I'm pasting most of this article from Stephen Combs because he says it better than I do.
"It’s not about the cost of birth control. It’s about power." -Stephen Combs / The Federalist Review
"...Three weeks ago Barack Obama declared open war on religion in America. Instantly, what first seemed like a torn sail became a gaping hole in the ship of state...
We mustn’t consider Obama’s attack on the Catholic Church just a social issue that can be postponed. His brazen defiance of the First Amendment defines his presidency as well as anything we can think of. If it stands, this first in our Bill of Rights will be meaningless. Restoring the Defense of Marriage Act can wait until 2013. Overturning the destruction of religious freedom cannot.
To review, Obama ordered Health and Human Services Director Kathleen Sibelius to issue a regulation requiring Catholic hospitals, universities and charities to provide their employees with health insurance coverage for free contraceptives, sterilization and “abortifacients” – drugs like the morning-after pill to terminate a pregnancy. The order thus requires the Church to violate its religious principles. It is not written in the Obamacare legislation. It comes by fiat.
Catholic churches are exempt, but Obama assumes the power to dictate employee benefits policy in the church’s so-called secular institutions. Because Catholic Charities, for example, serves non-Catholics as well as Catholics, its ministry is secular in the eyes of President Obama. Only worship services will be protected.
If the edict stands, Obama will have usurped power of unimaginable enormity. His extra-constitutional behavior thus far gives no hint that he would suddenly stop consolidating power in a second term. His narcissistic mindset would assure him that his actions are just and right.
A reasonable person must agree that the edict violates that part of the First Amendment prohibiting Congress from “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The Catholic Church opposes abortion including abortifacients, and most forms of contraception. In its free exercise of religion, its hospitals choose not to perform abortions or provide contraceptives.
Defiance will be costly (See Friday Letter #163 of Feb. 3, 2012). Since the Church promises not to back down, it faces an unpleasant choice: Close down its hospitals and universities or pay yearly fines of $2,000 per employee.
Obama’s order is no mere political gaffe, a mistake to be corrected on further consideration. His press flak said so. All one has to do is examine the writings and biography of Chai Feldblum.
Feldblum is a Georgetown law professor on leave to serve as an Obama-appointed Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner. She has written narrowly on employment law almost exclusively on the rights of homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals.
She was an ACLU lawyer from 1988-1991 and helped draft the Americans with Disabilities Act and its 2008 amendment. Her biography describes her as “a leading advocate and scholar in the areas of disability rights, health and welfare rights, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, and workplace issues.”
“When religious liberty and sexual liberty conflict,” she told The Weekly Standard in 2006, “I’m having a hard time coming up with any case in which religious liberty should win.”
Questioned on her views of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, of which she was the lead drafter, and the rights of Christians hiring employees of their choice, she said, “Gays win; Christians lose.”1
What remains to be seen is the sincerity of the Catholic Bishops’ outrage. After all, they support everything else in the government health care law. While they bellowed and screamed from the pulpit two weeks ago, one must be excused for skepticism at the thought of this reliable Democrat constituency actually supporting a Republican.
The Catholic League claimed outrage. Its leader, Bill Donahue, vowed to “take to the streets” if necessary. How many lay Catholics he’ll get to go along with this threat is anyone’s guess. Donahue says 70 million.
“Catholic League Poised To Go To War With Obama Over Mandatory Birth Control Payments,” CBS-2 in New York screamed. We doubt that Obama is too worked up over this. Half of these folks won’t leave the reservation for any reason because they incorrectly think the order doesn’t apply to them. After all, most of them use birth control. What’s the big deal?
They won’t realize until too late that this is not about the cost and availability of birth control. It’s about power."
NOTES
1. Quoted in the American Principles Project, Oct. 26, 2009.
The Friday Letter for February 10, 2012. Year 4, Issue #164, Published by The Federalist Review. Ron Falkner, publisher. Please send subscription information and letters intended for publication to combs@fridayletter.com. Letters must include author’s full name and town. Subscriptions are free, and we do not share subscriber information with anyone. Website: Federalist Review
"It’s not about the cost of birth control. It’s about power." -Stephen Combs / The Federalist Review
"...Three weeks ago Barack Obama declared open war on religion in America. Instantly, what first seemed like a torn sail became a gaping hole in the ship of state...
