PLANNED PARENTHOOD BOOK SALE: ARE THEY PEDDLING MORE THAN PAPERBACKS?

Santa Barbara’s annual Planned Parenthood book sale is back, and according to KEYT NewsChannel 3-12, 'book lovers' are simply thrilled. We’re sure they are. What’s not to love about sifting through a mountain of forgotten paperbacks while implicitly endorsing an organization that benefits handsomely from the county’s perpetually open wallet? It’s a classic Santa Barbara win-win: feel good about buying cheap used books, and the establishment gets another fundraising boost to keep its various, shall we say, 'endeavors' afloat.

While attendees are busy congratulating themselves on their literary prowess and charitable spending, one has to ask: what exactly are these book proceeds funding? More 'equity' training for local bureaucrats? A new PR campaign to convince us that government-funded initiatives are always for our own good? The silence on the financial specifics is, as always, deafening. One can only imagine the stacks of taxpayer dollars that flow directly and indirectly to organizations like this, making these ‘charity’ sales feel less like quaint community events and more like a thinly veiled supplementary income stream for the progressive machine.

It’s almost charming, in a retrograde way, how they still bother with books. In an era where county supervisors can’t seem to find enough public funds to fix our crumbling roads or tackle the actual homeless crisis without demanding more taxes, here we have Planned Parenthood collecting nickels and dimes from used copies of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and dusty celebrity memoirs. All while conveniently sidestepping the uncomfortable questions about their reliance on public coffers. Perhaps a more transparent accounting of where all that 'love' actually goes would be a better read than anything on offer at the Earl Warren Showgrounds. But hey, at least the volunteers are 'on hand to help'—presumably count the piles of cash before it disappears into the ether of 'community services.'