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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Soul Crusher on January 20, 2012, 10:29:20 AM
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Health plans ordered to cover birth control without co-pays
By Julian Pecquet - 01/20/12 12:51 PM ET
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/205413-obama-administration-orders-health-plans-to-cover-birth-control-without-co-pays?tmpl=component&print=1&page=
Most health plans will be required to cover birth control without charging co-pays or deductibles starting Aug. 1, the Obama administration announced Friday.
The final regulation retains the approach federal health officials proposed last summer, despite the deluge of complaints from religious groups and congressional Republicans that has poured in since then. Churches, synagogues and other houses of worship are exempt from the requirement but religious-affiliated hospitals and universities only get a one-year delay and must comply by Aug. 1, 2013.
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So who pays for this you stupid pieces of garbage and communist shit who voted for this?
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Obama Admin Decides to Require Religious Institutions to Cover Free Contraception
CatholicVote.org ^ | 01/20/2012 | Thomas Peters
Liberals are crowing about what they see as a huge victory for them — and they are right — because this victory comes at the expense of religious liberty.
Welcome to the Obama 2012 reelection plan: ignore and marginalize people of faith, pander to the far-left’s sexual-political priorities.
This via the far-left site ThinkProgress
Today, in a huge victory for women’s health, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that most employers will be required to cover contraception in their health plans, along with other preventive services, with no cost-sharing such as co-pays or deductibles. This means that after years of trying to get birth control covered to the same extent that health plans cover Viagra, our country will finally have nearly universal coverage of contraception.
Opponents of contraception had lobbied hard for a broad exemption that would have allowed any religiously-affiliated employer to opt out of providing such coverage. Fortunately, the Obama administration rejected that push and decided to maintain the narrow religious exemption that it initially proposed. Only houses of worship and other religious nonprofits that primarily employ and serve people of the same faith will be exempt. Religiously-affiliated employers who do not qualify for the exemption and are not currently offering contraceptive coverage may apply for transitional relief for a one-year period to give them time to determine how to comply with the rule.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicvote.org ...
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I have little sympathy for Catholics upset over this. Those pofs phoneys voted for Kenyabama.
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http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-postpones-forcing-catholic-institutions-to-buy-birth-control-until-after-election-day-2012-1
More bullshit from the commie thug and his looter fat disgusting cafone of a wife.
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OBAMA’S CONTEMPT FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY (mandates coverage of sterilization & contraception)
Catholic League ^ | January 20, 2012 | Bill Donohue
Posted on January 20, 2012 4:59:32 PM EST by NYer
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on today’s announcement from the Obama administration that it is going forward with its original “Obamacare” policy that mandates coverage of sterilization and contraceptive services in most healthcare plans:
Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said today that aside from houses of worship, all other religious agencies and organizations will be required to provide sterilization and contraceptive services, including abortifacients, in their employee healthcare plans; none will be allowed to charge co-pays or deductibles. The policy goes into effect in August 2013 for these entities; all others will be required to provide these services in August 2012.
Sebelius explained how her directive applies to non-church religious entities such as Catholic hospitals and universities: “Employers wishing to take advantage of the additional year must certify that they qualify for the delayed implementation. This additional year will allow these organizations more time and flexibility to adapt to this new rule.” She also said, “I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services.”
The language is Orwellian. With stunning magnanimity, Sebelius tells Catholic non-profits that they can take advantage of their one-year reprieve as long as they seek the blessings of the federal government. If they pass muster with the bureaucrats, then they have time to figure out how they can prostitute their religiously ground convictions, or prepare for bankruptcy. To top things off, after shoving the radical secular agenda down the throat of Catholics—and other people of faith who share their concerns—Sebelius congratulates the Obama administration for striking a “balance” between religious liberty and Obamacare. But, of course, no balance was struck: the edict grants nothing to those who believe in religious liberty, and she knows it.
That this dictatorial edict is being announced in an election year indicates both contempt for the First Amendment and plain stupidity.
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I wonder if Dago Ball Washing is included in this.
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So what?
I don't see what the big deal is. Please explain. Is it that the poor religious nut jobs and their institution aree getting slapped in the face over this or is that they believe people that go to church don't fuck each other before marriage?
