Seems there is quite a bit of pushback for the pigheaded decision by Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure political hacks:
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) both criticized and revoked their support for Komen on Wednesday. “I was perplexed and troubled to see the decision by Susan G. Komen for the Cure to cut off funding for life-saving breast cancer screenings through Planned Parenthood because of a political witch hunt by House Republicans. I truly hope that they will reconsider this decision and put the needs of women first,” Boxer said in a statement.
“I have been a big booster of the Susan G. Komen organization, but not anymore,” Speier said on the House floor.
One of Komen’s own affiliates withdrew its support as well. The Connecticut affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure said in a statement on Wednesday that it “shares” people’s frustration over the decision and that it will continue funding Planned Parenthood of New England.
“The decision regarding the funding of Planned Parenthood was made by Susan G. Komen for the Cure National Headquarters,” the group posted on its Facebook wall. “Susan G. Komen for the Cure Connecticut enjoys a great partnership with Planned Parenthood, and is currently funding Planned Parenthood of Southern New England. We understand, and share, in the frustration around this situation. We hope that any investigation prohibiting Planned Parenthood from receiving Komen grants is promptly resolved.”
Good. It is high time people start pushing back against these bullies. If we’ve learned anything in the past about the right, it is that they are very, very thin-skinned. And these bullies at Komen may be regretting their decision right about now:
The main sentiment among the thousands of people posting online seems to be that regardless of one’s position on the issue of abortion, it is wrong to politicize women’s health. According to a new Polipulse analysis of online conversations about the issue, only 26 percent of people believe Komen made the right decision. Nearly a quarter of the people who expressed criticism of Komen’s decision online said they were going to pull their donations from Komen.
In contrast, Planned Parenthood has seen a huge influx of financial donations in the 24 hours since Komen broke ties. While the organization has not officially released the new donation numbers yet, a source close to the issue said they’ve raised “hundreds of thousands” of dollars in individual donations during that period. That, combined with a donation of $250,000 from Texas oil executive Lee Fikes and his wife Amy for a “Breast Health Emergency Fund,” could put the family planning provider on track to match or surpass the roughly $680,000 it received from Komen in 2011.
The best, most delicious aspect of this is the fact that there simply is no way for the Komen foundation to undo the damage they have done. They simply can’t- this action will forever leave them branded as a tool of the reactionary right. And even if they wanted to reverse course, and begin working with Planned Parenthood again, they couldn’t because of the weaselly way they rolled this out. Are they going to change their rules back and claim they no longer care if someone is under investigation? Preposterous. Are they going to just hope that Republicans will drop their politically motivated investigations? Fat chance- PP, Acorn, and all the other boogeymen the right have created are constantly going to be heckled by wingnuts in congress with nuisance investigations.
So Komen is basically screwed, and it looks like it couldn’t have happened to a nicer group of people.
General Stuck
Komen is this weeks Scott Walker, or John Kasich, or the munchkin from Indiana. They don’t care anymore about backlash. If it has a D on it, it must die.
polyorchnid octopunch
You’re going to get to see the paranoia skyrocket on the part of the wingularity. Of course, I guess that if they come to the realisation that in fact nobody outside their little klatch agrees with them and think they’re women hating tools, it can’t really be called paranoia, can it?
Mnemosyne
There was a poster in one of the previous threads who said she was on the board of a local Komen organization and was considering resigning. I think she’ll be relieved to see that other state orgs are distancing themselves from the national one — maybe she can help her own local organization make the same decision.
satby
I’m doing the best I can to fan that blowback fire into an inferno. The conservatives are coming for birth control and basic heath access for poor and rural women and everyone needs to understand that, not just politically aware blog readers
blackfrancis789
Denver is pushing back some, also:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/30350832/detail.html
cathyx
And I’ll bet that most of the people who support and fund raise for Komen are democrats.
Kyle
Hey, only one percent off the magic number number of wingnut singularity.
I imagine the overlap with droolers who supported Bush at the end of his presiduncy is close to 99%.
Thoughtcrime
@cathyx:
Not anymore.
dmsilev
@Kyle: That’s within error bars. I say we count it.
trollhattan
There seem to be a half-gazillion community and employee groups in my area who organize Komen fundraisers, some quite high profile. I hate to think of the infighting and fallout that they’re now in for. Most folks who organize and participate in such things on the local level are simply trying to do a good thing.
