Planned Parenthood's Donations Up Since Susan G. Komen (think "pink") Organization's Decision To Defund PP

UPDATE: 2/7/12:

Karen Handel resigns from Komen for the Cure:

Karen Handel, the former GOP candidate for governor, just announced her resignation as a senior vice president for public policy of Susan G. Komen for the Cure – one week after the breast cancer charity reversed itself on a decision to sever financial ties with Planned Parenthood.

Read her letter of resignation here. The bitch is so full of herself, and you can tell. This story just keeps getting better and better. Not quite full blow red in the face yet, but enough pink to see it coming!

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UPDATE: 2/3/12

Did SGK just blink? (H/T to Crooks and Liars)

We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives.

The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen. We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not.

Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair.

Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer. Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.

Well, according to that statement (and a post at AMERICAblog), SGK isn't really backing down, because the grants already approved for PP will still go through, despite their decision not to give any MORE grants. And the statement above does not change that. SGK is STILL reserving the right not to approve any future grants.

So, we have SGK first saying they will no longer fund PP because it is under "investigation." Then last night on their website, they claim it wasn't because they were under investigation, but because PP uses what is termed "pass through" grants, i.e., allegedly PP does not do direct mammograms, but "refers" them out (not sure if that is entirely true of the all of PP locations). And now, today, they change the story again and say that they have revised their internal rules so that any refusal based on any investigations will have to be a "criminal" and credible investigation.

Keep stepping in the doo doo. The smell is going to take a long time to go away, and those pink ribbons are not looking so hot right now.

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Unbelievable! All the press action today over the Susan G. Komen's organization's decision to defund Planned Parenthood!

First, in case you do not know what the SGK Organization is famous for, think "pink," as in breast cancer awareness PINK. Didn't we just have to go through a month of watching NFL players wear pink shoes, gloves and towels, etc. in support of SKG? And what about the "Race For The Cure" that SGK sponsor's annually? Guess you won't see too many liberals, dems and independents supporting SGK, wear pink ribbons, eat Yoplait yogurt, or sign up and/or donate to the Race.

And now that there are serious concerns as to whether the Race for the Cure and its founder are simply an arm of the anti-abortion wing of the Republican party, it's hard to imagine any Democrats or Independents wanting to be a part of that fundraiser any more - unless of course it's to protest it.

Let this be a case study in how to destroy an amazing brand in just 24 hours.

On the upside, Planned Parenthood received upwards of $400,000 today since the news of SGK's decision to defund breast cancer screenings.

This is all to say that perhaps the Planned Parenthood decision isn't all that big of a surprise, given the politics of people involved with Komen. The flap might end up benefiting Planned Parenthood in the end, however. The group has raised more than $400,000 since the news broke, a spokesman said Wednesday afternoon.

UPDATE:

It appears that a couple of SGK statewide affiliates are breaking ranks with the main SGK organization and will continue to support Planned Parenthood.

While the national Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation announced its organization will no longer partner with Planned Parenthood, the group’s local affiliate in Denver is breaking from the rest of the Komen organization. The Denver affiliate announced today that the national organization granted it an exception to continue funding Planned Parenthood.

[snip]

The Connecticut affiliate withdrew its support for the national Susan G. Komen organization, and the group wrote on its Facebook page that it enjoys a great partnership with Planned Parenthood of Southern New England. “We understand, and share, in the frustration around this situation,” the group wrote.

What Is Up With All This Sports Violence By Fans?

I have been a sports pig since the 1960's when as a teenager I was very much into the Los Angeles Dodgers. As I got older, and lived for a few years in San Diego, I also became a Charger football fan, and my secondary baseball team became the Padres (thanks to the work of Dick Williams as the manager, who took the Padres to their only World Series). Then, after I bought season tickets to the Kings hockey team, my girlfriends and I used to travel all across the States and Canada to go to games. Sometimes we'd wear our home jerseys, sometimes we'd wear a different team jersey. We did not always go to see the Kings play. For example, every October we would go to New York and see the Rangers, the Devils and the Islanders. It did not matter who they were playing. And it never really mattered what jersey we would wear to the games.

After the beatdown on the Giants fan at the opening season of last year's Dodger game, I thought perhaps this type of thing would lessen given all the attention to the poor guy that was thugged. But now, there's this:

It turns out that the Rangers fan who was pummeled by Flyers fans after Monday's NHL Winter Classic game in Philadelphia was an off-duty police officer and a decorated veteran of the Iraq War.

