But for many, pro-life also mean anti-birth control, anti-exercise and anti-nursing  all of which they claim could results in the termination of a life in utero and they also want you to ignore the fact that a lack of education about birth control significantly increases the number of unwanted pregnancies.    

Last November, in what was a surprise to many, the usually conservative voters of Mississippi soundly defeated the "personhood" initiative which would have granted legal status to embryos from the moment of fertilization. The law would have banned abortion without exceptions and threatened the use of birth control in addition to costing the taxpayers millions to defend a law which many legal scholars had already declared constitutionally defective.  But last week, anti-choicers tried to take a back door into the war on low-income women by convincing a prominent "charity" to deny Planned Parenthood the funding to provide the much needed and life-saving breast exams because the organization is linked to birth control and abortions.

Planned Parenthood 0 – Susan G. Komen 7

But supporters of Planned Parenthood fought back and said "Game on".

February 2nd was the day right wingers thought Planned Parenthood started a crumble into oblivion.  Right wingers in the Susan G. Komen Foundation pulled out their conservative playbook and de-funded Planned Parenthood  citing that it it was "under government investigation", specifically a probe launched in Congress by a right wing Congressman at the urging of an anti-abortion group.  Play-by-play Komen's team used words like horror, disgust, anger,  abortion, outrage and dismay to turn former allies against Planned Parenthood.    The same series of plays worked perfectly a couple of years ago with ACORN, why should Planned Parenthood be any different?

Yet, supporters of Planned Parenthood had a play book of the their own and it included the Twelfth Man (read about the Twelfth Man here).  Shortly after the monolithic Susan G. Komen foundation announced that it was defunding Planned Parenthood,  the Twelfth Men play was initiated and men and women all over the nation began to speak up and announce they were ready and eager to be called for duty.  Citizens who identified with Planned Parenthood's mission came out in droves to support them via email, Facebook, Twitter, opening their pocketbooks and any other way they could .  By the end of the week more than $3 million had been pledged, more than enough to make up for  four years of Komen's funding.

Planned Parenthood 7 – Susan G. Komen 7

Even supporters in Washington stood up and joined the Twelfth Man for Planned Parenthood.  Twenty-six US senators signed a letter calling on Komen to reconsider its decision.  "It would be tragic if any woman, let alone thousands of women, lost access to these potentially lifesaving screenings because of a politically motivated attack," the senators wrote.

Planned Parenthood 14 – Susan G. Komen 7

The backlash to the actions of Komen was unprecedented and certainly unforeseen by them.  Komen was swamped with negative emails and Facebook postings accusing it of caving under pressure from anti-abortion groups.  Many of Komen's affiliates across the US openly rebelled and removed their support.

Komen went back to the playbook and decided to do damage control.  It was decided that CEO, Nancy Brinker would go on a speaking tour, one of which was a one-on-one interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchel.  It was a disastrous interview for which Brinker was not prepared and willing to alter facts to suit her position.  In the interview, Andrea Mitchell specifically asked  Brinker about the possible involvement of Karen Handel in this decision (more about Handel in a moment). Brinker specifically denied Handel being involved at all in the decision.

Planned Parenthood 21 – Susan G. Komen 7

Meanwhile,  the Twelfth Man continued to expand as the nation watched the Komen team implode as prominent team members left the organization, expressing their displeasure as they left.

Planned Parenthood 28- Susan G. Komen 7

By this time Komen's top leadership team huddled in conference calls and meetings and decided to issue a retraction.  "We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives." 

Planned Parenthood's president, Cecile Richards, thanked donors and welcomed Komen's change of heart. "We are enormously grateful that the Komen Foundation has clarified its grant-making criteria," Richards said. "What these past few days have demonstrated is the deep resolve all Americans share in the fight against cancer."

Planned Parenthood 35 – Susan G. Komen 7

A source at Komen's headquarters said the grant-making criteria was adopted with the deliberate intention of targeting Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood 42 – Susan G. Komen 7

In fact, it was announced on a relatively obscure blog Milowent in post titled  "Attention to her 2010 Memoir, Promise Me" in which Brinker described a 2004 confrontation with right-wind forces and Curves Workout Center Chain tried to get Komen to sever ties with Planned Parenthood and Komen refused.  "The grants in question supplied breast health counseling, screening and treatment to rural women, poor women, Native American women, many women of color who were underserved – if served at all – in areas where Planned Parenthood facilities were often the only infrastructure available," Brinker wrote in 2010. "Though it meant losing corporate money from Curves, we were not about to turn our backs on these women. Somehow this position translated to the utterly false assertion that SGK funds abortions."  The question of what has changed between 2004 and 2011 is an embarrassing question for the Susan G. Komen foundation.  

Planned Parenthood 49 – Susan G. Komen 7

The criteria's impact on Planned Parenthood and its status as the focus of government investigations were highlighted in a memo distributed to Komen affiliates in December.

According to the Huffington Post, and in direct contradiction to Nancy Brinker's statements, the driving force behind the move to defund Planned Parenthood was Karen Handel, who was hired by Komen last year as vice president for public policy after losing a campaign for governor in Georgia in which she stressed her anti-abortion views and frequently denounced Planned Parenthood. Apparently losing a race for a southern Gubernatorial seat made her an expert on public policy in the eyes of Brinker and her right wing cronies. The HuffPo source also stated that Handel proposed using the Congressional investigation as a cover for the defunding, a course of action she had been working toward since she was hired in April, 2011.

