[ChocChipCookie]

This is a follow-up to the article from Citizen Magazine that was posted a couple of weeks ago. Quite a few Freepers took some pretty nasty swipes at Pampered Chef, consultants like me, and Doris Christopher. It took a lot of courage for Doris to take this step. Not even pro-life shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway have been able to persuade Warren Buffett to cease support of Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion causes. She's a modern day Esther, and I'm so proud to be part of her company. Now all of you can start enjoying your Pampered Chef products without any guilt!

[Don'tMessWithTexas]

I haven't taken swipes Chipper. But I am sure happy that Doris did the right thing. Planned Parenthood also got word that now a majority of women appose abortion. I believe that we may see the demise of the death in my lifetime.

[Congressman Billybob]

Thank you very, very much for posting this. I did not expect such a favorable result. And, my respect for Warren Buffet has just gone up. He LISTENS to people, and he acts on what he hears.

In this world it takes two kinds of people to get results. One is relatively ordinary people but with great courage, like Doris Christopher. (What an appropriate last name for this lady!) The other is people in positions of power and authority who will listen to such people. That, it turns out, means Warren Buffet.

Before I read this thread, I instructed my representative to make another investment in Berkshire Hathaway. I did that for financial reasons. Now, I am even more satisfied with that decision for personal reasons.

Congressman Billybob

Latest article, now up FR, "Ah-nold Will Win."

[Ruth A.]

I am very impressed with Doris Christopher. It took integrity to do what she did.

I am also impressed with Warren Buffet. He had compassion to do what he did.

Non of this would have been possible if the Pampered Chef ladies had stayed quiet. They didn't need to be loud and ugly, but just lived up to their beliefs.

[nickcarraway]

BUMP

[nickcarraway]

Many of the people who were against BH's funding of abortion were consultants, like you, so I don't think any offense was intended towards you, just towards the funding of these organizations.

[nickcarraway]

ping

[nickcarraway]

The above-mentioned Citizen magazine article: Hometown Heroes: Stirring the Pot (Pro-life moms take on The Pampered Chef)

[ChocChipCookie]

This is the news release at the Berkshire Hathaway website. I don't believe it's been posted yet. All I can say is, wow!

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC.
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 3, 2003
Omaha, NE (BRK.A; BRK.B) — Berkshire Hathaway has terminated its shareholder-designated contributions program, which has distributed approximately $197 million since it was begun in 1981. This program has allowed holders of Berkshire’s A shares to designate a per-share sum
for the company to contribute to as many as three charities, the only requirement being that the designee have 501(c)(3) status. The program thus allowed a wide diversity of donations, some of them controversial but all outside the control of Berkshire.

In recent years, about 3,500 charities have been designated annually, with schools the favorite (about 800 different institutions have benefited), followed by more than 400 churches and synagogues. Some institutions were named by many shareholders. Last year, for example, ten shareholders directed funds to Creighton University and 20 named the University of Nebraska.

The program worked well for many years. Recently, however, certain of the donations, including some made by Berkshire’s chairman, Warren Buffett, have caused harmful criticism to be directed at Berkshire’s new subsidiary, The Pampered Chef. The independent consultants that serve The Pampered Chef have no responsibility for what Berkshire Hathaway shareholders do, yet the careers of many of these consultants are now suffering because of the contributions program.

Thus, contrary to all that Berkshire has experienced in the past, its ownership is now harming a new subsidiary, even though this company anticipated that association with Berkshire would help rather than hurt its employees and sales field. Moreover, Berkshire greatly admires Doris Christopher, the founder and CEO of The Pampered Chef, and the independent consultants who serve it so well. These circumstances caused Berkshire directors to decide to eliminate the contributions program. Berkshire recognizes that many of its shareholders will regret the loss of this program, but feels that the action it is taking is in the best interest of the company.

All Berkshire subsidiaries, under direction of their local managers, will continue to support local charities in a manner consistent with what they have been doing. The Pampered Chef has traditionally focused on Round-Up from the Heart, Help Whip Cancer and the Family Resiliency Program, and it will continue this focus. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and its subsidiaries engage in a number of diverse business activities among which the most important is the property and casualty insurance business
conducted on both a direct and reinsurance basis.
— END —

[Lanza]

I love Pampered Chef EVEN more now. They make the best baking sones on the planet, and that tart maker has been making my kids precious sandwiches for 5 years.