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So what?
I don't see what the big deal is. Please explain. Is it that the poor religious nut jobs and their institution aree getting slapped in the face over this or is that they believe people that go to church don't fuck each other before marriage?
How about freedom of choice ? How about skyrocketing premiums?
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How about freedom of choice ? How about skyrocketing premiums?
Freedom of choice what do you mean?
Also, our premiums will always be high until either there is real reform or real market competition. OB is not in favor of either.
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Freedom of choice what do you mean?
Also, our premiums will always be high until either there is real reform or real market competition. OB is not in favor of either.
Why can't religious groups be free to choose what they cover? Why can't I be free to choose what I want to pay for?
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Why can't religious groups be free to choose what they cover? Why can't I be free to choose what I want to pay for?
I see what you are saying. But I bet there are other things, regulations and such in different areas that religious organizations as well as other non religious organizations have to do also. This particular one just flies against some of their religious principles. Either way I don't really care. Fuck em.
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8). Whatever.
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Obama admin: birth control mandate is final; bishops vow to fight
Life Site News ^ | 1/20/2012 | Kathlene Gilbert
Posted on January 21, 2012 7:50:46 AM EST by IbJensen
WASHINGTON, January 20, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - After being deluged with complaints from outraged religious groups, Obama’s health department has dug in its heels, saying its decision to force employers to provide abortifacient birth control drugs will continue as planned - although faith-based groups will be given a year reprieve. In response, U.S. Catholic bishops have not minced words, vowing to fight the order as “literally unconscionable.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Friday that faith-based entities like hospitals and universities will have until August 1, 2013 to provide employees with free birth control as part of their insurance packages. The mandate will also force such groups to pay for sterilizations and, because the FDA has approved abortifacient drugs such as Ella as “contraception.”
The mandate is being implemented as part of the new health care legislation that was passed in March 2010 despite vigorous opposition from U.S. Catholic bishops, who called it dangerously open to being used as a means of spreading abortion.
“In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” said Archbishop Timothy Dolan.
NARAL Pro-Choice America, the nation’s top abortion lobby, immediately celebrated the announcement and called on abortion supporters to thank the administration for defeating “a pressure campaign from anti-contraception groups.”
“With your help, we stood up to the large, well-funded groups that tried to put their anti-contraception beliefs ahead of women’s health,” NARAL president Nancy Keenan told supporters in an email. “We also kept the pressure on the Obama administration, and, clearly, our message was heard.”
But Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops, indicated that the Catholic Church would not go down without a fight.
“In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” said Dolan.
“To force American citizens to choose between violating their consciences and forgoing their healthcare is literally unconscionable,” he continued. “It is as much an attack on access to health care as on religious freedom. Historically this represents a challenge and a compromise of our religious liberty.”
Click “like” if you want to end abortion!
Other faith-based groups reacted in dismay, with many seeing the decision as equivalent to the administration declaring war on religious groups that oppose the drugs.
“It is the greatest irony, that by worshiping the cult of ‘choice’ the Obama Administration has determined that religious organizations lack the freedom to act in fidelity to their beliefs,’” said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society, a Catholic university watchdog group. “The White House has sold the First Amendment for a few pennies of political support from the ACLU and the abortion lobby.” CNS has noted that several Catholic universities have already spoken up in protest against the coming mandate.
“If the Obama Administration cannot respect the First Amendment of the Constitution, then we must take this fight to the courts and win,” Reilly said.
The press office of the USCCB didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) said it was “deeply disappointed” in the decision. “The HHS rules trample on our most cherished freedoms and set a dangerous precedent,” said Galen Carey, NAE Vice President for Government Relations.
NAE notes that, if the unprecedentedly narrow “religious exemption” to the mandate is allowed to remain, it may be adopted in other areas of law, leading to further erosion of conscience protections.
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US Catholics dismayed by Obama administration ruling
Catholic Herald ^ | Saturday, 21 January 2012 | Nancy Frazier OBrien
Posted on January 22, 2012 3:43:55 PM EST by narses
Catholics in the United States have reacted with dismay after the Obama administration turned down repeated requests from Catholic bishops, hospitals, schools and charitable organisations to revise its religious exemption to the requirement that all health plans cover contraceptives and sterilisation free of charge.
