Woody the groundhog has been long known in the area for her great track record of accurately predicting the time of spring's arrival. Woody will be 13 years old this year. / Photo by GILLIS BENEDICT/DAILY PRESS & ARGUS By Denyse Smith Groundhog day is
The real reason Groundhog Day is celebrated on February 2nd is that it is close to the midpoint of winter, halfway between the solstice and the equinox. Whether the groundhog sees his shadow or not, we still officially have
The death of Leslie Carter remains unknown, pending a medical examiner’s findings, as brothers Nick and Aaron Carter mourn this surprising and tragic loss.
The Erie County (N.Y.) Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating, but, so far there has been no word on the cause of her passing. Leslie Carter was just 25.
Sadly, the family itself is for now as in the dark as their well-wishers, with a source close to the Carters calling the death as “mysterious” as it was abrupt.
Leslie Carter (right, 1986-2012) with her family.
Aaron Carter, currently starring in the off-Broadway production of the Fantasticks, will be temporarily leaving his performing duties to his understudy.
“Aaron is taking a few days off from the show” due to these tragic circumstances, John Capo, the spokesperson for the production, said Wednesday.
“His Fantasticks family loves him and offers him support and prayers during this difficult time,” Capo said. “Aaron’s understudy and friend, Matt Leisy, will be covering Aaron’s role until his return. we thank everyone for the outpouring of concern.”
As for Nick Carter?
The boy band heart throb has time before he has to resume his professional duties – he isn’t scheduled to hit the road with the Backstreet Boys until spring.
When he does, he’ll do so with a new, admirable purpose.
“Nick Carter is thankful to the many people and the fans who have shared their wishes and prayers during this tragic time,” his publicist, Jack Ketsoyan, told E! News.
“We want to let the fans know the tour will go on as promised.”
“Performing is cathartic to me and I am dedicating the rest of my tour to my sister since she loved to watch me perform,” Nick Carter said.
DETROIT (WWJ) - More than 100 people have been arrested in Michigan and nearly two dozen other states, accused of trying to rip off Uncle Sam.
IRS spokesman Luis Garcia says the government began a crackdown on identity theft after noticing an uptick in criminals filing fake returns through the IRS.
“They go out and either through the internet or by calling people up or by trolling certain websites, they are able to get basic information about people whether it’s their social security numbers, their names or their addresses. then they file tax returns on behalf of these victims,” said Garcia.
“We stopped over 260,000 fake returns, they warranted over $1.4 billion in fraudulent tax refunds. We were able to stop those before the problem became any worse. We’ve decided to be very proactive and seek these people out,” said Garcia.
Garcia says in many cases, the suspects trolled the internet for personal information. In other cases, the suspects are themselves tax preparers. It’s unclear how many of the suspects are from Michigan.
Don Cornelius’ impact on America went beyond music. “Soul Train” united white and black America together.STORY HIGHLIGHTS
(CNN) — Don Cornelius never led a civil rights march, launched a boycott or gave a speech before a cheering crowd of protesters.
But his impact on America was as profound as virtually any civil rights leader, says Shayne Lee, a sociologist who grew up watching “Soul Train.”
Cornelius’ groundbreaking TV show didn’t just captivate African-Americans — it tied white and black America together in a way that had not been done before, says Lee, who teaches a course on hip-hop at the University of Houston.
“He was an ambassador, the pope of soul,” Lee said. “For a lot of suburban whites living in segregated America, this was their first exposure to this exiting new world of movement and energy. he made black culture more accessible.”
Cornelius, who hosted “Soul Train” for 22 of its 36 years on the air, died Tuesday. he was 75. Police reports indicate he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The suave Cornelius was known by an entire generation of African-Americans as the dapper host of “Soul Train” who signed off each show by blowing a kiss and declaring, “We wish you love, peace and souuuullll.”
Most of the tributes to Cornelius that poured in following his death focused on his contribution to music. others said his legacy was bigger than sound.
Cultural impact of ‘Soul Train’
Kenny Gamble, co-founder of Philadelphia International Records, which produced the theme song for “Soul Train,” says Cornelius was a great contributor to American, not just black, culture.
“Soul Train,” like Apple and Coca-Cola, is an American brand, Gamble says.
Don Cornelius, seen to the right of Martin Luther King Jr., didn’t preach protest on Soul Train. But the show’s impact was political, some say.
