Anybody without their head deliberately being in the sand (polite way of saying it) could see through that ruse. Nothing changed...NOTHING! You're telling me that "OK...we, the institution, won't pay for the contraception or sterilizations...but the insurance company NEGOTIATING for our business will offer them for free to all of our employees...so WE, therefore, are not providing these services..." Bullcrap...you are paying for the insurance, the insurance company is a business...and wants your business, so you are paying for the contraceptive services...they are built into your rates...all it is is a bunch of verbiage. Anybody who says otherwise is outright lying just to get Obama off this hook. I'm not Catholic and I don't have a dog in this fight...but it makes me angry that some of these "outraged" folks are using this farce of an "accommodation" to let him off the hook. Obviously their outrage was just a put-on. It's just rolling over because "the government made me do it."
You're right Stu, Gips article which you probably didn't read had this to say... As I mentioned earlier in the thread the numbers were against the Church, certainly most non-catholics couldn't see the problem and probably a lot of catholics as well since the adherence to the Churches teachings on birth control is weak. Obama had little risk and by offering this supposed compromise he has pretty much isolated it to a fine print debate and a doctrinal debate that the average person could care less about.
I missed that part in the Baltimore Catechism that said that if you wore a hood you could do anything you want since if you didn't see it, it really didn't happen. :roll:
In that article I linked it discussed the "compromise" that is proposed and some Catholic leaders applaud: So if you don't see it, it doesn't really exist. And of course as the article indicates
ABC News: Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards a Top White House Adviser On Contraception Mandate… Obama ignored his own VP and Chief of Staff in favor of the country’s largest abortion provider. Via LifeNews: Jake Tapper of ABC News wrote a remarkable story last week revealing the players in the Obama administration’s internal debate on the contraception mandate. According to Tapper, President Obama’s top advisers on the issue included Vice President Joe Biden, former White House Chief-of-Staff Bill Daley, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, former Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes, White House Senior Advisers Valerie Jarrett and Pete Rouse, former White House Communications Director Anita Dunn, two U.S. Senators — and Planned Parenthood Federation for America CEO Cecile Richards [...] Surprising to me was Richards’ unquestioned prominence at the White House. Why did the mainstream media not question an obvious benefactor of the contraceptive mandate being in on the conversation? Richards is truly in the inner circle. Pro-lifers knew Richards had influence, but to see in writing just exactly how much weight she carries is informative.
Cardinal-Designate Timothy Dolan: “It’s Getting Harder And Harder” To Believe Obama Is Not Anti-Christian… But . . . but . . . but . . . Obama’s a “devout” Christian! (Fox News) — The top U.S. Catholic bishop vowed legislative and court challenges Tuesday to a compromise by President Barack Obama to his healthcare mandate that now exempts religiously affiliated institutions from paying directly for birth control for their workers, instead making insurance companies responsible. Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, who heads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in an interview with The Associated Press that he trusted Obama wasn’t anti-religious and intended to make good on his pledge to work with religious groups to fine-tune the mandate. “I want to take him at his word,” Dolan said in Rome, where he will be made a cardinal Saturday. But he stressed: “I do have to say it’s getting harder and harder,” to believe Obama’s claim to prioritize religious freedom issues given the latest controversy. “Does the federal government have the right to tell a religious individual or a religious entity how to define yourself?” Dolan asked. “This is what gives us greater chill.” Initially, Dolan had termed Obama’s compromise as “a first step in the right direction” after hearing about it Friday morning. But later that day, Dolan’s USCCB issued a statement rejecting it, saying the arrangement was unacceptable and raised “serious moral concerns.” Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said the main concern is that the so-called “choking mandates” remain. In addition many Catholic entities are self-insured. It remains unclear how they would get around the mandate to provide services that they consider morally illicit. “Was what was intended to be a concession, and what gave us a glimmer of hope at the beginning … really just amount to a hill of beans? And it seems as if it does,” Dolan said.
