The Obama HHS 'Compromise' Switches the Tiger for the Lion (Not all Catholics buying Obama's bull)

Catholic Online ^ | 2/10/2012 | staff

[tobyhill]

In an effort to save his administration from collapsing under the weight of the controversy caused by the oppressive Health and Human Services (HHS) edict requiring Catholics to violate their conscience, President Obama announced a "compromise". Unfortunately, the compromise is a thinly veiled smoke and mirrors act of political theater.

Perhaps hoping to fool the innocent into believing that a crisis has been averted, President Obama announced that the Catholic Church and other Christian organizations and outreaches would no longer be forced to cover sterilization procedures and provide contraception and abortifacients in direct violation of their conscience.

The HHS mandate was widely condemned across the Nation as a blatant attack on the Church. It is a violation of the First Amendment Right to the Free Exercise of Religion. It was also widely condemned as a coercive act which, in effect, compels people to violate their deeply held religious beliefs - and violate their consciences - or face severe government sanction.

However, the Obama "compromise" announced on Friday, January 10, 2012 has merely shifted the onus of immorality from the religious employer directly to - the religious employer.

[Salvation]

Dear CV Friend,

What just happened?

The truth: the assault on religious liberty just got worse.

Moments ago President Obama introduced an accounting gimmick to appease voters over his recent Health and Human Services mandate. The so-called compromise will continue to force virtually all employers, including religious institutions, to pay into insurance policies that cover abortion drugs and other immoral medicines and procedures.

What's the catch?

To protect himself from the national backlash, the President announced a "compromise" that will allow religious institutions to withhold premiums paid to insurance companies for select medicines and procedures they believe are immoral.

But these immoral medicines and drugs will continue to be provided by the same insurance plans for free -- to everyone, including every employee of Catholic institutions!

So President Obama decided to use insurance companies to hide his assault on religious liberty.

Separating the premiums paid to insurance companies does not change what these policies will cover. The very same policies funded by religious institutions will continue to cover contraception, birth control, and abortion drugs for every employee of these organizations. To pretend, by an accounting gimmick, that the premiums paid by the employer will not subsidize these services is simply absurd.

Furthermore, self-funded insurance plans (like many of those used by Catholic institutions) will continue to be forced to provide these immoral medicines.

And owners of businesses who believe abortion drugs are immoral? Sorry. To hell with liberty. Pay up.

All Americans should shudder at what has just transpired.

Despite repeated promises during the healthcare debate in 2009, the President of the United States has created a sham conscience compromise, and ordered all insurance companies to pay for abortion drugs -- and all religious institutions will be forced to pay into these plans.

He thought he could get away with this assault on our freedom. We called him out and forced him to respond. Now we must call his bluff.

This isn't the end.

CV President Brian Burch has been on the phone all morning with members of Congress urging them to immediately introduce legislation that will protect the conscience rights of all Americans.

Catholics don't want an accounting gimmick.

We want freedom.

And we won't rest until we get it.


- Your Friends at CatholicVote.org

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Barky keep digging a deeper hole.
I hope he hunkers down...

[Salvation]

At lot of Catholics, including 95 percent of the diocese in the U. S. aren't buying Obama's line! Neither are Jews, evangelicals, Southern Baptists, other Protestants -- this is about religious liberty -- not about women and healthcare.

The Obama HHS 'Compromise' Switches the Tiger for the Lion (Not all Catholics buying Obama's bull)
U.S. bishops ‘express concerns’ about Obama mandate ‘accommodation’
What Compromise? This Policy Leaves Religious Liberty in Peril and Planned Parenthood Smiling (Albert Mohler Opinion)

Don't Be Deceived! Evil Obama Policy Now Even MORE Evil!
Obama’s Contraceptive 'Compromise' Doesn't Pass the Smell Test ("It doesn't change a thing")
Compromise or Accommodation, it’s still unacceptable. (updated from Catholic Vote)
Pres. Obama’s “Plan B” compromise, Sr. Keehan, and the Magisterium of Nuns
Land Says Obama Mandate Most Anti-Catholic Government Action in 150 Years
Motive, Means and Opportunity: Obama’s Assault on Catholics
(Exempt Catholics) Joe Biden, Bill Daley warned of contraceptive backlash
(Tim) Thomas makes second political statement (Stands With Catholics)
Southern Baptist leader: If Obama mandate isn’t changed, Christians will go to jail
Over 150 congressional leaders demand repeal of HHS mandate

Boehner vows to overturn Obama’s birth control coverage rule
Boehner: Congress to overturn birth control policy if Obama does not reverse course
O'Brien says Archdiocese of Baltimore won't offer birth control coverage
Archbishop of San Francisco says Obama ruling strikes at religious freedom
How Obama Lost the Catholic Vote
‘I am going to stick with fellow Catholics’ in Pres. Obama’s war on Catholics. Wherein Fr. Z rants.
Unholy War
Six Things Everyone Should Know about the HHS Mandate
Santorum: Obama Hostile to Christians
Understanding Oppostion to the HHS Mandate (Part 1): Why the Church Won’t Pay for Contracept

