Friday, February 3, 2012

Meegan for the Cure


Goldberg clearly disapproves of the decision. Though I'm pro-choice, I don't share the outrage that was roiling my Twitter feed this morning. It is, as Josh Barro noted, absurd to pretend that abortion is somehow incidental to Planned Parenthood's services, and since money is fungible, giving them money is probably helping to fund abortion provision. Since I think this is a very tough issue on which reasonable people can disagree, I can see why the federal government, and private foundations, would decline to fund their operations.





Today:



Stay tuned for the reactions of the Atlantic's senior editor who writes about business and economics. And yes, this is why there is a "the schaden freudes itself" tag.
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40 comments:

Jennifer said...

Too late... the bond of trust has been broken. And although is was suspected, people have seen behind the curtain of SGK.

Jennifer said...

They also left out that SGK did not cut funding to Penn State.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

More than anything, she's Pro-Megan McArdle.


The reversal seems to be kind of a non-reversal reversal.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

I was thinking of including that link, Jennifer, but went with the spare post.

Here's the Penn St. link, for lonk-lookers.
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Anonymous said...

Money may be fungible, but program funding is not. They gave money to Planned Parenthood to provide a specific service to a particular group of women, and unless she's got evidence that planned parenthood was using that money for abortions, or will now continue to provide those screening services even without the SGK, she should be appalled by their decision.

They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but I wish McArdle knew enough about how economics works to actually be dangerous.

Jennifer said...

The reversal seems to be kind of a non-reversal reversal.

Exactly.

We're reversing, but we're still not going to fund them next year.

I liked the person who had the idea that all PP donations that were going to be made due to Komen's "new path", should be made in Karen Handel's name... so she'd get a note thanking her for the each donation. :)

TruculentandUnreliable said...

Oh fucking please. If you don't give a fuck about access, you might as well be "pro-life".

It is, as Josh Barro noted, absurd to pretend that abortion is somehow incidental to Planned Parenthood's services

BZZZZZT! WRONG. Abortions only compose 3% of Planned Parenthood's services. Nobody's "pretend"ing that they're "incidental", but they are saying that they're a SMALL portion of the health services provided--services that are vital to the health and well-being (and, in some cases, survival) of poor and uninsured women.

As usual, McArdle shows her fucking privilege. In more rural areas, most Planned Parenthoods do not provide abortion services, or only provide them on a weekly or monthly basis. I'd call that "incidental".

fish said...

MM is one of the truly aggravating examples of shit rising to the top.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

I had heard before that Komen was one of the less-effective aggregators of donations, with regard to the amount they retained as overhead and processing or shipping fees or whatever they thought they could get away with, but it was always very tippy-toed around. They had excelled at inoculating themselves against criticism.

At least that's over, and people are openly discussing how little of money donated to SGK actually gets where the donors want it to go.

fish said...

Ironic isn't it that SGK is a darling of the Republicans with its horribly high overhead costs, while gov programs that distribute >90% of allocated funds are horribly wasteful. It is almost like they aren't really interested in facts.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Excellent quote from ginandtacos:

the Susan G. Komen Foundation is a marketing consultancy masquerading as a charity,

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

It is almost like they aren't really interested in facts.

NO!


(this is my shocked face, too)

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Good point fish.

I wonder if we could make up a story involving animals to illustrate it?
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Hamish Mack said...

No one would try to use animals like that.

Jennifer said...

Ironic isn't it that SGK is a darling of the Republicans with its horribly high overhead costs, while gov programs that distribute >90% of allocated funds are horribly wasteful. It is almost like they aren't really interested in facts.

They also don't like anyone else trying to take over any of their turf. They don't seem to care about more people spreading awareness, etc, as they do controlling their domain.

"You want to start a charity for cancer?? We'll run you out of town."

Jennifer said...

I hate her so much.

I wish I could 'unfollow', and unread, that link.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Whatcha mean, zrm? MEEGAN knows all about statisticalmentation:

McMegan

Just now in reply to Kai Jones

It is virtually certain that the folks on your Twitter feed and Livejournal are not, by any reasonable usage of the word, "ordinary". The average of a very select group is not the average of the nation.

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Jennifer said...

godDAMNit, I am selling out and starting to tell rightwing lies too. It's more lucrative than actually DOING something, not to mention FUCKLOADS easier.