“Soul Train” traditions, like dancers gathering to cheer on fellow dancers as they shimmied down a dance line, are now a part of pop culture.
“No matter where you go in this world, people are doing the ‘Soul Train’ dance line,” he said. “What’s a party without the ‘Soul Train’ dance line?”
Gamble still sounded stunned after hearing the news about Cornelius.
“Unbelievable,” he said. “That was my man.”
Singer Gladys Knight told CNN that Cornelius was an unsung hero whose show amplified the message, “I’m black and I’m proud.”
“He encouraged us to be ourselves,” she said. “We’re going to give you this platform and you go out and do your thing.”
Sociologist Lee said that message — be black and proud — drove the civil rights movement. And just as the civil rights movement overturned segregation, Cornelius erased cultural barriers that separated white and black Americans living apart in their own cultural cocoons.
“I see Cornelius as a civil rights activist,” said Lee, author of “Erotic Revolutionaries.”
“The civil rights movement changed the legal structure; Cornelius changed the cultural structure. Changing the culture can change hearts in a way that protests can’t.”
Cornelius first changed television.
TV had not been known as friendly terrain for African-Americans before “Soul Train.” Blacks were often seen in caricatured roles — as minstrels, servants or outlaws. they were seen through the lens of white America.
“Soul Train” changed the focus. it lifted the veil on black America and showed blacks being themselves, and not as whites imagined them, said Lee.
“The show introduced the notion that blacks were creative, we have something to offer and we’re not going anywhere. And if you give us a chance, you might like some of our moves,” Lee said.
Cornelius offered white America a new way to see black men, Lee says. he wasn’t a sidekick or servant, nor was he angry.
“He walked a tightrope,” Lee said. “If he was too in-your-face, he would have been offensive on television, or too accommodating he would have been perceived as an Uncle Tom.
The cool apparently wasn’t an act to those who knew him and knew how he launched “Soul Train.”
What’s a party without a Soul Train dance line?Kenny Gamble, co-founder of Philadelphia Interanational Records, on Don Cornelius
The man behind the voice
Cornelius took a big risk to start “Soul Train.” he was a former insurance salesman who entered broadcasting in the mid-1960s. he gave up a steady paycheck as a salesman because he’d often been told he had a wonderful voice for broadcasting.
He was inspired by another television music host.
“Almost all of what I learned about mounting and hosting a dance show I learned from Dick Clark,” the producer and host of “American Bandstand,” he once told Advertising Age.
Cornelius was used to taking risks — he used $400 of his own money to shoot a pilot and faced skepticism at many turns.
Yet he had an edge — “Soul Train” was a novel idea.
There had been any number of radio programs focusing on black music and black listeners, but “Soul Train” was the first nationwide black-oriented music-variety TV show. it was also one of the most successful TV programs ever: to this day, its 35 years in syndication are a record.
“If you’re an African-American of a certain age, ‘Soul Train’ was as important to your weekend mornings as your milk was to your cereal,” broadcasting personality Tom Joyner wrote in 2010.
Cornelius also was a shrewd businessman. he used a partnership with Sears and Chicago-based cosmetics company Johnson Products to take the show national in 1971 after a year’s run in Chicago. he also stayed true to his market — and by doing so helped popularize African-American artists among a wide audience.
He gave a number of black performers their big break, including Shalamar, Rosie Perez and Nick Cannon — the latter two as dancers.
Soul Train’s fashions
The fashions on “Soul Train” were almost as important as the music. Every Saturday, teenagers all across America tuned in to see what the “Soul Train” dancers were wearing. Viewers even paid attention to the commercials, where companies sold black beauty products such as Ultra-Sheen.
He was the pope of soul.Shayne Lee, sociologist, on Don Cornelius of Soul Train
“It was appointment television in our household, and the clothes were talked about as much if not more than the new dance moves,” said Billboard magazine editor Danyel Smith. “The style of ‘Soul Train’ is a book, a movie, a documentary in and of itself. it was flashy, it was big, it was bold, it was sexy — and frankly it was a way that I think many in America hadn’t seen African-Americans look. to just even see people from another part of the country — people forget how revolutionary that was back in the ’70s.”
No matter how popular “Soul Train” became, Cornelius never forgot those who worked behind the stage, said Christopher Lehman, author of “A Critical History of Soul Train on Television.”
“He wanted to make sure that he had African-Americans involved in every level of production. he had African-American directors, and of course he had African-American dancers,” Lehman told CNN Radio’s Matt Cherry.
