Bishops take stand against Obama administration on health insurance Tom Smith

Well, one could have seen this coming.  And if Obamacare is not repealed, what amounts to federal funding for abortions and whatever it is we are supposed to call death panels are both coming, I would confidently predict.  The bishops could have stopped Obamacare but didn't and instead did a deal with the, well, an imprudent deal.

But I'm nevertheless glad to see the bishops take a stand.  It seems an inevitable conflict.  If you say only insurance policies approved by Washington can be sold and that those policies have to cover certain things, that list is certainly going to include birth control, including kinds that count as abortion strictly Catholicly speaking.  If only the Catholic Church were a labor union, this whole thing could be avoided by issuing it one of those exemptions from Obamacare that are so popular among those who supported it.  Possibly the bishops will realize that smell of coal smoke and choo-choo sound are from the clue train pulling into the USCCB's headquarters.

How significant is alienating the Catholic Bishops so profoundly to O's re-election prospects.  I don't really know, but some swing states, such as Ohio, are pretty Catholic.  Most Catholic women do use birth control, and probably want insurance that covers it. But many Catholics will be offended to have the requirement shoved down the throats of Catholic institutions.  

This from NYC Archbishop Timothy Dolan.

Comments

[Jimbino]

The chickens are coming home to, roost for the Roman Catholics. How many years have I complained about my tax dollars going to support their pronatalism?

I am a atheist and conscientious objector to taxpayer support of breeding, educating and coddling of someone else's babies. Has the gummint ever taken my objections seriously?

[krm]

The RC bishops ought to do a hospital strike (announced well in advance) and nationwide take no new patients and schedule no proceedures on some set day.

Jimbino - how have you been taxed for the RC's kids? Their schools are self funding, etc (while the RCs also pay taxes for public schools). The bulk of Evangelicals (the non-home schoolers anyway), perhaps.

[StephanieandTimothy Gordon]

Yeah, I also fail to understand the "roosting" iconography, there Jimbino. We RC's are double-billed, not the other way around.

Here's a good synopsis of what the various bishops' letters included:
http://news.charlottediocese.net/n/component/content/article/1337-hhs-move-on-contraception-mandate-amounts-to-to-hell-with-you-bishop-says-as-protests-mount?showall=1

[Jerry]

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[Comanche Voter]

Jimbino seriously now--you're concerned about pronatalism? Did you plan to contribute to the genetic pool with children of your own, or are you the end of the line for your illustrious genetic branch?

Assuming that the Social Security system of transfer payments from the young to the old will be in effect when you reach your dotage, who's going to be working to earn the money to make the transfer payment to you?

My own two daughters are now in their early 40's, but I've been paying my property and income taxes right along to keep the public schools open, and will continue to do so until the day I die. Frankly having private schools, Roman Catholic schools , home schooling etc around to take some of the burden off public schools is a "blessing" as it were.

[Jimbino]

I recognize that you RCs don't read the Bible, but I didn't know you were incapable of reading a simple comment.

I did not claim that the RC church benefits from my tax dollars, though it is true. I pay indirectly for every religious and charitable tax exemption and deduction that benefits churches.

What I said is that the RC church supports pro-natalism, for which I pay through the nose to support, all while the breeders are polluting the world with kids. Public education is but one example of tax-supported pro-natalism and I accept that RCs who school their own children pay, as I do, for the mis-education of kids of other breeders without direct benefit to themselves. Still RCs get a free ride on my tax dollars in the form of a charitable deduction.