Is enough enough yet, America?

Wow. That is a strategic withdrawal by the Bishops. The Miami Bishop got it right, but the Bishops chose to withdraw to fight another day. Here is how the new policy logically has to work:

1. Insurer offers the religious employer an employee insuance policy that says nothing about contraception. The employer says, fine, we’ll take that one.

2. The insurer sends the individual employee a letter, like a policy rider that says, “contraception is included extra under ‘other stuff’ for no charge, but do not tell your employer. If you wish to opt out of this free secret coverage, please let us know.” Most don’t opt out, and the insurer doesn’t tell the employer anyway.

3. The premiums are based on full coverage, and everyone winks at each other. The employees are covered, the insurer gets paid, and the employer pretends they don’t get it, though they do. They routinely process claims for ‘other stuff’.

Important to remember that economists point out the employer doesn’t really pay the premium, even though the premium payments go through it’s accounting. Employee benefits are in lieu of salary and wages, so it’s always the employee who pays for their own benefits,, in the long run. Moreover, the employer gets to deduct the expense. So religious employers will say they are not paying for insurance for contraception, while they take a deduction for the embedded, but hidden cost of providing it.

So don’t nobody say nuttin. The gods are laughing. And Obama just pulled the rug out from under the demagogues. What we want to know is what the Bishops internal polls tell them, to explain their retreat?

Bottomline line is the Holy See does NOT like what is happening in the U.S, re the filing lawsuits against their pedophile priests(employees) and LBGT rights. The birth control crap was just a game used to deflect from their anti-life ideology.

There are undeniably severe problems within that church about women and children and both involve sexual exploitation. Women’s wombs are to be exploited exhaustively for the glory of something or other and the rape of children by certain ones in the priesthood is to be covered-up, ignored, denied.

Ya know, isn’t government sanctioning of any specific religions and the values they espouse try to shove down everybody else’ throats exactly what many colonists were fleeing when they established the United States? How is a bunch of god damned Catholics dictating what should and should not be written into offical policy, based on their particular superstition NOT government sanctioning of a specific religion?

If ya don’t need free bc coverage, can you exchange it for something else that no one knows about?

Wadda buncha BS.

Agree 100%.

If a so-called religion operates a business, they should have to comply with ALL laws of the land. Fuck this bullshit of exemptions or workarounds based on their so-called “beliefs.”

If it was up to me, Catholic bishops would have to wear a necklace of rubbers around their necks — just in case someone needed one.

And just how tight would that ‘necklace’ be?

It is my understanding the insurance rates will actually go down for this religious exemption/insurer mandate because of the excessive costs of childbirth and the accompanying/ongoing medical expenses. It’s cheaper not to have the child. What the Bishop’s have pulled off here is ” discounted demogoguery for the delusional “; satisfying the most extreme elements of their flock, keeping the collection plate filled and retaining the topic to endlessly bleat about. Both Obama, who looks incredibly progressive compared to the dark age Bishops here, and the Official Clergy can keep up their charade for another time.

It would have to be one of those multi-strand jobs — hanging with dozens of rubbers down to their waist. And a sandwich board sign reading “Free Rubbers!”

The fact that the nun running the Catholic Hospital Association supports the new policy really puts the bishops on an island

Sister Carol is an Obama lapdog – she supports whatever Obama supports. She helped give us Obamacare…augh.

You must be living in a cave. Said in the fondest possible leg pulling. Insurance rates NEVER go down, no matter what the underlying economics mean to people of normal brains. As has been typed here many times by myself and others, insurance corps (cartels in economics jargon, mafia of the intelligentsia in my vocabulary) raise rates bc they can, not for any cost-related reason.

Agree with your point about what the bishops are up to, though think it originates in Rome.

I had a different image in mind.

I know — really tight, right?

Ding.

I have a question. Why does the right wing have their knickers in such a twist over the (non-existent) problem of creeping Sharia law, but have no problem about entrenching the Baltimore Catechism as the law of the land?

One is brown, the other is white.

And one more question: the right wing gets its knickers in a twist over losing American sovereignty to foreign heads of state, so why is it all right that Catholic bishops, who report to the head of a foreign state, get to make policy over here?

