Mark Rienzi, Senior Counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents the Little Sisters of the Poor, says, “The federal government doesn’t need the Little Sisters or any other ministry to help it distribute abortion-inducing drugs and other contraceptives. Yet it not only insists on forcing them to participate in the delivery, it argues that their beliefs against participating are wrong and that government officials and judges can tell the Little Sisters what Catholic theology really requires.That’s wrong, and it’s dangerous — especially when those same government officials have disrespectfully compared the Sisters’ beliefs to ‘fighting an invisible dragon’ that can be vanquished with the ‘stroke of the [Sisters’] own pen.’”
Former CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson gave a speech at Hillsdale College in which she said the Obama administration has been producing its own taxpayer funded video content to avoid questions and accountability.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) used millions of taxpayer dollars to expand or create their own television studios.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has a studio with Hitachi high-definition cameras and LCD-based teleprompters.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has more than 1,200 “media relations employees” on staff.
The FDA has a studio that can fit a live audience of 100 people.
And your tax dollars pay for all of it.
Attkisson also said that, because of the Obama administration, “the job of getting at the truth has never been harder.”
“There’s delay, denial, obstruction, intimidation, retaliation, bullying, surveillance and for some, the possible threat of criminal prosecution. In my view and that of other national reporters, this is proving to be the least transparent administration we’ve covered. It’s so bad that practically every major news outlet including the CBS News, Washington Post and the New York Times signed a scathing letter to the White House in 2013 objecting to restrictions on the press that are unprecedented, that we have not dealt with before.”
Attkisson said. “I’m still waiting for lawful responses to my FOIA requests on Benghazi, Ebola, Fast and Furious, Healthcare.gov from the FBI.”
The DOJ, which is supposed to uphold the law, uses tax monies to pay lawyers to defend the Obama administration’s refusal to uphold the law, so any attempt to sue the government for failing to respond properly to Freedom of Information requests has no downside for them and no upside for citizens trying to obtain documents that the law says we have a right to see.
August 22, 2014:The Obama administration issued a revised version of the HHS mandate. Under the guise of “filling out forms”, the new rules require people of faith to violate their religious beliefs or face fines of as much as $36,500 per year, per employee.
Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, explained the new rules like this:
“Let’s use a simple example. The government comes up with a plan to arbitrarily imprison children between 2 and 4 years old, and imposes on businesses the obligation to inform them of such children among the families of their employees.
“Any employer with a conscience is going to say, ‘I want nothing to do with this. If you’re going to imprison these children, you’re going to have to find them yourself. I won’t be sending you any information.’
“We want a full exemption from this mandate, so that we have nothing to do with this scheme. … Our religion requires no less.”
Just a thought from CtH …
Yesterday, one of my Facebook friends reported hearing a young man say there’s no reason to give a crap if a cop gets shot. “That’s what they signed up for.” I’m guessing he votes Democrat, so it just crossed my mind today that the same could be said of women who accept jobs with Christian non-profits and family-owned companies. There’s no reason to give a crap if they have to pay for their immoral practices out of their own pockets. “That’s what they signed up for.”
The HHS Mandate demands that Catholic organizations pay for birth control and abortifacients.
Another Obamacare mandate requires hospitals to be fined for taking charity cases.
Next up … Obama’s latest “Who cares about Congress?!” executive ordermandates that
any agency receiving federal assistance may not discriminate based on sexual orientation.
Sounds compassionate, right? Wrong.It will force Catholic charities (e.g., adoption agencies) to shut down rather than violate church teachings.
Even the left-of-center National Catholic Reporter understands what is at stake. Fr. Thomas Reese claims that “Depending on what exemptions [the executive order provides], the new requirement may affect Catholic Relief Services, Catholic hospitals, Catholic education, and other Catholic charities that received Federal funds.”
Fr. Reese reports that “In 2010, the Washington archdiocese … got out of the adoption business when gay marriage became legal in the city. It was also threatened with the loss of funding to help the poor when the city council required that employers with city contracts provide spousal benefits to gay employees. Instead, the charities eliminated spousal benefits for all future employees.Since heterosexual employees would not receive spousal benefits, the agencies could not be accused of discrimination.” (Ital added by CtH)
Last week, the Administration quietlyexcused millions of peoplefrom the requirement to purchase health insurance or else pay a tax penalty, WITHOUT bothering to TELL us.
This latest political reconstruction of “settled law” received zero media notice, and the Health and Human Services Department didn’t think the details were worth discussing in a conference call, press materials or fact sheet.
