Showing posts with label Planned Parenthood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Planned Parenthood. Show all posts
Friday, February 17, 2012
My two cents 2/17/2012
This isn't going to be a long entry, but a panel on contraception with no female members is complete bullshit.
Friday, February 3, 2012
A good decision
Thank you to Susan G. Komen for the Cure for swallowing its pride and making the right decision.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Angry
Atheists have a bad reputation for being angry. Just the other day I was talking to a friend and the subject of religious fundamentalism came up. About ten seconds in, my friend brings up that he can't stand atheists, they are so angry and always trying to force their views on other people. I listened patiently for a while before revealing that I was an atheist. That was fun to watch.
Truthfully, I have not met any "angry" atheists. I am sure there are some people out there who are angry most of the time and also happen to be atheists, but the great majority of atheists I have met have been fun and genuinely caring people.
All that aside, today I am an atheist who is angry (correlation only). The source of my anger is Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The pink ribbon people.
Before I go further, I would like to say that I have nothing but respect for the foundations efforts in the battle against breast cancer. What I can't respect is there decision to cut their funding for breast exams to Planned Parenthood, an organization that always seems to be at the forefront of women's health issues.
I also don't buy their reasoning. According to a statement on Komen's website in response to the furious reaction of so many to this decision:
So why is it that Planned Parenthood no longer meets Komen's eligibility standards? Apparently, Komen's board decided last year that they wouldn't support any organization that was under official investigation. As it would happen, Planned Parenthood is under investigation by Representative Cliff Stearns of Florida. He is an anti-choice Republican, and as you know, Republicans hate Planned Parenthood (my irony meter flipped out when I read that he is also trying to increase privacy protection for Americans). According to this article, the president of Komen, Elizabeth Thompson, didn't know of any organizations other than Planned Parenthood that would be affected. So it seems that to act surprised and say that they are just following their standards that they hold everyone to is a load of crap. It seems far more likely that this restriction was put in place specifically to distance themselves from Planned Parenthood.
The faux-surprise expressed in that statement is also irritating in that if it were genuine it would mean that Komen, a $400 million charity, lacked any sort of PR savvy. How could they not expect a backlash to cutting funding for breast cancer screenings from someplace like Planned Parenthood that is constantly under attack from forces that are virulently (and inexplicably) against proper women's healthcare. How are people to believe that this was not Komen caving to bullying from these anti-choice groups.
Anyhow, that is my little rant for today. Planned Parenthood is accepting donations directly for breast cancer screening. There are also some nice petitions to sign.
Truthfully, I have not met any "angry" atheists. I am sure there are some people out there who are angry most of the time and also happen to be atheists, but the great majority of atheists I have met have been fun and genuinely caring people.
All that aside, today I am an atheist who is angry (correlation only). The source of my anger is Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The pink ribbon people.
Before I go further, I would like to say that I have nothing but respect for the foundations efforts in the battle against breast cancer. What I can't respect is there decision to cut their funding for breast exams to Planned Parenthood, an organization that always seems to be at the forefront of women's health issues.
I also don't buy their reasoning. According to a statement on Komen's website in response to the furious reaction of so many to this decision:
To support this new granting strategy, Komen has also implemented more stringent eligibility standards to safeguard donor dollars. Consequently, some organizations are no longer eligible to receive Komen grants.
...
We regret that these new policies have impacted some longstanding grantees, such as Planned Parenthood, but want to be absolutely clear that our grant-making decisions are not about politics.
So why is it that Planned Parenthood no longer meets Komen's eligibility standards? Apparently, Komen's board decided last year that they wouldn't support any organization that was under official investigation. As it would happen, Planned Parenthood is under investigation by Representative Cliff Stearns of Florida. He is an anti-choice Republican, and as you know, Republicans hate Planned Parenthood (my irony meter flipped out when I read that he is also trying to increase privacy protection for Americans). According to this article, the president of Komen, Elizabeth Thompson, didn't know of any organizations other than Planned Parenthood that would be affected. So it seems that to act surprised and say that they are just following their standards that they hold everyone to is a load of crap. It seems far more likely that this restriction was put in place specifically to distance themselves from Planned Parenthood.
The faux-surprise expressed in that statement is also irritating in that if it were genuine it would mean that Komen, a $400 million charity, lacked any sort of PR savvy. How could they not expect a backlash to cutting funding for breast cancer screenings from someplace like Planned Parenthood that is constantly under attack from forces that are virulently (and inexplicably) against proper women's healthcare. How are people to believe that this was not Komen caving to bullying from these anti-choice groups.