In Oregon, because of the Death With Dignity Act, and the Catholic hospitals stranglehold on certain small cities, this is no laughing matter. When individuals have wills expresssing no ” extraordinary means ” of ICU care the hospital doesn’t recognize this document’s intended purpose, and blamo! I know of instances where this costs families large amounts of cash before they move the poor soul to a more responsive facility to pass on peacefully. Just don’t get involved in a horrific auto accident or suffer a major stroke, etc in these places. Just sayin’.

“. . .around their necks. . .”?

Well, I think the rubbers could be hidden in their wallets, where they belong. I’m sure they carry wallets regardless of their vow of chastity (oops! I mean, poverty).

The Vatican is an important ally in the fight against brown and yellow people.

Which is consistent with Pope Benedict’s campaign to get white European couples to make more babies to ward off the threat of being outnumbered and eventually overrun by Muslims.

The rates will go up less dramatically, I should have said. Your point is right on. And everything with the Bishops come from The Vatican, even pedophilia cover-ups. Maybe saving the little buggers is what this particular ” holy hokey-pokey ” is all about.

Christian Fascism is the system that controls America. Until people desire to be ruled by their rational selves instead of their irrational selves this will continue until we are mindless workers and consumers a la THX 1138.

A government truly separate from religion and corporate influence will not come about until the reality of our world is acknowledged. An egalitarian and enlightened society does not mean a society without religion but a society that is aware of the corrupting influence of religions.

Saying that American Conservatism = Christian Fascism is calling the elephant in the room an elephant. This statement has nothing to do with the validity of Christianity as a belief system, that is up to the followers of that system to know. Americans are so brain washed to believe that this thing we call America will last forever and our system so good. Yet daily we are inundated with evidence of how this is not true but continue to believe the lie. Our form of capitalism is not humane nor is our form of government.

Just tight enough to restrict blood flow to the head.

Call it a modified cock ring.

Truly. Their team is familiar – and not brown.

We’ll see what happens as they get more overt. This enabling will just feed their egos.

I wonder how much would workers earn if health care were not connected to their employer?

Call it a C.O.C.K. ring. Catholics and Other Christian Kooks.

(And because it probably has to be spelled out to avoid bad reactions from some, no this doesn’t apply to all Christians, just the whack-a-doddles.)

Bottomline line is the Holy See does NOT like what is happening in the U.S, re the filing lawsuits against their pedophile priests(employees) and LBGT rights. The birth control crap was just a game used to deflect from their anti-life ideology.

Look, I hate to say this because it’s a sore point with Roman Catholics, but this Church has even asserted after-the-fact control over the Blessed Virgin Mary, denying that Jesus had brothers despite ample evidence supporting that fact in the Gospels and the Book of Acts.

Could anyone point me in the direction of anyone in the Church who has objected to their tithes and such going to pay for the pedophile settlements? Do they not have any objection to the use of their money for this? Or is it that the Bishops don’t find the behavior immoral? Because a lot of cash has gone to pay for these suits, and while the settlements may or may not have really been sufficient, it is a lot of money. And I object to the behavior of pedophiles, and I would sure like some accountability on how people in the Church are able to object to having to pay for this immoral behavior.

Someone should phone up the bishops and let them know that it is a little bit late to fire up a full-blown theocracy here.

1. Insurer offers the religious employer an employee insuance policy that says nothing about contraception. The employer says, fine, we’ll take that one.

2. The insurer sends the individual employee a letter, like a policy rider that says, “contraception is included extra under ‘other stuff’ for no charge, but do not tell your employer. If you wish to opt out of this free secret coverage, please let us know.” Most don’t opt out, and the insurer doesn’t tell the employer anyway.

3. The premiums are based on full coverage, and everyone winks at each other. The employees are covered, the insurer gets paid, and the employer pretends they don’t get it, though they do. They routinely process claims for ‘other stuff’.

Shhhhhhh! Don’t mention the Emperor’s New Clothes and everything will be just dandy.

A government truly separate from religion and corporate influence will not come about until the reality of our world is acknowledged. An egalitarian and enlightened society does not mean a society without religion but a society that is aware of the corrupting influence of religions.

Whether this will come in our lifetime or not you have laid the hammer square on the nail. My own observation here in East Jesus Country is that the people on both sides are boiling for a confrontation and the media seems ready to boost ratings with a good old religious war.

But it will take a confrontation by a strong Constitutional government confronting these people in the same way the racist southerners were in the sixties. Civil rights, that’s Civil, must prevail over religious dogma and the dogmatists who disobey that must be put in jail. It ain’t going to be pretty.