Instead, the mandate suspension was buried in an unrelated rule inside a seven-page technical bulletin. And it doesn’t even say what it means. It just refers you to some OTHER rule in some OTHER technical bulletin that was issued last December.
When HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebeliustestified yesterday in front of the House Ways and Means Committee, she was asked about the Wall Street Journal editorial “ObamaCare’s Secret Mandate Exemption” (March 12) that exposed the above. (Links below.)
Ms. Sebelius said she hadn’t read the editorial, but it was “not accurate”, except then she went on to explain that it was, in fact, accurate.
This is the number one person making all the rules and regulations about who can get what health care and how much it will cost.
Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores and Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Sebelius (consolidated for one hour of argument) – whether the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that employee health plans include birth control and other pregnancy-related services violates the religious rights of corporations and their owners
March 25th is the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary which marks the day the Archangel Gabriel came to Mary and told her she would be the mother of the Messiah.
This feast day is celebrated by In the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental and Eastern Catholic liturgical calendars. In the west, the date is moved if necessary to prevent it from falling during Holy Week or Easter Week or on a Sunday. In the east, it is always celebrated on March 25th.
This year, the feast will be celebrated on March 25th around the world.
According to a recent CNN/ORC national poll, support for Obamacare has declined over the past few months to only 35%, with 62% now opposing the law.
So naturally, Sebelius crowed about fake enrollments while the White House griped about SCOTUS taking sides with Catholic nuns over the HHS Mandate that would force them to add birth control and abortifacient coverage to their insurance policies.
Tweet responses to Sebelius:
“Newly” insured. As in, never had insurance before, or renewed or replaced my expiring policy?
Results, over 3 million people that use to have insurance but don’t now.
Millions minus one. Thanks to ACA, I can’t afford the new insurance.
I get my health insurance through my employer GROUP plan. I was told my rates would go DOWN $2500. They went UP 30%. Thanks.
Today there are millions with higher premiums, higher deductibles and a higher rate of stress as they try to decide: insurance, or groceries and clothes for the kids?
UPDATE 1: Dec 31, 2013 at 4:58 pm — An emergency injunction granted just moments ago in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit means that Priests for Life will not have to obey the contraception mandate contained in the Affordable Care Act as its appeal is being heard. It also means that, tomorrow, Priests for Life will not have to cancel health insurance for its employees.
UPDATE 2: Tuesday night, Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor acted on an emergency request from an order of Catholic nuns in Colorado to block the HHS Mandate starting January 1. Justice Sotomayor is giving the government until Friday morning to respond to her decision. … SOTOMAYOR blocked the HHS Mandate?! Did the sun set in the East or something?
December 16, 2013: U.S. District Court Judge Brian Cogan in theEastern District of New York ruled FOR religious libertyin Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York v. Sebelius.
December 19, 2013: U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in the Eastern District of New York ruled AGAINST religious liberty in Priests for Life v. Sebelius.
Dec 23, 2013: Fr. Frank Interviewed on Fox News about the HHS Mandate [0:49]
Priests for Life is appealing and has declared that, regardless of the outcome,they will NOT comply with the HHS Mandate.
[I couldn’t find a ruling or a news report on the Priests for Life case, maybe because it was a dismissal. As I understand it, the judge just said, “Go away, fools.” Or something.]
Comments Off on Update: Court challenges to HHS Mandate UPDATED
December 27, 2013: A Houston federal court issued an injunction against the Obama Democrat HHS Mandate requiring employers to provide employees with abortion-causing drugs and devices. The ruling said the HHS Mandate – which Democrats drafted and Obama vigorously supports – violates federal civil rights laws. Altogether there are 89 lawsuits challenging the HHS Mandate. Twelve of the cases involving non-profit groups have been decided; nine have resulted in injunctions against the HHS Mandate.
1994: Mother Teresa of Calcutta at the National Prayer Breakfast
The National Prayer Breakfast is a yearly event held in Washington, D.C., on the first Thursday of February each year. It is hosted by members of Congress and typically has two special guest speakers: the President of the United States and a guest whose identity is kept confidential until that morning. In 1994, that president was the pro-abortion Democrat, Bill Clinton, and the guest was the pro-life Catholic, Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Text below begins at about 14:00.
“[I]f we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?”
“How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even His life to love us. So, the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love, that is, to give until it hurts her plans, her free time, to respect the life of her child.
“For the child is the greatest gift of God to the family because it has been created to love and to be loved. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And, by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble — so abortion just leads to more abortion.
“Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love one another, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.”
GRAPHIC images of the victims of 12 week abortion.
polination.blog 