“If there had not been a ‘Soul Train’ there would not have been a whole network like BET that tries to do on a network level what Don Cornelius did on a program level.”
In his later years, Cornelius became an elder statesman for the black music scene. he would show up at awards shows — impeccably tailored as usual — to receive accolades for “Soul Train.”
Looking at him then, it was hard to imagine the risks he took when he started “Soul Train.”
But NewsOne’s Don Charnas remembered. Once, James Brown — then the biggest name in soul music — wondered how Cornelius would succeed.
“Who’s backing you on this?” he asked Cornelius repeatedly.
“It’s just me, James,” Cornelius answered.
Cornelius’ wonderful voice — like the music and style of “Soul Train” — is now a permanent part of America’s soundtrack.
CNN Radio’s Matt Cherry contributed to this report
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Don Cornelius died Wednesday morning of an apparent self-inflected gunshot. he was 75.
As the man behind the Soul Train empire, Cornelius became a pop culture icon. the show, for decades, was the coolest thing on television. So cool, in fact, that a young Magic Johnson once appeared on the show and looked more like Kareem: taller than everyone, and just a little bit awkward.
Here’s a clip from the Tonight Show where Magic discusses his 2011 decision to buy Soul Train. At the 0:36 mark, check the flashback to Magic doing my all-time favorite step: the I-can’t-really-dance big man two-step, a favorite among the 6’3″ and taller demographic.
(Video via Stiletto Jill)
posted at 11:05 am on February 1, 2012 by Ed Morrissey
Give the ultimate credit for this decision to Lila Rose and Live Action. While the Susan G. Komen Foundation made the decision to halt grants to planned Parenthood because of Congressional investigations into its activities — especially in defying legal requirements to report child abuse — those investigations got started because of the investigative work done by Live Action and the intense follow-up from many more pro-life organizations:
After years of protests and criticism from pro-life advocates, the biggest breast cancer organization, Susan G. Komen for the Cure has announced it is halting further grants and donations to the planned Parenthood.
Figures from August directly from the Komen for the Cure foundation show 18 affiliates of the breast cancer charity gave a total of more than $569,000 to the planned Parenthood abortion business in 2010. That was down from the $731,303 Komen officials publicly confirmed in October 2010, when they acknowledged that 20 of the 122 Komen affiliates gave to planned Parenthood during the 2009 fiscal year.
Now, Komen says it is halting all grants because of public pressure from pro-life groups and due to the impending investigation in Congress of the planned Parenthood abortion business.
The policy makes it so no further planned Parenthood grants will be given unless the investigation results in planned Parenthood’s favor.
According to Fox News, Komen spokeswoman Leslie Aun said “the cutoff results from the charity’s newly adopted criteria barring grants to organizations that are under investigation by local, state or federal authorities. According to Komen, this applies to planned Parenthood because it’s the focus of an inquiry launched by Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., seeking to determine whether public money was improperly spent on abortions.”
And this is not temporary, either, at least not if one takes the Komen Foundation statement at face value:
Austin Ruse, the president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (CFAM) tells LifeNews that the AP report is wrong and that the Komen funding is not a temporarily decision based solely on the fact that planned Parenthood is under investigation at the federal and state level.
He told LifeNews.com that the official Komen statement announcing the decision does not mention that it is conditioned based on the results of the Congressional investigation and that it not a temporary change based on a change in how grants are allocated — pointing to the sentence in the Komen statement saying, “We also implemented more stringent eligibility and performance criteria to support these strategies.
“What you take from the Komen statement is that it is about a change in funding criteria which does not rely on the success or failure of an investigation. You can infer from this that the decision is long-standing and not temporary,” Ruse says. “Pro-lifers should be happy today that planned Parenthood gets yet another black-eye. Susan G. Komen Foundation should be congratulated for making this important decision.”
The key in the Komen decision is the grant criteria it uses to make grants. That has changed from “pass-through” grants, which allowed agencies like planned Parenthood to receive grants that allowed it to make referrals for women to receive mammograms from other agencies to outcome based programs. (Planned Parenthood does not perform mammograms at any of its centers across the United States, something Komen has acknowledged). This reportedly has the effect of ending planned Parenthood funding even if the Congressional probe finds planned Parenthood free of any wrongdoing.