JCT
Cue the “but, but FREE SPEECH” any minute now.
I’m hoping the wingnuts and their enablers have finally crossed the rubicon with their assault on women’s reproductive rights.
I think assholes like Daniels, etc., who managed to pull PP funding got away with it because there was a stealth factor and it was “just” Indiana. But everyone knows about those Pink Ribbons and I agree with J.C. — there’s no effective retreat path — they just shined a spotlight on the right wing’s attack on women’s health. I wonder when the cockroaches will scatter — they’re cowards after all.
This blowback will be a bitch.
Paddy
The best thing about this pile of asshattery?
By acting like a bunch of churlish wingnuts, SGK may actually save more lives than if they had just paid PP the money and kept quiet. Win/win. Plus it gets the issue of what exactly PP does in this country out and circulating again.
dmsilev
They actually have already done this, or at least are emitting weasel-oid words that can be interpreted in that way. A Daily Kos diary has a response of sort from Komen:
So, that bit about ‘stringent eligibility’ is probably the excuse they’re going to use, but they’ve backed away from ‘any victim of any witch hunt will be thrown to the wolves’. No change in their actual position, of course, but at least they are starting to feel the need to throw up clouds of ink to obscure themselves.
JPL
This statement is key. Screening saves lives and to pull money from an organization that provides mammograms for political reasons is wrong. I do think it is time for planned parenthood to have a representative appear on talk shows to preach the medical services they provide for the poor. They can mention the 3 percent that goes for abortions but most people do not realize that in some communities this is the only clinic they have for low income people.
GregB
The wrecking crew are now setting fire to the villages as they withdraw.
They don’t give a fuck about poor people or women or even unborn children.
They give a fuck about money and power.
JPL
@GregB: Amen!
MattF
This could be a ‘When the tide goes out, you discover who’s not wearing pants’ moment. I suspect that lots of organizations have a parasitic winger faction with an agenda– but now, it turns out, the separate winger-reality can threaten the survival of the host organization. Too late for Komen, though, I’ll bet.
SuzieC
Another good side effect is that everyone now knows that Komen is a right-wing nest. That came as news to me, and I try to be aware of all right wing clusters of assholes.
pseudonymous in nc
@dmsilev: that’s straight out of the MBA-speak generator.
I think it’s pulled the veil off the whole pinkwashing exercise. People were prepared to give a pass to SGK’s corporate hookups and the commodification of charity through pink-ribbon tchotchkes, as long as it seemed willing to fund health services in a politically neutral manner.
SGK is a quarter-billion dollar organisation. It sent about half a million a year to PP; Nancy Brinker pulls down $400k/year as CEO.
Rekster
@JPL: Cecile Richards is on TV quite often preaching about what PP actually does. Unfortunately, she probably is never on FNC but I don’t know that since I NEVER watch Fox.
BGinCHI
A great comment on that article from Mother Jones John links to:
Steve
Can someone provide me with the contact email address for SGK? Not a contact form, an actual email address. Thanks.
pragmatism
looks like no more chilis, macaroni grill or maggianos for me and the family. this is a good thing. double fuck the lot of ’em.
geg6
Good. I want this organization stripped of all credibility. I thought I read or saw somewhere that there is a documentary about SGK that ia soon to be released. And that it is NOT complimentary. In fact, I got the distinct impression that the doc is in the finest Nelly Bly muckraking tradition (which, contrary to current common usage, is a great and noble journalistic tradition of which I wish we could see more). Too lazy to look it up, but I’m pretty sure I got that mostly right.
scav
Despite all the noise and the frantic churning, isn’t there somehow also the impression that the weasel words and fogs are failing and the battle fields and lines are being more fully exposed? This could get very interesting and very dangerous.
JPL
@geg6: I hope but the foundation brought to the fore front breast cancer awareness and they need to be honored for that. Their mission seems to have swayed from that though.
The Ancient Randonneur
The GOP really is the party of the “birthers”, isn’t it?
Cat Lady
Wingnuts in bubbles believing in all of their own bullshit, reality bites them in the ass. Hoocoodanode.
maya
A list of SGK corporate partners.
Brian
I wrote them a letter today.
While I may not be a big supporter (no offense we just give to different diseases) I have friends who do the walk and we donate.
