Thanks to Tbogg, who has been so much more than a snark blogger on this issue–really, go over there and read his posts over the last week as this mess developed and see the marketing perspective on how this disaster unfolded and what it means for SGK in the long run–we get word that it appears that Horrible Human Being Karen Handel is about to spend a LOT more time with her family. Nothing definitive yet, but SGK is looking for a new “Director of Public Policy” and Handel’s title (in addition to Horrible Human Being) is “Vice President of Public Policy.”
Just how bad is this whole thing? Well, SGK turned down a demand by Curves, the ladies-only gym chain to sever ties with Planned Parenthood in 2004. Nancy Brinker wrote about it in her book, Promise Me, in 2010:
“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. Though it meant losing corporate money from Curves, we were not about to turn our backs on these women.”
Back then, she said that she was sorry to lose Curves‘ corporate support (Curves’ founder is a bigtime fundy) but that “we remain focused on our mission.” So I think the question begs asking of Nancy Brinker, “WTF, lady?”
Oh, and open thread for those who need such. Note–seeing Blake Shelton singing Prince on The Voice–fucking awesome!
someguy
Curves huh? My wife and dozens of women she works with go there because they have a nice corporate deal and at least on the surface, it’s woman-friendly (though it’s obviously woman-hostile when you dig into it). I’ll have to let my wife know. She’s in management at her firm and will be outraged, and I’m sure she’ll be happy to sever ties. While we’re at it, anybody got any good suggestions for brand name, liberal cancer fundraisers? They used to have a couple dozen people doing the local two day walk for SGK but will need to find a new cause.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@someguy:
I don’t know what kind of events they do, but LiveStrong gave PP $100K in the wake of this fiasco
someguy
@ Jim – yeah, but they’re the same. Read the expose of what they spend their money on in this month’s Outside magazine. Thanks for playing though…
Soonergrunt
@someguy: What’s really heartbreaking is that not too long ago, SGK really was about helping people regardless of the politics as that story shows.
May I suggest that your wife look into the Y? Pretty apolitical, and around here at least, the best facilities in a 20-mile radius and the best price.
geg6
Not only is Curves lousy with fundies, but it really is not much as far as exercise goes. I guess if you aren’t interested in losing weight or getting firmed up, it might be okay but it did absolutely nothing for me. A 3-mile walk five days a week did more in a month for me than 6 months of Curves every single day. It’s a ripoff, as most fundie schemes are.
WereBear (itouch)
I checked out Curves one time but it was ridiculous expensive. Now I like them even less.
Practically rolling on the ground like Sir Tristan because Keith Olbermann has the footage of Rush Limbaugh picking his nose in the owner’s box the Superbowl. There are people around him! It’s not like he’s alone in the box! That is made of disgusting.
Ed in NJ
The Kay Yow Foundation funds cancer research and runs events like run/walks. They are the organization behind the special pink uniform games that are played in women’s college basketball. My school Rutgers’ game is this coming Sunday.
I don’t know alot about their backers, other than Nike, but they don’t appear to have any agenda other than donating to cancer research facilities. Their namesake died of breast cancer in 2009, and coached at NC State. They are affiliated with the V Foundation, named after Jimmy Valvano, another NC State coach that died of cancer.
abo gato
I had belonged to Curves but back then when I found out the founder was a RW christianist, I quit and asked for my refund for the year. (rather than pay monthly I had paid upfront for a year…..I did get my money back) Right now I’m a bit miffed that the gym I belong to now suddenly last December was taken over by the YMCA. Now my gym has a bible when you first walk in, plenty of posters about shit I don’t care about, and lots of lovey dovey stuff that mostly pisses me off. I really don’t want to see that shit when I go to workout.
lamh35
I have it on good fake authority that the Obama administration is hostile to women. It’s a boys club or some such. So stuff like this is an anomaly right?
Obama Nominates Air Force’s First Female Four-Star General
Uh hmm, definitely hostile
cathyx
So is Curves donating to SGK now?
