Discussion of the donation to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

since when did I have to come to world of woot section to discuss a product they are selling?

This isn't the proper place for the discussion. It needs to be out in the open with the rest of the discussion of the product being offered, as it is part of the product.

But, since the opportunity is here.

Susan G. Komen donates to Planned Parenthood to support abortion.

http://www.lifeissues.org/abortionbreastcancer/komen/fact_sheet.pdf

Woot is censoring this issue on the main discussion, and I would suggest taking your business elsewhere.

Also, go see 180movie.com, it will change your life.

Sincerely,
A former woot customer.

My beef: Susan G. Komen Foundation Elbows Out Charities Over Use Of The Word 'Cure'.

Riiiight. So Susan G. Komen foundation's purpose for donating to Planned Parenthood is ABORTION. Not for exams or anything.

Really? You have to make abortion the central issue here? Susan G. Komen foundation provides money to fight breast cancer. Planned Parenthood does WAY more than that, and without them many women wouldn't get basic health care, OR basic pre-natal care. Planned Parenthood isn't all about abortion, and neither is the Komen Foundation.

tomf80 wrote:This isn't the proper place for the discussion. It needs to be out in the open with the rest of the discussion of the product being offered, as it is part of the product.

But, since the opportunity is here.

Susan G. Komen donates to Planned Parenthood to support abortion.

http://www.lifeissues.org/abortionbreastcancer/komen/fact_sheet.pdf

Woot is censoring this issue on the main discussion, and I would suggest taking your business elsewhere.

Also, go see 180movie.com, it will change your life.

Sincerely,
A former woot customer.

The Susan G. Komen Foundation sues other charities that use "for the cure" and its variations under trademark law.

So far, Komen has identified and filed legal trademark oppositions against more than a hundred of these mom and pop charities, including Kites for a Cure, Par for The Cure, Surfing for a Cure and Cupcakes for a Cure--and many of the organizations are too small and underfunded to hold their ground.

Worst charity ever, in my opinion. Read more here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/07/komen-foundation-charities-cure_n_793176.html

Gatzby wrote:Just to preempt any fuss, please make sure you remain respectful of everyone's beliefs when discussing this topic. Please also try your best to stick to the facts.

Please also try not to appear as if you may be trying to stir up controversy with account you created a few minutes ago.

As with any charity, you should take the time to research their cause, their procedures, and things like how much of every dollar goes to supporting the cause. We're all smart folks here, otherwise we wouldn't be hanging around woot!, so I'd encourage you to bend those smarts to making the decision you think is appropriate. Remember, you are not being forced to buy anything today.

The new account was because I couldn't remember the old one. But, the fact that you won't allow full and open discussion of the product is very unfortunate. You are selling the donation as part of the product, there is no reason to not allow it to be discussed. I realize you are about profit, but I thought you had some decency still.

I (tomf80) didn't mean to start trouble, but wanted people to be aware of what they were supporting if they participate in this woot.

To be honest, woot would probably be better off if they stayed out of the donation business altogether. Hopefully in the future you will do this. But, for now, it seems on the forum that many are now upset due to your censoring open discussion of the product. And, moving this discussion to a forum no one looks at is still censorship.

I had something mean, and immediately regretted writing it. I just like how Woot! was a place I could escape politics and lifestyle bashing, and just talk about Banjos of Consternation and Roombas and stuff....

My Deepest Apologies,
-Matt

dbuggr wrote:Riiiight. So Susan G. Komen foundation's purpose for donating to Planned Parenthood is ABORTION. Not for exams or anything.

Really? You have to make abortion the central issue here? Susan G. Komen foundation provides money to fight breast cancer. Planned Parenthood does WAY more than that, and without them many women wouldn't get basic health care, OR basic pre-natal care. Planned Parenthood isn't all about abortion, and neither is the Komen Foundation.

If they only did the other things but didn't do abortion, I would have no problem with them. So, yes, abortion must be the central issue in regards to them. Well, unless you would rather we go into their history of eugenics that started with their founder who wanted to kill off anyone who wasn't good enough for her utopian society. Look up Margaret Sanger for more on that one though.

