Monday, April 13, 2009

Another Sacrifice for the Good of the Collective?

With my son having a rare genetic bone disorder, we have often utilized the expertise available at Minneapolis Shriner's Children's Hospital. The care there is top notch, and they are tops at what they do. Nowhere else can one find more competent care with regard to children's orthopedic issues, burn issues, and other muscular-skeletal maladies. And most of all, treatment there is of absolutely no charge to its patients.

Bruce Thompson at American Thinker brings some bad news:
The Shriners Children's Hospitals, which have provided free medical care to children, may be closing many of their facilities. The endowment supporting these facilities have fallen in value from $8 billion to 5 billion, with income also down sharply. Supporting current operations is reportedly drawing down the endowment further at a pace of $1 million a day, according to AP.
And if Obama gets his wish with limiting deductions wrt charitable contributions, the future of Shrine Hospitals looks even more bleak:
The Obama administration proposal to reduce the tax deductibility of charitable donations makes the future dim for these, and many other worthy charitable endeavors, whose funding basis has been devastated.
Indeed. But it would appear that through greatly decreasing and/or eliminating charitable deductions altogether, the socialist Obama administration plans to bleed private charities dry, thereby leaving the government to step in and take up the slack; this would by necessity not only grow government, but increase its power and influence over others to the point where Big Government will be the be-all, and the end-all, womb-to-the-tomb abomination.

'Charitable functions' will be an exclusive function of the government, and as thus will cease to be charity, as charity itself has a voluntary component.

So, Obama voters, how do you like your 'brave new world' now?