The Bishops Chickens Coming Home to Roost.
65 Orthodox Church bishops call on Obama to ‘rescind’ the ‘unjust’ contraception mandate
Doug Kmiec Writes Obama: 'Friendship Will Not Permit Me to Disregard Duty to Faith and Country'
Catholic Outcry Over Obama Administration's Birth Control Decision Could Factor In Presidential Race
Standing with the Bishops [Catholic Caucus]
Updated: *167* Bishops (More Than 90% of Dioceses) Have Spoken Out Against Obama/HHS Mandate
Outrage!… Military Tells Chaplains What They Can and Can’t Say About HHS/ObamaAssault on Religion
Updated: *153* Bishops (Over 80% of Dioceses) Have Spoken Out Against Obama/HHS Mandate
An Affront Catholics Agree On [Liberal and Conservative Catholics Against Obama Mandate]
Army Silenced Chaplains Last Sunday

Catholic Military Archdiocese & Chaplains interfered with last Sunday by Pres. Obama’s Admin
The Anti-Catholic President v. the Catholic Bishops
Sen. Rubio introduces bill to reverse Obama birth control mandate
Churches balk at birth control rule - Catholics won’t comply, Bishop Kevin Rhoades says
Protestants and Jews declare to White House: We stand with Catholics
Checking the Air Outside [Bp. Zubik's follow up to Obama's “To Hell with You”]
Mohler [Southern Baptist] Says Insurance Mandate Not Just 'Catholic' Issue
An Open Letter to President Barack Obama Concerning Recent Tyranny (With Pictures!)
Lincoln bishop: prepare for 'suffering' under HHS mandate
Bishop David Zubik confronts Obama
Obama’s ‘war on the church’

Pope hits out at 'radical secularism'
‘We Will Not Comply’: Catholic Leaders Distribute Letter Slamming Obama Admin Contraceptive Mandate
‘We Will Not Comply’: Catholic Leaders Distribute Letter Slamming Obama Admin Contraceptive Mandate
Bruskewitz: Fight Insurance Ruling [Sebelius a "bitter, fallen away Catholic"]
Letter from Archbishop John G. Vlazny on the matter of freedom of conscience and decisions by HHS
Bishop Olmsted's Letter to Catholics [Catholic Caucus]
Liberty for the Amish & Quakers but not Catholics. . .
Contraception mandate prompts Peoria bishop to instate St. Michael Prayer (Catholic Caucus)
Phoenix bishop (Olmstead): defy feds on birth control
A letter from Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr concerning HHS edict

Speak honestly: abortion is ‘the killing of tiny human beings in the womb’ – Denver bishop
Bishop [Daniel Jenky] Blasts Secularist Intolerance, Calls For ‘Assertive Action’ to Defend Church
(Pittsburgh Bishop Zubik comments:) HHS delays rule on contraceptive coverage
Dolan: Natural law, not religious preference, dictates all life sacred
Religious leaders blast HHS over contraception mandate
Mandated Contraception, Sterilization: Caesar Demands Church Violate Conscience
OBAMA’S CONTEMPT FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY (mandates coverage of sterilization & contraception)
Implications of Obama Admin move to force Cath hospitals to provide contraception and sterilizations
Catholic doctors’ group launches petition against contraception mandate
Contraception mandate tramples religious freedom, US bishops say

[Elvina]

The resolution of this dispute will decide if America is a Nation which truly recognizes the existence of inalienable rights and respects Religious Freedom. Or, will the current administration take its place with the oppressive regimes of the world who disregard fundamental human rights such as the Right to Life and the Right to Religious Freedom?

The closing lines of this article say it all.

[FlyingEagle]

Just disobey. No is the answer. No cram down, no cram down with sugar. Just no.

[SuziQ]

Happily, the Bishops aren’t buying the carp Obama is selling.

[RocketMan1]

0BowMao has merely become a money launderer for his “FREE” abortions for everyone scheme. And all of the Hoax’nChains supporters will give him a trophy just for his “good” intentions — at furthering his plan to destroy the Constitution in a mere 4 years.

[GreyFriar]

And I’ve got a couple of classmates from the Catholic men’s college we attended in the late 1960s who stick to the line, I’m paraphrasing: Its a woman’s health issue. the church’s positon on birth control is wrong. Obama’s change today (Friday) means that the church institutions will not be affected. fortunately a couple of others do get it.