Gatzby wrote:It may be a bit better received when it doesn't look like political trolling. We're mostly asking you to please be careful about putting words in anyone's mouth and starting a flamewar.

Try to remember that just because you believe something to be true doesn't necessarily mean it is (or isn't, of course) and realize there may be better places to discuss certain topics than a thread dedicated to Bucky Balls.

The problem is that the thread isn't dedicated to Bucky Balls, it is dedicated to discussion of the product offered, which is Bucky Balls and a $3 donation to Komen foundation. I am discussing the less favorable aspect of the product.

Edit: For what it is worth, based on only posts that haven't yet been deleted, almost half of the woot commenting community agrees with me. This is part of the product and should be discussed with the product or the donation shouldn't be included as the product.

Gatzby wrote:It may be a bit better received when it doesn't look like political trolling. We're mostly asking you to please be careful about putting words in anyone's mouth and starting a flamewar.

Try to remember that just because you believe something to be true doesn't necessarily mean it is (or isn't, of course) and realize there may be better places to discuss certain topics than a thread dedicated to Bucky Balls.

It isn't a thread dedicated to "Bucky Balls."

It is a thread dedicated to "Pink Buckyballs 2-Pack with The Big Book of Bucky & $3.00 Susan G. Komen Donation"

See the important distinction there?

chris12345 wrote:My beef: Susan G. Komen Foundation Elbows Out Charities Over Use Of The Word 'Cure'.

another good article from a few years ago:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2009/10/04/sick_of_pink/

As someone who lost both her mother and grandmother to small cell lung cancer/brain cancer, I've come to dread October. People need to realize that we need to fund the fight of ALL cancers. I'm boycotting my local Vons as well this month, because they decided that every time someone donates to breast cancer they'll get on the intercom to make a perky announcement about it, in addition to the inundation of everything pink around the store. I'm not against fighting any kind of disease or supporting those who are suffering, nor am I against fund raising for finding a way to make cancer curable. Its just time for people to stand up against the manner in which so many facets of our society are doing so. People are aware, we get it, now take it down a level and do something right and positive with those funds. /rant

SCMatherly wrote:another good article from a few years ago:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2009/10/04/sick_of_pink/

As someone who lost both her mother and grandmother to small cell lung cancer/brain cancer, I've come to dread October. People need to realize that we need to fund the fight of ALL cancers. I'm boycotting my local Vons as well this month, because they decided that every time someone donates to breast cancer they'll get on the intercom to make a perky announcement about it, in addition to the inundation of everything pink around the store. I'm not against fighting any kind of disease or supporting those who are suffering, nor am I against fund raising for finding a way to make cancer curable. Its just time for people to stand up against the manner in which so many facets of our society are doing so. People are aware, we get it, now take it down a level and do something right and positive with those funds. /rant

I'm sorry for your loss, and I agree with your rant. I don't see that cancer needs "awareness" instead it needs treatment and a cure.

I would not contribute $3 to the abortion-funding organization called Susan G. Komen. Therefore, I will not buy any Buckyballs, even though I like the pink color, and already own 3 other colors.

Although contributing to a charity might seem like a great idea on the surface, I think Woot should do some of their own Googling, and find organizations who contribute 90-95% of the funds directly towards the people who are to receive the help. Not contributing towards the death of babies, nor funding the perpetuation of their own organization.

P.S. I was diagnosed with a very rare form of endometrial cancer. Who is researching that? No one. It's too rare! No clinical trials.

Personally, I probably would have cared more to buy this and donate if Woot had done the same thing for Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

Why not just scrap the idea and offer a pink colored Buckyball that doesn't pop up often, and keep the political out of it? These might be cool to mix and match, little kids love bright colors.

As for supporting abortion, I don't care as long as they are up front about it. That is up to the people donating. BUT!! They have to be upfront and say "We put money into this" not just "Support the cause, and if you don't you hate women!!" which is what happens, especially this month.

