A Much More Fitting Apology for Quran Burnings in Afghanistan

President Obama recently apologized to President Karzai of Afghanistan for our military, whose soldiers burned copies of the Quran that contained secret messages- messages covertly being passed along between captured Taliban. Granted, it's become natural for us to expect calls to violence and murder when fundamentalist Islamic sects perceive any insult to the prophet or his revelations, and even more natural for this president to lay American honor prostrate before a world only too eager to condemn us.

But this apology is much more fitting, I think.

Who's Raping Who, Occupy? Olbermann and Breitbart Duke It Out

Andrew Breitbart doesn't like the Occupy movement.  Keith Olbermann couldn't love it more. These two just can't get along.

I smell a sitcom!

Breitbart has taken issue with the number of sexual indiscretions (just rapes, mostly) that have taken place at Occupy locations, and according to Keith Olbermann's impressive rant here, he's falsely accusing Occupiers as the perpetrators of said crimes rather than properly focusing on the fact that Occupiers are, in many cases, simply victims of the crimes.

I have to say it- and I rarely do- but I agree with Olbermann here. Breitbart's evidence does seem a tad on the inflated side. Tick a point for Olbermann, who all but lost me a couple of years ago when his best argument to prove allegations of racism in the Tea Party was, "How come there ain't no black faces?" Well done, Keith.

Thing is, it seems that Breitbart is working overtime to discredit Occupy. But please, America, for the love of God, Buddha, the ever-expanding cosmos, whatever you believe in, PLEASE stop assuming that it requires hyperbole or slander to discredit the Occupy movement. These guys are shitting on flags, turning beautiful taxpayer-funded parks into sewers, calling for immediate forgiveness of all debt (c'mon, do us a solid, China!) and saying that having a house- that's right, one of those things your parents saved for years to get- is a human right. These people do not "occupy" reality, and they fail to meet the basic levels of reason required to be a human being.

C'mon Andrew, Keith. Can't we just let bygones be bygones and just say that your little feud is pure partisanship, and just all agree that Occupy discredited itself a long time ago?

William Sullivan

The Politics of Breast Cancer Prevention

A Letter Sent to Susan G. Komen for the Cure:

To Whom It May Concern:


I have donated many times to your organization, and I firmly believe in cancer prevention and research. However, I have recently made the decision to end all donation to your organization until such time that I can be certain that my donations will be used specifically for that purpose, and that no portion of my donations will be used for other purposes, particularly by Planned Parenthood. I will urge others to do the same.

I have a deep disagreement with the practices of Planned Parenthood. It is not a matter of being or pro-life or pro-choice. I ask that you consider that it is not simply pro-life groups and individuals that oppose Susan G. Komen providing funding to Planned Parenthood. The morality of the practice of abortion aside, I believe Planned Parenthood preys on vulnerable and impressionable young women, coaxing them into abortions with the skill of used car salesmen. I have heard firsthand accounts of young, conflicted women being frightened by Planned Parenthood employees about the loss of social freedom a child brings, limited career opportunities, cost of diapers, shoes, etc. This is manipulative and unethical, especially given the nature of the emotional and personal choice each of these young women is facing.

Statistics show that the vast majority of Planned Parenthood's revenue generation is created by a business model of selling/providing abortions. The revenue funding this business is not segregated from Planned Parenthood's general account, which is why the group is under federal investigation- accused of using federal dollars from the Treasury to provide for abortions. To demand that all Americans provide, even in the slightest capacity, funding for the controversial practice is unethical, and currently, there is a clear question as to whether it is lawful.

Furthermore, a founding figure of Planned Parenthood was Margaret Sanger. Now, despite the ignorance of your average advocate of Planned Parenthood about this misunderstood figure, I have read much of her work. I know that she advanced the notion of eugenics, supported the sterilization of the racially and genetically "unfit," and the abortion of their children when contraception failed. These are the very ideas that, when put into strict practice, led to the ethnic cleansing of Europe under Nazi Germany. You might be apt to call this hyperbole, as this is all forgotten when one tries to paint Sanger as a "women's rights" figure, but should you feel compelled to do this, I suggest you pick up some copies of her work, and I would challenge anyone to refute the claim. As a women's advocacy group, you should be compelled to educate women about the origins of Planned Parenthood rather than propagating the group for the political benefit it affords you.

That said, I do believe in all Americans' right to donate to Planned Parenthood. Charitable donations are a matter of personal choice. I intend to exercise mine by seeing to it that I do not donate a dime to your organization until you can guarantee donors that funds will be used for specifically the purposes of cancer treatment and prevention.

With the utmost sincerity,

William J. Sullivan II