On the trademark-assertiveness front, as readers of this site know, they’ve been no strangers to controversy. Perhaps as a gesture of goodwill toward critics they’d consider calling off the lawsuit threats against other legitimate charities that attempt to use the color pink?
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In case anyone forgot that a Texas Republican was the worst President in US history, at least in part due to his pandering to the Religious Right, another one (the CEO of Komen) steps up to the plate. One more has been talibanized, though I gather from their previous hustles (eg trademarking) that they are no great loss.
Not even close, Hugo….Carter was bad, but the current President has been FAR worse, and in a shorter time.
Dude, I am in awe of your mental abilities. You were able to take an article about a major charity attempting to copyright a turn of phrase and twist it like warm taffy into “it’s Bush’s fault”.
This has nothing to do with George Bush. It has everything to do with, obviously, Adali Stevenson.
^^It’s a skill that is apparently teachable and transferable. Perhaps law schools should undertake a study to see how such memes take hold and are spread through vulnerable populations. This would help them focus on getting the right kind of student, that is, the ones that will just sit there, take it, and keep the checks coming.
@melvin
I will agree that, in handling the economy, Obama has been a failure, but he is just continuing the abysmal record of his predecessor. And he does not have the avoidable Iraq fiasco on his copybook.
@Bill H
WO’s article was about Komen generally. Did you follow WO’s link from “critics”?
If so, you will learn the “controversy” was started by a religious-right Republican hack from Georgia that Komen hired last fall. The CEO of Komen is a George W. Bush Republican, though until this year she respected the efforts of Komen supporters who did not share GWB’s politics.
As WO hinted, said “controversy” offers the best chance yet to roll back Komen’s exploitation of others’ efforts to promote the pink “trademark.” Right now, they have made it “treif” to many, possibly most of their former supporters. Instead of breast exams at a qualified provider, we have pink chadors, pink elephants, and pink coat-hangers. If the pink brand is to be restored, it must be made free to all bona-fide breast cancer causes, not just Bible-belt Republicans.
So Komen’s OK with plausible allegations that a group they give money to uses federal money to give to political campaigns?
That’s cool… That’s cool…
Everyone that donated money to SGK since Wednesday should call them back and demand a refund.
Sorry, Hugo. I still don’t see why you are trying so desperately to lay this at W’s feet. If you don’t care for the conservative position on birth control, all well and dandy. We can have that discussion another day. But, seriously, there is enough real blame for which Bush Jr. is accountable for. Somebody else’s political viewpoint is not one of those things. Put it this way- my contempt for Obama comes second to no one. But I can’t blame him for your views, nor could I credibly attempt to.
@Bill H–
I was using GWB as an eponym for the religious-right zombies who drove the country into a ditch in 2001-2009 (not that Obama has shown any aptitude for pulling us out). Komen is headquartered in Texas, its CEO was an activist in the GWB administration, and if you don’t think social-conservative opposition to birth control has anything to do with Komen’s troubles over the last week, you have not been paying attention.
Ah- got it. You had no other way of stating your argument except as “blame Bush”. That’s some pretty weak sauce, Hugo. Look, if you don’t agree with what Komen did relating to PP- I say they had a right to defund PP, but not a duty to do that- we can talk about that all day long. But seriously, Hugo, your last statement looks like a conspiracy theory. We both know that your stated circumstances are strictly coincidence. We also both know full well that Komen hired that CEO (her name escapes me for the moment) knowing what her political associations were. Your inclusion of Pres. Bush here just looks deranged.
Actually, the entire point is moot now. Komen has caved in and that CEO has since resigned. I guess the reported death threats, the spectre of an angry letter signed by 22 Democrat senators- who have nothing to do with a private charity- and the howling by groups like NOW had the desired effect.
@Bill H–
This thread is starting to go in circles, but I couldn’t help noticing:
>that CEO has since resigned. I guess the reported death threats…
[end of quote]
Which CEO? I did searches in Google and Wikipedia, and found no references to resignation by either founder and CEO Nancy Brinker (whom no one expects to resign) or the new senior vice president for public policy, anti-PP activist Karen Handel (whose resignation is widely expected). Could you provide a URL?
As for any “reported death threats,” they would be far less of a factor than the collapse of Komen’s feel-good brand. The “pro-life” side have a larger assassination toll to their “credit.”
I was mistaken about the CEO. It was their “top public health official”
Molly Williams. I thought I saw something about Brinker resigning, but no. The story as reported bt the Atlantic:
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/02/top-susan-g-komen-official-resigned-over-planned-parenthood-cave-in/252405/
It’s also quite possible that it was Handel I was thinking of/seeing reports on.
However, the death threats are quite real. They’ve been reported here on KOGO AM over the last few days for the San Diego branch of Komen. It’s fair to say that this didn’t just happpen here.
Question: If your attitude on abortion is this (I am NOT making a judgement):
just how does this square with your apparent attitude towards Komen and the political views of people like Karen Handel?
No matter. I don’t have a dog in this hunt. My original point was that Pres. Bush has as much to do with the political direction of a private charity as the man on the moon. I’ll change my stance when he begins active hiring of upper management for Komen.
@Bill H–
1. Just to be clear, Molly Williams resigned not because of pro-PP threats, but rather to protest the exclusion of PP.
2. You apparently misunderstood this statement of mine:
>>The “pro-life” side have a larger assassination toll to their “credit.”
and other related remarks.
I was not advocating “retaliation” against PP opponents; rather I was expressing skepticism that Komen’s PP opponents had real reason to fear for their personal safety, compared to the pressure PP foes were putting on Komen earlier. I would want anyone assaulting Karen Handel punished to the full extent of the law.