Grizzled pretty much said the same thing the other day. Perhaps you can join forces. Dicks R Us.

Jennifer said...

OT: My time machine found a photo of you, thundra. :)

Susan of Texas said...

It would be so easy to be a wingnut. All McArdle has to do is make up shit and keep repeating it, while calling liberals names.

Smut Clyde said...

They also don't like anyone else trying to take over any of their turf

You left out the "astro".

I see that SGK can recover their annual grants to PP ("between $500,000 and $700,000") simply by sacking their CEO, who receives that much as annual salary.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

It will probably come to this.

Jennifer said...

NO!! I've had it and never want to have it again... even if it's en vogue!

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

In doing so, he placed himself on the vanguard of the re-squirreling of the American diet.

We're not suggesting that zrm has issues...
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TruculentandUnreliable said...

Sorry, Jennifer. :/

godDAMNit, I am selling out and starting to tell rightwing lies too.

Dude, I would do so in a hot minute if it weren't for this pesky conscience of mine.

Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

I have no original Megan-bashing in my holster. I can only say this...has anyone but me noticed that she has pointy ears and she looks like a big elf? It's why I call her..."Big Elf"

Yay for ad hominem attacks!

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

vs, Giant Elf libel goes way back.

Back into time...
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zombie rotten mcdonald said...

I was under the impression that elves were attractive....

Substance McGravitas said...

Sooooo...what's the next job Megan will get? Post? Times? CNN show?

M. Bouffant said...

I was under the impression that elves were attractive....
Liv Tyler is not a real elf.
Yet Thunder, we see, is quite a troll.

(Hmm ... the Internets are a fairy story.)

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

Ironic isn't it that SGK is a darling of the Republicans with its horribly high overhead costs, while gov programs that distribute >90% of allocated funds are horribly wasteful. It is almost like they aren't really interested in facts.

Any program which doesn't allow a well-heeled sociopath to skim money from is a waste to the GOPers.

Is it deliberate? Or is she really that dumb?

Yes.

Smut Clyde said...

money is fungible

I do not think she understands the concept of 'fungible'. She seems to think that the absence of individual banknotes to trace means that 'money is infinitely launderable'.

If only someone were to invent a way of tracking money donated for a specific purpose, and ensure that the donation was not misused to free up some other money for some other purpose. They could call it "accounting".

Susan of Texas said...

Oh god that is so funny. She acts as if nobody could look up the world fungible or understand it if they did. So she tells me I don't understand fungibility and then ignores any evidence that I might, possibly, be able to figure it out.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

"Fungible" came from Rep. Cliff Stearns' original announcement.

“Although Planned Parenthood is barred from using federal funds to perform abortions, these funds are fungible and allow the group to use funds from other sources ostensibly for abortions,” Stearns said in a statement. “Also, with a national debt exceeding $14 trillion, funding of Planned Parenthood should be evaluated with other expenditures to reduce the deficit,” he added.

Typical wingnut bloody-shirt waving. We've got a $14 trillion dollar deficit thanks to wars, tax cuts, Medicare Part D, and deregulation-bust-bailouts. Stearns has been a gooper Rep. for 12 terms. I'm guessing he voted for all of that.
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Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

Well, I was going to say something else here and forgot it.

Good day, Sir.

mikey said...

Oh, I'm pretty sure Megan is ALL about getting a teevee show. I mean, that's gotta be the goal - compared to the readership of The Atlantic, people who watch cable teevee are nearly perfect rubes, totally unable to form independent opinions and desperately seeking anyone who will validate the delusions they cling so tightly to...

Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

Oh, I remember now: Liv Tyler totally made me gay for lady-elves. "Lelves" I believe they're called.

Smut Clyde said...

"Fungible" came from Rep. Cliff Stearns' original announcement.

I am SHOCKED that an "economics blogger" would mindlessly repeat a stupid misuse of a technical term just because the original stupid misuser was a Republican politician.
Shocked? I meant to say 'socked'.

Jim H. said...

It comes out that Karen Handel, ex-candidate for Governor of the Greatish State of Georgia on the pro-life, anti-abortion, specifically anti-Planned Parenthood Republican Party ticket, maneuvered this whole gig specifically to get rid of PP without its seeming political.

Whodathunkit?

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

one for thundra.