I just cannot stand to donate to any non-profit organization that is and will be so brashly partisan.
Satanicpanic
I was getting annoyed with all the stupid pink crap they’re always giving out. I’m happy to donate but I’m not wearing your ugly pink pin. And why pink? Because it’s about women. How lame is that? And don’t even get me started on those idiotic I Love Boobies bracelets.
Mudge
By reading the Mother Jones article, etc. It seems Komen has opened the door to very intense scrutiny that cannot be deflected by the “They want women to get breast cancer!!!” accusation.
Typical Republican action, damn the consequences, full speed ahead.. (apologies to Adm. Farragut). Perhaps Govs. Walker and Kasich should have been consulted ahead of time.
pacified
My local Planned Parenthood just got $100 from me because of this.
Lizzy L
I just sent SGK an e-mail letting them know they’ve lost my respect and my bucks, such as they are. There’s a local PP office near me. I’m going to drop by in person with a check. I’m thinking the folks who work there might be feeling a bit bummed — it will give me a chance to say a personal thank you to them.
mothra
I never cared for all that pink stuff anyway.
Once again I am notified by the right wing that I am not alive, I am merely a container for life, and one that has passed its expiration date, to boot.
JoyceH
I’m glad now I didn’t buy that pink bicycle.
Satanicpanic
I should say, I was happy to donate. Not anymore. And I hope the other charities I donate to get the message. These cutesy slogans and worry about “branding” are a big tip-off that you’ve lost the plot.
Eric S.
I kid you not, I just went over the PoliPulse site and the percentage of people approving of the Komen decision has “leveled out” at 27%.
SteveinSC
My wife and I agree: nothing, and I mean nothing comes into the house that feeds SGC. My wife wrote them a letter and I hope it sets their right-wing hair on fire.
J. Michael Neal
I got turned off by them a long time ago. I give to charity, but I hate the ostentatious element of the whole pink ribbon campaign. It just screams, “Look at me! I do good things!” It just bugs the shit out of me.
That said, I also cannot sign on to a full scale boycott, in all honesty. The University of Minnesota athletics department had a big thing over a two week period hyping Komen in all of its sporting events. Sorry, but the women’s hockey team is too big a part of my life these days to give it up for something like this.
So, I’ll look through the corporate sponsors and see who I can give up, but for all of the problems I have with the Gopher athletic department (and I have plent of them), it’s strictly in Strongly Worded Letter territory. Then again, getting that strongly worded letter from a member of the board of the booster club might have some clout.
scav
@Eric S.: The resting pulse rate of crazy.
Fitzwili
I just left a 100 dollar contribution to PP and have already written snail mail to Yoplait saying that I will boycott them of their association with Komen. This has really infuriated me on a personal level; I had cancer and I lost both my mother and father to cancer. To politicize the health of women like this is unforgivable and morally bankrupt.
General Stuck
The more I’m learning about this clusterfuck, the madder it makes me. It has all the hallmarks of a coordinated VRWC sting on PP. Between House wingnuts, and some wingnuts in the SGK. To conspire to take this action and smooth out the backlash with a phony investigation into PP, by dipshit TX CC Cliff Stearns. Who will investigate the investigators? and PP does so few abortions, it all seems quite insane, unless your a conservative gooper, I guess, and need a revolving stable of cultural targets to attack.
Linkmeister
E-books for PP.
John Scalzi is donating his next week’s worth of ebook sales to Planned Parenthood and his publisher Subterranean Press is matching.
A two-fer, and a good time to pick up copies of his books you don’t already own.
Egg Berry
In the age of social media, these things gather strength much more quickly. Imagine if they’d done this 10 years ago.
Moses2317
If you want to help push back against Komen giving into the right-wing bullies, I’d recommend:
* Contacting the national Komen office at 1-877-465-6636 and your local Komen affiliate, and respectfully let them know how you feel.
* Consider donating what you can to Planned Parenthood
* Support one of the following organizations that are leading the fight against breast cancer:
Breast Cancer Action (“BCA”) – the self-styled “watchdog of the breast cancer movement,” BCA focuses on advocating for policies that will reduce environmental exposures that increase cancer risks, address social inequalities that lead to disparities in health outcomes, and reducing the toxicity of cancer treatments.
