Stuff to Read

I’m still out of it with the motherbleeping cold. Entertain yourselves —

Matt Taibbi, Wall Street Should Stop Whining

Inside the New Hate

Ed Kilgore, Poor Handel-ing

The Bishops Overreach — see also USA Today

The White House is “all talk, no action” on moving toward compromise, said Anthony Picarello, general counsel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “There has been a lot of talk in the last couple days about compromise, but it sounds to us like a way to turn down the heat, to placate people without doing anything in particular,” Picarello said. “We’re not going to do anything until this is fixed.”

That means removing the provision from the health care law altogether, he said, not simply changing it for Catholic employers and their insurers. He cited the problem that would create for “good Catholic business people who can’t in good conscience cooperate with this.”

“If I quit this job and opened a Taco Bell, I’d be covered by the mandate,” Picarello said.

From what I’ve heard, the White House is not caving. Fingers crossed.

Andrew Rosenthal, “It’s Not About Religious Freedom

27 thoughts on “Stuff to Read

  1. Instead of crossing fingers, every single person who thinks the contraception provision should stay, should also call, e=mail or write to the White House and tell them we support them on this.

    I did it last night.

  2. I agree with the above comments. The Framers, at least the deists, thought of the Freedom of Religion right as a Freedom FROM Religion right.

  3. Removing the provision from the health care law altogether

    Yo Tony, look up the meaning of “compromise.”

    If I quit this job and opened a Taco Bell, I’d be covered by the mandate

    I suppose a TB can be considered a place of religion, if you count the customers praying that the Zitfaced Boy in the kitchen didn’t poop in the refritos; otherwise I think Tony even needs to learn the definition of “worship.”

    I can tell an argument is lame when the arguer refuses to acknowledge the proper definition of even simple nouns.

  4. Mr. Anthony Picarello, Taco Bell would be a perfect place for active/former Catholic clergy to invest their money.

    They ‘infuse’ hormones into their food, just like your clergy ‘infuses’ their hormones into alter boys.

    Though I think most of your Priests and Bishops look upon their burrito with envy.
    I think a single a little french-fry in their pants is probably all they can summon up to entice the boys. ‘Yes, this is also the body of Christ!”

    I’m sorry if I offend – I just have NO respect left for the American Catholic Church.

  5. The Christian Bishops are freaking out, but the problem is not Obama. The problem is that Catholic women are rejecting the edicts of Rome in America and deciding for themselves when and if they will have children. In the good old days they could burn a few sacrificial witches very publicly and that would make everyone happy.

    What do you do when you can’t count on government to provide matches for the human sacrifice?

  6. I sure hope the White House doesn’t cave. Of all of the things that would crush people’s spirits, it would be caving on something *this* fundamental.

    I’m also ashamed that the Catholic church is playing this up. The Catholic ban on contraception always struck me as being akin to Jewish law (which, note, does not apply to Gentiles, though a separate set of laws, the Noachide laws, do – and there’s overlap)… something Catholics do, but accept that others do not agree. And even if they did think it was evil, well, there are Baptists that won’t drink – they don’t care if you spend your paycheck on booze (or, rather, they would rather you didn’t, but don’t insist that they get to prevent you).

    This whole thing stinks so badly – and I mean in a literal kind of way. If you’ve got a nose in the spirit world, you’d be holding it tightly and breathing as shallowly as you could through a scented handkerchief.

  7. When it comes to celibate old geezers in costumes laying down religious law on women’s issues we should all respectfully defer to Earl Butz, Richard Nixon’s secretary of agriculture who famously said:

    You no playa da game, you no makea da rules

  8. The 28 states that have this requirement already seem to have failed to raise the ire of the Republicans, but since President Obama has been seen near the issue, the Republicans must now oppose it. I am so shocked (insert snark emoticon here) that I think we should call their leader, a Mr. McConnell, as I recall, and ask him if he really wants to have such a knickers-twist among his compatriots. It has the unfortunate appearance of being more politically convenient than spiritualy compelling.

  9. LongHaired – The Catholic hierarchy should re-read (assuming they’ve read it already, but I have my doubts given their present stand that religious liberty trumps human kindness) the story of the Good Samaritan.

    When RATzinger became Pope many of us Catholics saw crap like this coming down the pike. The Cardinals, of course, are following him in lock-step – given that he appointed the majority of them before becoming pope (they, in turn, returned the favor by appointing him pope.) Can selling Indulgences be far behind?

  10. And as an update, the compromise is more or less what I’d expected. The church groups get to say “we are not paying for contraception, and it’s up to the employees to make that choice for themselves”.