[nickcarraway]

Excerpt:

That’s what makes stay-at-home moms like Tara Siler so unique: After four years of winning recognition as a star sales consultant for The Pampered Chef — one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing kitchenware companies — this spring she gave up her salary, slashing her family’s income in half.

Her pro-life convictions led her to resign after she learned her company was bought last fall by Berkshire Hathaway Inc., a conglomerate of corporate heavyweights including Dairy Queen, See’s Candy and Fruit of the Loom. Turns out the new owner, Warren Buffett, is — in addition to being the world’s second-wealthiest man — one of the abortion industry’s top financiers.

For years, his company has funneled profits — about $9 million a year to be exact — into The Buffett Foundation, which in turn donated at least $11 million to pro-choice and reproductive-rights groups in 2002. Headed by Buffett and his wife, Susan, the foundation bankrolls Planned Parenthood clinics worldwide. Interestingly, the $9 million received by the foundation in 2001 constituted more than half of Berkshire’s contributions under its charitable giving program that year (over $16 million).

According to Business Week, The Buffett Foundation also made a five-year, $20 million commitment to International Projects Assistance Services — the principal manufacturer of suction pumps used in abortions. “It’s the money to actually do the abortions . . . the nuts and bolts, the hard stuff that he funds,” said Steve Mosher, who, as director of the Virginia-based Population Research Institute, spoke on behalf of pro-life shareholders at Berkshire’s annual meeting last year.

So, despite her $5,000-a-month sales record, Siler didn’t hesitate to quit when a fellow Chef told her about that agenda. “It wasn’t a hard decision because I knew what I had to do,” the 30-year-old West Virginia mom told Citizen. “But it was a very, very difficult sacrifice. It was four years of my heart and my life.

“When I mailed my resignation letter, I didn’t want to proofread it because I was afraid if I looked at it, I would change my mind,” she said. “So I didn’t; I just threw it in the mailbox.” <>That’s what makes stay-at-home moms like Tara Siler so unique: After four years of winning recognition as a star sales consultant for The Pampered Chef — one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing kitchenware companies — this spring she gave up her salary, slashing her family’s income in half. Her pro-life convictions led her to resign after she learned her company was bought last fall by Berkshire Hathaway Inc., a conglomerate of corporate heavyweights including Dairy Queen, See’s Candy and Fruit of the Loom. Turns out the new owner, Warren Buffett, is — in addition to being the world’s second-wealthiest man — one of the abortion industry’s top financiers. For years, his company has funneled profits — about $9 million a year to be exact — into The Buffett Foundation, which in turn donated at least $11 million to pro-choice and reproductive-rights groups in 2002. Headed by Buffett and his wife, Susan, the foundation bankrolls Planned Parenthood clinics worldwide. Interestingly, the $9 million received by the foundation in 2001 constituted more than half of Berkshire’s contributions under its charitable giving program that year (over $16 million). According to Business Week, The Buffett Foundation also made a five-year, $20 million commitment to International Projects Assistance Services — the principal manufacturer of suction pumps used in abortions. “It’s the money to actually do the abortions . . . the nuts and bolts, the hard stuff that he funds,” said Steve Mosher, who, as director of the Virginia-based Population Research Institute, spoke on behalf of pro-life shareholders at Berkshire’s annual meeting last year. So, despite her $5,000-a-month sales record, Siler didn’t hesitate to quit when a fellow Chef told her about that agenda. “It wasn’t a hard decision because I knew what I had to do,” the 30-year-old West Virginia mom told Citizen. “But it was a very, very difficult sacrifice. It was four years of my heart and my life. “When I mailed my resignation letter, I didn’t want to proofread it because I was afraid if I looked at it, I would change my mind,” she said. “So I didn’t; I just threw it in the mailbox.”

She’s not alone. In the last few months, pro-life consultants in several states have resigned or verbally protested their profits going to one of the world’s biggest abortion promoters. It’s an insurrection of Chefs, so to speak.