Planned Parenthood 56 – Susan G. Komen 7

And finally with the resignation of Karen Handel, the bully and instigator of this whole mess, The Susan G. Komen foundation throws in the towel.  

Planned Parenthood 63 – Susan G. Komen 7

With the game finally over, the Susan G. Komen foundation heads back to their Dallas headquarters, tail between their legs, licking their wounds.  It was the kind of defeat that has coaches and players scratching their heads and wondering what went wrong?

What the Susan G. Komen foundation underestimated the power of the American people.  The 99%  rose up and fought back.  Komen underestimated the power of the masses.  Komen underestimated the importance of breast cancer screening.  Komen underestimated the power of the Twelfth Man.

We'll have a little more on that in just a little while, but in the meantime how about a look at the Komen Foundations 2009 tax form? Note that they had just 261 employees yet paid more than $22 Million in salaries.

Rethinking those contributions yet?

2009 Form 990 for Susan G. Komen

There just seems to be no end of contenders for the "Ass of the Week" award. 

This week, the Susan G. Komen Foundation (yes, the pink ribbon people) announced it would pull funding from Planned Parenthood under the auspice of "they are under investigation by Congress."   Apparently this is a new rule.  Why was it enacted just now?  By the way, the group that prompted the investigation is a anti-abortion advocacy group that has long criticized Planned Parenthood.  (Whether I agree or disagree with the right to an abortion, the last time I checked abortions were legal so Susan G. Komen is making an morality claim here)

Since the announcement several top officials at the Susan G. Komen foundation have resigned in protest.

The $600,000 annual donation from Susan G. Komen to Planned Parenthood is now being replaced with donations from all over the country.  $400,000 has come in with the first 24 hours after the announcement.  New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg has pledge $250,000 to help make up for the loss.

It is particularly interesting that this decision comes so soon after the Komen Foundation hired Karen Handel, a former candidate for Governor of Georgia, as vice president. Handel ran on an anti-Planned Parenthood platform in her bid for the governorship.

While Nancy Brinker, the chief and founder of the organization, has attempted to explain away the decision to end the funding by arguing that the methods used by PP weren't effective, this only came after the uproar from the public following their announcement that the defunding was occurring because of the politically inspired investigation.

We at SharpDonkey and other websites we interact with have always supported the Susan G. Komen Foundation, primarily through the sponsorship of people participating in their races. However, we can no longer do this and will instead provide monies and support for other organizations.

UPDATE: The Susan G. Komen Foundation just announced that they are reversing their decision to defund Planned Parenthood, although the language of their statement:

"We will continue to fund existing grants including those of Planned Parenthood and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants",

may mean "We are caving for right now but we'll never give them any more money."

While we aren't arrogant enough to believe that their being named Ass of the Week had anything to do with that decision, we are arrogant enough to believe that it was the outrage of the left that drove them to this. Now if the outrage would just carry over to everything else the right wing does America could come back to the glory we once had…

However, after much soul searching we are going with Meghan McCain. This Repubi-hottie is being chosen more as a representative of a Repug-lican way of thinking than for what she has personally done, but there's some of that mixed in there too.

Meghan McCain wrote a column for The Daily Beast today in which she urged Newt Gingrich to drop out if he loses the Florida primary. While we here at SharpDonkey.com are definitely not Newt fans Meghan's call for him to drop out is based not on the fact that Newt is a dick/troll, but because she thinks R-Money is more likely to beat Obama.

I have lost all respect for Romney. Several years ago I told a Mormon friend that I thought Romney had possibilities, but he has been willing to take any position, sell out any belief, and do whatever is necessary to get the nomination. While he is definitely prettier than the Newt, inside he is just as repulsive.

However, Meghan McCain's point is one being harped by many in the established Republican hierarchy. Romney has the best chance of beating the black guy.

But people…Romney has only won one state. While you trumpeted how he had won Iowa it turns out…not so much. He took New Hampshire but realistically he has been campaigning there for a hundred years and he then promptly got his ass stomped in South Carolina. It also looks like he has a chance of getting whooped in Ohio and PA. IF Newt does drop out it virtually assures R-Money a whoopin'.

I think Newt is probably the worst of the pack running right now, although they are all awful, but give them a chance to run and don't just anoint someone after one small primary win. Or even two or three.

Let them duke it out. I would say that it is the soul of the Republican party for which this battle is being fought but we all know that the Republican soul is divided into pieces and buried in inaccessible Horcruxes.

By issuing directives to his administration to take certain steps, including opening up more areas to offshore drilling,  opening up public lands to be used for renewable energy, and announcing a military plan to being using renewable energy, he has drawn a line in the sand for the Repugs to respond.

It is clear that the disparity in American income levels and the treatment of the rich versus the treatment of the rest of us is, as epxected, to be a big part of the campaign.

My guess is that neither Gingrich nor Romney, whichever one gets the nomination (at this point I'm inclined to believe it may be the Newt) are going to be successful in gaining ground among the independents. Too rich and too dick-ish.

We'll see.