I am not buying this in protest. If I buy this money will go directly to the United States government which is an organization that supports and funds abortion. That's why I don't buy anything at all legally. I only steal things I want now. Do the right thing, steal from your neighbors to prevent the government funding abortion!

If you look close enough at any organization, you'll find that they once did something that you don't completely agree with. That's because most charitable organizations deal with thousands, tens of thousands, or even millions of transactions every single year.

In fact, I bet if I looked into the personal history of each person ranting against the Susan G. Komen Foundation, I'd uncover personal decisions that I don't agree with either. Does it mean that I'm never going to speak to you again? Does it mean that I will boycott your very existence?

No.

You should get over yourselves. Not all decisions warrant such extreme scrutiny.

And, seriously, you're arguing over a $3 donation.

Do you realize that you have all personally been responsible for more than $3 in donations to religions you don't agree with, governments that you despise, criminals, and drug dealers? It's true. Once you spend $1, you have no control over where it goes. Employees and vendors of businesses you patronize have paid money to all sorts of other organizations and people that you strongly oppose. So, is the solution to stop spending money all together?

Yep, that must be the solution. Hoard it all. That way, you can be absolutely sure that evil doers don't get any of it.

I too, am disappointed in Woot for choosing the Komen foundation, as I'm disappointed with every business that blindly goes pink for these people. I wish Woot would have sought input from its members/customers before doing this. IMO, Komen is an organization made up of bullies who have lost their way. I experienced that last week when their mean princess in pink told my Big Brothers Big Sisters group to leave an event because, "This is a Komen event." (We were specifically invited by the organizer to participate.) Komen hurt my Little Sis and all of the other little sisters. There are better breast cancer organizations to support. There are a lot of deadly cancers that need to be fought.

You know, as a matter of fact I also say No to donating money to the Presidential Campaign when doing my taxes. Why you ask? Because I don't believe in it, and that $3 adds up to quite a bit going to an organization that large groups of people don't believe in. So someone needs to get over something, and I am thinking it isn't the people who don't want to give money to a giant money sucking corporation feeding on the pain of others while trying to make millions in profit at the same time.

And if you looked into my personal history, you wouldn't see me crushing other people trying to "help" and that is the keyword, they are trying to HELP others. I would accept them. I also wouldn't be found lying to millions in order to get rich on other peoples lives. So.. yeah. Need to grasp that one is an individual, and one is a giant corporation that millions put money into in order to save lives, and it does not... the difference is there to see.

wclements wrote:If you look close enough at any organization, you'll find that they once did something that you don't completely agree with. That's because most charitable organizations deal with thousands, tens of thousands, or even millions of transactions every single year.

In fact, I bet if I looked into the personal history of each person ranting against the Susan G. Komen Foundation, I'd uncover personal decisions that I don't agree with either. Does it mean that I'm never going to speak to you again? Does it mean that I will boycott your very existence?

No.

You should get over yourselves. Not all decisions warrant such extreme scrutiny.

And, seriously, you're arguing over a $3 donation.

Do you realize that you have all personally been responsible for more than $3 in donations to religions you don't agree with, governments that you despise, criminals, and drug dealers? It's true. Once you spend $1, you have no control over where it goes. Employees and vendors of businesses you patronize have paid money to all sorts of other organizations and people that you strongly oppose. So, is the solution to stop spending money all together?

Yep, that must be the solution. Hoard it all. That way, you can be absolutely sure that evil doers don't get any of it.

geredeth wrote:I also wouldn't be found lying to millions in order to get rich on other peoples lives.

LOL. You just described every major corporation in the world. Will you be boycotting all of them? Step one: disconnect your Internet, as major corporations provide the backbone.

Here's more disturbing news for everyone in this thread:
- Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) received a donation from Amazon.com (source: http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cmte=C00360354&cycle=2012 ).
- Jay Rockefeller voted against banning partial birth abortions, against banning Military base abortions, against minors getting out-of-state abortions, and against notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions. (source: http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/John_Rockefeller.htm )
- Jay Rockefeller's voting record suggests a strong pro-choice bias.
- Woot.com is owned by Amazon.com.