Because of the pedophile mess, I don’t tithe to the church anymore. I send the money the church would have gotten directly to the area food bank.

I heard an insurance industry spokesman on NPR while driving home from work today. He said what the compromise amounts to is that the Catholic businesses, for that’s what they are, get real, will not talk about contraceptives when they promulgate their health insurance policies to their employees. The insurance companies will bill the Catholic businesses for the premiums that cover contraceptives. The Catholics will pay the insurance companies for doing so and pretend that they are not, and so will the insurance companies.

He’s probably telling the truth. But playing “Let’s pretend” is about as seriously as any rational person can take the Roman Catholic Church’s absurd position on this issue. After all, American Catholics have been playing that game for generations. Why change now?

Well, Brian Williams and NBC News say it’s a fumble, a stumble.

It must be so.

Unless…
it’s a feint.

In addition to this travesty, a little earlier Cardinal Boo-Hah withdrew his 2002 apology for “the Church’s handling of the sex-abuse scandal . . ..” LINK.

And now I see via Twitter that Dolan calls the new policy “a first step in the right direction.” So they’re declaring victory and going home.

I disagree.

They are saying “OK, we’ll take what you’ve offered, and get back to you with our next request.”

This is not the last word on this mess. The USCCB will be back again.

“. . . the bishops who want control over women’s bodies.”

Not just women’s bodies. They want control over everyone’s bodies, and sexual repression has always been their essential control mechanism. Indeed without it, they would have no power at all. It is not just about The Pill or abortion, it is about maintaining the indispensable gimmick that keeps their whole horror show on the road.

Sounds like a sort of contraceptive don’t ask – don’t tell.

Imagine if the Pope condemned the US war in Afghanistan and the US Bishops preached war resistance to all those involved in the immoral wars of the US and promised to deny religious rights to all politicians who refused to end the war immediately.

After all that would be a violation of the Republican war on religion of those who believe Jesus taught non-violence.

It is time to demand equal religious liberty for Warren Jeffs who is a prisoner of conscious for his refusal to bow down to big government dictates on his and the FLDS church religious teachings.

Of course, the danger is Mitt Romney is going to impose plural marriage on America if elected president.

Remember his great grandfather was forced to flee America over religious liberty because he was a criminal in the view of the jack boot Republicans who dictated Mormons must change their faith or be convicted under the Edmunds Act aka Edmunds Anti-Polygamy Act of 1882 which superseded the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act. These laws were passed by Republicans and were seen at the time as violating First Amendment rights by civil libertarians.

The Romney family attempt to win the Presidency is a grand plan to reverse the policies of jack boot Republican attack on religious freedom.

If their wishes were ignored, I imagine that their bills are null and void. I think a jury would see it that way.

The Federal Benefits agency that insures the largest number of employees in the US determined the cost of providing family planning services including birth control is a zero or negative net cost because this reduced the costs of unwanted births, births with complications, and other women’s health issues.

Birth control pills are commonly prescribed for far more than birth control, but they also provide a regular point of contact with a doctor to renew prescriptions (even a phone call is contact allowing a reminder of recommended checkups and tests.

Older women, or women in poor health, or at risk if pregnant will either not have children, or will plan them and take special care during the pregnancy if they have easy access to birth control pills. Otherwise, the costs of high risk pregnancy and babies in poor health requiring neonatal care drive up costs as much or more than the costs of contraceptives.

And for employers, unplanned pregnancies drive up employer costs in replacement workers while the mother is out on leave.

I was raised as a Catholic. Or perhaps lowered. Whatever…But i strongly disagree with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops statement denouncing President Barack Obama’s attempts at compromise as ”needless government intrusion in the internal governance of religious institutions” . On the contrary, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops comments are themselves a needless intrusion upon the proper functions of government. Someone should explain to them the concept of separation of Church And State. Perhaps if they moved to a county governed by Sharia law for awhile, they would be more enlightened? Just because a religious group in America claims to believe something, we cannot exclude or excuse them from obeying the law. They can legally attempt to change the law… not to deny it.

I think some people vote Democrat just so they don’t have to worry about religion dictating how they live. I doubt Obama will gain anything by caving to the Catholic establishment.

Well, your nom de plume is certainly appropriate.