The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a press release complaining about Vice-President Biden’s statement on the birth control benefit in the Affordable Care Act, and the accommodations made by the Obama Administration for houses of worship.
Apparently, these old white dudes are really ridiculously against providing healthcare for their female employees — even the ones that aren’t Catholic.
In a word? They’re being whiny women-controlling asshats.
Oh, what? That wasn’t one word?
[read full-post at ABLC]
jharp
Never mind that 28 states have had the same laws for the past 12 years. When Obama does it it’s an attack on their religious freedom.
The Catholic Church should have it’s not for profit status revoked.
Fuck them.
Schlemizel
Not to go OT right away but here I go OT right away
Just heard that Ryan’s dad is related to Ed Gein. Since Wisconsin has the highest percentage of serial killers and cannibals in the US I was wondering if anyone else has heard this. If not maybe we should 8-{D
beltane
No wonder “no religion” is this country’s fastest growing religion. When the leadership of the church has abandoned morality in favor of political power and right-wing ideology, the most moral thing for decent people to do is abandon the church.
22over7
Calling them whiny, women-controlling asshats makes them sound kind of cute. This is not cute. It’s about power and control, and the Catholics will never give it up. They’d burn women if they could.
Also, in the long run, we can’t beat them. They have more money than we can imagine, influence all over the world, their own army, hell, they have their own country. They’ve been at this for millenia.
The trick is to lessen their influence. The bishops can all go hide in the Vatican for all I care. We just have to figure out a way to get the politicians to stop listening to them. I have no idea how.
TooManyJens
Biden did get mixed up when he said Catholic hospitals don’t have to provide their employees with insurance that covers contraception. They do, and I’m glad those employees will get their coverage.
I see that the bishops are still pushing the “abortifacients” line. The senior director of medical ethics for the Catholic Health Association disagrees with them. If you can’t read that PDF, Ron Hamel argues that “There does not seem to be the scientific evidence to categorically label the drug [referring to ella] as having an abortifacient effect.” Hamel and Dr. Sandra Reznik, also of the CHA, have also documented the evidence that levonorgestrel emergency contraception, aka Plan B, does not have a postfertilization effect. Where’s the bishops’ evidence? I wish a court would tell them to put up or shut up. The false claims about emergency contraception being abortifacient are the only way that the far Right can keep claiming that Obamacare funds abortion, and they have to keep claiming that so they can keep whipping people up against it.
TG Chicago
Do these bishops ever send out press releases about poverty or torture or war or stewardship of the planet? Or is it only about ladyparts and teh ghey?
pseudonymous in nc
I think it’s obvious that the beanies have a strategy from Rome for re-taking America.
Kick them up the arse and make wall-sized prints.
? Martin
Religious freedom means your boss gets to impose his religious beliefs on you.
Just Some Fuckhead
Are these the single men that wear dresses and diddle little boys? Because I wanna know what they think about women’s issues.
Roger Moore
@jharp:
Not for profit is fine, but special tax treatment should be ended for all charities. It forces the government to decide what things are real charities and what things aren’t, and it’s way too easy for for-profit businesses to disguise themselves.
Roger Moore
@22over7:
Don’t be so negative. The Church is on a long downward path. Yes, it’s still very powerful, but it’s been losing its power in Europe for a long time. People have stopped listening to what the Church tells them, and it doesn’t have a lot of power beyond that.
Gary K
Every time this issue gets raised, it should be pointed out as yet another reason why we ought to have single-payer. When an employer provides health insurance to an employee, whose insurance is it anyway? Would anybody think it’s OK for an employer to dictate that wages could not be spent on drink or gambling?
Just Some Fuckhead
@Roger Moore:
One more pope to go, then it’s all over.
kuvasz
Oddly, Joe Biden’s remarks on not willing to use the government to impose his religious beliefs on non-believers of his faith echo those of John Kennedy’s speech on religious tolerance on September 12, 1960 to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, a group of Protestant ministers.
Violet
@Just Some Fuckhead: There’s already a move to challenge this pope by someone else high in the Vatican power structure–a cardinal or someone.
dmsilev
@Violet: How does one challenge a Pope? I was under the impression that the only way you left that position was when you dropped dead.
OK, I suppose “encouraging” the dropping dead would be an option, but I doubt that’s what you meant.
TooManyJens
@Gary K:
I called our Benefits department a while back and asked exactly this question. Some people were trying to muddy the waters by saying that since the employer gets a group deal, it’s their insurance. Nope. It belongs to the employee. Authoritarian employers need to suck it up and deal with the fact that they don’t own us, and they don’t get to dictate what we do with our compensation.
Amanda in the South Bay
@dmsilev:
Well, I believe the 6th Ecumenical Council condemned Pope Honorious I for supporting the monotheletism heresy.
