{"id":5942,"date":"2012-02-07T14:21:10","date_gmt":"2012-02-07T20:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freethoughtblogs.com\/xblog\/?p=2213"},"modified":"2012-02-07T14:21:10","modified_gmt":"2012-02-07T20:21:10","slug":"a-very-interesting-development-in-the-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/07\/a-very-interesting-development-in-the-news\/","title":{"rendered":"A very interesting development in the news:"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"369\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jsaTElBljOE\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You can guess what this means&#8230;..<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nKaren Handel has resigned. Here&#8217;s her letter.  It truly is a bunch of crap, in which she admits that the entire board of Komen and all involved in developing the mean spirited anti-woman and classist strategy were fully behind the decision to remove support for poor and underprivileged women.  The entire leadership of Komen was fully on board with letting poor and underprivileged women die of cancer rather than receiving needed screening.  Or, perhaps she&#8217;s just trying to take the rest of them down with her. <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>February 7, 2012<\/p>\n<p>The Honorable Nancy Brinker<\/p>\n<p>CEO, Susan G. Komen for the Cure VIA EMAIL<\/p>\n<p>5005 LBJ Freeway, Suite 250<\/p>\n<p>Dallas, Texas 75244<\/p>\n<p>Dear Ambassador Brinker:<\/p>\n<p>Susan G. Komen for the Cure has been the recognized leader for more 30 years in the fight against breast cancer here in the US \u2013 and increasingly around the world.<\/p>\n<p>As you know, I have always kept Komen\u2019s mission and the women we serve as my highest priority \u2013 as they have been for the entire organization, the Komen Affiliates, our many supporters and donors, and the entire community of breast cancer survivors. I have carried out my responsibilities faithfully and in line with the Board\u2019s objectives and the direction provided by you and Liz.<\/p>\n<p>We can all agree that this is a challenging and deeply unsettling situation for all involved in the fight against breast cancer. However, Komen\u2019s decision to change its granting strategy and exit the controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood and its grants was fully vetted by every appropriate level within the organization. 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\u2019s real or perceived challenges. No objections were made to moving forward.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s 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. Neither the decision nor the changes themselves were based on anyone\u2019s political beliefs or ideology. Rather, both were based on Komen\u2019s mission and how to better serve women, as well as a realization of the need to distance Komen from controversy. I believe that Komen, like any other nonprofit organization, has the right and the responsibility to set criteria and highest standards for how and to whom it grants.<\/p>\n<p>What was a thoughtful and thoroughly reviewed decision \u2013 one that would have indeed enabled Komen to deliver even greater community impact \u2013 has unfortunately been turned into something about politics. This is entirely untrue. This development should sadden us all greatly.<\/p>\n<p>Just as Komen\u2019s best interests and the fight against breast cancer have always been foremost in every aspect of my work, so too are these my priorities in coming to the decision to resign effective immediately. While I appreciate your raising a possible severance package, I respectfully decline. It is my most sincere hope that Komen is allowed to now refocus its attention and energies on its mission.<\/p>\n<p>Sincerely,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/meghancasserly\/2012\/02\/07\/karen-handel-exits-susan-g-komen-the-resignation-letter\/\">Forbes<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Hat Tip Aseem<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can guess what this means&#8230;..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[473,477,5020],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5fhV1-1xQ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5942"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}