National Breast Cancer Coalition – an organization that advocates for funding for meaningful breast cancer research and providing everyone with access to quality cancer care, with the goal of ending breast cancer by January 1, 2020.
Breast Cancer Fund – an organization that focuses on identifying, educating the public about, and eliminating the environmental and other preventable causes of cancer.
Brachiator
@GregB:
Hell, they’re not even withdrawing. They’re willing to go up in flames with the entire country, for the sake of their religious and ideological purity.
shortstop
I try to keep up on all wingnut memes, but I have to eat, wear clothing and pay a mortgage, so occasionally I miss one or two. Why are the few people defending SGK on its Facebook page claiming that “Planned Parenthood lied about doing mammograms — they don’t!” The hell did that one come from?
No need to explain the “abortion is linked to breast cancer” nonsense; I’m aware that that study was debunked, although it will forever live in zombie winger myth land.
Michelle
As much as a feminist I consider myself to be, this mess just makes me realize how much I’ve taken for granted reproductive rights and access to organizations like Planned Parenthood.
I’m hating myself a little right now.
Redshift
@pragmatism:
Be sure to tell them; that’s what makes boycotts actually work.
General Stuck
@shortstop:
they justified it by creating a new rule for SGK donations, to not donate to any org that is currently under investigation, which by
designcoincidence there happened to be one by House republicans suspecting PP is doing abortions with tax money in violation of the Hyde law. They have no evidence, but then they never do. And make no never mind that every penny from SGK to PP went only for mammograms and cancer screening.Redshift
@shortstop:
It may be new; I haven’t ever seen it. Most of the wingnut comments I’ve seen seem to be going with “PP is an abortion mill” line.
trollhattan
Maybe this ia part of a wingnut plot to claim all the magnetic car ribbons?
JPL
I just donated $100.00 to planned parenthood. I’ve donated to them in the past as well as to SGK. To politicize women’s health issues is just sick. There is no excuse and Karen Handel can go to hell.
pragmatism
@Redshift: oh i shall. i frequently embarass my wife in public doing exactly this. chilis is super close to our house and toddler friendly so we go there when we don’t feel like cooking. letter/email writing begins tonight.
shortstop
No, that’s not what I was asking, General Stuck. Okay, Redshift, I see where it came from:
I didn’t realize PP doesn’t perform actual mammograms, but does do manual screenings, makes referrals for mammograms and helps low-income women pay for them. So what is these wingers’ point? Those services have no value — especially for women who have no health insurance?
JGabriel
John Cole @ Top:
Komen probably thought there wouldn’t be any pushback. There have been reports before this that they were overly corporate with shades of cronyism, but it never went anywhere.
Looks like they’re about to experience a level of scrutiny they neither expected nor desired.
.
JPL
Nancy Brinker did something because she had the time and money and that was to start a foundation on breast cancer awareness. That can never be taken away from her. I lived in Dallas at the time and she should be rewarded for those efforts. She has always been a Republican but never used the organization to politicize women’s health. That alone wipes away all her good deeds in my eyes.
kay
I like “pink is the new yellow”
I’m not clever enough to come up with that, and I didn’t, but I do like it.
I count on other people to invent one-liners, so good job, liberals.
shortstop
@kay: I admired that one as well!
JPL
There has been several posts on this topic. I wonder how much BJ’ers sent to Planned Parenthood today because of this. This post raised at least 300 dollars. The power of the internet.
eric
Sorry if someone posted this earlier…here is Komen response to my email
Thank you for your inquiry to Susan G. Komen for the Cure regarding our recent granting strategy and performance criteria revisions and their potential impact on Planned Parenthood and other Komen grantees. Unfortunately, there have been serious mischaracterizations and we appreciate this opportunity to clarify the issue.
For Komen, the women we serve are our highest priority in everything we do. Last year, thanks to the support of individuals and businesses, we were able to invest $93 million in community health programs. These programs provided 700,000 mammograms, no doubt saving countless lives. Earlier this year, we began an initiative to further strengthen our grants program to be even more outcomes-driven and to allow for even greater investments in programs that directly serve women. We also implemented more stringent eligibility and performance criteria to support these strategies. As we move forward, we are working directly with Komen Affiliates to ensure that there is no interruption or gaps in services for women who need breast health screening and services.