That’s why this goes beyond the Congressional investigation over abortion funding. several states have opened investigations into planned Parenthood activities after Live Action’s sting operations show clinic workers actively attempting to hide cases which the law required to be reported to the state, in order to protect children from sexual abuse. others show nurses instructing patients about how to lie to judges. planned Parenthood has become politically toxic, and the Komen Foundation hardly needs that kind of baggage from its grant recipients.
Needless to say, planned Parenthood isn’t terribly happy about this, and predicts dire consequences:
Planned Parenthood, in an email to its supporters, is putting the blame squarely on pro-life groups.
“I wanted to share some extremely discouraging news from a partner and longtime ally for women’s health — news that could have devastating consequences for women,” planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards writes to top supporters of the abortion business in an email LifeNews received. “The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation has announced that it will stop supporting lifesaving breast cancer screening for low-income and underserved women at planned Parenthood health centers.”
“It’s a deeply disappointing decision — made even more alarming because politically motivated groups and individuals determined to undermine women’s access to care appear to have successfully intimidated the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation to withdraw this critical support,” she said. “But when anti-choice groups began criticizing the Komen Foundation for partnering with planned Parenthood, the foundation ended its support for planned Parenthood health centers. we know our opponents put their ideology over women’s health and lives. What we never expected is that an ally like the Komen Foundation would choose to listen to them.”
The email asks for an “emergency donation” to the abortion business to replace the donations Komen sent.
Funny — from our perspective, it looked like planned Parenthood was putting both its ideology and its revenue ahead of both the health and lives of its underage customers, in states all across the nation. From Congress, it looks like planned Parenthood was putting public money into abortions. The Komen Foundation had little choice but to recognize reality.
Kudos to the courageous Lila Rose, Live Action, and the pro-life organizers who put Congress’ feet to the fire on planned Parenthood funding.
To quote mark Twain, the rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated
Hillary, the Comeback Chick is back bill, aka Slick Willie, is on the attack Obama’s Soul Train is toppled off the track Pundits are ‘eating crow’ while Hillary backers are wiping their respective brow (sighing with relief).
The pundits are saying that Hillary won the sympathy vote (especially by women) because of the media attacks and the ganging of Obama and Edwards on a poor woman during the debates. they claimed she found her own voice and displayed feminine traits such as crying, hugging MSNBC Chris Matthews and showing her vulnerabilities – I’m human.I’m not a machine; I’m all woman.not a super woman within a 24 hour period.
On the other hand, MSNBC pundits are saying Obama might have suffered the effect that visited L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley’s California Gubernatorial Race; Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder; Congressman Harold Ford’s Tennessee Senatorial Race; Harvey Gantt’s North Carolina Senatorial Race against the notorious Jesse Helms.
What is the effect?
The effect that race is a steep hill that still needs to be traversed in American politics. howbeit, Hillary has to battle sexism and the infamous glass ceiling, too. She has to battle a mountain range of sexism, not only by the good Old Boys Club, but also sexism perpetrated by right wing women who thinks while a woman’s place is in the house – barefooted.it should not be in the Whitehouse – well-heeled/ high heeled.
My case against Obama.. On foreign policy, I’m not sure of his positions. On the domestic front, Obama’s healthcare proposals are worse than Hillary’s and Romney’s proposal. Mind you, Hillary’s and Romney’s proposal are not different from Nixon’s and Kaiser’s proposal to have big Healthcare Insurance and the Pharmaceutical Industry have a run of the healthcare industry to their profitable content at the expense of the American people (including doctors and their patients). Edwards’ and Kucinich’s healthcare proposals are best. Unfortunately, they will not be nominated unless they inspire an October Revolution because they will not be elected by an October Surprise. In addition, Obama received the most money from the healthcare industry, in both parties, outside of Hillary Clinton. Hillary correctly pointed to the fact that Obama’s co-chair for his new Hampshire Primary is a lobbyist in the Healthcare Industry.
My case against Hillary.. In comparison to Hillary, Obama is the lesser of two evils. On foreign policy, she is ‘bought and sold’ by the Neocons. On the domestic front, I loved the Hillary of 1993 who pushed for a universal healthcare mandate. Unfortunately, she was attacked by war criminals such as former Dan Quayle’s Chief of Staff, former Harvard roommate of the hapless but eloquent Republican Presidential Candidate Alan Keyes, new York Times (former home to ‘Pulitzeresque’ reporters Judy Miller and Jayson Blair) Columnist and Weekly Standard’s editor William Kristol. William Kristol who ‘flipped the bird’ to the American people – the true red, white and blue; the U.S. Constitution – of the people, for the people and by the people in the interest of his narrow, alien, selfish, criminal and immoral ideology. also, she was attacked by the healthcare industry that stabilized their prices for eight years until George W. Bush stole the 2000 elections. afterwards, healthcare prices jumped through the roof when Hillary’s threat was removed. Hillary could argue that she’s the number one beneficiary (in campaign contributions) of the healthcare industry because of her 1993 track record on the universal healthcare issue – they fear her.