Seonachan
Fundy’s long and Fundy’s wide,
Fundy’s fog and rain and tide;
Never see the sun or sky,
Just the green wave going by
Soonergrunt
@abo gato:
I don’t see any of that at our Y, here in the “buckle of the bible belt”. Weird.
ReflectedSky
Several commenters at Jezebel pointed out that Handel is an SVP, they wouldn’t hire a position on that level that way, and that this is probably a listing for one of the people who quit in the wake of the PP decision.
I don’t think Handel is going anywhere. I think they’re going to dig in and get lots of Villagers to reframe the picture as being about nice, pink Komen vs. evil, aggressive PP.
Hey, my first comment! Now I need a strong cocktail.
Soonergrunt
@lamh35: He’s also responsible for the first female Surgeon General of the Army, also the first non-Medical Corps officer to reach that billet, LTG (3-stars) Patricia Horoho, last billet as Chief, Army Nurse Corps and Commanding General, Walter Reed AMC.
The Army’s first four star general assumed that rank in November, 2008, and is GEN Ann E. Dunwoody. GEN Dunwoody is currently the Deputy Chief of Staff (G-4), USA. That means that she’s the top logistician in the Army, which is an absolutely critical position.
Lee
@abo gato:
I’ve belonged to 2 different Y’s here in North Texas. Never saw any of that stuff either.
Garbo
Starting to get some responses back from my blitz of emails to Komen corporate sponsors. The usual corporate blah, blah, but they definitely had something ready to send out in response to customer feedback. One of them, Coldwater Creek, wanted to be sure I knew that hadn’t been an official Komen partner since 2009, which I will take as a positive. As Liss at Shakesville would say, teaspoons.
Soonergrunt
@ReflectedSky: Congratulations on your first comment. I don’t know why it went into moderation, but it’s out now.
You’re probably right, of course, but what I think you’ll see is that Handel’s brief will be passed mainly on to the professional staff, and in about six months, after everything dies down, she’ll go.
WereBear (itouch)
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that we missed getting a woman President in Barack Obama; but we did get a feminist one.
slag
Best quote from TBogg comes in the next post wherein he summarizes the typical rightwing attitude toward pregnant women:
Yeah. Pretty much.
PurpleGirl
@someguy: Look into Avon. Their corporate charity is almost exclusively breast cancer research linked.
Delia
The Karen Handel entity looks like a woman who used to be married to a close member of my family. That woman was a horror. She was a bully who excelled at dividing people against each other and riding roughshod over everyone else’s feelings and needs. She almost always got her own way. If you happened to be out in public with her in a setting that called for any sophistication or recognition of other cultures she was sure to embarrass everyone she was with. I can imagine that Handel is much like the woman that I knew. If she’s going to be spending more time with her family I can only pity them.
WereBear (itouch)
@PurpleGirl: Excellent suggestion!
PurpleGirl
@Garbo: Good to know; I like Coldwater Creek and buy from them when I can get things on sale.
JGabriel
I can’t keep SGK’s (and their National Review supporters’) justifications straight anymore. They seem to be pissed that elitist poor women can get breast cancer screenings for free with their abortions, but not mammograms.
Or something.
.
JGabriel
@someguy:
Care ‘n’ Cure.
.
Garbo
@PurpleGirl: I’ll keep reporting back as I hear.
One thing I noticed is that many corps. have a program with Komen that runs for x months. It will be interesting to see if there is a gradual drop-off as these programs run their course and come up for renewal. I don’t expect there to be a mass exodus; too many marketing dollars committed already for FY 2012-13.
JasonF
Don’t get too excited — ReflectedSky @13 is almost certainly right. In corporate speak, a director is someone different from (and typically a level or two below) a Vice President. This is probably someone who is going to report directly to Handel — probably, as ReflectedSky suggests, because the previous holder of this position told Komen and Handel to go fuck themselves.
ReflectedSky
@Soonergrunt: Thanks for releasing me. You’re probably right about that. But I think people chanting for Handel’s head aren’t going to get their wish right away. I also agree with whoever said that they’re going to try to keep going with this stuff as soon as the heat is off — so let’s not turn it down.
Yutsano
@Soonergrunt:
First comment is always modererated until cleared by an FPer. Since you were around to handle matters, that happened pretty quickly in this case.