[Lanza]

sones - uh I meant "stones"

[RJayneJ]

Quote of the Day by Cicero

[victim soul]

I'll take "one chip at a time" but FYI:

Warren Buffett

The Buffett Foundation, Family Planning, and Population Control

http://www.cirtl.org/buffett.htm

Not long ago, I received an introductory offer for four issues of a Dow Jones Business and Financial News weekly called Barron's. The first issue's cover story (December 8) was titled Why, Warren? Warren Buffett is one of America's most wealthy from his successful ventures as an investor. I remember a camping trip where one of my friends told of how investors climb on board paying as much as $30,000 per share for Berkshire Hathaway Inc. voting stock. Berkshire which is controlled by Warren, invests in other companies and outperforms most mutual funds. His annual reports are famous for their "plain English" and easy to understand language...much of which has now been adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Besides being a very successful investor, Warren has a social agenda. He considers overpopulation to be a serious threat to the future of the world. In fact the Buffet Foundation established by he and his wife has spent nearly 10 million dollars this year alone on "family planning causes and other population control efforts". Shocked! So was I and that's not the worst of it. The foundation is currently small; however the foundation is heir to the estimated $20 billion once Warren passes on. The foundation has spent $2 million to fund RU-486 research.

The Buffett foundation is not alone. Established years ago, the Rockefeller foundation continues to expand its worldwide efforts through the Population Council, Planned Parenthood, and other organizations to promote and encourage abortions and birth control/contraceptives. The Ford and Rockefeller foundations used to work through the State Department's Agency for International Development. Today, they work through the United Nations Fund for Population Activities.

You may have heard recently of Ted Turner’s $1 billion donation to the UN. It's expected that $30 million will be annually contributed by Turner to the UN foundation. Turner was recently quoted, "if everybody voluntarily had one child for 100 years we would go back to $2 billion people." Recently Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, has developed ties with Buffett and is spending money for teenage pregnancy studies. In fact Bill Gate's father was involved with Planned Parenthood in the sixties. Hewlett Packard's foundation is expected to contribute more to population control activities than all of the above.

The list goes on like a who's who list of the wealthiest, who are dedicating resources to population planning. Why? Their goal is to reduce the worldwide birth rate to a stable ( or as they call it replacement level) level which for them is estimated at 2.1 children per family.

We have all heard stories of doom and gloom from overpopulation, the gas crisis, global warming etc. I remember in 1977 we had a visitor to our class that claimed we would run out of gas by the year 2000. I remember reading a Wall Street Journal article last month that tackled the myth of global warming stating the mean average temperature over the last 30 years is actually declining and the overriding dominant factor to warming is the sun. Scientists know solar activity dramatically impacts climate and communications and the gradual warming since the ice age is "natural".

What about the myth of overpopulation? Most of Europe and America are already have declining birth rates. China's barbaric one child policy certainly has had an impact to the world's most populous nation. Most of the food shortages in many African countries, India, and North Korea, are do to ineffective governments and/or a loss of social order. UN studies predict fertility rates will drop below replacement level by 2015. In fact UN studies also state 44% of the world's population is already at replacement level. If UN studies suggest we are nearly there why do these powerful people persist? Besides does anyone know how many people the earth can reasonably feed? Is it 6 billion, 12 billion or 20 billion...What about the untapped reaches of the oceans or space or new technologies?

No, it all comes down to FEAR. Fear of a loss of power, loss of resources, fear of the unknown. Fear that if we don't kill our young children today, they will be killed in the future. Ultimately, fear from the lack of faith in God, his teachings and promises!!!!

Have these wealthy men forgotten God's teachings? What is the logic that demands abortion today to abort the unlikely scenario of starving in the future? I used to admire these men, now I pity them, for to be without God must indeed be fearful. Please pray for these influential people that they may become followers of Christ, and in so doing help God's special little people...the children!

Mark Lang

Email Mark At : marklang@dpc.net


Contact At :
CIRTL [Central Illinois Right to Life]
4100 N. War Memorial Drive
Peoria, IL 61614
(309)685-3034
General Email: cirtl@cirtl.org

[Between the Lines]

Pampered Chef. Great people.... Great products.

[NC Conservative]

I bought some things from pampered chef. Love em.

[Cicero]

Good news. Warren Buffet is a very smart and in many ways a very admirable guy. Why somebody like that should support population control and abortion beats me. I guess it just shows that you can be a financial genius but a moral nitwit.

I don't think Warren Buffet is merely selfish and out for a buck, because he's one of those rarities: an honest businessman. Maybe he will someday see the light.

[SpookBrat]

Did you see this?