So, then, I can only assume that the people in this thread complaining about abortion will be boycotting Amazon, Woot, Audible, Zappos, IMDb, and all other businesses that Amazon has an interest in? Good luck with that.

SCMatherly wrote:I'm not against fighting any kind of disease or supporting those who are suffering, nor am I against fund raising for finding a way to make cancer curable. Its just time for people to stand up against the manner in which so many facets of our society are doing so.

Thank you. I often fail at tactfully making that point, and get berated for it when in poorer company.

fiasco wrote:If they only did the other things but didn't do abortion, I would have no problem with them. So, yes, abortion must be the central issue in regards to them. Well, unless you would rather we go into their history of eugenics that started with their founder who wanted to kill off anyone who wasn't good enough for her utopian society. Look up Margaret Sanger for more on that one though.

Just to clarify, Sanger was opposed to abortion. That's why she advocated birth control - so that abortion was never necessary. It wasn't until after she died in the 1960s that abortion was lumped under the contraception umbrella. Her support of eugenics is pretty disgusting, however.

Komen claims that they allow their affiliates to donate money to Planned Parenthood because in some impoverished neighborhoods, PP is the only way for some women to get screening. This may be true or it may be spin, but to each their own - it's your money! I do agree that Komen could have offered to allow smaller charities to operate as an affiliate under them instead of sending in the lawyers.

My aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and is now a survivor. If anything, I'll be donating my "pink" dollars to The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing, which covers all cancers and provided free services for my aunt over the course of her treatment and recovery. It is a small local foundation in which Dempsey and his family are heavily and personally involved.

At the very least, we can give the benefit of the doubt to those who choose to donate. There are a lot of women who would publicly say that the Komen Foundation made a positive impact on their life.

P.S. Almost everything we do probably directly or indirectly affects a life, new, old or otherwise. If you've ever been vaccinated, you should know that there is a movement out there that says you've been vaccinated with something that contains aborted fetal cell lines, and that you should find vaccines that are ethically engineered (which of course are rare and most doctors do not carry). Just sayin'.

The reason I hate Susan G. Komen is because out of all the charities out there they spend the most donation dollars on advertising, marketing, and a legal team and the least amount of money (percentage wise) on actual research, education, and prevention. Isn't the point of donating to make sure money goes towards finding and preventing breast cancer? Then why aren't they actually DOING that?

In 2010 they took in $135 million dollars and out of that only granted $10,000 to low-income individuals who needed the money for treatment, one of the thing they proudly exclaim they do for the community. Absolutely disgraceful.

I'm not saying all charities are bad. There are many great cancer charities out there. Susan G. Komen is NOT one of them. I purposefully NEVER buy anything their logo is on. If it means I go without the item, so be it.

chris12345 wrote:My beef: Susan G. Komen Foundation Elbows Out Charities Over Use Of The Word 'Cure'.

I concur. When we have charities taking the time to sue each other, I begin to doubt their purpose. I mean is raising money more important than where it goes? How about a $1 licensing agreement... As a former participant in 'Jump for the Cure' I donate, but not at their events.

Gatzby wrote:Just to preempt any fuss, please make sure you remain respectful of everyone's beliefs when discussing this topic. Please also try your best to stick to the facts.

Lol. You want me to be respectful of other people's beliefs while I am restricted to sharing facts?

Besides, it very clearly states in the Bible that pink magnets are the first sign of the apocalypse. Repent! Repent!

srladow wrote:Just to clarify, Sanger was opposed to abortion. That's why she advocated birth control - so that abortion was never necessary. It wasn't until after she died in the 1960s that abortion was lumped under the contraception umbrella. Her support of eugenics is pretty disgusting, however.

Komen claims that they allow their affiliates to donate money to Planned Parenthood because in some impoverished neighborhoods, PP is the only way for some women to get screening. This may be true or it may be spin, but to each their own - it's your money! I do agree that Komen could have offered to allow smaller charities to operate as an affiliate under them instead of sending in the lawyers.

My aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and is now a survivor. If anything, I'll be donating my "pink" dollars to The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing, which covers all cancers and provided free services for my aunt over the course of her treatment and recovery. It is a small local foundation in which Dempsey and his family are heavily and personally involved.

