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Boys will be Boys -- W. Virginia edition

This is a story that at one time might have elicited the comment, "Only in Texas..."

Except that it didn't happen at A&M as one might have expected... it happened at Marshall University, Chief Justice John Marshall's namesake college in Huntington, West Virginia.

These are perhaps our next generation of physicians, cancer researchers and educators. Marshall is alma mater to Soupy Sales and Billy Crystal, so maybe these fellows are striving for a career in show business instead. They seem to have the act down.

"Louis Helmburg III sued The Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity Inc., of Huntington, West Virginia, and Travis Hughes, a fraternity member, in Cabell County Court.

Helmburg claims - in a statement it would be difficult to deny - that 'firing bottle rockets out of one's own anus constitutes an 'ultra-hazardous' activity,' which exposes both defendants to strict liability."

You just know that when the plaintiff and defense attornies get together for a drink over at "the Whale" after business hours, that they laugh hilariously over cases just such as this one.

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I have NEVER heard it said better

From Slactivist...

"Attacking, demonizing and defunding Planned Parenthood, therefore, costs lives. The lives of women and children. Mostly, but not only, poor women and children.

So if you tell me you dislike or disapprove of or oppose Planned Parenthood because you are “pro-life” I will be forced to conclude that you are using words you do not understand. Perhaps you do not understand what the words “Planned Parenthood” refer to — maybe you’ve been horribly misled about the work that vital organization performs for people who have no other place to turn. Or perhaps you do not understand what the word “pro-life” suggests. Or maybe both.

But while you clearly do not understand the words you are saying, if you say that you dislike or disapprove of or oppose Planned Parenthood because you are “pro-life,” you are communicating one thing very clearly. You are telling all who can hear you that what is most important to you, what you regard as most morally consequential, is your self-image. You are telling us that you value your own esteem of yourself on your own terms far more than you value the lives of poor women and children.

That is what I hear you saying. That is what poor women and children hear you saying. And that is what everyone who knows or cares about any woman or child who is poor will hear you saying. Because that is what you are saying and, really, that is all you are saying.

So please stop saying that."

Please do, read the rest. If your eyes have not been blinded by the hot poker of the insane... obscene religious right wingnuts... you cannot help but understand.

Read the embedded link too... especially this one.

This is important... do it.

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A true dichotomy – Politicized, Predatory Charity

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure^® Foundation has been developing somewhat of a reputation as a bully… threatening and filing lawsuits against anyone using their "trademarked" pink color (without a license from Komen) in product packaging, and even other groups using the term “cure” as part of their name or in the advertising of an event even when they were trying to fundraise for breast cancer.

“The true absurdity of our current laws is shown by the abusive litigation of Susan G. Komen For the Cure”

“[R]aising money for charity is not ‘use in commerce’ and thus not deserving of a trademark”

"People are donating money to this organization [Komen] to fight cancer -- not to fight another organization fighting breast cancer."

"It is startling to us that Komen thinks they own pink,"

“What bothered her most about the whole ordeal, she said, was that Komen forced her to spend money and time on legal fees and proceedings instead of raising funds for cancer”

Considering that the organization is supposed to be about saving lives and promoting prevention, the fact that Komen's tactics are a bit rough has not gone unnoticed. Late last year a Canadian film production company produced a documentary, entitled "Pink Ribbons, Inc." that is said to "resoundingly pop the shiny pink balloon of the breast cancer movement/industry." Much of it deals with Komen's aggressive protection of that questionable trademark. 

But when this film was in production things over there at SGKF were only begining the downhill slide. In April Komen added former Georgia Secretary of State and failed gubernatorial candidate Karen Handel to the leadership team as Senior Vice President for Public Policy. In her campaign for the governor’s office Handel pledged to “eliminate” Planned Parenthood funding, ignoring the fact that Georgia’s grant funding was specifically for breast and cervical cancer screening and not for abortion services.

"[S]ince I am pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood ... In fact, state and federal law prohibits the use of taxpayer funds for abortions or abortion related services and I strongly support those laws. Since grants like these are from the state I’ll eliminate them as your next Governor."

With a senior position at Komen, Handel seems to have accomplished what she failed to do as an activist politician. Although she has taken no public credit, neither she has made any effort to disuade the thought and scores of her supporters are leaving congratulatory notes on her Facebook wall. UPDATE: Hanedl's Facebook has been pulled down. Hopefully someone got screenshots first.

“We are alarmed and saddened that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation appears to have succumbed to political pressure”

In the process she has added to the tarnish on the formerly good name of a leading foundation supposedly devoted to women’s health, and demonstrated that the politics of religion trumps the lives of low income Americans. This added to the unwise trademark lawsuits has soiled a previously stellar reputation.

“They may risk alienating the public they're trying to serve”

I think it’s too late for that. The public is generally pretty alienated already. Even the Susan G. Komen for the Cure^® state chapters seem aggravated. Connecticut's chapter has refused to follow the corporate lead... the chapter president, Ann Hogan, has one word for her reaction: “frustrated.”

