Mighty Tantrums Order of the Day for Catholic Bishops
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is upping the tantrum level over the requirement to include birth control coverage in health insurance plans for Catholic hospitals and other institutions to truly epic proportions. And, like any toddler lying on its back and screaming, they are now changing the rules of engagement. They don’t want the requirement removed just for organizations run by religious institutions - they don’t want any employers to be required to cover contraceptive services in their plans.
Sez his royal poobah, General Counsel Anthony Picarello “If I quit this job and opened a Taco Bell, I’d be covered by the mandate”. Um. Yes. You would. You would indeed. Because you, as an employer of people who may not share your particular religious superstitions, would not be allowed to dictate their health care choices to them. Because, well, why should you be, anyway? Perhaps unknown to you, the times of feudal control over one’s serfs appear to be behind us now.
Even more annoying than the irksome background noise level of heel thumping and high pitched wailing is the insistence by certain pundits that Obama owes it to Catholics to allow them to force their restrictive beliefs regarding accessibility to fundamental health care on the backs of their relatively powerless employees. (See: This Person and Dionne, E.J.) After all Catholics helped Obama to get health care reform passed in the first place and here he is underbussening them! No doubt as they always knew he would. Because, of course, health care reform had no other redeeming features that could conceivably make their lives better and make it worthwhile to get it passed.
No, in fact, the whole point of the thing was, apparently, to provide a path to allow Obama to begin routinely decapitating the faithful. OK, OK, that’s Santorum speaking and we all know he’s a fruitcake’s fruitcake when it comes to issues of icky contraception and, you know, sex between married couples, but still!
Obama has apparently said he’s not backing down on this one and I sincerely hope the recent shitstorm over the Komen Foundation’s ill considered decision to decide they were cutting funding from Planned Parenthood will reinforce this idea on his part and the part of his administration. (We were the winners!! It feels good to be the winner!!)
In the meantime I very much hope this silly saber rattling will die down fairly soon. But with the economy improving, Obama’s poll results rising, Osama bin Laden still dead and a clown posse of presidential candidates still roaming the lands, the Rethugs haven’t got much else right now. Boo hoo.
Posted by marindenver on 02/09/12 at 04:30 PM • Permalink
Categories: Politics • Election '12 • Barack Obama • Bedwetters • Nutters • Teabaggery • Relijun •
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