It is regrettable when changes in priorities and policies affect any of our grantees, such as a longstanding partner like Planned Parenthood. However, like all organizations, we must continue to evolve and meet ever higher standards of excellence, so that we can most fully advance our mission. Our grant-making decisions are not about politics. Our priority is and always will be the women we serve. Any efforts to make this political or leverage it for fundraising purposes would be a disservice to women.
I hope this answer provides the information you need. As always, we appreciate your support of Komen and our mission to end breast cancer forever.
Warmest Regards,
General Stuck
@kay:
You know who else likes one liners?
“I’m not concerned about the very poor” Best one liner evaah:)
WereBear (itouch)
@Linkmeister: Thanks! I sprang for one and Facebooked it too.
JPL
@JGabriel: The foundation might be screwed..Komen not so much.
kdaug
@Rekster:
I can’t get over how much she looks like her mother. Same fire, too.
The Other Chuck
@eric:
In spite of the fact that it was deliberately crafted to provide no information at all.
JPL
@kdaug: I choose not to spend money on cable and live off my antenna and local channels. I haven’t seen her. Maybe she’ll go on Meet the Press if McCain’s busy.
Bubblegum Tate
@SuzieC:
Oh, indeed. When it comes to figuring out who’s going to get charitable donations from me this year, I can now simplify things by crossing Komen off the list.
Egg Berry
@eric: Shorter Komen: here’s some corporate PR Bullshit. Look! Over there!
RalfW
@General Stuck:
Interesting. Because the Minnesota GOP has decided to go hell-bent on their whole agenda, backlash and all. One gets the sense that the whole Republican network knows it either has to complete a gloved facist takeover by November, or the whole country will finally wake up and pitchfork the lot of them (metaphorically, of course).
Clark Stooksbury
So has Barbara Ehrenreich commented on this yet? She had some choice words on the breast cancer subculture in Bright-Sided.
JCT
@RalfW:
Yup, smells like desperation. They’re going for scorched earth. I hope they like their exile (or pitchforking — I prefer that imagery.
Arclite
I run a yearly marathon, and I always see dozens of Race for the Cure sponsored runners, ostensibly raising money for breast cancer. It will be interesting to see how much of that drops off in light of this.
beltane
It almost seems like the Komen Foundation was a Trojan horse for the right-wing from the get-go http://dailykos.com/story/2012/02/01/1060836/-Komen-Foundation-Is-Run-By-Republican-Right-Wingers?via=siderec
Also, a good way to help reduce one’s risk for developing breast cancer is by avoiding the kind of high-fat crap peddled by Nancy Bickers’ family.
Mark S.
@eric:
They deny it has anything to do with politics. That’s good enough for me. Also, any criticism means you like dead women, too.
kdaug
@JPL: Google.
Kathy in St. Louis
The problem is that the big corporations that make all that pink shit happpen every year, from cereal manufacturers, to soda, to tires, to whatever, are all run by black hearted GOPers who see this as an opportunity to put the political arm on a recipient. They are, in turn, being pressured by the likes of all these right wing “family organizaions” who care not a crap about women. They can keep all their pink products from now until the end of time. I’ll never buy one again.
Heliopause
This has probably been mentioned already, but I soured on Komen many months ago, not knowing anything about their political affiliations, when I found out they are assholes about their trademarks. So I’m all in favor of scaling back support for a charity that is more about the brand than “the cure”.
AA+ Bonds
Sure, unless wealthy Republican donors reward them
C.R.E.A.M.
JGabriel
@JPL:
I was referring to the foundation with “Komen”. Sorry if that was unclear, I thought using the plural pronoun “they” (instead of feminine singular “she”) would signal that I was referring to the organization.
.
AA+ Bonds
This was done for a blatantly political reason, this was not a magic mistake, and it involves consolidating a donor base through what pro-choice activists believe to be bad press
I say this as someone who is rabidly in favor of having all forms of reproductive control provided for free to all
The question is whether the reward will be worth the risk because they probably did not expect Barbara Boxer to get involved
JPL
@kdaug: I had no idea she was the daughter of Ann. It’s interesting that I have donated to planned parenthood for years just because of their good deeds.
pragmatism
@j: offsides flag was up on that one. you need to time your run differently next time.
