway, that this is a grossly inaccurate characterization.

A new book by economist Arthur C. Brooks provides the empirical evidence to back up my arguments. Thank you Mr. Brooks. According to one write-up/review of Brooks' forthcoming book:

The book's basic findings are that conservatives who practice religion, live in traditional nuclear families and reject the notion that the government should engage in income redistribution are the most generous Americans, by any measure.

Conversely, secular liberals who believe fervently in government entitlement programs give far less to charity. They want everyone's tax dollars to support charitable causes and are reluctant to write checks to those causes, even when governments don't provide them with enough money.

[...]

liberals give less than conservatives in every way imaginable, including volunteer hours and donated blood.

Finally, evidence for something I and others have known intuitively for some time.

Anytime you read something like this: Christians are hypocrites, etc. You should exercise a little skepticism. There is a hostility towards religious persons and especially Christians among elements of the political left, secularists, and in higher education.

Alternatively, the title of this post could have read:

Compassionate Conservatives: As Charitable With Their Own Money As Secular Democrats Are With Other People's

Hopefully this will quiet the critics who say that conservatives hypocritically only care about the unborn, etc., etc, whatever.

And, lest you think this is some conservative screed, consider this quote from a Harvard professor:

Harvey Mansfield, professor of government at Harvard University and 2004 recipient of the National Humanities Medal, does not know Brooks personally but has read the book.

"His main finding is quite startling, that the people who talk the most about caring actually fork over the least," he said. "But beyond this finding I thought his analysis was extremely good, especially for an economist. He thinks very well about the reason for this and reflects about politics and morals in a way most economists do their best to avoid."

For more information, take a look at these findings on charitable giving.

(h/t M. Lybbert, Greg Mankiw)


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Religious Generosity

This is a bit of a follow-up to our note about social conservative philanthropic attitudes toward lesser developed countries. The Journal Editorial Report brought the Hudson Institute's Index of Global Philanthropy to our attention. Among other things, this report showed that private organizations sent more than $35 billion to other nations with $8.8 billion coming from U.S. religious charity.

This report highlights a key difference between the liberal and conservative approach to charity, philanthropy and aid. Conservatives are often criticized for their skepticism of large government programs which will supposedly help the poor domestically or internationally.

It's not that conservatives don't have the bleeding hearts of their liberal friends, it's that we don't see appropriating someone else's money and creating vast government programs to spend it, while patting ourselves on the back, to be all that grand of an idea.

It's easy spending someone else's money--the "rich," for example--try spending a little of your own.

Government programs like the ones Clinton & Obama champion are simply liberal guilt for not giving, expressed in yet another bloated bureaucracy. These bloated bureaucracies serve only to create more job opportunities for self-righteous young progressives who shun the selfish and greedy business world. You know this world--the one that creates all the wealth and prosperity that allows them to fund their quest for a liberal, multi-cultural, hand-holding utopia.

Next time someone tries to peddle the canard that liberals are the only ones who care about the poor and suffering and that conservatives just want to get "theirs," well, remember that it is conservatives who actually give theirs while liberals want to spend yours.


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Total Eclipse Of The Heart

Saturday, 12 April, 8:30pm-1:00am
Noah's in Lindon

Over a month ago, longtime reader of the blog Voice of Raisin (or whatever he was calling himself at that point) suggested we get behind a few causes. He's right, in that particular sense, that we rarely endorse a specific cause. Typically this blog argues for big ideas and large policy. In relatively few instances do we call for reader support of a small-scale cause.

Part of this is due to the fact that there seem to be as many causes as there are people. And causes are the cool thing to do in college. But we think we've hit on a good one. It's good because it's easy and close to home.

A couple of months ago, a friend of ours, Derek Gosman, was involved in a skiing accident. He fell hard and got busted up pretty bad--broken ribs, a femur, and a coma. His recovery has been nothing short of miraculous. But his recovery was aided by lots of highly specialized medical care and this type of medical care is very expensive. After a couple of months spent in hospitals and physical therapy (ongoing) and other recovery facilities, they have racked up large medical bills.

In order to help the family cover these expenses, Derek's employer, Eclipse, and a number of other good hearted businesses and individuals in the Utah County have teamed up to throw a benefit concert and party to help raise money to cover the costs.

Total Eclipse of the Heart
Facebook event link

Local band the D-Loreans will play, some DJ will spin, prizes will be raffled and hopefully a butt-load of money will be raised.

This is where you come in. If you can, come, and buy raffle tickets. Even if you can't come, donate whatever you can. And spread the word.


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