Hey, You Think Free Enterprise Is Free?

Full disclosure: We here in the marbled halls of IM Central are card carrying members of the XY chromosome club. That being said, we'd like to weigh in on the Susan G Komen, Planned Parenthood brouhaha.

First of all, when you hire a person who hates Planned Parenthood to be your vice president, you shouldn't be surprised when bad things happen to Planned Parenthood. We mean, come on. When she was running for governor of Georgia Karen Handel said:

Handel has made no bones about her anti-abortion -- and anti-Planned Parenthood -- position. In a July 2010 blog post, Handel explained, "since I am pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood ... In fact, state and federal law prohibits the use of taxpayer funds for abortions or abortion related services and I strongly support those laws. Since grants like these are from the state I’ll eliminate them as your next Governor."

OK, so the people of Georgia were smart enough not to elect her, but The Komen Foundation? Apparently not so much. Pay attention ladies.

So according to the Komen people, the real reason they ended their relationship with Planned Parenthood was because they were under investigation:

"Komen spokeswoman Leslie Aun said the cutoff results from the charity's newly adopted criteria barring grants to organizations that are under investigation by local, state or federal authorities. According to Komen, this applies to Planned Parenthood because it's the focus of an inquiry launched by Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., seeking to determine whether public money was improperly spent on abortions."

OK Susan, may we call you Susan? How about Bank of America, also under investigation. Last time we checked it was still all Chamomile tea and cranberry scones out in the sun parlor between you two. Oh, and would that be the same Bank of America that made donations to Planned Parenthood? Why yes, yes it would.

So what's the real story here? Come on, come clean.

In a statement posted on its website and a video on YouTube late Wednesday, Komen said its action had been "mischaracterized" so the organization needed to "set the record straight."
In the video, Nancy G. Brinker, who founded and leads the organization, said that the decision was made as part of a broad effort to use donations more efficiently.

Efficiency huh? Well, hard to argue with that, we mean it is a business and all, costs and whatnot, so you've got to...wait a minute...wait just a minute...this is brilliant...this is...oh man, business colleges all over the country will be studying this for years.

Look, the Komen foundation's product is breast cancer right? No breast cancer, no need for Komen. So the board looks down the road and asks itself, how can we preserve market viability? Well, one way to do that is to make sure breast cancer stays around and what better way to do that than to make sure the women who are most likely to get it anyway because they are poor and lack basic healthcare are given some...erm...how to say this politely...extra challenges to overcome thus ensuring an ongoing supply of customers and a continuing need for pink  runs, walks, days, teas, bake sales, whatever.

Now that's the entrepreneurial spirit right there. That's the return to the belief in free enterprise all the republican candidates are saying we've lost in this country. America is back baby!