    This is good, because it lets us see who had an actual moral problem with participating in something that’s immoral (the church will never be forced to pay for contraception), and who has a problem with the ability to control *other* people (those who are angry that people will be able to get contraception for free).

    (Technically, some of the latter might just hate Obama and wish they could keep using this as a weapon against him. But I don’t care if a dishonest hack looks like something worse than just a dishonest hack.)

  11. I am not now nor have I ever been a Roman Catholic. And, yet, the Roman Catholic church has all my life been the one group who have tried to shove their religion down my throat. It angers me that they are even given any thought as they try to deny other people religious liberty.

  12. I suspect from the lack of a recent post that you are still under the weather. Hope that all changes and you are soon back in form and feeling feisty.

    The evolution of the conflict with the Bishops along with the compromise brings to mind a line from ‘The Rolling Stones’ by Robert Heinlein. The two main characters, twin brothers, are conversing about their family (Mother and grandmother rule) and one observes, “Did you ever notice that Dad lets himself get shoved around until he gets exactly what he wants?” Which was true – Papa was crazy like a fox.

    Look at this in terms of the political result. The predictable outrage of the Bishops created an issue which leading republicans seized as an issue. But the issue is not abortion rights, it’s about contraception, which a majority of CATHOLIC women have used, and a vast majority of voters support. Political junkies(like us) know the anti-contraception group is a subset of the anti-abortion gang. The strategy of the fetus people has been to sway moderates by arguing mid & late-term procedures, which make up only 10% of abortions. In public, the PR wing of the fetus people has NEVER puts the anti-contraception angle out there. Because it’s a loosing issue.

    Now the debate has shifted and some major republican players have aligned themselves very publicly with the anti-contraception group. And the debate has shifted from late-term abortion to a woman’s right to decide to conceive. If the debate stays there, the advantage is Obama’s. And I have to wonder if the ‘compromise’ was the original plan, and the fight with the Bishops was contrived to re-frame the issue of women’s reproductive rights, which the GOP very kindly did.

  13. maha,
    I hope you feel better.

    If you need a laugh, check this out:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c0P28cqFDY&feature=player_embedded

    White men, in Revolutionary wigs, and modern sweat-suit’s, singing to an all-white audience, about “America.”
    Oh, and catch the end, when they sing to one-another.
    One wonders – after the excitement of their performance, and the audiences appreciation, how much ‘santorum’ was excreted in the green room afterwards?

  14. Oh, and catch their “joke” when the lone black man in the audience leaves:
    “What, I can’t say ‘knickers’?”

    I swear, you can’t make this sh*t up!

  15. Okay, I am probably being simplistic and naive. But, this is one time that I would welcome the “free market” into this problem.

    Health insurance covering women with contraception should reflect the reduced risk of pregnancy, pre-natal care and other complications that might result from pregnancy. Therefore, the insurance companies should be able to charge a higher premium to cover the added risk imposed when contraception is not offered. It is not fair to burden responsible people with the costs of incurred through the irresponsibility of others. (Isn’t that supposed to be a tenet of “conservative thought”?) So, the religious institutions that have a problem with contraception would be free to deny paying for it, as long as they were willing to pay for the added risk and subsequent costs through higher premiums. They shouldn’t get a free ride.

    The added costs applied by the free market would probably bring them around.

    Okay, maybe not, nothing can bring these people around.

  16. Hope you’re feeling better soon, Maha.

    I read the article about Goldwag’s book on the new hate written for Salon by Katie Ryder. I find is absolutely incredible that the right wingers consider George Soros to have been a Nazi collaborator — not because he is Jewish, but because he was born in 1930. 1930! He would have been the most brilliant toddler (and then pre-teen) of all time to have worked with the Nazis.

  17. Well, Purple Girl, I guess those right wing folks were counting on their listeners not noticing that little bit. And lying does seem to be in style now.

  18. PurpleGirl,
    It’s ALL about projection.
    They know that THEY would have gladly been willing collaborators – so they have to project that onto Mr. Soros.

    How do I know that they’d be glad and willing collaborators?
    Well, what else would they be?
    After all, they just love “Folloving zee orderz!”

  19. Ok, everybody – let’s all hold our hands up, and pray for maha’s healing.

    I know this works because some TV Evangelist brought up some guy on his show who said that he was healed that way.
    And he didn’t need no ACA plan – he had the JC one!

  20. I am finally back to the land of the living after one solid week of worst cold of life. There is an end to this damn thing. Must be about time for Maha to be back.

  21. In days of old,when Knights were bold,and the rubber was not invented…they’d wrap a leaf around their beef and hump away contented.

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