By Scott Tibbs, June 17, 2011
On, Wednesday night, the Bloomington City Council gave another $4,200 to Planned Parenthood, which operates an abortion mill a few blocks from City Hall. This year, Planned Parenthood pretended to be concerned about people infected with HIV, asking for money to test for the virus.
Of course, we know that PP doesn't care about this. The sole purpose of seeking this funding is to get a political endorsement from city government. PP has mountains of cash and does not need the money by any stretch of the imagination. There are legitimate charities, however, that do need the money and the $4,200 that went to Planned Parenthood could have easily gone to a deserving organization.
In a letter explaining the process, Isabel Piedmont-Smith said that over $383,000 was requested. The council had about $220,000 to spend. In other words, in a year where $150,000 went unfunded, $4,200 was wasted on a political endorsement of a corporation with over a billion dollars in annual revenue.
The Hopkins fund is not intended to be a permanent funding source for local charities, but is intended to help with short-term or one-time projects. Why, then, has Planned Parenthood gotten money from city government 12 out of the last 13 years? (Not to mention the fact that PP has gotten a handout from county government the last two years.) This is clearly an abuse of the process and disrespect for the other organizations.
Several members of ClearNote Church attended the meeting to speak against the funding, suggesting that the money that went to PP could have fully funded the requests ranked higher by the committee and pointing out that government officials will be held accountable by God for the decision to fund the butchers at Planned Parenthood.
There are faith-based charities getting funding as well. It is a mistake for churches and parachurch organizations to get entangled with government, which is why I opposed President Bush's idea to fund faith based charities and why I oppose vouchers for private schools. With government money always comes government strings, and churches and parachurch organizations should have the faith that God will provide what they need without help from government.
Furthermore, atheists should not be forced to fund churches and parachurch organizations through their taxes.
Councilors Mayer, Ruff, Sandberg, Satterfield, and Volan voted for the funding package. Councilor Sturbaum recused himself because his wife is affiliated with one of the applicants. Councilors Rollo and Piedmont-Smith missed the meeting. Councilor Wisler voted no, as usual.
