Eugenics on the Bayou

Louisiana State House of Representative member John LaBruzzo last week suggested that it might be a good idea to pay poor people $1000 each if they sterilize themselves. Taking the matter even a step further, LaBruzzo suggested that tax incentives could encourage the more affluent members of society to reproduce more.

So, one group of people has a greater value than another - one should be eliminated, the other fostered.

It is disturbing that people have such ideas. It is more disturbing that a person who thinks this way is a legislator. Even more disturbing is that LaBruzzo thinks this mindset is noteworthy enough to share not only with others, but with society at large. Most disturbing of all is that this man is the Vice Chairperson of the Louisiana House's Health and Welfare Committee.

You would think that no one would want to align themselves with such thinking, but that isn't the case. National animal organization PETA yesterday issued a news release related to matter. It said in part:

PETA dispatched a letter to Louisiana State Rep. John LaBruzzo urging him to introduce a spay-and-neuter bill that would help low-income families spay and neuter their dogs and cats. LaBruzzo recently set off a firestorm of controversy when he proposed providing financial incentives for low-income residents to stop having babies. PETA believes that everyone should consider the impact of population growth on the Earth, animals, and our limited resources. The group points out that Louisiana could save a fortune by preventing the births of thousands of homeless cats and dogs who must be collected, transported, and fed--and who, in most cases, end up being put to death in Louisiana animal shelters.

ICCKKKK!!!!!