Virginia wants women to remain, well, virgins

[Neil]

I have my doubts that they won't recover.  The breast cancer awareness industry is too powerful, and they own the pink ribbon.  It's just so easy for companies to market to women by flashing that ribbon.  Even the NFL does it.

[Siege]

I came across this band recently.
They sound way better than they look.
Its some kind of weird retro.



Black Veil Brides - "Perfect Weapon" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXut97F2Qew

[Ideologue]

Challenge accepted.

[CountDeMoney]

Ding Dong, the bitch is dead, the wicked bitch.

Karen Handel, a former Republican candidate for governor in Georgia who joined the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation last year, resigned Tuesday morning as senior vice president for policy just days after the foundation reversed its decision to cut funds for breast cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood affiliates amid an uproar.

Ms. Handel, who called for eliminating government money to Planned Parenthood during her 2010 campaign, was among the organization's senior leaders who helped persuade Komen's board to change its policy late last year, resulting in a halt of grants to 19 of Planned Parenthood 83 affiliates, which received nearly $700,000 from the Komen foundation last year.

In a radio interview with the conservative talk show host Scott Hennen, Mitt Romney waded into the debate, saying that he did not think Komen executives should have changed their mind over cutting off funds to Planned Parenthood. Ms. Handel noted in her letter of resignation to Nancy G. Brinker, Komen's chief executive and founder, that she was unhappy that she had been portrayed as singlehandedly driving the decision within Komen to eliminate its relationship with Planned Parenthood because of her ideology.

Ms. Handel said the decision had been "fully vetted by every appropriate level within the organization," and that the discussion about Komen's changing its relationship with Planned Parenthood because of pressure from antiabortion advocates predated her arrival at the organization last April.

"I am deeply disappointed by the gross mischaracterizations of the strategy, its rationale and my involvement in it," Ms. Handel said. "I openly acknowledge my role in the matter and continue to believe our decision was the best one for Komen's future and the women we serve. However, the decision to update our granting model was made before I joined Komen, and the controversy related to Planned Parenthood has long been a concern to the organization. Neither the decision nor the changes themselves were based on anyone's political beliefs or ideology."

Former Komen employees said the organization and its affiliates have been grappling with complaints in recent years from abortion opponents who have threatened to disrupt Komen events and to boycott sponsors because of the financial support given to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screenings.

In addition, last summer, Catholic bishops in Ohio called upon their parishioners to boycott running races sponsored by Komen because, in addition to the Planned Parenthood grants, the organization gave money for breast cancer research to medical centers that were also doing stem cell research.

The steady drumbeat of criticism from abortion opponents was troubling to senior leaders, including Ms. Brinker, former employees of Komen said.

But Komen's board members and senior leaders did not anticipate the public outcry over their decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood. The move shocked many longtime supporters, who expressed unhappiness that Komen was bowing to political pressure and that the result might lead to services being cut to low-income women.

At the same time, antiabortion advocates praised Komen's move and created their own social media campaign on Facebook, Stand with Komen. But after Komen changed its mind, some antiabortion leaders called on supporters to no longer support Komen.

In a statement Tuesday accepting Ms. Handel's resignation, Ms. Brinker used language that suggested that Komen was trying to restore confidence among supporters that it is a nonpartisan organization focused on its mission "to find a cure and eradicate breast cancer."

"We have made mistakes in how we have handled recent decisions and take full accountability for what has resulted, but we cannot take our eye off the ball when it comes to our mission," Ms. Brinker's statement said. "To do this effectively, we must learn from what we've done right, what we've done wrong and achieve our goal for the millions of women who rely on us. "

Although Komen reversed its decision on Friday, criticism of the organization continued over the weekend and included a Twitter campaign started on Super Bowl Sunday called #takebackthepink aimed at pointing people to other ways to support breast cancer research.

Komen's decision even prompted Ford, a longtime sponsor, to purchase advertising on Twitter, called a promoted tweet, that said it did not believe politics should be involved in breast cancer research. And members of MoveOn.Org, and two other organizations, delivered petitions, signed by nearly 850,000 people, on Tuesday afternoon at Komen's headquarters in Dallas calling on the organization to continue to fund Planned Parenthood.