Catholic Bishops Teaming Up With Major Evangelical Christian Groups For All-Out Election-Year Campaign To Attack Obama’s Assault On Religious Liberty… Speaking as a Catholic it is so refreshing to see the Bishops getting politically active. The Church has been way too passive for way too long. (Reuters) – Catholic bishops, energized by a battle over contraception funding, are planning an aggressive campaign to rally Americans against a long list of government measures which they say intrude on religious liberty. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops plans to work with other religious groups, including evangelical Christians, on an election-year public relations campaign that may include TV and radio ads, social media marketing and a push for pastors and priests to raise the subject from the pulpit. “We want to make it something that will get peoples’ attention,” said Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn. The bishops spent the past few weeks pressing President Barack Obama to exempt religious employers from a federal mandate that all health insurance plans offer free birth control. Along with the Southern Baptist Convention, the National Association of Evangelicals stands ready to contribute money and manpower to the bishops’ campaign, said Galen Carey, an association vice president. The group is also considering the unprecedented step of asking pastors of every evangelical denomination across the country to read their congregations an open letter protesting the contraception mandate as an assault on religious liberty.
Maybe Obama has done us favor with his latest transgression against individual liberty. Perhaps he has finally overstepped his boundaries and Americans can unite to run this infidel out of office. Jim, I ask you this in your context as the preeminent historian on the board. Has there ever been an American president who has attacked the very foundation of his own nation and its values with the vigor of Barack Obama?
:idea: No. There's nothing like Obama in the record. His model for the future of our country appears to be the city of Chicago, where all outcomes are guaranteed in advance and success is dependant upon allegiance and financial contributions to the ruling party. If that kind of political philosophy was really effective, places like Mexico and Zimbabwe would be paradise...
Arrests for praying but not for fecal spraying The War Is On: Obama’s Gestapo Arrest Catholic Priest For Praying Outside White House Pat Dollard The Arrest Comes After #Occupiers Throw Grenades At White House Unmolested, And As #OccupyDC Continues To Illegally Occupy Park…. WASHINGTON, D.C. – Father Denis Wilde, OSA, associate director of Priests for Life, was among six people arrested today during a peaceful protest outside the White House. Father Wilde was representing Priests for Life at an organized protest of the HHS contraception mandate that violates the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion. Priests for Life yesterday filed a lawsuit against the Obama Administration that seeks to permanently block the implementation of the mandate because it imposes clear violations of conscience upon any American citizens who morally object to abortion and contraception. Father Wilde and the other protesters, including the Rev. Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition, were cited for “Failure to obey a lawful order” as they knelt in prayer in front of the White House. They each paid a $100 fine and were released from custody. “Occupy Wall Street protesters have been occupying federal property for months, but when we kneel in prayer, the police are called in and we are arrested,” Father Wilde said. “We knew that was the risk when we gathered today, and we will do it again regardless of the risk. What people of faith – of every faith – need to do now is stand with us.” Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, said the New York-based organization remains committed to battling the HHS mandate because it forces Americans to become morally entangled in practices they find objectionable. “As an organization of Catholic clergy, as a corporation that employs 60 people of various religious backgrounds, and as a ministry whose very purpose is to protect and promote the pro-life teaching about the specific practices at issue in the HHS mandate, we are particularly well-positioned to fight against this intrusion of conscience,” Father Pavone said. To see the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, on Wednesday,click here: http://www.priestsforlife.org/hhsmandate/priests-for-life-v-sebelius.pdf Priests for Life is the nation’s largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.
There have been American politicians with Obama's message before. Political machines are nothing new. This is just the first time since the Gilded Age that any such machine was able to control the entire nation. And now a word from the Kingfish... <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hphgHi6FD8k?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Not just a Catholic controversy: Protestant colleges threaten to drop student health care over contraceptive mandate. Every Obamanite from the Teamsters to McDonalds has been given an exemption, but all Christian churches are under attack now... http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/not-just-catholic-controversy-protestant-colleges-threaten-drop-232819956.html
Liberals will just group those Protestant colleges in to the "RW Wacko Evangelicals" who they never expected to vote for OB in the first place. Now the elusive Catholic vote is more important, but I'm not so sure how the rank and file Catholic feels about this.
Dem Congresswoman Asked About Obamacare Mandate: “Basically, We’re Not Looking To The Constitution”… <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6Kmp-am_FdQ?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0"></iframe> Obviously. Question: “Under what portion of the Constitution is the government allowed to require a private or religious organization to pay for anything for free?” Dem Rep. Kathy Hochul: “Well, basically, we’re not looking to the Constitution on that aspect of it. What I’m trying to say is basically the decision has been made by this congress that American citizens are entitled to health care.”
Here is the Huffington Post article that has caused so much controvery: The Jesus-Eating Cult of Rick Santorum http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-doyle/the-jesuseating-cult-of-r_b_1296358.html