Rawk Chawk
@abo gato:
Then quit and workout somewhere else. God forbid there be too much lovey dovey shit in the world.
pseudonymous in nc
@JasonF:
Mollie Williams was a Managing Director, so I’m guessing the corporate ladder goes SVP – Managing Director – Director. Still, it suggests that there are probably other people who quit over the decision.
dmbeaster
Speculation – Komen as a corporate charity would have preferred to steer clear of divisive issues like abortion, which explains its past position re Curves.
However, the Republicans have made it difficult to stay neutral on the question for right wing organizations. The whole assault on Planned Parenthood required Komen to take a position regarding it.
Komen buttressed itself for the issue with the Handel hire and others (Fleischer), but even then, took the corporate weaselly route of blaming its change in policy on the “investigations.” I suspect that con job had as much to do with selling the hard right position within Komen as maintaining the phony outside posture of not being blatantly partisan.
What Komen does in the future is a direct assessment by its management on what it must do to minimize its harm to its brand (from both sides of the political spectrum). Expect more corporate weaseliness, and no clear direction one way or the other.
Kathy in St. Louis
Karen Handel doesn’t seem to have a really big family to spend her time with. She and her husband of more than 20 years have no children. No, her reproductive life isn’t blessed with issue. No,she did not, apparently, choose to share her home with adopted children, or foster children. Instead, she’s spent her entire public career minding OUR reproductive issues.
I have run across this more than once in my lifetime. The very people who demand that others have children, whether wanted or not, whether affordable by the family or not, whether a mental or emotional strain on a family…have many times had no children of their own or shared their lives with children.
Perhaps she can go back to her spot as president of the North Fulton County Chamber of Commerce, or return to college to get that degree she never earned.
What a huge pain in the ass this babe is.
sherparick
This most recent kerfuffle with SGKRC and now the Chrysler Ad is a reminder that despite Movement Conservatives state how much they love America and want to preserve its institutions, they really are willing to destroy all sorts institutions and ruin millions of people’s lives to promote their ideas. They say they are about “Freedom,” but it is they who want the Government to be able to arrest without warrant, hold people indefinitely without trial, to suppress Free Speech, etc.
I am grateful for the Republican Primaries, the SGKRC Kerfuffle, and the recent screed from the Bishops of my Church, echoed by Hail Mary’s from the chief Republicans, as they once more commit indulge in the sin of pride on the Contraception issue, and claim that it is a necessary condition of their Religious Freedom to be able to bully women and Gays regarding their social and civil rights. Its been a great education to millions of people what jerks they are.
sherparick
Having gotten off my rant against Repthugs, I do take askance at couple of ways this thread is going. I admit I come here to indulge my own tribalism. Nothing like that feeling of superiority over those “jerks.” The fact that Handel and her husband are childless is really irrelevant to her being a jerk. It may be well a sad, tragic thing that is appropriately their secret. And I have some sense of this from personal experience.
And, although I can never really feel sorry for a narcissistic cretin like El Rusho, really, using his poor manners to return us all to high school cool kids making fun of the socially awkward actually makes us kind of stupid. Olberman unfortunately has never really gotten out of high school, hence his weakness for this stuff and his frequent mysogny.
Kathy in St. Louis
@sherparick: Let me say, respectfully, that I don’t agree that her childlessness has nothing to do with this matter. In point of fact, I think it has a lot to do with it.
Thiks is like having a dog or cat as a pet. This is about raising human beings. I have no problem with people who have lots of pets, though I’m not pet owner. However, I wouldn’t dream of telling others that they have to have a cat or a dog, or a gerbil. I think it’s entirely optional for all people. And I’mnot asking others to buy a pet when I don’t own any. I don’t see a lot of difference. If this woman has such a deep and abiding love for children that she expects others to have them, wanted or not, then she should, at the least, take a couple into her home and share her life with them. It’s like men who shoot their mouths off about birth control and abortion. Since they have no skin in the game, they need to tread very softly. This lady will never be accused of treading softly. She has a real political agenda here and she pushed it to disatrous lengths.