At the very least, we can give the benefit of the doubt to those who choose to donate. There are a lot of women who would publicly say that the Komen Foundation made a positive impact on their life.

P.S. Almost everything we do probably directly or indirectly affects a life, new, old or otherwise. If you've ever been vaccinated, you should know that there is a movement out there that says you've been vaccinated with something that contains aborted fetal cell lines, and that you should find vaccines that are ethically engineered (which of course are rare and most doctors do not carry). Just sayin'.

"The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it."
Margaret Sanger, Women and the New Race
(Eugenics Publ. Co., 1920, 1923) http://www.dianedew.com/sanger.htm

That doesn't sound like opposed to abortion to me.

quantamm wrote:Lol. You want me to be respectful of other people's beliefs while I am restricted to sharing facts?

Besides, it very clearly states in the Bible that pink magnets are the first sign of the apocalypse. Repent! Repent!

You sir, have won the day!

If you are concerned/curious about how donations to a particular non-profit are spent, check out the organization on Charity Navigator:

http://www.charitynavigator.org

The site provides information on revenue use, executive salaries, administration costs, etc.

Here is the Charity Navigator site for Susan G. Komen for the Cure:

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4509

sandbar67 wrote:The Susan G. Komen Foundation sues other charities that use "for the cure" and its variations under trademark law.

Sounds like Robert Smith and his bandmates in the band "The Cure" (formed 1976) need to sue the Susan G. Komen foundation (formed 1982).

tomf80 wrote:This isn't the proper place for the discussion. It needs to be out in the open with the rest of the discussion of the product being offered, as it is part of the product.

Wholeheartedly agreed. Woot staff are behaving in an appallingly cowardly fashion on this point.

tomf80 wrote:Susan G. Komen donates to Planned Parenthood to support abortion.

http://www.lifeissues.org/abortionbreastcancer/komen/fact_sheet.pdf

It is fine with me if you oppose abortion, though I vehemently disagree.

It is fine with me if you point out that Komen funds Planned Parenthood and that they enjoy other collaborations. It is fine with me if you choose not to support Komen because of their affiliation with PP.

However, to say that Komen "donates to PP to support abortion" is patently absurd, and not at all supported or even suggested by the document you link to. You undermine your case by writing things that you either know to be false, or should know to be false, for instance, by reading the document you link to.

tomf80 wrote:This isn't the proper place for the discussion. It needs to be out in the open with the rest of the discussion of the product being offered, as it is part of the product.

But, since the opportunity is here.

Susan G. Komen donates to Planned Parenthood to support abortion.

http://www.lifeissues.org/abortionbreastcancer/komen/fact_sheet.pdf

Woot is censoring this issue on the main discussion, and I would suggest taking your business elsewhere.

Also, go see 180movie.com, it will change your life.

Sincerely,
A former woot customer.

former customer? with 0 woots? haha

I find it appalling that they are using funds for legal fees to uphold their exclusive trademark. They should be dedicating these resources to the cure of the disease, not to force other charities to go under.

And just look at the salaries on the top.

rebeltreble wrote:The reason I hate Susan G. Komen is because out of all the charities out there they spend the most donation dollars on advertising, marketing, and a legal team and the least amount of money (percentage wise) on actual research, education, and prevention. Isn't the point of donating to make sure money goes towards finding and preventing breast cancer? Then why aren't they actually DOING that?

In 2010 they took in $135 million dollars and out of that only granted $10,000 to low-income individuals who needed the money for treatment, one of the thing they proudly exclaim they do for the community. Absolutely disgraceful.

I'm not saying all charities are bad. There are many great cancer charities out there. Susan G. Komen is NOT one of them. I purposefully NEVER buy anything their logo is on. If it means I go without the item, so be it.

Please post a link to substantiate this claim. If what you say is verifiable and true, it should be plastered all over the news. But a lot of news outlets (CBS, TV, Radio) are often major major sponsors of the events, so they will get only positive coverage. However, if you use FACTS and have evidence to support such claims, you can't be ignored by everyone forever. Someone must be held accountable.