[Mortrey]

It’s about POWER. Most Catholics don’t realize this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVN2MMuiedI&feature=related

[CottShop]

Barak Osama Obama is an evil man- This isn’t the fkirst time he has signled out the Christian faith for persecution, nor will it be the last- Rick Santorum NEEDS to look striaght into the camera and say “Mr President, you ‘claim’ to be aq Christian, but the people of America want to know WHEN you are goign to start ACTING like a Christian- TRUE Christians do NOT attack God and His peopel the way tyou have systematically attacked them- Actions speak louder than words, and your actions hjave proven that you are not infact with Chritistians but against them, and therefore not one of them”

BaraK IS feignign Christianity in order to make it look as though he is ‘one of them’ and being ‘one of them’ he is making descisions that all other Christians should therefore follow-

Our constitution states that government shall NOT pass laws preventing ther free excersize of religion, and yet this law is just that- a law that forbids the catholic faith or any Christian faith from believing that God meant life from conception on was precious- This law is a slap in the face to all that believe that and makes it illegal for those that beleive that to live that belief!

His and people’s ideas who think like he does goes along hte line of ‘well, there are many ways to interpret God’s laws and edicts- and God udnerstands when some might dissagree or itnerpret His laws and edicts differently”

Well, suppose we as a people decided we wanted to ‘interpret man’s laws’ any old which way we choose to? Suppose we suddenly decide that the deefinition of bank robbery was ‘open to itnerpretation’ or that the law regarding robbery was ‘open to itnerpretation’? Suppose we reason that the lawgivers are really compassionate people who really didn’t mean what they said and would understand that because we aren’t as rich as we want to be that we would be justified in breaking those laws and hterefore would not be prosecuted?

[Intolerant in NJ]

... and that instead those services would be paid for directly by insurance companies...this is insane - the President thinks he can simply order insurance companies to pay for services to avoid having others paying for tham (never mind the fact that clients will be paying for them eventually anyway) - how 'bout ordering Texaco to give everyone free gasoline - and Evian to give us all free bottled water - and maybe worst of all he's so stupid he thinks everyone else is too stupid to see through his scam - we're deep into fantasyland here......

[pankot]

A classic “rope a dope” strategy.

[Salvation]

On the issue of power -- here's a letter from Catholic Vote.org

Dear CV Friend,

What just happened?

The truth: the assault on religious liberty just got worse.

Moments ago President Obama introduced an accounting gimmick to appease voters over his recent Health and Human Services mandate. The so-called compromise will continue to force virtually all employers, including religious institutions, to pay into insurance policies that cover abortion drugs and other immoral medicines and procedures.

What's the catch?

To protect himself from the national backlash, the President announced a "compromise" that will allow religious institutions to withhold premiums paid to insurance companies for select medicines and procedures they believe are immoral.

But these immoral medicines and drugs will continue to be provided by the same insurance plans for free -- to everyone, including every employee of Catholic institutions!

So President Obama decided to use insurance companies to hide his assault on religious liberty.

Separating the premiums paid to insurance companies does not change what these policies will cover. The very same policies funded by religious institutions will continue to cover contraception, birth control, and abortion drugs for every employee of these organizations. To pretend, by an accounting gimmick, that the premiums paid by the employer will not subsidize these services is simply absurd.

Furthermore, self-funded insurance plans (like many of those used by Catholic institutions) will continue to be forced to provide these immoral medicines.

And owners of businesses who believe abortion drugs are immoral? Sorry. To hell with liberty. Pay up.

All Americans should shudder at what has just transpired.

Despite repeated promises during the healthcare debate in 2009, the President of the United States has created a sham conscience compromise, and ordered all insurance companies to pay for abortion drugs -- and all religious institutions will be forced to pay into these plans.

He thought he could get away with this assault on our freedom. We called him out and forced him to respond. Now we must call his bluff.

This isn't the end.

CV President Brian Burch has been on the phone all morning with members of Congress urging them to immediately introduce legislation that will protect the conscience rights of all Americans.

Catholics don't want an accounting gimmick.

We want freedom.

And we won't rest until we get it.


- Your Friends at CatholicVote.org


P.S. Nothing speaks louder on this decision than the fact that Planned Parenthood is happy with it.

The President explained that the specifics of his compromise will be worked out over the next year. This is nothing but an election year "fix" that will be undone if President Obama is re-elected. Some leaders, including Sr. Carol Keehan have already caved. Stay strong. And please, please keep praying.

[Ann Archy]

Bishops...you BETTER stand firm.....this is a last stand.

[trebb]

And I’ve got a couple of classmates from the Catholic men’s college we attended in the late 1960s who stick to the line, I’m paraphrasing: Its a woman’s health issue. the church’s positon on birth control is wrong. Obama’s change today (Friday) means that the church institutions will not be affected. fortunately a couple of others do get it.

I've had a few try to tell me the same thing. I asked them what kind of illness or disease pregnancy is and whether a baby should be likened to a cancerous tumor. Until they can explain this, they will not be allowed to throw their asinine arguments my way.

[GlockThe Vote]

This nation is finished. It’s over.

[GreyFriar]

Ah, pergnancy as disease to rebutt the “women’s healthcare” line of talk. Last night there was a female Episcopalian Bishop and another liberal lady who kept tying birth control to “women’s health,” ignoring Hannity’s questions about violation of conscience of faith and the First Amendment.

I’ll use that line of reasoning in the future. Thank you for it.

[zot]

This is a religious war. Abortion is a sacrament to liberals.