Elizabelle
@eric:
re the bluster in that form letter from the Susan G. Komen Foundation :
I had an English teacher who warned us against “Inkfish” — words that sound like they mean something, but don’t.
Inkfish. Inkfish. Inkfish.
J. Michael Neal
@pragmatism: I’d have called it 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct and a 10 minute misconduct. Hit the box, j.
SFAW
???
Offsides is only a five-yarder. j deserves a game misconduct, at the very least.
Citizen_X
@Eric S.:
Quelle fucking surprize.
@cathyx: Looks like some of the 27%er crazies are bound to be found on our side as well.
AA+ Bonds
GODDAMN IT’S LIKE TOM SCOCCA IN HERE IT’S JUST SO FAST AND FURIOUS
SFAW
Damn! Late again.
Elizabelle
Dear Yoplait:
Your yogurt comes in many delicious flavors.
Cowardice is not one of them.
I shall not be purchasing, nor consuming, your yogurt until you untether yourself from the Susan G. Komen Foundation. I suspect you know why.
Kind regards,
Elizabelle
satby
@Linkmeister: Thanks! Posted to FB. And anyone with a Droid can download a Kindle reader (it was free or really cheap I think).
JPL
@JGabriel: In our society it is unfortunate that it takes the death of someone able to afford health care but still dies at a young age to highlight a problem.
KJbrooklyn
What’s always gotten to me about organizations like Susan Komen and her ilk is how although they raise billions, there never seems to be any funds available to help people suffering with cancer who have lost their jobs, are behind on the rent and need a grant to help them get back on their feet. With our frayed safety net, people who suffer from a major illness have damn few resources they can fall back on. I wish all the cancer charities would think about dedicating some small portion of the money they raise to this kind of thing.
pragmatism
Where is randinho? My soccer jokes are wasted here
Calouste
@eric:
Whoever wrote that should work for Waffle House, not a cancer charity.
beltane
@KJbrooklyn: This is a reminder of how government is far more efficient at allocating resources than most private charities. I’m sure none of the civil servants who administer Medicaid pull in the $500,000 salaries that the top brass at Susan G. Komen rake in.
J. Michael Neal
@SFAW: Nevertheless, I bow to your complete mashup of sports penalties. All you missed was saying that j’s opponent was now in the bonus.
SFAW
pragmatism –
Well, what did you expect, with the Super Bowl four days away? If it had been a Cup year, some of us mighta picked up on it.
Besides, offside doesn’t get you a red card, not even a yellow. (Well, unless you’re Zizou and you head-butt a defender as you pass him.)
GO GIANTS!
AA+ Bonds
It is certainly a story that PP is seeing increased donations
so that being said
turning to tactics, all of you lefty bloggers should now get your drones swarming all over the big donors to Komen Central Command, whether or not they’ve already withdrawn donations
For instance, Google or another news source may have tipped you off to this:
(Real, non political) tea sellers The Republic of Tea recently donated $1 million to the Komen Hegemony
Here’s the Wikipedia article on The Republic of Tea if anyone missed this in their Googling
Here is their all-purpose non-media contact number: (800) 298-4TEA (4832)
They also have a Facebook page and are on
Twitter: @republicoftea
and their Facebook page is done professionally so likely they pay attention to feedback through social media, because that is what hip companies do nowadays.
For media inquiries:
Eva Wong
Minister of Enlightenment
5 Hamilton Landing Suite 100
Novato, CA 94949
(415) 382-3443
[email protected]
Never said I didn’t do anything for ya.
Southern Beale
“26% of people believe Komen made the right decision” — always the same fucking 26% THE SAME FUCKING 26%! The same ones who thought Iraq had WMD and Saddam planned 9/11 and Bush was the bestest president ever and Obama is a Muslim S0c1al1st and everything else.
Please, who are these 26% of batshit insane Americans so I can shove them off the edge of our flat earth and into oblivion?
SFAW
J. Michael –
I was thinking of working in some lacrosse, baseball, and boxing references, too, but realized how boring that would be. Or something.
WereBear (itouch)
@beltane: Yep. I’ve got nothing against getting paid to do a job well, but that is obscene for a charity where people donate to save lives.
Southern Beale
“26% of people believe Komen made the right decision” — always the same fucking 26% THE SAME FUCKING 26%! The same ones who thought Iraq had WMD and Saddam planned 9/11 and Bush was the bestest president ever and Obama is a Muslim and everything else.