MikeJ
@TooManyJens:
It’s a tax write off for the employer and taxable income for the employee. How is this even a question?
beltane
@dmsilev: One of the pope’s most predominant critics, an Italian cardinal, passed away from natural causes a couple of months ago. It is not always wise to criticize the pope from within and it is never effective to criticize the pope from without.
redshirt
@Gary K: Yes. This. There should only be three responses to this “outrage”:
1. Don’t like birth control/abortion? Don’t use it/don’t get one
2. The employee is the benefactor of the insurance, from the insurance company. Your employer is merely paying an amount towards that relationship between you and the insurance company. Don’t like it, Catholic Church? Then don’t pay anything towards your employee’s insurance. Zero. See what happens.
3. This policy has been in place for the majority of America for decades, including the states of large Catholic populations. Where was the hue and cry during the W. salad days?
Like any argument will matter. We’re living in a reality show now, and all that counts is impressing the judges and/or the telephone polls/text lines.
gvg
I don’t think the catholic church should be allowed to own public hospitals, which would be any in areas where they are the only fast choice. any other religion that thinks it has to restrict medical procedures on it’s faith would also be made to divest.
We have not been enforcing anti monopoly laws well since the 60’s.
The bishops and the pope seem to have lost their minds by the way. They are drawing too much negative attention to themselves the last couple of decades. You don’t gain religious authority by acting immorally as people see it. After the child rape coverup scandals they needed to act kind and saintly and keep a low profile. I don’t think they even understand what they did wrong. Apoligies that aren’t………clueless and bad people.
beltane
@gvg: The hierarchy is in real need of penance and humility. Instead they are giving us arrogance and power grabbing.
pseudonymous in nc
@Roger Moore:
I like the British approach — you can’t deduct charitable donations, but the Treasury will send a lump sum to the charity that reflects the tax paid on those donations. Definitely changes the dynamics of it, so you’re not tax planning on the basis of a hefty deduction to a “charity” like, say, LDS Inc. of Utah. Or even donating to First Bumfuck Baptist in the knowledge that you’ll get it back in kind via membership of the church.
But you’re right: it seems as if all manner of bullshit orgs can get 501(c)(3) status in the US, and it’s the basis of wingnut welfare and all manner of scams.
Roger Moore
@Just Some Fuckhead:
That seems unrealistic; there are still plenty of places where the Church is very powerful and socially prestigious, and I don’t think they’re going to fold that quickly. But they’ve lost a huge amount of prestige in Europe, and they’re only in as good shape as they are in the USA because of immigration. I just think the half-life of an institution the size of the Catholic Church is a lot longer than a generation.
Chris
@22over7:
Their own army? You mean the Swiss guards?
Chris
@Roger Moore:
In Europe, yeah, but elsewhere? I know they’ve still got lots of people in Africa, and of course there’s always Latin America. (Though, from what a friend of mine explained to me, the Church’s popularity in Latin America varies by country, largely depending on what the Church’s relationship with the old right-wing regime was).
redshirt
@efgoldman: That would be an awesome story – The Swiss Guard nukes up and takes over the World. Or at least tries….
WaterGirl
@TooManyJens: You know, I didn’t think he had mixed it up. I thought he said they didn’t have to have any part in it, which is true, because they can request that directly from the company, without going through the normal channels at their work. That’s what I thought, anyway.
TooManyJens
@WaterGirl: Now that you mention it, that’s right. I’d forgotten about that.
WaterGirl
@Just Some Fuckhead:
What do you mean by that?
mainmati
@22over7: Not the “Catholics”, rather the Catholic Bishops. There is a huge world of difference especially in North America and Europe.
Delia
@dmsilev:
You set up the first one in Rome, as usual, and another one in Avignon, or wherever.
WaterGirl
I hope the Catholic Bishops get themselves all ove rthe news with this again. It only helped Obama last time. And if he truly has lost women as the recent polls are showing (which I have trouble believing) then this should help him get them back again.
redshirt
@efgoldman: LOL. Mickey!
Just Some Fuckhead
@WaterGirl: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophecy_of_the_Popes
WaterGirl
@Just Some Fuckhead: wow. they did not teach us about that in catholic grade school. we heard whispers of a “bad” pope, though.
i despise this pope.
Delia
@WaterGirl:
The Bad Popes
danah gaz
I always take spiritual and moral guidance from organizations that protect and encourage serial child rape.
TinkerTim
@toomanyjens & @Watergirl – Not only that, but it costs the insurance companies a lot more to cover pregnancies from lack of contraception than it does to provide the contraception. I think CDC estimates it as four times more expensive.
So with your points the Bishops are just flat out wrong. As a matter of fact, they have it exactly backwards. Banning contraception costs them more. Allowing it either does nothing (if it is already covered) or would enable them to negotiate lower premiums.
Biden was right.
WWStBreitbartD
How dare the Catholic Church contradict their better when Joe Biden dares to speak for them and tell the world what they believe!!!!
Greyjoy
As opposed to speaking for me, and telling me that I don’t deserve comprehensive birth control coverage? When I’m not even Catholic? Gee, how unfair it is when they’re forced to take exactly what they’re dishing out.