Last night, Hillary was able to pull a Truman (who defied media and pundits’ predictions of his inevitable defeat to Thomas Dewey) but I doubt she’ll be able to pull a Justice William J. Brennan (who turned out to be a liberal lion on the Supreme Court after he was nominated by President Eisenhower who thought he was sending a moderate/conservative to the Bench as an appeasement to his conservative Catholic base). In other words, I don’t think Hillary is going to flip the switch to the old Hillary of 1993 after her purchase by the healthcare industry. To the contrary, Hillary is more likely to pull a new York Governor Alfred E. Smith – a progressive and liberal champion, in the early years, who morphed into a tool of big Business, in the later years, who tried to torpedo FDR’s new Deal and fanatically attacked FDR’s progressive policies as being anti-business and anti-rich.
The case for Obama.. bill Clinton attacked Obama on his lack of experience. Obama had ten years of senatorial experience on the State and Federal level before his official Presidential Campaign which is equivalent to Clinton’s ten years of gubernatorial experience in a small and rural state before his official Presidential Campaign. if bill Clinton is the measuring stick, Obama is qualified (plus he’s as talented as bill Clinton).
To Hillary, Obama will be back
The fact that Facebook has 40 times more users than Google+ could probably lead you to the assumption that Facebook is the all-time winner. But let’s consider the following points, why Google, the master company of web, could also become the leader of social networks:
1. Users’ contentment
Facebook updates its site regularly and many users conceive of these changes as pretty annoying. Numerous Facebook groups and sites underline that disaffection. for example look at the new chat and messaging system. unlike in the past, now you can’t separate your personal mails from your instant chat messages. Another point is the strange grouping of online contacts – offline contacts are shown in the chat bar.
How Google+ will handle updates and how the users’ reaction will be is unclear. Google+ is too young to make a prognosis. But according to our experience the Google changes are quite useful and unflashy.
One big feature of Google+ is the easy sorting of contacts (Groups). when adding a contact, you have to slide the contact into one of your groups (Google has some presets like Acquaintances, Family, Friends, Following).
It looks like Facebook felt threatened and instantly implemented a similar function: you add a contact -> choose a list where the contact should be in.
3. Video Chats – Hangouts
Since lately Facebook extended the chatsystem with a new video feature. Trying to make this feature work I failed completely. Now it seems to work fine and the quality is brilliant. no suprise.. Facebook uses a Skype integration.
Google+’ hangouts are similar to Facebooks, but there are some differences:
4. interesting Content – Sparks
Add your interests and Google delivers related content from around the web. In my eyes: still pretty confusing
5. Network- Omnipresence
You can see Facebooks presence on almost every online device (PCs, Mobilephones, Tablets) in the world. Reason: nearly everybody uses it.
When companies advertise they don’t refer (as usually) to their homepage. More often you’ll find a Facebook.com/company link instead, which users can directly like and so share it with friends. Typical network effect.
And the last and most important (in my eyes) is:
Google’s presence isn’t as conspicuous as Facebook’s is. But the word Google is even listed in dictionaries. when someone is looking for stuff on the internet he is automatically googling. In the year 2000 Google reached 100 million searches a day, now they reach over one billion a day.
Further let’s take a look at what Google does besides:
So, when using one of these services you can get confronted with Google+ if you have a Google Account.
At the moment it’s hard to say that Google+ is the better network and will crush its competitor, Google+ is too young and hasn’t that many users. But if Google takes off the gloves, it can seriously establish as ultimate social network.
The full package of internet services Google offers could be the crucial point that will make the users switch the network. Let’s see.
When you think about the role of personal trainers, you can distinctly envision what their functions are, how they look, and the manner that they perform their jobs. their strong, perfect physique stands next to you at the fitness center and instructs you how to properly lift the weights. they run next to you on the track while cheering you on, and they count out loud the number of push-ups, crunches, and jumping jacks that you complete on the gym mat. they are available for a specific purpose – to help you gain physical strength, lose weight, learn to eat the proper foods, and maintain general good health. But, the key to the success and increased use of personal trainers is the fact that they are excellent motivators.