Please, who are these 26% of batshit insane Americans so I can shove them off the edge of our flat earth and into oblivion?
AxelFoley
@mothra:
Buuuuut, your username is Mothra and that’s essentially what Mothra is. Every time Mothra lays her egg, she expires before her larva hatches.
/Godzilla fanboy ;)
AA+ Bonds
Please think critically about the difference between something like this and an actual poll
I’m not even knocking it, I am sure it is a sexy algorithm
hitchhiker
They really are relentless, gotta give ’em that. Organized, multi-faceted attacks on ACORN, NAACP, PP, Unions, etc . . . they just keep doing it no matter what.
Fkrs. Is there an analogue on our side? What are the righty orgs that progressives are determined to undermine, attack, and destroy?
scav
Suddenly makes me think of that Far Sides cartoon “Bummer of a birthmark” cartoon only with a pink ribbon.
Nellcote
Nice going with adding insult to injury.
gwangung
We’d argue so much and so often among ourselves we’d never get anything done.
Maus
@eric:
http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/01/komen-also-stops-funding-embryonic-stem-cell-research-centers/
faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart
AA+ Bonds
Why not contact commercial tea sellers The Republic of Tea on Twitter:
@republicoftea
And ask whether they intend to donate $1,000,000 to the Komen Vatican this year
Perhaps you can ask if owner Ron Rubin just sells tea , or whether he parties with it, too
Here is there contact page.
For (serious conference-attending left wing blogger) media inquiries:
Eva Wong
Minister of Enlightenment
5 Hamilton Landing Suite 100
Novato, CA 94949
(415) 382-3443
[email protected]
AA+ Bonds
@hitchhiker:
At this point it should be Komen
AA+ Bonds
@AA+ Bonds:
LOL
HERE is their contact page
gwangung
@AA+ Bonds: Oh. Guess there won’t be that much argument after all.
Maus
@AA+ Bonds: Tossed off an email.
@hitchhiker: Cato? We don’t conspiracize, though.
Gex
I would not be surprised if SGK became the amoral money generating machine as the Christianists were infiltrating. Those two areas of interest seem to go hand and hand.
RalfW
@Mark S.:
So, was Planned Parenthood providing poor quality care for women needing screening, or doing the screenings wrong?
Because if the answer to that is anything but yes (and I’m confident it’s a no) then SGK is full of PR bullshit (which of course they are).
Being ‘investigated’ by a right-wing demagog with a gavel in D.C. is no indication that PP isn’t meeting standards of excellence, evolving or not.
What a load. What a useless, evil load of garbage.
So, just donated $35 to MN-ND-SN Planned Parenthood.
PurpleGirl
@Linkmeister: Thanks for the link to Scalzi. That man is awesome.
beltane
@Gex: It is looking as though the evil of SGK stems directly from its founder, Susan Brinker, a long-time Republican activist and fundraiser who exploited her sister’s death to create this nasty Trojan horse of a mega-charity.
Reading this list of positions the Komen foundation has lobbied for http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/01/1060885/-Behind-the-Pink-Curtain-Komens-Political-Agenda?via=siderecent has dispelled all doubt that they are a truly evil organization made all the more evil by the fact they have been duping good people for years now.
pragmatism
@SFAW: Go Los gigantes indeed. Have a good one.
mazareth
I just donated $20 to Planned Parenthood. First time ever.
WileyCoyote
Check out the comments on Komen’s Facebook. The negative posts outnumber the positive ones by at least 10 to 1. I’m sure they are deleting some, so it’s likely higher than that.
Komen’s brand name is forever soiled.
Jonathan Lundell
Three words: Breast Cancer Action .
Ruckus
I don’t know any of the SGK people but their actions speak volumes about their character. We should and have been speaking volumes back, and the vast majority have been condemning them as the petulant little children they have acted like. We need far more of this.
JPL
@mazareth: nice.
Rich Webb
A very well written and illuminating article on SGK is over at Litbrit’s place. Recommended.
