http://www.idahovaluesalliance.com/news.asp?id=729

My dad sent me the link to the podcast from the hour of the G Gordon Liddy Show.

It's fucking unbelievable. I mean, you would never, EVER, EVER expect to hear this shit ever.

If anybody is interested in the pod cast, I'll email it to you. It's almost to the point where you have to hear it for yourself.

The one phone call, the guy calls up, and says he wants to fund abortions only for black babies. Says that he faces troubles with affirmative action, and that "the less African kids out there the better." The receptionist chuckles and says, "Understandable, understandable." Later she says, "This is the first time she's had a call like this, and I'm excited."

Just unbelievable shit...

Hah, this is making national news?

First of all, the Idaho Values Alliance doesn't exactly consist of the sharpest tools in the shed.

Second, the words of one specific employee of Planned Parenthood condemn the entire organization?

Also, here's an editorial by the Idaho Statesman (and y'know, the same newspaper who's on a "witch-hunt" against Larry Craig) that takes a much more tempered approach.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/editorial ... 09946.html

Our View: Stick to your values even when money is on the line
PLANNED PARENTHOOD

- Idaho Statesman
Edition Date: 02/29/08

Planned Parenthood of Idaho was set up to be embarrassed and it worked. Deceptive tactics were used to smear the pro-choice group, which is why critics should tone down the opportunistic bashing, but the organization deserves the black eye it wears today.

We hope Planned Parenthood reacts by providing better training for employees and being clear about its political motives and social objectives to the community.

This incident should remind us all of the importance of standing up for our values, even though it might cost donations, clients or customers.

The Advocate, a right-to-life student magazine at the University of California Los Angeles, coerced a Planned Parenthood employee to appear as though she supported racism during a tape-recorded sting.

Autumn Kersey, vice president of development and marketing for Planned Parenthood of Idaho, took a phone call in July from an actor pretending to be a donor. He said he wanted his money used to eliminate black unborn children because "the less black kids out there the better."

Kersey replied: "Understandable, understandable. ... Excuse my hesitation, this is the first time I've had a donor call and make this kind of request, so I'm excited and want to make sure I don't leave anything out."

The student activists are using the incident to publicly discredit Planned Parenthood, saying it targets minorities for abortions. We don't believe that's true but the portion of the recorded conversation provided by The Advocate is damaging.

Planned Parenthood officials apologized Wednesday, a day after the audio's release. The group called the employee's actions a "serious mistake" and "firmly and unequivocally" denounced racial bias.

This immediate public apology is a good first step, but Planned Parenthood needs to change the way it communicates in this age of technology. CEO Rebecca Poedy recognizes that.

"Our plan is to absolutely make sure this never happens again,'' she said Thursday. "We have to do a better job of training our staff.''

Poedy said she first learned of the phone call in July because Kersey filled out an incident report, which is protocol when an employee suspects foul play. Neither expected this blowup to happen months later.

"We are now becoming more aware of overt security threats to us,'' Poedy said. "This is not Planned Parenthood. We are here to help all men and women, and we do not target by race.''

Poedy said she will consult with a nationally known sensitivity trainer, among other tactics. She promises to share her new communication strategies with donors and the community.

Kersey, who Poedy said has been an excellent employee, has been suspended. If Poedy is accurate about Kersey's talents, then clearly Kersey wasn't prepared for the phone call she faced.

We do not excuse Kersey's comments, but we can appreciate her dilemma. Sometimes it is easy to go along with a customer or client. It takes courage to disagree because often companies (for profit or not) are so hungry for money that compromising principle is a small price to pay for cash flow.

You can tell by listening that Kersey was caught in a trap because her laugh was nervous, not boisterous. She wasn't confident about how to react - so she reacted wrongly.

That's a lesson for anyone who picks up an office phone. Be professional and courteous but don't be afraid to disagree. Don't allow people to continue making offensive remarks. Don't behave in a way that puts your company in an uncomfortable position. Stand up for your values, even though that might seem costly. You never know who's listening.

"Our View" is the editorial position of the Idaho Statesman. It is an unsigned opinion expressing the consensus of the Statesman's editorial board.

GH: Would you like the MP3, if you want, PM me your email and I'll send the audio so you can judge for yourself? I would contend that she had no qualms, and was confident about what she said.

Also, this was done by a group in 7 different states, and in seven different states they had similar results.

I run a hotline. It's so hard to find decent people to man the phones.

If anything is to be learned from this, it is that all call centers should be outsourced to India. I doubt they have issues with uncourteous or unrpofessional operators. Hell, most of them probably have college degrees and are highly over qualified.

I've already heard it. I tend to agree with the Statesman's interpretation.

Care to link us to the results of the other six states?

Here's a link from basically the same thing in Ohio..

http://www.crosswalk.com/news/11569540/

If you know a way for me to link a 1 hour long MP3...

After listening and reading I tend to think she was put in a strange position and used some poor wording. As far as excepting money from someone who wants their money to go specifically towards a minority group...I really don't see the problem with it. Regardless of the source of the donations...they still need to raise money. It's not like planned parenthood takes the money from this guy and hires a group of mercenaries to kidnapp a pregnant black woman off the street and force her to have an abortion. Black woman want to get abortions...planned parenthood needs donations to fund them...who cares what kind of scumbags they get the money from

I guess what really rubs me wrong about this is that not only was this a setup, but it was a setup by a group with a clear agenda against Planned Parenthood. Maybe I'd take a more scientific approach more seriously.

Did the group send the money or did they setup planned parenthood AND renig on their pledge?

i thought journalists had to identify themselves to use things on the record? i should be more well-read in journalistic practices, but what am i missing here?

What was the point of this anyhow? It doesn't show that Planned Parenthood is racist. It shows that they don't train their phone operators for every stupid, jackass thing that people will say.

exactly

Okay, let me see if I understand this.

Planned Parenthood is a not-for profit, and relies heavily on donations.

Someone calls a Planned Parenthood office. And SETS UP a FAKE phonecall to someone unsuspecting, and catches them off guard.

They come out with something completely absurd ("I wanna pay for a black abortion so my kid has a better shot at getting into college?!!"), and because the PP representative (who is no doubt under the standard amount of pressure to provide the best customer service possible), gets caught off guard and laughs NERVOUSLY, now the whole organization is racist?!!?


Fuck that bullshit. Why is this news? Oh, I guess cause people like LW will jump on the bandwagon and give them WORSE of a hard time. (As if being shouted at and having shit thrown at them just for showing up to work every day isn't enough).

I know someone who works as a counselor for PP. They have to go through shit you and I never have to deal with just to do their jobs every day. Fuck.

The woman was just pandering to her audience, she should be a politician.

She wasn't laughing NERVOUSLY. She was laughing EXCITEDLY.

Obviously NONE of you have heard these phone calls. They are disgusting. Amazing too. None of you are even interested in hearing them.

excitedly serious or excitedly like "wow, i've never had to deal with a racist like you before"? it's kind of hard to tell just by listening, isn't it? anyway, send it over to me.

PM your email address. The file is 6.3MB.