I agree with the title of the letter from Dale Whiting: It isn't really a question of choice regarding President Obama's fiat to penalize religious institutions.
To me, the real issue is political maneuvering, and this matter of forcing religious institutions to support actions that their beliefs do not condone, while not a feint, is a means to an end.
Why would a national leader propose a change this fundamental and then a week later seem to backtrack from his policy? You know that it makes him look weak in the eyes of his opponents (not enemies, but opponents). You know that his adherents will suggest that he is only being reasonable when he retreats from the original declaration.
So what is his strategy? It appears to me that he wants those who don't agree with his vision to react, immediately and without plan, against that which is a real threat to their standards and morals. This makes those who hold conservative views appear to be no more than wild animals, caught in traps. Such animals are so reactionary that they will turn on those (the liberals with a great, new vision) "who are only trying to help them get free".
How do you deal with such a game-player? Study his past actions, and keep in mind that his goal is not the same as yours, even when you are on the same playing field. Remember that you will not be successful playing by his rules, because when you adapt to his current strategy, he will change the rules to suit his aims. But above all, plan, be adaptable to acheive your goal, and utilize all your resources to win your game.
Remember that President Obama has a strong position, and also has strong support among those that believe his talk. His campaign for re-election will not be easily defeated.
Patrick Shepherd
Gilbert
pnutman posted at 11:30 am on Tue, Feb 14, 2012.
I thought that the President always re-affirmed Equal Opportunity. Yet, he has not ,in conjunction with the Free Health Care coverage he is providing for Women relating to sterilization, pills etc, he would do the same and allow Male's to have free Vasectomies. He is again, double dealing.
sdjtaz posted at 12:18 pm on Tue, Feb 14, 2012.
pnutman, if you do a little research, you will find that most health care plans already provide coverage for vasectomies. Additionally, most (including many of the plans that the Catholic Church use) also cover Viagra prescriptions.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 5:24 pm on Tue, Feb 14, 2012.
How about the man (aka...sperm donor) and the woman (aka...egg donor) taking free or at least inexpensive precautions themselves before "whoppie time".
1. Abstinence (the female keeps her knees together and the male...well, the males do what males have done before "apple" time in the Garden of Eden).
2. The male uses a condom to trap those pesky little critters.
3. The female and the male too, skip a movie night or a Starbucks every day or a nice "din-din" once or twice a month and buys birth control pills.
There are some areas of human interaction that the "Village" doesn't need to be involved with or be paying for. There still are some (getting fewer and fewer under the Democrat's "Socialism for All" mandate) areas of personal responcibility in Life.
gilbertgrandma posted at 5:42 pm on Tue, Feb 14, 2012.
Great points, Leon - but then you'd be talking about personal responsibility, which is something that is sorely lacking today.
Accuracy posted at 6:42 pm on Tue, Feb 14, 2012.
Patrick Shepherd thinks that President Obama’s contraceptives compromise was a skilled political stratagem.
Playing political games? To make it obscure, the contraceptive mandate was shifted from Catholic employers to insurance companies by Obama’s administration.
But, Catholic bishops did not buy it at all: And more than 100 university professors and religious leaders from different faiths released a letter of protest against the administration that was headlined with a single word: "Unacceptable."
They called the Obama administration morally obtuse and blasted the contraceptive coverage mandate as a grave violation of religious freedom. Because, the rule still requires religious organizations to pay for insurance coverage that carries with it a mandate to cover abortion pills.
Dale Whiting posted at 6:09 am on Wed, Feb 15, 2012.
Pat,
When the vast majority of women use birth control [this to avoid abortions] regardless of religious persuasion, when birth control is cheaper that having to fund the cost of birthing such that insurance companies save money funding birth control AND when most 2012 candidates challenge the use of birth control, demanding that it never be covered, it's a "no brainer" which the President found easy to take advantage of.
So the choice is easy, even a "no brainer." Vote for "brains" or vote for "no brains." I choose the former. Apparently you chose the latter.
But it's still a matter of choice!
In_God_We_Trust posted at 7:01 pm on Wed, Feb 15, 2012.
OBAMA'S COLLEGE CLASSMATE SPEAKS OUT
By Wayne Allyn Root , June 6th, 2010
Barack Hussien Obama is no fool.
He is not incompetent.
To the contrary, he is brilliant.
He knows exactly what he's doing.
He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. Economy to create systemic failure.
Economic crisis and social chaos -- thereby destroying capitalism and
Our country from within.
Barack Hussien Obama was my college classmate
He is a devout Muslim do not be fooled.
Look at his Czars...anti-business..anti- American.
As Glenn Beck correctly predicted from day one!
Barack Hussien Obama is following the plan of Cloward & Piven,
two professors at Columbia University ..