Angela
@AA+ Bonds: I just left a message on their facebook wall. Thanks for the information.
scottinnj
Well it seems the Koman Organization is going all Koch on this.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/us/uproar-as-komen-foundation-cuts-money-to-planned-parenthood.html?_r=1&ref=us
Here is a great quote from Mr Rafaelli, a Susan Koman Board Member
Tehanu
@shortstop:
Their “point” is exactly that. These services have no value because, to them, women who have no health insurance have no value. You might even think that, to them, women — in general — have no value; and you’d be right. They’re openly coming out now with their meme about “no exceptions” even for the life of the mother. That tells it all, right there.
Also check out TBogg’s latest: http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2012/02/01/the-komen-syndrome/#comments
RalfW
Check out the lobbying arm of Komen, Komen Advocacy Alliance and their board.
Huh. Maybe she profits when Bain “disrupts” a steel mill.
SarahT
Some of these are excellent, IMHO :
http://www.buzzfeed.com/zippitydodah/top-10-tweets-in-response-to-susan-g-komen-defund-31v
mlc
Fuck “awareness.”. My dad didn’t need “awareness.”. He needed a goddamn cure. What has Komen given to actual R&D toward curing this shit? Fuck, fuck, fuck “awareness.”
maus
@scottinnj: Hahaha, what a slag. Planned Parenthood is so CAPITALIST, we’re all like about Awareness, mannnnn. Planned Parenthood doesn’t consist entirely on corporate branding to sell their image, they actually DO things to help the community, to help women. You’re an empty, useless suit.
JR in WVa
@J. Michael NealI’m a big WVU supporter, since I was a small tyke. But when they go off the rails and do things which are morally offensive, I cut them off like a piece of salami!
If you love your alma mater, there are ways to support them without lending your good name to right-wing (or otherwise) immorality. They have no right to force you to support ill-thought-out (or downright evil) decisions on the part of the sports establishment at your school, or agencies otherwise connected to your school.
A sternly worded letter which implies or states openly that the money faucet may be turned off will garner far more attention than any other communication, which will be thrown away as soon as a mealy-mouthed explanation of their wrong-headed decisions can be mailed out to you.
Been there, done that. When their fund-raising volunteers call us, they get a pre-planned and detailed explanation of why my family no longer appears on the big donor list at the end of the fund-raising year, and I/we ask the to make sure the management hears about the reasons we won’t be donating again this year. We used to big contributors, now we aren’t, and here’s why. We also cover how they can get back into our good graces, although realistically, I don’t expect that to ever happen.
More money for Congressman Alan Grayson, et al as far as we’re concerned.
RedKitten
Honestly, if anybody thinks that any Komen money was going towards abortion, then they have NO idea how non-profits work. Non-profits struggle for funding all the time, and if a donor (especially a huge one like Komen) says that they want their money spent on x, y and z, but not a, b, or c, then by cracky, the recipient toes the line. Do they honestly think that PP would have been foolish enough to risk such a cash cow, by diverting earmarked funds? Seriously?
Besides. That’s neither here nor there. The Komen Foundation’s stated mission is to fight breast cancer. Full stop. It’s not “Fight breast cancer while preventing abortions” or “Fight breast cancer while saving the whales” or “Fight breast cancer while reducing carbon emissions.” It’s “Fight breast cancer.” So by scrapping funding to PP’s cancer screening programs….HOW, precisely, does that further the goal of fighting breast cancer? It doesn’t. So because of ONE person’s ideology, the entire foundation has acted in violation of its mission.
slippy
@JPL:
I believe it just was.
Patricia
My friends, at the very least, SGK is guilty of moral cowardice in the face of the ranting religious (not spiritual) right who despise everything that Jesus of Nazareth taught. At the worst, they are complicit. The religious right is more apparent than real. Heat is not light and noise is not leadership.
la2sf
Although Komen has reversed its decision, I am still furious and don’t trust them. Stupid, stupid move. I suggested yesterday on a talk radio program that I called into that people now send their donations to Breast Cancer Research Foundation (founded in the early 90’s by Evelyn Lauder and the pink ribbon was her idea I believe)which has very low overhead. Or send your donation to the ACS restricted to breast cancer research or mammorgraphies. Question: Komen’s whole basis for their decision was that Planned Parenthood was under investigation (by a right wing nut’s proposal). So, I heard on the news yesterday that Penn State received $6M from Komen (I guess for research at their med school?), but their funding wasn’t rescinded even though they are definitely under investigation. So, do we think Planned Parenthood was targeted???? Yeah!!!