At last Friday night's debate, Senator John McCain did it again. He griped about the money the federal government is spending to study bear DNA. Here is a fine article detailing why this is NOT a waste of money.
But more to the point, I am at a total loss to understand why this is the government expenditure McCain scowls at when the feds provide so much money to Planned Parenthood. Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachman has recently made an issue of this; declaring "Planned Parenthood pays no taxes and they receive over $300 million per year in grants from the federal government."
I think Bachman makes an error here, lumping all government funding with that provided by the federal government. Planned Parenthood's balance sheet from the 2007 fiscal year states that they received 336.7 million dollars in funding from "government grants and contracts;" but some of that funding has come from the states. (One might think Planned Parenthood's balance sheet would divide public funding into "national" and "state and local.")
Anyway, as a zoologist I disagree with McCain on the bear studies, and since he has expressed pro-life sentiments I don't understand why he doesn't make Planned Parenthood a target instead of Yogi and Boo-Boo. Remember, Senator, people like bears; they're quite cute and endearing as long as you observe them from a distance. On the other hand, people generally don't like abortions. That's why it was so smart for the government to create Smokey Bear. You think people would be as careful to put out their campfires if advised to do so by Smokey the Abortion?
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