They outlined a plan to socialize America by overwhelming the system.
With government spending and entitlement demands.
Add up the clues below. Taken individually they're alarming.
Taken as a whole, it is a brilliant, Machiavellian game plan to turn the United States into a socialist/Marxist state with a permanent majority,
That desperately needs government for survival ... and can be counted on
to always vote for bigger government.
Why not? They have no responsibility to pay for it.
Universal Health Care .
The health care bill had very little to do with health care. It had everything to do with unionizing millions of hospital and health care workers, as well as adding 15,000 to 20,000 new IRS agents (who will join government employee unions).
Obama doesn't care that giving free health care to 30 million Americans
will add trillions to the national debt.
What he does care about is that it cements the dependence of those 30 million voters to Democrats and big government .
Who but a socialist revolutionary would pass this reckless spending bill
In the middle of a depression?
Cap & Trade.
Like health care legislation having nothing to do with health care, Cap & Trade has nothing to do with global warming.
It has everything to do with redistribution of income, with government in control of the economy and a criminal payoff to Obama's biggest contributors.
Those powerful and wealthy unions and contributors (like GE, which owns NBC, MSNBC and CNBC) can then be counted on to support everything Obama wants.
They will kick-back hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to Obama and the Democratic Party to keep them in power.
The bonus is that all the new taxes on Americans with bigger cars,
bigger homes and businesses helps Obama "spread the wealth around."
Make Puerto Rico a state. Why?
Who's asking for a 51st state?
Who's asking for millions of new welfare recipients and government
entitlement addicts in the middle of a depression? Certainly not American taxpayers.
But this has been Barack Hussien Obama's plan all along.
His goal is to add two new Democrat senators, five Democrat congressman and a million loyal Democratic voters who are dependent on big government.
Legalize 12 million illegal Mexican immigrants.
Just giving these 12 million potential new citizens free health care alone could overwhelm the system and bankrupt America .
But it adds 12 million reliable new Democrat voters who can be counted
on to support big government.
Add another few trillion dollars in welfare, aid to dependent children, food stamps, free medical, education, tax credits for the poor, and eventually Social Security .
Stimulus and bailouts. Where did all that money go?
It went to Democrat contributors, organizations (ACORN), and unions -- including billions of dollars to save or create jobs of government employees across the country.
It went to save GM and Chrysler so that their employees could keep paying union dues. It went to AIG so that Goldman Sachs could be bailed out (after giving Obama almost $1 million in contributions).
A staggering $125 billion went to teachers (thereby protecting their union dues).
All those public employees (unions) will vote loyally Democrat to protect their bloated salaries and pensions that are bankrupting America .
The country goes broke, future generations face a bleak future, but Obama, the Democrat Party, government, and the unions grow more powerful. The ends justify the means.
Raise taxes on small business owners, high-income earners, and job
creators. Put the entire burden on only the top 20 percent of taxpayers,
redistribute the income, punish success, and reward those who did
nothing to deserve it (except vote for Obama).
Reagan wanted to dramatically cut taxes in order to starve the government.
Barack Obama wants to dramatically raise taxes to starve his political opposition. With the acts outlined above, Barack Hussien Obama and his regime have created a vast and rapidly expanding constituency of voters dependent on big government; a vast privileged class of public employees (unions) who work for big government; and a government dedicated to destroying capitalism and installing themselves as socialist rulers by overwhelming the system.
Add it up and you've got the perfect Marxist scheme -- all devised by
my Columbia University college classmate Barack Hussien Obama
using the Cloward and Piven Plan ..
"Correctly attributed" says snopes!
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/overwhelm.asp
Welcome to the new Soviet Union folks.
Dale Whiting posted at 7:30 am on Thu, Feb 16, 2012.
Yes IGWT,
Let's do give credit, the full credit, where credit is due!
"Wayne Allyn Root was the 2008 Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee and serves on the Libertarian National Committee." The views he has expressed are all his opinions. The bases [plural of "basis"] for his opinions stem from his politics, but not from any first hand experience with and not from the writings of the President. Not surprisingly, those with first hand experience have differing opinions!
Abstract01 posted at 9:12 pm on Fri, Feb 17, 2012.
What's going on? This guy writes a letter pointing out the political game-playing (hacking at the roots of the problem), and almost every comment focuses on the football instead of the runner (whacking at the leaves). The only real response to the problem is from the guy who agrees with Obama, and he (laughing all the way to the bank) says that "yes, that is exactly what Obama is doing--and succeeding wonderfully!"
Dale, I would be happier with a president that would encourage personal responsibility (just say NO) just as Mrs. Obama encourages proper diet. But your leader just wants to curry temporary favor so he can continue his true (and not so hidden) agenda.