Instead, Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, announced yesterday that non-profit groups that do not provide contraceptive coverage because of their religious beliefs will get an additional year “to adapt to this new rule”.
“This decision was made after very careful consideration, including the important concerns some have raised about religious liberty,” Mrs Sebelius said. “I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services.”
But Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), said the Obama administration had “drawn an unprecedented line in the sand” with the decision.
“The Catholic bishops are committed to working with our fellow Americans to reform the law and change this unjust regulation,” he added. “We will continue to study all the implications of this troubling decision.”
Mrs Sebelius announced the mandate and a narrow religious exemption to it on August 1, 2011. Under the plan, after August 1 this year, new or significantly altered health plans will be required to provide all Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptives, including some that can cause abortions, without co-pays or deductibles as part of preventive health care for women.
The only religious organisations exempt from the requirement would be those meeting four specific criteria: “(1) has the inculcation of religious values as its purpose; (2) primarily employs persons who share its religious tenets; (3) primarily serves persons who share its religious tenets; and (4) is a non-profit organisation” under specific sections of the Internal Revenue Code.
Those sections “refer to churches, their integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches, as well as to the exclusively religious activities of any religious orders”, according to a footnote to the interim final rule.
Catholic groups, including the USCCB, the Catholic Health Association and Catholic Charities USA, called that exemption too narrow, saying it would require Catholic groups to stop all services to those who were not Catholic and would inappropriately involve the government in decisions about whether an organisation is “religious enough” to be exempted.
Mrs Sebelius’s announcement prompted an outcry from Catholic leaders and a sigh of relief from groups such as Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America, which had opposed any moves to weaken the contraceptive mandate or strengthen the religious exemption.
In a video posted on the USCCB website, Cardinal-designate Dolan said the decision put the Obama administration “on the wrong side of the Constitution” and should be rescinded.
“In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” the cardinal-designate said in a separate statement. “To force American citizens to choose between violating their consciences and forgoing their health care is literally unconscionable. It is as much an attack on access to health care as on religious freedom. Historically this represents a challenge and a compromise of our religious liberty.”
Franciscan Sister Jane Marie Klein, who chairs the board at Franciscan Alliance, a system of 13 Catholic hospitals, characterised the decision as “nothing else than a direct attack on religion and First Amendment rights”.
Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity who is president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, said the announcement was a “missed opportunity to be clear on appropriate conscience protection”.
“The challenge that these regulations posed for many groups remains unresolved,” she said. “This indicates the need for an effective national conversation on the appropriate conscience protections in our pluralistic country, which has always respected the role of religions.”
Fr Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, said he was “extremely disappointed” that the administration chose to ignore calls from religious institutions to broaden the exemption.
“With the existing restrictive definition in this mandate, the ministry of Jesus Christ himself would not be considered a religious entity,” he said.
“Just as the identity of Catholic Charities is firmly rooted in the teaching of its Church, the identity of this nation includes a mandated respect of religious beliefs,” Fr Snyder added. “It is this long-standing history that gave us hope that as a religious institution we would be granted the freedom to remain faithful to our beliefs while also being committed to providing access to quality health care for our 70,000 employees and their families across the country.”
In This Article
Archbishop Timothy Dolan, Kathleen Sebelius, Obama administration, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, US Department of Health and Human Services, USCCB
Have little sympathy for these religious idiots. They supported Obamacare based on other reasons and now need to S T F U. They made their deal with the anti Christ Obama and now should reap the poison that they bargained for.
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US Catholics dismayed by Obama administration ruling
Catholic Herald ^ | Saturday, 21 January 2012 | Nancy Frazier OBrien
Posted on January 22, 2012 3:43:55 PM EST by narses
Catholics in the United States have reacted with dismay after the Obama administration turned down repeated requests from Catholic bishops, hospitals, schools and charitable organisations to revise its religious exemption to the requirement that all health plans cover contraceptives and sterilisation free of charge.