We mustn’t consider Obama’s attack on the Catholic Church just a social issue that can be postponed. His brazen defiance of the First Amendment defines his presidency as well as anything we can think of. If it stands, this first in our Bill of Rights will be meaningless. Restoring the Defense of Marriage Act can wait until 2013. Overturning the destruction of religious freedom cannot.
To review, Obama ordered Health and Human Services Director Kathleen Sibelius to issue a regulation requiring Catholic hospitals, universities and charities to provide their employees with health insurance coverage for free contraceptives, sterilization and “abortifacients” – drugs like the morning-after pill to terminate a pregnancy. The order thus requires the Church to violate its religious principles. It is not written in the Obamacare legislation. It comes by fiat.
Catholic churches are exempt, but Obama assumes the power to dictate employee benefits policy in the church’s so-called secular institutions. Because Catholic Charities, for example, serves non-Catholics as well as Catholics, its ministry is secular in the eyes of President Obama. Only worship services will be protected.
If the edict stands, Obama will have usurped power of unimaginable enormity. His extra-constitutional behavior thus far gives no hint that he would suddenly stop consolidating power in a second term. His narcissistic mindset would assure him that his actions are just and right.
A reasonable person must agree that the edict violates that part of the First Amendment prohibiting Congress from “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The Catholic Church opposes abortion including abortifacients, and most forms of contraception. In its free exercise of religion, its hospitals choose not to perform abortions or provide contraceptives.
Defiance will be costly (See Friday Letter #163 of Feb. 3, 2012). Since the Church promises not to back down, it faces an unpleasant choice: Close down its hospitals and universities or pay yearly fines of $2,000 per employee.
Obama’s order is no mere political gaffe, a mistake to be corrected on further consideration. His press flak said so. All one has to do is examine the writings and biography of Chai Feldblum.
Feldblum is a Georgetown law professor on leave to serve as an Obama-appointed Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner. She has written narrowly on employment law almost exclusively on the rights of homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals.
She was an ACLU lawyer from 1988-1991 and helped draft the Americans with Disabilities Act and its 2008 amendment. Her biography describes her as “a leading advocate and scholar in the areas of disability rights, health and welfare rights, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, and workplace issues.”
“When religious liberty and sexual liberty conflict,” she told The Weekly Standard in 2006, “I’m having a hard time coming up with any case in which religious liberty should win.”
Questioned on her views of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, of which she was the lead drafter, and the rights of Christians hiring employees of their choice, she said, “Gays win; Christians lose.”1
What remains to be seen is the sincerity of the Catholic Bishops’ outrage. After all, they support everything else in the government health care law. While they bellowed and screamed from the pulpit two weeks ago, one must be excused for skepticism at the thought of this reliable Democrat constituency actually supporting a Republican.
The Catholic League claimed outrage. Its leader, Bill Donahue, vowed to “take to the streets” if necessary. How many lay Catholics he’ll get to go along with this threat is anyone’s guess. Donahue says 70 million.
“Catholic League Poised To Go To War With Obama Over Mandatory Birth Control Payments,” CBS-2 in New York screamed. We doubt that Obama is too worked up over this. Half of these folks won’t leave the reservation for any reason because they incorrectly think the order doesn’t apply to them. After all, most of them use birth control. What’s the big deal?
They won’t realize until too late that this is not about the cost and availability of birth control. It’s about power."
NOTES
1. Quoted in the American Principles Project, Oct. 26, 2009.
The Friday Letter for February 10, 2012. Year 4, Issue #164, Published by The Federalist Review. Ron Falkner, publisher. Please send subscription information and letters intended for publication to combs@fridayletter.com. Letters must include author’s full name and town. Subscriptions are free, and we do not share subscriber information with anyone. Website: Federalist Review
No comments:
Post a Comment