What if we all could hire our own personal trainers? We would always be healthy and fit. We would have strong beautiful bodies, and our mental state would consistently be directed, light-hearted, and happy. Being physically fit could impact all of the realms of our mind, body, and soul. Surely, if we feel great, physically, we are able to achieve great things. Our mind is full of the energy that our bodies have generated for it. and furthermore, our lives are sustained by all of the activities we are capable to take part in. We look super, and we feel wonderful, and this feeling is translated in our work and relationships.
Even if we cannot afford to employ a personal trainer or we don’t have the extra time to spare to train with one, there are other ways of bringing a similar type of motivation to our lives. We can bring inspirational desktop wallpapers into our personal and work arenas. These captivating photos and artwork exercise our minds and bring about such emotion and experiences. and, the moving quotations are like the personal trainers that shout out instructions and reassurances.
As professionals, we can maximize our productivity by introducing better, newer, hugely insightful, and effectual means of performing our jobs and duties. These free inspirational wallpapers are our personal trainer for stimulating work ideas. they motivate us in the same manner as an ordinary personal trainer in the gym. they push us to do more, to want better, and to alter our existing behavior. Having these downloadable personal trainers ensure that we can maintain a fit heart and mind along with healthy bodies.
To be physically fit, we must train rigorously and regularly. If we want to run a marathon, play an extraordinary round of golf, participate in the iron man race, or any other athletic event, continued practice and training is necessary. The same rule applies in our workplace. So, we must keep our minds and attitudes sharp, focused, and inspired. and, inspirational desktop wallpapers are the perfect trainers to accomplish that task.
The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, a leading charity for breast cancer, announced Tuesday that it is ceasing its partnership with Planned Parenthood in prevention screenings and education at the health centers across the nation.
Komen spokeswoman Leslie Aun told The associated Press that the cutoff results from the charity’s newly adopted criteria barring grants to organizations that are under investigation by local, state or federal authorities. Aun said this applies to planned Parenthood because it’s the focus of an inquiry launched by Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., seeking to determine whether public money was improperly spent on abortions.
According to a statement from planned Parenthood, the Komen Foundation began informing local planned Parenthoods in the past few weeks that their breast cancer initiatives would no longer be eligible for new grants beyond existing agreements.
Planned Parenthood said it had set up a Breast Health Emergency Fund to offset the support that 19 of its local programs are expected to lose from the Komen Foundation. but the organization on Tuesday did not disguise its disdain for anti-abortion groups that they blame for threatening the foundation for its partnership.
“We are alarmed and saddened that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation appears to have succumbed to political pressure. our greatest desire is for Komen to reconsider this policy and recommit to the partnership on which so many women count,” Cecile Richards, president of planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement released by the federation.
Planned Parenthood has been a continuous target of protests, boycotts and funding cutoffs because it is the largest provider of abortions in the nation. with almost 800 health centers in the U.S., the federation provides other services such as birth control, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and cancer screening.
Pro-life groups praised the action.
“As a breast cancer survivor, I applaud the decision made by the Komen Foundation to discontinue their partnership with the billion-dollar, abortion mega-provider, planned Parenthood,” Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest said. ”The work of the Komen Foundation has life-saving potential and should not be intertwined with an industry dealing in death.”
According to planned Parenthood, its centers performed over 4 million breast exams in the past five years, almost 170,000 of them paid for by Komen Foundation grants.
“We’re kind of reeling,” said Patrick Hurd, who is CEO of planned Parenthood of Southeastern Virginia — recipient of a 2010 grant from Komen. Hurd’s wife, Betsi, is currently battling breast cancer.
“It sounds almost trite, going through this with Betsi, but cancer doesn’t care if you’re pro-choice, anti-choice, progressive, conservative,” Hurd said. “Victims of cancer could care less about people’s politics.”
A statement issued by the Komen Foundation cited criteria for new grant-making and ensured there would be no gaps in its assistance.
“While it is regrettable when changes in priorities and policies affect any of our grantees, such as a long-standing partner like planned Parenthood, we must continue to evolve to best meet the needs of the women we serve and most fully advance our mission,” the statement said.
The associated Press contributed to this report.