Instead, Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, announced yesterday that non-profit groups that do not provide contraceptive coverage because of their religious beliefs will get an additional year “to adapt to this new rule”.
“This decision was made after very careful consideration, including the important concerns some have raised about religious liberty,” Mrs Sebelius said. “I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services.”
But Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), said the Obama administration had “drawn an unprecedented line in the sand” with the decision.
“The Catholic bishops are committed to working with our fellow Americans to reform the law and change this unjust regulation,” he added. “We will continue to study all the implications of this troubling decision.”
Mrs Sebelius announced the mandate and a narrow religious exemption to it on August 1, 2011. Under the plan, after August 1 this year, new or significantly altered health plans will be required to provide all Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptives, including some that can cause abortions, without co-pays or deductibles as part of preventive health care for women.
The only religious organisations exempt from the requirement would be those meeting four specific criteria: “(1) has the inculcation of religious values as its purpose; (2) primarily employs persons who share its religious tenets; (3) primarily serves persons who share its religious tenets; and (4) is a non-profit organisation” under specific sections of the Internal Revenue Code.
Those sections “refer to churches, their integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches, as well as to the exclusively religious activities of any religious orders”, according to a footnote to the interim final rule.
Catholic groups, including the USCCB, the Catholic Health Association and Catholic Charities USA, called that exemption too narrow, saying it would require Catholic groups to stop all services to those who were not Catholic and would inappropriately involve the government in decisions about whether an organisation is “religious enough” to be exempted.
Mrs Sebelius’s announcement prompted an outcry from Catholic leaders and a sigh of relief from groups such as Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America, which had opposed any moves to weaken the contraceptive mandate or strengthen the religious exemption.
In a video posted on the USCCB website, Cardinal-designate Dolan said the decision put the Obama administration “on the wrong side of the Constitution” and should be rescinded.
“In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” the cardinal-designate said in a separate statement. “To force American citizens to choose between violating their consciences and forgoing their health care is literally unconscionable. It is as much an attack on access to health care as on religious freedom. Historically this represents a challenge and a compromise of our religious liberty.”
Franciscan Sister Jane Marie Klein, who chairs the board at Franciscan Alliance, a system of 13 Catholic hospitals, characterised the decision as “nothing else than a direct attack on religion and First Amendment rights”.
Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity who is president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, said the announcement was a “missed opportunity to be clear on appropriate conscience protection”.
“The challenge that these regulations posed for many groups remains unresolved,” she said. “This indicates the need for an effective national conversation on the appropriate conscience protections in our pluralistic country, which has always respected the role of religions.”
Fr Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, said he was “extremely disappointed” that the administration chose to ignore calls from religious institutions to broaden the exemption.
“With the existing restrictive definition in this mandate, the ministry of Jesus Christ himself would not be considered a religious entity,” he said.
“Just as the identity of Catholic Charities is firmly rooted in the teaching of its Church, the identity of this nation includes a mandated respect of religious beliefs,” Fr Snyder added. “It is this long-standing history that gave us hope that as a religious institution we would be granted the freedom to remain faithful to our beliefs while also being committed to providing access to quality health care for our 70,000 employees and their families across the country.”
In This Article
Archbishop Timothy Dolan, Kathleen Sebelius, Obama administration, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, US Department of Health and Human Services, USCCB
Have little sympathy for these religious idiots. They supported Obamacare based on other reasons and now need to S T F U. They made their deal with the anti Christ Obama and now should reap the poison that they bargained for.
These hospitals receive federal funding. If they went private, then they would not have to follow suit. But to be honest...making birth control available will help prevent unwanted pregnancies which would be tons more money. Raising a child cost a lot of money
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Imagine how much money the government can save on Welfare with all of those little bastards not being born.
I support this for real.
I'd gladly pay for 30 dollars of BC or even an abortion every few months to avoid 18 years of extra welfare money.
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That is not the point, it's about freedom of choice.
Liberals are the most anti choice pofs in this nation. The only choice they favor is who to stick w the bill for. Their reckless behavior.
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That is not the point, it's about freedom of choice.
Liberals are the most anti choice pofs in this nation. The only choice they favor is who to stick w the bill for. Their reckless behavior.
