The War Against Planned Parenthood...

 

 

While the Susan G. Komen For The Cure Foundation decision to end its contributions to Planned Parenthood for mammograms is shocking, it is just the latest effort by right wing religious extremists to destroy Planned Parenthood. At every level. these religious fanatics have attacked this decades old respected reproductive rights organizations. Not only do they object to Planned Parenthood's support of a women's right to choice but they attack even the programs supporting birth control.

(Click here to make a contribution to Planned Parenthood)

When hundreds of thousands of women walk/run in the Susan G. Komen's events to raise money for breast cancer, they don't expect their contribution to be used as a political statement. They expect their hard earned contributions to be given to organizations that are doing great work with women and breast cancer.

That is exactly how the grants from Susan G. Komen to Planned Parenthood were being used. In fact, they were most often used in programs to make mammograms accessible to economically deprived women. The working poor and unemployed with out health insurance and no money to afford clinical breast exams counted on those programs. Over 150,000 poor women took advantage of the access to mammograms in Planned Parenthood. Those women are the ones being most hurt by the Komen Charity decision to cut off funds.

(Click here to make a donation to Planned Parenthood)

The charity says their decision to cut funds has nothing to do with Planned Parenthood's work on reproductive rights and birth control. That is just nonsense. The new Vice President of the Koman organization was described by Laura Bassett in The Huffington Post as follows:

Komen's new vice president, Karen Handel, had run for governor of Georgia in 2010 on an aggressively anti-abortion and anti-Planned Parenthood platform and was endorsed by Sarah Palin because of her opposition to reproductive choice. Handel wrote in her campaign blog that she "do[es] not support the mission of Planned Parenthood."

"During my time as Chairman of Fulton County, there were federal and state pass-through grants that were awarded to Planned Parenthood for breast and cervical cancer screening, as well as a 'Healthy Babies Initiative,'" Handel wrote. "Since grants like these are from the state I'll eliminate them as your next Governor." She also wrote that she opposes stem cell research and supports crisis pregnancy centers, which are unregulated, Christian-run operations whose main mission is to convince pregnant women not to have abortions.

After Handel lost the gubernatorial primary, Susan G. Komen for the Cure named her to be its senior vice president in April 2011.

With Komen's decision, it is imperative that all people of good conscience immediately go to the Planned Parenthood website and make a donation so their work among economically disadvantaged women can continue to save lives.

(Click here to make a donation to Planned Parenthood.)

World's Children Working In Coal Mines In Horrendous Conditions

 

 

There is an increasingly sickening scandal taking place in the production of coal in many nations. Mines around the world are using children as laborers. Many of those mines are owned by global corporations and receive loans from international agencies. Some of the children being forced at age 7 to work in the mines have been trafficked or sold into slavery by hopelessly destitute parents.

In Afghanistan, reports are that children as young as 10 are working in the mines for $2 a day for up to ten to twelve hours. In India, according to Impulse (a children rights organization), up to 70,000 children are mining the coal. The youngest found by the organization was 7 years old! Most are Nepalese and Bangladeshis who are in the nation illegally and have no recourse. Others are indentured laborers and have either been sold by their parents or are orphans and homeless. Countries in Asia and Africa especially have a large number of children working in the mines.

Take a look at these pictures from Boston.com's Big Picture and you will realize what a disgrace this is to human kind.

The Top Ten Best NGO's In The World

 

 

 

In a first ever effort, Global Journal has listed the Top 100 NGO's (non-governmental organizations) in the world. This was an ambitious undertaking for the Journal and sure to generate debate and maybe even some controversy. The methodology that they used to judge some of the world's most prominent organizations consisted of:

-Innovation
-Effectiveness
-Impact
-Efficiency/Value for Money
-Transparency and Accountability
-Sustainability
-Strategic and Financial Management -Peer Review

You see more on the methodology and the entire list of 100 organizations by clicking here but the top ten are:

1. The Wikimedia Foundation

2. Partner in Health

3. Oxfam

4. BRAC

5. International Rescue Committee

6. PATH

7. CARE International

8. Medecins San Frontieres

9. Danish Refugee Council

10. Ushahidi

What You Need To Know About America Today

 

 

 

 

Being kept informed is the epitome of a good citizen. With thousands of blogs, media outlets and candidates giving 'selective information' , that is not always an easy task. Truth is simply the information we have absorped at any given moment. New knowledge can change the reality of that "truth' in seconds.

That is why the 'facts' shared with us by "Think Progress" are so important. After the State of the Union, this information gives us the status of America today. There is both good news and bad news contained within the facts. However if you want to be informed, take a few minutes and catch up on some basic information. (For sources go to the Think Progress site).

• Since the last SOTU, the economy has created 1.9 million private sector jobs.

• The top 1 percent take home 24 percent of the nation’s income, up from about 9 percent in 1976.

• Private sector job creation under Obama in 2011 was larger than seven out of the eight years Bush was president.

• The top 1 percent of Americans own 40 percent of our country’s wealth while the bottom 80 percent owns only 7 percent.

• Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 2.5 million young adults gained health insurance.

• For every one job opening, there are four people looking for work.

• Last year, China spent 9 percent of its GDP on infrastructure. The U.S. spent 2.5 percent.

• 2.65 million seniors saved an average of $569 on prescriptions last year thanks to the Affordable Care Act.

• “In 2011, the United States killed Al Qaeda’s most effective propagandist, Anwar al-Awlaki; its operating chief, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman; and of course its founder, chief executive and spiritual leader, Osama bin Laden.”

• Union membership is at a 70-year low.

• Unemployment benefits have lifted 3.2 million people out of poverty.

• The United States used to have the world’s largest percentage of college graduates. We’re now #14.

HIV/AIDS: Banning Needle Exchange Once Again Is Deadly Policy

 

 

For twenty-one years there was a policy of banning 'needle exchange' - a program which would hinder the spread of HIV/AIDS. Two years ago in a moment of sanity the ban was lifted and public health policy stopped being a political football. Now it appears that the new spending bill will reinstate the needle exchange ban and proceed once again with a policy that will guarantee the spread of HIV/AIDS through dirty and used needles.

The new horrific ban includes both funding of international and domestic programs. Republicans in the House of Representatives insisted that the ban once again become policy ignoring all scientific, medical and health experts' advice about the consequences of this action. The primary spread of HIV/AIDS in America is through unclean needles. Making it impossible to finance the distribution of clean needles by healthcare workers and other outlet will simply indisputably increase the number of people with HIV/AIDS.

Studies have show that HIV infection rates drop by 5% in areas where needle exchange exists and increase by the same rates in areas without the programs. This blow to a much needed prevention plan comes as money is running out for ADAP programs that provide urgently needed treatments for people with HIV/AIDS.

This new policy will simply kill people and harm thousands of others.