The U.N.'s Numbers Are Way Off

Well, this is an interesting admission of guilt. The AP reports:

The number of AIDS cases worldwide fell by more than 6 million cases this year to 33.2 million, global health officials said Tuesday. But the decline is mostly on paper.

Previous estimates were largely inflated, and the new numbers are the result of a new methodology. They show AIDS cases in 2007 were down from almost 39.5 million last year, according to the World Health Organization and the United Nations AIDS agency.

While it's truly a great thing that AIDS cases are declining, there is another point to consider here. Think about it...what happened when the AIDS crisis first burst onto the world stage? Billions of dollars (mostly from the U.S.) were sent to Africa to help combat the disease, right? So what happens if the numbers actually show that good progress is being made against this horrible virus? The funding will likely diminish. Though the U.N. offers a couple of plausible-sounding reasons for the numbers revisions, many are skeptical that the U.N. simply just got caught inflating their numbers (remember, it was about a 20% revision!) to keep the funding up.

Now, let's apply a little logic here. If the U.N. is willing to inflate (i.e. lie about) the numbers of AIDS cases to get more money, do you think they'd be willing to do the same for other things? Sure, it only makes sense. Hm, let's see what else we have going on right now that has a consensus of scientists agreeing that a disaster is looming, and only the U.N. can combat it with massive amounts of cash...

Aha! I've got it: global warming.

There's my two cents.