I agree that the "freedom to choose" is only when it comes to aborting fetuses. There is much hypocrisy when you can't order a happy meal because your freedom to choose a happy meal is taken away.
So on that point, I do agree with you.
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Has Obama Lost the Catholic Left?
The Cardinal Newman Society | 01/22/12 | CNS Staff
Posted on January 23, 2012 12:42:58 AM EST by Dr. Brian Kopp
Has Obama Lost the Catholic Left?
Lyndon B. Johnson, after watching Walter Cronkite conclude a special broadcast which was heavily critical of the Tet offensive, said, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America.”
Well, this story isn’t exactly on the same level as that, but President Barack Obama may be losing the Catholic Left, with obvious implications for entrenched faculty on many Catholic college campuses. Michael Sean Winters, a lead writer for the National Catholic Reporter and vocal defender of the University of Notre Dame’s 2009 commencement honors for President Obama, wrote yesterday that he can’t see how he could ever support President Obama again after the administration’s ruling on religious exemptions for the contraceptive mandate.
Winters wrote:
President Barack Obama lost my vote yesterday when he declined to expand the exceedingly narrow conscience exemptions proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services. The issue of conscience protections is so foundational, I do not see how I ever could, in good conscience, vote for this man again.
One must wonder if President Obama might just be saying that if he’s lost the National Catholic Reporter, he’s lost the liberal Catholic vote. As you might remember, Obama won over the majority of Catholics in 2008, albeit mostly wayward Catholics.
Winters makes it clear he does not come at this issue as “an anti-contraception zealot.” In fact, he says plainly he comes at his decision “as a liberal and a Democrat” who defended the University of Notre Dame’s decision to honor the President.
That’s what makes this criticism sting a little more.
I accuse you, Mr. President, of dishonoring your own vision by this shameful decision.
I accuse you, Mr. President, of failing to live out the respect for diversity that you so properly and beautifully proclaimed as a cardinal virtue at Notre Dame. Or, are we to believe that diversity is only to be lauded when it advances the interests of those with whom we agree? That’s not diversity. That’s misuse of a noble principle for ignoble ends.
I accuse you, Mr. President, of betraying philosophic liberalism, which began, lest we forget, as a defense of the rights of conscience. As Catholics, we need to be honest and admit that, three hundred years ago, the defense of conscience was not high on the agenda of Holy Mother Church. But, we Catholics learned to embrace the idea that the coercion of conscience is a violation of human dignity. This is a lesson, Mr. President, that you and too many of your fellow liberals have apparently unlearned.
I accuse you, Mr. President, who argued that your experience as a constitutional scholar commended you for the high office you hold, of ignoring the Constitution.
Besides thinking Obama is constitutionally and morally wrong on this issue, Winters also complains that this action by Obama is just plain ol’ politically stupid and could imperil his presidency and destroy the progressive movement.
Winters seems to think Obama took this action to appease Planned Parenthood and NARAL. Winters wonders if Obama could have actually thought that these folks were going to vote Republican unless he did this? In short, Winters seems to believe that Obama took this action to gain the votes of those who were already voting for him.
Winters seems to feel spurned by Obama as well, saying:
I accuse you, Mr. President, of treating shamefully those Catholics who went out on a limb to support you. Do tell, Mr. President, how many bullets have the people at Planned Parenthood taken for you? Sr. Carol Keehan, Father Larry Snyder, Father John Jenkins, these people have scars to show for their willingness to work with you, to support you on your tough political fights. Is this the way you treat people who went to the mat for you?
Winters makes it clear he won’t be joining the GOP anytime soon but says he won’t be supporting President Obama either.
…as soon as I learned of this decision, I knew instantly that I also could not, in good conscience, ever vote for Mr. Obama again. I once had great faith in Mr. Obama’s judgment and leadership. I do not retract a single word I have written supporting him on issues like health care reform, or bringing the troops home from Iraq, or taking aggressive steps to halt the recession and turn the economy around. I will continue to advocate for those policies. But, I can never convince myself that a person capable of making such a dreadful decision is worthy of my respect or my vote.