Anyhow, that is my little rant for today. Planned Parenthood is accepting donations directly for breast cancer screening. There are also some nice petitions to sign.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Kick-off
Hello and welcome to Atheist Apartment. This is my first attempt in several years at blogging so please bear with me as I get warmed up. As opposed to my previous blogs, which were more like awkward online diaries about things I thought were funny, this blog is about something that I feel strongly about. That is to say reality. I have recently (about a year ago) given up any belief in anything supernatural, and since then I have been gobbling up books, articles, online university lectures, debates, and probably some other media outlets I am forgetting about on the subjects of a) secular ideas and b) science. Now then, I would like to take this moment to be perfectly clear that I am not a scientist. So in the future (if anyone reads this) if you see something wrong with something that I have said, please alert me via the comment thread. I want to be as accurate and honest with myself and with you as I possibly can. That said, I majored in history when I was in college and as a historian (ha!) I do have a skeptical vein running through me. Therefore, if you correct a mistake of mine, please, please do not say something like "I read somewhere that...". This will not do. Now that I have finished sounding like a professor (which I am not) on the first day of a lecture (which it is not), lets get down to the meat.
I was going to kick things off by boring you with some details about myself and a heartfelt journey through my becoming an atheist and maybe even conclude with a short anecdote about how I chose the title "Atheist Apartment". However, something else has caught my eye and I have decided to spare you the personal details and journey, except to say that, I am from Indiana and I am indeed an atheist. Both of these details have bearing on what I would like to talk about: Politics. Ah! What a dirty word it is. It is often mentioned with religion when discussing things about which one should not talk on a date. And, seemingly, it is almost always peppered with religion when it is in the United States. A few weeks ago I read an article on NPR's webpage about Indiana passing a bill to cut funding to Planned Parenthood. I was horrified at the time and am even more horrified now that the thing (and I do mean thing) has been passed and signed into law. Being a big fan of science, I am also a big fan of things like reason. Now, here we have a group of legislators who, for religious reasons, are cutting funding to an institution which primarily provides reproductive health care to low income women who have no other options. Real tough guys. But let's not beat around the bush, there is no question about what this is about: abortion. Nevermind the fact that the vast majority of what planned parenthood does is NOT abortion. Now, let's look at what really casts this bill in the crazy bin: the fact that the money that is getting cut cannot be used for abortions anyway. So basically, in the midst of high unemployment many poor folks are going to be left with no where to get things like birth control, cancer screenings, and STD tests. Congrats, assholes.
Anyhow I saw this cartoon over at NPR as well. There are actually two cartoons on the page, I like the one on top, not so much the one on the bottom. I don't mean to trivialize the seriousness of this issue, but doesn't it seem like the baby looks sad to be in heaven.
I was going to kick things off by boring you with some details about myself and a heartfelt journey through my becoming an atheist and maybe even conclude with a short anecdote about how I chose the title "Atheist Apartment". However, something else has caught my eye and I have decided to spare you the personal details and journey, except to say that, I am from Indiana and I am indeed an atheist. Both of these details have bearing on what I would like to talk about: Politics. Ah! What a dirty word it is. It is often mentioned with religion when discussing things about which one should not talk on a date. And, seemingly, it is almost always peppered with religion when it is in the United States. A few weeks ago I read an article on NPR's webpage about Indiana passing a bill to cut funding to Planned Parenthood. I was horrified at the time and am even more horrified now that the thing (and I do mean thing) has been passed and signed into law. Being a big fan of science, I am also a big fan of things like reason. Now, here we have a group of legislators who, for religious reasons, are cutting funding to an institution which primarily provides reproductive health care to low income women who have no other options. Real tough guys. But let's not beat around the bush, there is no question about what this is about: abortion. Nevermind the fact that the vast majority of what planned parenthood does is NOT abortion. Now, let's look at what really casts this bill in the crazy bin: the fact that the money that is getting cut cannot be used for abortions anyway. So basically, in the midst of high unemployment many poor folks are going to be left with no where to get things like birth control, cancer screenings, and STD tests. Congrats, assholes.
Anyhow I saw this cartoon over at NPR as well. There are actually two cartoons on the page, I like the one on top, not so much the one on the bottom. I don't mean to trivialize the seriousness of this issue, but doesn't it seem like the baby looks sad to be in heaven.
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