NBC New York reports that Neal Auricchio, 30, was beaten so badly he was hospitalized with a concussion. He is a former Marine who earned a Purple Heart in Iraq, and then returned for a second tour of duty. Auricchio currently is a police officer in New Jersey with the Woodbridge Police Department.

In 20 years of being a hockey fan, I have never ever witnessed a real "fight" between fans. Yeah, a lot of heckling, yelling and taunting, but nothing close to a beatdown of a fan of the other team.

More reminders of the state of decay this country is in.

Let's Really Honor The Vets This Year - Donate

As we remember the fallen veterans that have served this country over the years, let us not forget what the Bush administration has done to our current set of vets coming back from "the war on terror."

The Dover Air Force Base mortuary for years disposed of portions of troops’ remains by cremating them and dumping the ashes in a Virginia landfill, a practice that officials have since abandoned in favor of burial at sea.

The mortuary in Delaware, the main point of entry for the nation’s war dead and the target of federal investigations of alleged mishandling of remains, engaged in the practice from 2003 to 2008, according to Air Force officials. The manner of disposal was not disclosed to relatives of fallen service members.

Courtesy of The Washington Post.

Thousands of veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are finding a grim job market. Veterans who served since 9/11 experience a 12.1% unemployment rate, which is higher than the national average, while one in three male veterans are jobless.

Courtesy of Think Progress.

Let's keep Iraq war veteran Scott Olsen in our minds this day, as we begin to understand why the many veterans of Bush's "war on terror" support the Occupy movement.

American Current Wars Account For Majority Of World's Refugee Crisis

From Think Progress:

America’s wars are forcing Afghans and Iraqis to flee their homes in greater numbers. According to a recent U.N. High Commission for Refugees study, nearly one half of the world’s refugees are from Afghanistan and Iraq, 3.05 million and 1.68 million, respectively. But neither the United States nor much of the developed world bears the burden of the 10.55 million refugees under the UNHCR’s purview globally. Instead, Pakistan, Iran, and Syria serve as the top host countries. The Economist has charted the numbers:

And why, I ask again, are we not putting war spending cuts into the picture on this debt ceiling craziness going on in Congress?

I seriously hate the fact that our so called elected leaders in the past 12 years have completely isolated America from the rest of the world, and have their fingers in their collective ears. We have children running our country, for God's sake. These people feel the world is still flat, and that they can just keep running in one direction and will never fall off that deep end. Me, (as well as millions of other Americans), I see that deep end, and our current government is on the precipice. God help us all.

Nuke 'Em Or Duke 'Em

Now why is this not news to me?

Dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004, exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to a new study.

Hmmm. No wonder there's a supp0sed ban on the use of white phosphorous. But the U.S. felt no compulsion not to use it.

Powerful new evidence emerged yesterday that the United States dropped massive quantities of white phosphorus on the Iraqi city of Fallujah during the attack on the city in November 2004, killing insurgents and civilians with the appalling burns that are the signature of this weapon.

August 6 is just around the corner, 65 years after first atomic bomb dropped in Japan. My piece, here.

And for what it looked like in Fallujah, here are some graphic pictures to remind one of what war is really like.

Happy New Year - Gaza Death Toll Tops 400

Time for me to weigh in on Israel's war against the Palestinians in the Gaza strip.

I am clearly not a supporter of Israel's government leaders' claim of an inherent right to bomb the crap out of everyone and anyone (meaning Arabs) that sneeze in their direction, especially when you factor into the equation that Israel has nuclear bombs. It's been written up a lot that the Israeli citizens are not, by a majority, behind the actions of their government, and would prefer a peace with the Palestinians, and many are in favor of a combined state that accepts both groups. But since the hardliners (much like our Bushies) are in control, it's war, war, war, with anyone that talks about peace, and nothing short of annihilating the Palestinians is acceptable to the Israeli government.

The world does not support Israeli aggression, but because the only real ally of Israel is America (which also has nuclear weapons) most countries cannot do anything. But, sooner or later, Israel will be held accountable, most likely by the rest of the Arab world that surrounds it. After all, the fear of the United States is waning in the Middle East, and let's not forget that both Pakistan and India have nuclear weapons.