We wonder, what does Notre Dame’s Father Jenkins think of all of this?
LOL. I love these idiots who supported Obama one act surprised at how radical he is. FNG morons. If they were too stupid in 2008 to see it, they still are most likely oblivious to reality.
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That is not the point, it's about freedom of choice.
Liberals are the most anti choice pofs in this nation. The only choice they favor is who to stick w the bill for. Their reckless behavior.
They only have to have birth control available for those who ask. But like I said, these hospitals are getting Federal funding so they gotta roll with it
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There should be no F'ed money at all. It's blood money.
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Start another Obama thread.
They have a HUGE impact.
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Start another Obama thread.
They have a HUGE impact.
Fuck you fagbear. You are a demented troll and little more.
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Imagine how much money the government can save on Welfare with all of those little bastards not being born.
I support this for real.
I'd gladly pay for 30 dollars of BC or even an abortion every few months to avoid 18 years of extra welfare money.
Indeed - there's an excellent section in Freakonomics that shows how the introduction of the birth control pill led to a serious decline in crime.
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Indeed - there's an excellent section in Freakonomics that shows how the introduction of the birth control pill led to a serious decline in crime.
Read it and agree 100 percent.
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Liberal Catholic stalwart angrily admits, "President Barack Obama lost my vote..."
Insight Scoop ^ | January 24, 2012 | Carl Olson
Reality has finally caught up to Michael Sean Winters of National "Catholic" Reporter (ht: Mary Eberstadt):
President Barack Obama lost my vote yesterday when he declined to expand the exceedingly narrow conscience exemptions proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services. The issue of conscience protections is so foundational, I do not see how I ever could, in good conscience, vote for this man again.
I do not come at this issue as a Catholic special pleader, who wants only to protect my own, although it was a little bracing to realize that the president’s decision yesterday essentially told us, as Catholics, that there is no room in this great country of ours for the institutions our Church has built over the years to be Catholic in ways that are important to us. Nor, frankly, do I come at the issue as an anti-contraception zealot: I understand that many people, and good Catholics too, reach different conclusions on the matter although I must say that Humanae Vitae in its entirety reads better, and more presciently, every year.
That is one potential positive of the Obama presidency I'd not considered: getting folks to appreciate the wisdom and guts of Pope Paul VI. Here is some more from Winters:
No, I come at this issue as a liberal and a Democrat and as someone who, until yesterday, generally supported the President, as someone who saw in his vision of America a greater concern for each other, a less mean-spirited culture, someone who could, and did, remind the nation that we are our brothers’ keeper, that liberalism has a long vocation in this country of promoting freedom and protecting the interests of the average person against the combined power of the rich, and that we should learn how to disagree without being disagreeable. I defended the University of Notre Dame for honoring this man, and my heart was warmed when President Obama said at Notre Dame: “we must find a way to reconcile our ever-shrinking world with its ever-growing diversity -- diversity of thought, diversity of culture, and diversity of belief. In short, we must find a way to live together as one human family.”
To borrow from Emile Zola: J’Accuse!
I accuse you, Mr. President, of dishonoring your own vision by this shameful decision.
Winters apparently still wants to believe the early rhetoric of President Obama rather than take a long, hard look at the public record of Obama the community organizer, ideologue, and Senator. He needs to consider that the President's "vision", in fact, is what Barack Obama has been quite deliberately pursuing all along, which is that of a leftist, statist ideologue who has little respect for the traditions, virtues, and values held by a majority of Americans.
I accuse you, Mr. President, of failing to live out the respect for diversity that you so properly and beautifully proclaimed as a cardinal virtue at Notre Dame. Or, are we to believe that diversity is only to be lauded when it advances the interests of those with whom we agree? That’s not diversity. That’s misuse of a noble principle for ignoble ends.
See the point above. Statist "diversity" and tolerance are rooted in a type of scientism which insists that any belief or principle cannot be proven "scientifically" must give way and eventually be suppressed. Thus, Kathleen Sebelius declared, in her January 20th statement, "Scientists have abundant evidence that birth control has significant health benefits for women and their families, it is documented to significantly reduce health costs, and is the most commonly taken drug in America by young and middle-aged women." The benefits of "birth control" are quite debatable, to put it mildly; what is of most interest for my point here is that the statements of "scientists" trumps, for all intents and purposes, the beliefs and principles of a huge number of people, many of them Catholic, but many of them of other religious and philosophical traditions.