The Wisconsin chapter seems poised to follow Connecticut and rebel against the national office. Komen is losing former supporters in Congress too. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) was a strong proponent, but pulled her support following the Planned Parenthood action.

"I have been a big booster of the Susan G. Komen organization,’ Speier said on the House floor. ‘But not anymore”

As Rep. Speier indicated in that floor speech, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure^® foundation is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It is eligible to receive contributions deductible as charitable donations for federal income tax purposes, and it is precluded from any form of political activity as well. But then so are churches and we've seen how far they push that envelope. 

Although heavily censored there are some interesting comments on the Komen message boards (you'll have to hunt for them) and all one has to do is find the story and read the comments on any online newspaper... or just read the comments on the Charity Navigator site to see the dismay and frustration felt by now former supporters.

Americans should be pretty fed up with this kind of behavior. The reaction on the web is just the beginning. The general public, as they learn of this, I think will be quite dismayed. I wonder if once Komen’s corporate sponsors begin hearing from angry customers and sales of pink colored products plummet, that the SGKF board might not be looking for some new leadership.

So its up to us. My suggestion is to do as PZ says…

“Redirect your charitable giving to organizations that don’t have a Puritanical streak, and are a bit less Republican in outlook. There is no shortage; I recommend the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Breast Cancer Charities of America, CancerCare, and the Cancer Research Institute. So far, they all seem to be dedicated to fighting cancer and helping people, and a lot less concerned about policing people’s morality to conform to that of the Religious Right.”

Or if you’re one to rub salt, do as TBogg suggests [via]…

“[Y]ou can make a donation to Planned Parenthood and request a thank you card be sent to…”

Karen Handel
Senior VP of Fail
c/o Susan G. Komen Foundation
P.O. Box 650309
Dallas, TX 75265-0309

Planned Parenthood has also launched a donations page on it's site where individuals can contribute funds to continue cancer screening for low income and poor women.

Personally I'm quiet weary of religious authoritarians trying to force feed their versions of mythology and superstition. Xian religionistas are getting bold and the moderate, reasonable majority has been mostly silent. Maybe with something as momentous as this some of that silent majority will finally hear a call to action... and maybe some of the more moderate on the other side will see the light and figure out who is the real enemy.

If so, and if the heat we're witnessing now grows... causing SGKF to suffer a bit for their foolish action... perhaps the wingnuts will think twice before trying such disgusting tactics in other arenas. 


But honestly I doubt it. They're in it for the long haul, they have their imaginary "god" on their side... and they smell the blood in the water.

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Yep, we're full of it

Read the wingnut rags or watch FOX news today and we'll find that we've been wrong all along. All this global warming stuff is just bunk. Alas! What fools we've been!

2010 may have been the hottest year this planet has experienced since such records have been kept, but then in 2011 we cooled down! 2011 was only the ninth warmest year in history. That is all the proof they needed to take us down a notch. We've been trusting all those thousands of greedy scientists when if we had just listened to Limbaugh, Beck and O'Reilly we wouldn't have had to worry our pretty little heads.

Oh, wait! The temperature spread between 2010 and 2011 is 0.22 degrees, meaning that nine out of the ten warmest years in history (all of which have occurred since 2000) are within two tenths of a percent of each other.

Still, last year was cooler so FOX, some of the other Murdochians and their buddies must be right.

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Eye opener

"...Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances..."

The United States is supposed to be a land of the free... the leader of the free world... O say does that star spangled banner yet wave...

... which makes it rather difficult to explain how America fell to 47th place in the Reporters Without Borders annual rankings of press freedom of countries around the world, a drop of 27 positions in just a single year. We're behind Estonia, Slovenia, Botswana and even El Salvador in our abuses of the free press. How do we explain such a precipitous drop? How could we justify even that 20th place showing of last year? With all our horn tooting you'd think we'd be in first place year after year. Instead that honor goes to Finland and Norway.

The free press is our firewall against the abuses of government. For many years that is exactly how it worked, but they aren't doing very much firewalling these days. I think the word for what we're seeing is Authoritarianism. What with the TSA, the very poorly named Patriot Act, constant efforts to disenfranchise legal voters (HERE, and HERE, and HERE), police abuses of the Occupy protesters (too many other links to list), invasive intrusions into a woman's womb (HERE, and HERE)...

The list goes on, but the press is notably absent. The once proud profession seems to be cowed. and perhaps for good reason. When a journalist actually finds the nerve to actually practice journalism, they often get shot down. 30 some-odd professional journalists suffered arrest in various location while  providing coverage of the Occupy movement.

Consider Noot's childish outburst at the South Carolina debate and how the right wing pundits not only defended, but applauded the behavior... so very different from that contentious Richard Nixon - Dan Rather confrontation in 1974 at the height of Watergate, and the more recent Rather - George H.W. Bush 1988 encounter. The wingnut sphere was all riled up then too, but not so much when the media started digging into Monkey Business or Cigargate.

Oh well. So much for all that old First Amendment clap trap. Who needed it anyway. Right?

Nixon is long dead, but that old nixonian stink is in the air now far worse than ever before. A familiar old 1960's feeling tells me... there's something happening here...

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H/T