It disgusts me that the politics of Israel is no compromise with Palestine, and it's just kill, kill, steal land, kill, kill, steal land, etc.

Good Lord, Heaven Help Us, Because Our Government's Warped Priorities Won't Anymore

Because the films which Little produced included scenes involving sadomasochism, the Bush DOJ alleged, and the federal court found, that the films were not merely pornographic, but also "obscene," and thus illegal (Little's lawyers argued, unsuccessfully, they were intended primarily for distribution in Europe, where such films are legal). Ironically, Little's defense to the obscenity charges was quite similar to the defense which the Bush DOJ itself, years earlier, had embraced in order to claim that Bush officials were not engaged in "torture" when subjecting helpless detainees to gruesome treatment: namely, because the acts in question didn't involve the infliction of severe pain, they weren't illegal:

[snip]

So, to recap, in the Land of the Free: if you're an adult who produces a film using other consenting adults, for the entertainment of still other consenting adults, which merely depicts fictional acts of humiliation and degradation, the DOJ will prosecute you and send you to prison for years. The claim that no real pain was inflicted will be rejected; mere humiliation is enough to make you a criminal. But if government officials actually subject helpless detainees in their custody to extreme mental abuse, degradation, humiliation and even mock executions long considered "torture" in the entire civilized world, the DOJ will argue that they have acted with perfect legality and, just to be sure, Congress will hand them retroactive immunity for their conduct. That's how we prioritize criminality and arrange our value system.

A must read for all, from Glenn Greenwald. Remember, it isn't illegal if the president (or anyone he so deems) does it, but for the rest of you peons, go fuck yourselves. (Tongue planted firmly in cheek - ha ha).

Rememberance Of The Innocent Who Died Today

Please check out this CNN site that has been dedicated to the memories of all who died that day.

P.S. Word to the still uninformed - Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Here's a list from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection of the Saudis that were flown out of America right after 9/11, despite the grounding of air traffic -- and with the complete support of the Bush Administration.

It was the Saudis that hit us, it was the Saudis that hate us, and it was the Saudis that started the jihad against this country.

Get real, get educated, and vote responsibly this year.

A Moment Of Silence For The Katrina Victims, Past And Current

Three years later, and is NOLA fixed yet?

Just as we can't forget 9/11, America must never forget what it's own government failed to do for its citizens this day in 2005.

Loss Of Life Insignificant To Larger Interests Of Money Industry

TAUNTON - The housing crunch has caused anguish and anxiety for millions of Americans. For Carlene Balderrama, a 53-year-old wife and mother, the pressure was apparently too much.

Police say that Balderrama fatally shot herself Tuesday afternoon, 90 minutes before her foreclosed home was scheduled to be sold at auction. Chief Raymond O'Berg said that Balderrama faxed a letter to her mortgage company at 2:30 p.m., saying that "by the time they foreclosed on the house today she'd be dead."

Sad, but really, the corporate interests that own the banking industry don't give a shit about things like this. They get their government taxpayer subsidies to bail them out, and the taxpayer gets squat. Or death.

Someone, Please, Smack Some Sense Into Zimbabwe

Not a good time to be a Zimbabwe'an.

The soldiers and ruling party militiamen herded the people of Rusape to an open field at the back of the local sports club and made their point crystal clear.

"Your vote is your bullet," a soldier told the terrified crowd.

Everyone knew what he meant.

UPDATE: Rival Out Of Race

JOHANNESBURG — The leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition party withdrew Sunday from a presidential runoff, just five days before it was to be held, saying he could neither participate “in this violent, illegitimate sham of an election process,” nor ask his voters to risk their lives in the face of threats from forces backing President Robert Mugabe.

Golly, Gee, We DID Use White Phosphorous In Fallujah! My Bad!

FALLUJAH, Jun 12 (IPS) - Babies born in Fallujah are showing illnesses and deformities on a scale never seen before, doctors and residents say.

The new cases, and the number of deaths among children, have risen after "special weaponry" was used in the two massive bombing campaigns in Fallujah in 2004.

After denying it at first, the Pentagon admitted in November 2005 that white phosphorous, a restricted incendiary weapon, was used a year earlier in Fallujah.

Just reconfirming what we in the real world knew, oh, about three years ago. Emphasis added by me.



Falluja pictures.