Komen and Planned Parenthood

I am livid about SGK's actions. Livid. Even if they changed their minds this morning, I'd find it impossible to forgive them. The lies are so disrespectful. Komen has been too branded, too pink for my taste, but I walked the walk and wore the t-shirts, raised money for them. Yesterday I got out all of my Komen t-shirts, drew an international 'no' symbol over the logos, packed them up and sent them to the Dallas headquarters of SGK. It cost me $8.05 in postage. I came home and donated a precious $10 to Planned Parenthood. Join me in sending back your pink stuff. The address is here:http://adiscordantpieceofcheese.blogspot.com/ below the photos of my shirts.

LovesChristmas-Barb58 I respect your opinion please respect others. Also read the link I posted regarding the risk related to the pill. Also remember that not everyone believes in god or your god.

No one should have a baby just to lower their risk of breast cancer… and that reduced risk is only if you have your baby before you're 30.

The anger on this thread is unbelievable to me. I realize there are strong feelings, but maybe the name calling and disrespect could cease. We should all be able to express our thoughts, beliefs, etc without character being called in to question, or being attacked & belittled for what we believe. Just my 2 cents.

Angel, thanks for posting that video. It's so very powerful.

robo- your comment about the known carcinogens in products reminds me of when I went to the Look Good, Feel Better class during my chemo days. These are through my local Cancer Support Home, and the American Cancer Society. I was ecstatic about receiving all this nice, free, makeup. Then I get home and found only one product that didn't have parabens or phythylates in it. This, I felt, was totally just marketing the "name brand", so people would think that company supports breast cancer. I threw the majority of it in the trash, and gave the rest away. I felt very discouraged that this was occurring, and really made me rethink about ACS.

lago- first link didn't work.

SGK protects their color pink not the color pink in general. Many many companies do this. Even Disney protects the dot pattern on Minnie Mouses dress. I don't have an issue with that. They do have the right to their identity/brand. Protecting something like "for the cure" seems to general. Not sure how they got the right to protect that.

     Except for the few who resigned rather than be complicit and part of the problem, if the present cast of characters at Komen all walked on water right now I wouldn't have anything good to say about them. 

     Irreparable damage was done in the first place.  No second chances for a decision which was taken and put the lives of thousands of women in jeopardy. 

     If the people running the place were that crass and politicaly motivated, they don't get a pass from me for poor judgment.  Poor judgment earlier in the week doesn't get "cured" by the same people who didn't exercise good judgment in the first place. 

      Where I come from, we don't give people who exercise poor judgment a fat pay check and a raise and more opportunities to prove their incompetence.  We give them notice and open the door.

I think we might be jumping the gun here in celebrating ... I was not impressed with their statement and this looks like smoke and mirrors.

"The official statement issued was that they will "honor existing grants" (which only means they won't demand the already granted money back) and that PP is free to apply again in the future - to which Handel already stated publicly yesterday that even if they apply again, they are unlikely to give them anymore grants due to much of PP's mammography services being referrals to off-site radiology labs and that they are, quote: "moving away from 'pass-through' services."

Here's their actual statement ... sounds like nothing more than will you please shut up and keep giving us your money if we pretend we will let PP apply for grants in the future to me.

Official statement from Brinker, founder and CEO (and sister of the late Susan):

"Komen for the Cure just released the following statement from Nancy Brinker and the Susan G. Komen Board of Directors:

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.

It is our hope and we believe it is time for everyone involved to pause, slow down and reflect on how grants can most effectively and directly be administered without controversies that hurt the cause of women. We urge everyone who has participated in this conversation across the country over the last few days to help us move past this issue. We do not want our mission marred or affected by politics - anyone's politics.

Starting this afternoon, we will have calls with our network and key supporters to refocus our attention on our mission and get back to doing our work. We ask for the public's understanding and patience as we gather our Komen affiliates from around the country to determine how to move forward in the best interests of the women and people we serve.

We extend our deepest thanks for the outpouring of support we have received from so many in the past few days and we sincerely hope that these changes will be welcomed by those who have expressed their concern."

******"Note ... We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political.******

They're *amending* the wording of this new rule. Not reversing their decision.

 

Komen may have reversed their decision, but make no mistake, their political agenda remains the same.  I will continue to donate to PP for the excellent work they do, and I will find another research organization without a political agenda. 

LovesChrist, I don't want to run away from our discussion, but I'm feeling it is deeply inappropriate here.  You clearly live in a very different world than I do, and have very different ideas and opinions. I try to be tolerant of that, and in that spirit forgive you for your inflammatory rhetoric.   

Here is my interpretation of their statement ... If you all will please just shut up and continue to give us your money we will amend our criteria for grants and let PP apply in the future.  Now be good little girls and corporate buddies and quit bitching and start writing us checks instead   

But Handel has already made it pretty clear that they will be wasting their time if they apply ... so nothing is changed as far as I can see. 

Huffington Post writes that Komen will fulfill current obligations to PP, and will make them "eligible" to "apply" for future grants.  Slippery language at best?

sba...talking about chastity is "inflammatory rhetoric"? Wow.

After 11 pages, has anyone changed anyone else's mind?  I don't think so. 

Despite political leanings, this issue is about money.  All anyone needs to do is put their money where their sentiments lie.  The other huff & puff is extraneous. 

I once found a place where everyone thought I was a deep thinker and turned to me for opinions on weighty issues, but then naptime was over and I had to wake up.  I also dreamed I was eating a giant marshmallow, and when I woke up, my pillow was gone.