The Frustrated Bunny

Technology. Science. Politics. Geek. Etc.

Tagged: charity

Politics

Evidence mounts of political motivation behind Komen’s defunding of Planned Parenthood

In case you had doubts as to whether or not Komen for the Cure’s withdrawal of funding from Planned Parenthood was motivated by far-right social politics, add this to the evidence: Around the same time as the funding policy update was being rolled out late last year,  Komen released a statement (PDF) emphasizing that it does not and has never provided funding for cancer research using embryonic stem cells. The statement says that Komen will only fund researching using stem cells “derived without creating a human embryo or destroying a human embryo.” While embryonic stem cell research may or may...

Politics

That awkward moment when Komen for the Cure pulls funding from one of the largest providers of breast cancer screenings

In case you missed it, Susan G. Komen for the Cure has halted its partnership with Planned Parenthood, citing a change in their grant eligibility policies. Since 2005, Komen has provided grants to Planned Parenthood affiliates to fund breast screenings and mammograms for low-income and uninsured women. From the looks of things, here’s how it went down: Komen very recently instituted a new policy that prohibits them from providing funding to organizations under federal/state/local investigation. As far as I can tell, this happened AFTER Republicans in Congress launched a VERY politically-motivated “investigation” into whether Planned Parenthood used federal funds for...

Random

Disaster relief donations: Stretching your donation dollar

Donations toward disaster relief following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan are much lower so far than they have been for recent, comparable catastrophes like the earthquake in Haiti and Hurricane Katrina. According to CNN, four-day donation totals for Japanese relief are approximately $25 million, compared to $150 million for Haiti and $108 for Hurricane Katrina. Several explanations have been offered for this, including so-called “disaster fatigue,” where people who would ordinarily give feel tapped out from all of the major disasters that have happened around the world in the last few years. The CNN article also provides other hypotheses...

. / Personal / Random

Why I will never donate my hair to Locks of Love (or anyone else)

As someone with very long hair, it’s a guarantee that at least a few times each year someone will say to me, “You have such pretty long hair! You should donate it to Locks of Love!” The juxtaposition of these two statements never fails to make me boggle a bit. You think my hair is pretty, so you think I should cut it? Ok, ok…I know that’s not what they mean, but how is that any different than me walking up to a person and telling them, “That’s a really pretty dress! You should donate it to Goodwill!” Either way,...