Modern tolerance "insists that things science does not deal with, such as substantive value," writes James Kalb in The Tyranny of Liberalism (ISI, 2008), "be treated as subjective feelings because they cannot be determined by neutral experts." This means that "opinions regarding value, to the extent that they are not tolerant in the advance liberal sense, be kept private. ... Advanced liberal society therefore discredits, neutralizes, or silences those who speak out about matters of good and evil..." What we are seeing today, to state the obvious (it is obvious, right?), is the increasingly open clash between the beliefs of the minions of "advanced liberal society" and those who adhere to more traditional values and virtues based in religion and the track record of tradition, history, and commonsense. Winters, I think, believes in the former, but also has some toes in the latter. And those toes are getting smashed in the doorway of sometimes painful and seemingly inevitable statist progress:
I accuse you, Mr. President, of betraying philosophic liberalism, which began, lest we forget, as a defense of the rights of conscience. As Catholics, we need to be honest and admit that, three hundred years ago, the defense of conscience was not high on the agenda of Holy Mother Church. But, we Catholics learned to embrace the idea that the coercion of conscience is a violation of human dignity. This is a lesson, Mr. President, that you and too many of your fellow liberals have apparently unlearned.
All this talk about conscience, however, means nothing if there is no recognition and admission that we as humans are not only capable of knowing truth, but have an obligation to pursue and uphold truth. The ideologue, in the end, chooses his system over truth because his system is meant to shape man in a certain way, not to help man conform himself to truth and goodness. In other words, it begins with a certain understanding of the nature, origin, and ends of man. If I had to bet, I'd say that President Obama would say that he and his administration have made a decision in keeping with their collective conscience. But, again, such an understanding of conscience is not oriented toward truth, but through a political agenda aimed at a larger and quite frightening vision of human nature, which is not rooted in reason (although it constantly uses the rhetoric of reason) but in ideological coercion and scientistic aspirations. Blessed John Paul II wrote of this in Veritatis Splendor:
As is immediately evident, the crisis of truth is not unconnected with this development. Once the idea of a universal truth about the good, knowable by human reason, is lost, inevitably the notion of conscience also changes. Conscience is no longer considered in its primordial reality as an act of a person's intelligence, the function of which is to apply the universal knowledge of the good in a specific situation and thus to express a judgment about the right conduct to be chosen here and now. Instead, there is a tendency to grant to the individual conscience the prerogative of independently determining the criteria of good and evil and then acting accordingly. Such an outlook is quite congenial to an individualist ethic, wherein each individual is faced with his own truth, different from the truth of others. Taken to its extreme consequences, this individualism leads to a denial of the very idea of human nature. (par 32)
One final bit from Winters:
I accuse you, Mr. President, of treating shamefully those Catholics who went out on a limb to support you. Do tell, Mr. President, how many bullets have the people at Planned Parenthood taken for you? Sr. Carol Keehan, Father Larry Snyder, Father John Jenkins, these people have scars to show for their willingness to work with you, to support you on your tough political fights. Is this the way you treat people who went to the mat for you?
And let's not forget Douglas Kmiec and Fr. Thomas Reese, S.J., who seem(ed) willing to go to the rack for President Obama, and who presented the POTUS as being more fully and truly Catholic than anyone since the founding of the Church. And, yes, Mr. Winters, that is exactly how folks such as President Obama treat useful tools. (And, to be fair, it is how most politicians today treat religious groups; this is not just a tactice of leftists and Democrats.) Frankly, I don't fully understand Winters' remark about Planned Parenthood, as they have applauded the Obama administration's strong arm tactics. Regardless, it is good to see that Winters is waking up to reality a bit and starting to see what many of us saw several years ago. Not that I'm gloating. Matters are far, far too serious for gloating and scoring cheap rhetorical points. This is not a time for gloating, but for soul searching.
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