Fighting for the Right to Cure

Why is it that once a charity becomes big they lose sight of what is really important and focus on dragging down other charities that are working towards the same goals?

I know right now the big broohaha for the Susan G. Komen foundation is that they took funding away from Planned Parenthood which means that thousands of lower income women are not going to be able to get scanned for breast cancer. This happened because, according to SGK, Planned Parenthood is under federal investigation. An investigation that many people consider to be a waist of time. Not to mention the fact that SGK is still giving funding to Penn State even though they are also currently under federal investigation.

No, SGK really took away the funding because their current president is playing the political field. The funding has been taken away because of the political favorite pop question of abortion and a woman's right to choose. It is no secret that Nancy Brinker falls in line with the extreme political religious right that is trying to squash women's right to their bodies.

Just today, though, SGK reversed their decision. Of course, what they really said was that Planned Parenthood would not have to give back the funding they already have, while they are free to apply for a new grant from SGK it is unlikely that they will get one.They weren't even really apologizing, they were backpeddling. They didn't want to lose public face.


Of course, the good thing about this is that Planned Parenthood has seen several large donations come from people and groups that have never donated to them before. On the flip side, so has SGK.

SGK is getting more money from the political side that is against abortion because apparently these people have forgotten that breast cancer and abortion have no correlation and the grants being given to Planned Parenthood were earmarked for mammograms and breast care health. Apparently these people are pro-life except for when it comes to low income women that have cancer.

Something that has not really been addressed, though, is that SGK has been a charity bully for years and this is where this post connects with vasculitis and Wegener's. They have this habit of looking for any other charity that uses the words "the cure" in their slogans and spending donated money on millions of dollars worth of legal fees to get these groups to change their slogans. This is what happened to the VF last year. Our slogan used to be "Sticking Together for a Cure" but now we don't have one.

Some of these charities are very small and the ensuing legal  battles put them under. SGK also goes after any charity that uses the color pink. It's completely fine that they stole the idea for ribbons from the AIDS Foundation, though.

Susan G. Komen has forgotten what it is to be a charity. This is why they are so focused on putting out pink product, many of which that contain carcinogens that help cause cancer. They are more interested in making money for themselves and getting name recognition than actually helping people that are in serious need of it. I am almost glad that the real Susan G. Komen is no longer with us so she can't see what has become of the charity set up in her name.

These other groups are trying to help people. They are trying to raise research money, sometimes for breast cancer, sometimes for other cancers, sometimes for disease that are little known and have higher morbidity rates than all cancers. To paraphrase Colbert, these people can be saved, fixed, or healed, but don't cure them.

I guess it doesn't matter, though. So long as SGK can still make their money and support their political agenda.