Komen Foundation Is Run By Republican Right Wingers

Wed Feb 01, 2012                Original Post by TOMP

Some folks have commented about this, but I thought it needed to be seen by more folks.  The Komen Race for the Cure is a right wing outfit run by Republicans:

But the truth is that Komen founder Nancy Brinker has strong Republican ties and Cecile Richards, who leads Planned Parenthood, is daughter of late Texas Gov. Ann Richards and has longtime Democratic Party ties. Also worth noting: This is an election year.

Brinker, a longtime GOP donor who was ambassador to Hungary under then-President George W. Bush, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama in 2009. She has cast Komen as above politics, saying its focus is women’s health.

But the decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood comes shortly after Komen unveiled a new partnership that strengthens its ties to the George W. Bush Institute. The institute is the policy-making arm of Bush’s presidential library, which is scheduled to open in Dallas next year.

WaPo, Komen’s Planned Parenthood decision all about politics

And Brinker has salted the organization with anti-choice zealots:

Komen’s new Senior Vice President of Public Policy, Karen Handel, not only has a long anti-choice history, but pledged to eliminate grants for Planned Parenthood to provide breast and cervical cancer screenings when she ran for governor of Georgia in 2010.

http://thinkprogress.org/...

Republican anti-choice fanatics are dominating this "charity" to use for political purposes in an anti-woman way.  The irony is amazing.  It's supposedly all about women's health, except Komen is anti-choice and fighting against women's reproductive health. 

People should not run in the "Race for the Cure" or give money.

Komen chose to declare war on women.  Let them reap the consequences of that war.  Women and male allies must fight back. 

Update I: Good news from the comments regarding Planned Parenthood:

Texas oil executive...(7+ / 0-)

Lee Fikes and his wife have just given $250,000 to Planned Parenthood to help make up for some of the loss of funds.

Amy and Lee Fikes Announce $250,000 Gift to Create Planned Parenthood Breast Health Fund:

"Our family is saddened that the far right has relentlessly and successfully pressured the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation to cut funding for breast screening, referral, and education support to low-income women who, until now, have been able to depend on the partnership between Komen and Planned Parenthood for their health.

"Women of all economic levels need breast health screenings, referrals and education, which is what Planned Parenthood provides in communities across the country, especially to low-income women who have no other place to turn. Planned Parenthood's quality, accessibility, and affordability makes it a leader in enabling women to have early screening and support when there is the best chance of successful treatment.

"As a family with a breast cancer survivor, we lament the decision of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation to abandon women who get their health care at Planned Parenthood clinics. In response to this disappointing news, our family foundation has granted $250,000 to establish a Breast Health Fund at Planned Parenthood, so that their health centers across the country can continue to put the real needs of women ahead of right wing ideology. We encourage others to join us in replacing the funds lost, so that no woman’s health is imperiled by Komen’s unfortunate decision."

Balloon Juice also points out the fallout on Capitol Hill, with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) both withdrawing their support of the Komen Foundation.

And this:

Planned Parenthood (1+ / 0-)

Planned Parenthood raises $400,000 in 24 hours

02/01/12 - Supporters of Planned Parenthood have flooded the organization with enough donations to recoup almost all of the money that would have come from the Susan G. Komen foundation.

Planned Parenthood said it has raised $400,000 in online donations in the 24 hours since news broke that Komen would no longer fund cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood clinics. More than 6,000 people have donated, Planned Parenthood said.

The group announced yesterday a $250,000 donation to continue providing cancer screenings to low-income women.

Update II: If you want to donate to Planned Parenthood, go here:Planned Parenthood

There is a donate buton on the right side of the page.  Hit that and it will take you to the donate page. 

Also republished by Kos Georgia.

Technorati Tags: Komen Foundation,Nancey Brinker,Karen Handel,Planned Parenthood,Republican Party,Susan G. Komen Foundation,Current Events,An American Gothic,Politics,Womens Rights

Aetna Health Insurance Profits Up 73%! Why? Poor Americans Can't Afford To Visit Doctors

    * I happen to fall into this group of Americans who are saddled with mountains of medical debt due to these outrageous co-pays, so I’m posting the following from James321.

Wed Feb 01, 2012

If Eve's heartbreaking diary hasn't gotten you upset enough tonight, this sickening piece of news about the mega-profit Aetna health insurance company may just push you into having a heart attack (which Aetna will promptly deny coverage for):

Health insurer Aetna Inc.’s fourth-quarter net income jumped 73 percent, as it continued to benefit from low use of health care and some key expenses fell.

The Hartford, Conn., insurer’s earnings and revenue topped Wall Street expectations due in part to slower-than-expected growth in health care use, a trend that has helped insurers routinely outperform the past several quarters. Many analysts expect this trend to continue into 2012.

Yes, you read that right, the poor, one of the poor, little bloodsucking insurance companies that is unable to afford printing basic information about what your policy will cover without passing the costs onto customers just had its profits rise by 73-freaking-percent.

This is sickening and I am so ashamed for the United States of America.

What pushes me to tears -- thinking about all the people like the young woman in Eve's diary -- is that this company, and its vulture shareholders, are making all that money because everyday Americans can no longer afford to pay the co-pays and deductibles necessary to visit their doctors.

Yes, in America, "health care" companies do best when they don't have to "do" any health care at all.

That is a sick, twisted and perverse system -- and we should be appalled that we are the only developed country on the face of the Earth that allows bloodsucking, pseudo-bankers (that's what insurers our -- they invest your premium dollars) to make a profit off of the financing of basic health care.

Of course, this 73% is not enough for Aetna, they still want more:

Zubretsky in the interview stressed how much Aetna has grown in the market since the middle of the last decade, plus the opportunity Aetna has to covert its own commercial customers to Medicare Advantage. "We've been focusing on organic opportunities," he said.

Only in America do we deny the right to health care to all our people, but then allow our government to pay immoral, unethical companies like Aetna to provide health care for small segments of our population -- the Medicare Advantage plans.

So, to summarize, the good news?

Aetna's CEO Mark Bertolini will be able to buy some more fine Italian wines for the mountainside hot tub outside his Connecticut mansion (no, I'm not making that up):

Mark Bertolini and his wife, Susan, just back from Italy in 2001, were sipping Vernaccia di San Gimignano wine in the hot tub of their spacious Avon Mountain home and reveling in their good fortune.

And, the bad news?

People will die -- the very policyholders bankrolling that (truly) sick man's lavish 1%-er lifestyle -- because they can't afford to pay their $5,000 deductible. Or they wonder if the chest pain is just from dinner, or if it's a pay-the-$200-Emergency Room-co-pay type of chest pain.

Shame on this country, and shame on Aetna for denying its policyholders health care, and for -- through its incessant lobbying and visits to the White House -- denying Americans the right to Medicare for all.

Let's occupy health care, and demand that Aetna be given its final denial -- removal from America's health care system.

Screw you, Aetna.

Technorati Tags: Aetna,Health Care,1%,Barack Obama,Occupy Wall Street,Health Insurance,Medicare,Current Events,An American Gothic