On: http://ww5.komen.org/uploadedFiles/Content_Binaries/PlannedParenthoodLetter62011.pdf

It says:"...Under no circumstances are Komen funds used to fund abortions or other non-breast services, and any service provider shown to violate those rules would be immediately terminated from the Komen grant program..."


In for one.

I bought the product for a friend at his request (short version: he has a new bank account and no debit card so I proxied for him), not even knowing at first about the donation. He wanted them for a friend who is undergoing treatment for the disease and happens to like Buckyballs, and he was more than happy to donate to the foundation via the Woot.

I am a cancer survivor, though it wasn't breast cancer (it's rare but not impossible for a guy to have BC). I've never gotten too involved with "cancer awareness" groups like the one in the Woot, but I've heard good and bad about this particular foundation. My overall take is: Controversial or not, they get people talking about breast cancer and with that comes discussion on prevention, including self-exams and mammograms. That part at least, I find to be a good thing. Whether my (er, his) $3 will actually do anyone but the foundation members any good...who knows?

One more thing: My girlfriend has lost family to the disease and she is a big supporter of the foundation. She is aware of the controversy yet she sees the bigger picture and believes they do a lot of good for women. I'm not one of those guys who rolls over and says "yes ma'am" to every word out of his mate's mouth, but I do know she's a smart woman and her word on such things is good enough for me.

So, I don't think it's a big deal for me personally to have been a vector for donation. If the Woot physical product linked to the donation had been something I would have been interested in, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it, donation included.

geredeth wrote:Personally, I probably would have cared more to buy this and donate if Woot had done the same thing for Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

Why not just scrap the idea and offer a pink colored Buckyball that doesn't pop up often, and keep the political out of it? These might be cool to mix and match, little kids love bright colors.

As for supporting abortion, I don't care as long as they are up front about it. That is up to the people donating. BUT!! They have to be upfront and say "We put money into this" not just "Support the cause, and if you don't you hate women!!" which is what happens, especially this month.

Or gold last month for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

rexmaximvs wrote:why the forced donation - really an assessment or involuntary tax - to komen? THEY SUPPORT PLANNED PARENTHOOD! no way will i support them!

STAY OUT OF POLITICS and focus on selling products!

http://ww5.komen.org/Content.aspx?id=16162

No, they don't. Part of what Susan G. Komen does is support breast cancer screening programs. It is true that some places that provide other services you don't like also provide breast cancer screening programs. From their PDF, the Komen foundation periodically checks to make sure their funds are only used for breast cancer screening purposes.

So, don't worry, money from Komen is not going to abortions. If you support the Komen goal of fighting breast cancer, the screenings are part of that goal. Many "clinics for poor people" may provide services you disagree with, but the Komen dollars do not go towards those services.

You can cease your boycott now. :-)

OverkillTASF wrote:http://ww5.komen.org/Content.aspx?id=16162

No, they don't. Part of what Susan G. Komen does is support breast cancer screening programs. It is true that some places that provide other services you don't like also provide breast cancer screening programs. From their PDF, the Komen foundation periodically checks to make sure their funds are only used for breast cancer screening purposes.

So, don't worry, money from Komen is not going to abortions. If you support the Komen goal of fighting breast cancer, the screenings are part of that goal. Many "clinics for poor people" may provide services you disagree with, but the Komen dollars do not go towards those services.

You can cease your boycott now. :-)

A lot of people never assumed that Susan G. Komen supported abortion directly. The main issues for me are by donating to one PP-sponsored program they help to free up funds for other programs (i.e. abortions) and that they didn't seem to do their research before any potential partnership. If you help an organization that exerts a lot of effort for something so controversial, don't be surprised when it comes back to bite you.

Also, some studies have found that women who have abortions have a higher risk of breast cancer which is highly counter-intuitive to Susan G. Komen's mission. Of course, I will quickly agree that for every study that shows a potential correlation, there's another that shows no correlation (like everything else in the medical world).

I will continue my boycott. :-)