Truthout: 7 February 2012

Mike Lofgren | Iran: War Drums Beating
Mike Lofgren, Truthout: "Washington's political class is apparently counting on the short memory of the electorate: it is barely a month and a half since we withdrew the last combat forces from Iraq, and already we have incessant agitation over Iran. America's Iraq adventure took seven years, cost 4,500 US military deaths and sent a trillion dollars down the drain. And that one was going to be a cakewalk, remember?"
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California's Gay Marriage Ban Ruled Unconstitutional - Again
Mike Ludwig, Truthout: "A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a federal judge's ruling that California's Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional, setting the stage for a potential Supreme Court showdown that could set a national precedent on same-sex marriage."
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Anti-Choice Komen Vice President Karen Handel Resigns, Admits Role in Planned Parenthood Decision
Marie Diamond, ThinkProgress: "Today, Karen Handel, Susan G. Komen for the Cure's controversial Senior Vice President of Public Policy, resigned in protest of the organization's decision to consider reinstating funding for cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood health centers.... In her resignation letter, Handel openly acknowledges her integral role in formulating the policy designed to cut off Planned Parenthood funding."
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How the GOP Is Resegregating the South
Ari Berman, The Nation: "Nationwide, Republicans have a major advantage in redistricting heading into the November elections. The party controls the process in twenty states, including key swing states like Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Virginia and Wisconsin, compared with seven for Democrats (the rest are home to either a split government or independent redistricting commissions)."
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Criminalizing Immigrants for Profit
David Bacon, Beacon Press: "Today, the word illegal is used to mean a person without immigration papers. But Guthrie uses it in the sense of an earlier era - of being excluded. To him, it means someone who is not a real resident of the place where he or she works, not part of a community or accepted by the surrounding society."
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Paul Krugman | The GOP's Nonsensical Attempt to Paint Elizabeth Warren as a Hypocrite
Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: "According to Brian McGrory, a columnist at The Boston Globe, Mr. Brown, a Republican, 'seems to be fuming that his main Democratic rival, Elizabeth Warren, has done pretty well for herself financially.'... You see, Ms. Warren has been crusading to help the endangered middle class - but she herself is a well-paid Harvard professor, who would end up paying higher taxes as a result of the policies she advocates. See the hypocrisy? Neither do I."
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Bill McKibben | The Great Carbon Bubble
Bill McKibben, TomDispatch: "If we could see the world with a particularly illuminating set of spectacles, one of its most prominent features at the moment would be a giant carbon bubble, whose bursting someday will make the housing bubble of 2007 look like a lark. As yet - as we shall see - it's unfortunately largely invisible to us."
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Bailed-Out Banks Won't Create Jobs: What Next?
Jack Rasmus, Truthout: "There's no need to raise the deficit or debt. If the super wealthy and their big corporations and banks won't spend the trillion-dollar bailouts US taxpayers provided them, the only alternative is for the government to reclaim those trillions and spend it on direct job creation programs itself."
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Robert Reich: The American Middle Class Is Becoming Poor, and Mitt Romney Doesn't Realize It
Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog: "Mitt Romney says he's not concerned about the very poor because they have safety nets to protect them. He says he's concerned about the middle class. Romney doesn't seem to realize how much of the middle class is becoming poor."
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Haitian Cholera Victims to UN: Practice What You Preach
Fran Quigley, Truthout: "So, what was the source of the bacteria that was killing the Haitian people? Investigations into the cause of the outbreak pointed to a surprising culprit: the United Nations."
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TRUTHOUT'S BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES

It would be wrong to let Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation off the hook because its Tea Party, anti-choice, anti-gay rights Vice President for Public Policy Karen Handel has abruptly departed the organization.

First of all, Handel was hired by Komen as the foundation's point person for their government and public affairs policies with full foreknowledge of her extremist positions and right-wing political pedigree. Indeed, when Handel ran unsuccessfully for governor of Georgia in 2010, she was endorsed by Sarah Palin and Jan Brewer. Did this not come up in her Komen job "interview"?

Furthermore, as we pointed out in the BuzzFlash at Truthout exposés listed at the end of this commentary, Ari Fleischer, an opponent of Planned Parenthood, was asked by Komen CEO and founder, Nancy Brinker, to subsequently oversee the hiring of a senior vice president for communications and external relations. Does one need to connect the dots here?

It is BuzzFlash at Truthout's speculation that Handel was terminated with the cover story of her resigning. Employers do not usually give severance packages to people who resign, which Handel claims she turned down from Komen in her "departure letter."

Before Komen's "crisis management" - and carefully worded - mea culpa, Brinker confirmed and backed the future Planned Parenthood cut off, so no one at Komen can argue that this was a stealth strategy carried out by a fanatic.

In fact, as the BuzzFlash at Truthout exposés point out, it appears - given the partisan and "corporate branding" priorities of Komen - that Handel was hired to implement the feckless appeasement of the anti-choice movement.

Actually a key passage in Handel's "resignation letter" to Brinker sounds close to the truth (while other sections sound self-serving):

At the November Board meeting, the Board received a detailed review of the new model and related criteria. As you will recall, the Board specifically discussed various issues, including the need to protect our mission by ensuring we were not distracted or negatively affected by any other organization's real or perceived challenges. No objections were made to moving forward.

I am deeply disappointed by the gross mischaracterizations of the strategy, its rationale, and my involvement in it. I openly acknowledge my role in the matter and continue to believe our decision was the best one for Komen's future and the women we serve. However, the decision to update our granting model was made before I joined Komen, and the controversy related to Planned Parenthood has long been a concern to the organization.

By almost all accounts regarding the events leading up to the Planned Parenthood defunding announcement, this description by Handel appears to be accurate. In fact, after the late 2011 decision by the board in regards to cutting off Planned Parenthood, the Managing Director of Community Health Programs Mollie Williams resigned.

The Planned Parenthood announcement that set off a firestorm was not the work of one person, although Handel may have been the point person - and now the senior staff member shown the plank. It was, it appears, a carefully choreographed scheme to create a rule (about organizations allegedly under an investigation) that thus far was only applied to one grantee: Planned Parenthood. It was implemented with the full knowledge of Brinker and her board.

However unappealing Handel's politics and personal beliefs are, she is right about one thing. This was not - to paraphrase her Wasilla, Alaska, endorser for governor - the case of a single person "going rogue."

Handel was doing the job that she was hired to do by Brinker, with the approval of the Komen board.

Read the prior three BuzzFlash at Truthout exposés on the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation:

"CEO of Komen and Former Husband Gave Massive Donations to GOP"

"Komen's Small Board Includes GOP CEO, Her Son, a Top GOP Financial Fundraiser and Big Texas GOP Donor"

"Komen Pinkwashes Breast Cancer, Including Promoting Corporate Sponsors That Likely Cause Cancer"

Mark Karlin
Editor BuzzFlash at Truthout

As Giants Enjoy Super Bowl Victory Parade, Iraq Veterans Wonder When Their Parade Will Come
Read the Article at The New York Times

When GOP Candidates "Misspeak," the Truth Comes Out
Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Are Republicans About to Commit Medicare Suicide?
Read the Article at Talking Points Memo

Komen Pinkwashes Breast Cancer, Including Promoting Corporate Sponsors That Likely Cause Cancer
Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Kicking Down the World's Door
Read the Article at The Nation

Santorum Longs for Good Old Days of "Shadow Abortions" When Women Obtained Back-Alley Procedures
Read the Article at ThinkProgress

"Birther" Queen Orly Taitz Orders Prosecution of Everyone Who Disagrees With Her
Read the Article at Wonkette

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