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Main Forums => Politics => Topic started by: Monkeyleg on March 24, 2012, 11:09:27 PM

Title: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Monkeyleg on March 24, 2012, 11:09:27 PM
One of my brother's wives appears to be a very dyed-in-the-wool Dem. I made the mistake of trying to argue with her on the Catholic church/contraception issue, but it's a long, curvy road to nowhere.

It's a fascinating insight into the thinking of a liberal, though. Read it if you like here: http://www.facebook.com/cherylbaker1/posts/10150617637421231
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: TommyGunn on March 24, 2012, 11:22:54 PM
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Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: MechAg94 on March 24, 2012, 11:25:49 PM
I couldn't see it either.  I even did the unthinkable and logged into Facebook.  That takes care of my quarterly visit.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Monkeyleg on March 25, 2012, 12:52:43 AM
Ah, maybe it can't be viewed if you're not a friend of hers. Here's the debate:


Cheryl Zimmerman Baker
11 hours ago ·
I believe that everyone has a right to their religious beliefs, but I do not believe they have a right to push them door to door on private property.
Stupid religious door to door "salesman" thought he could get around my "no soliciting" signs by coming to my back door! I gave him a piece of my mind because I saw him look at the sign on my front door! He took his chances and lost. Why even bother to come to doors where there are no soliciting signs? Do they really think they are going to find a person who wants to be interrupted on a Saturday morning?
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2 people like this.

Audrey Hutchinson You should have asked him for his name and address so you can go to his house one evening to discuss your religion.
10 hours ago · Like ·  1

Dan Zimmerman Judging by the tone of your post, a little exposure to the Spirit might serve you well. :-) Still waiting for your rant against Obama for pushing his religious views on all of us regarding mandatory contraception. How dare him mandate t...
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10 hours ago · Like ·  1

Cheryl Zimmerman Baker sorry, the spirit, when pushed door to door like any other sales, just serves to piss me off. As for contraception, I think all employers should offer it just like any other medication, regardless of their religious views. I do not think it...
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10 hours ago · Like ·  2

Audrey Hutchinson I live in Canada where we have Health Care for everyone--rich, poor, religious and the not so religious. No matter what you believe or don't believe the price for a woman to get the pill every month is rather small in comparison to that same woman having children because she is too poor to afford to pay for birth control and ends up on Welfare raising her kids. Which bill would you prefer to pay?
9 hours ago · Like ·  2

Dan Zimmerman Great. Since it is so cheap, folks can pay for it themselves. If you can't afford it, get it from Planned Parenthood for free. Of course, one would not be on welfare raising kids if one had acted responsibly to begin with. But God forbid, we certainly can't expect people to act responsibly -- rather we just need to enable their bad behavior by giving them more free stuff.
9 hours ago · Like ·  1

Dan Zimmerman The bottom line is that no one should be forced by the Federal gov't to provide something that violates their religious convictions just like Cheryl shouldn't be "thumped" at her front or back door. Both concepts are components of the US Constitution.
8 hours ago · Like

Dick Baker What about other religions? If they provide food to employees, should mosques and Jewish temples be required to serve pork? Should Hindu temples be required to serve beef? And why stop at contraception? Should churches be required to provid...
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8 hours ago · Like ·  2

Cheryl Zimmerman Baker My next question is: if the government should not be asking religious employers to provide access to birth control, then why should private religious schools in Milwaukee get voucher money from the government to allow students to attend? Da...
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5 hours ago · Like

Dick Baker You're halfway there, Cheryl. Why should anyone's tax dollars be used to pay for someone else's children at all? Taxpayer-funded education is a relatively (100+ years) new phenomenon, and not at all constitutional. Prior to the feds funneling taxpayer dollars, the communities or the parents handled education. But, since we're funding education with federal as well as state and local tax dollars, the parents should have some say in where their kids go. You have this "separation of church and state" issue going with parents sending kids to Catholic or Lutheran or Jewish or whatever religious schools, but you don't seem to object to Obama blowing wide open the "separation of church and state" (the mention of which is nowhere in the Constitution) by telling the Catholic church what it can and cannot do. That's a huge violation of the First Amendment, which is in the Constitution, albeit maybe not for long.
4 hours ago · Like

Cheryl Zimmerman Baker The catholic church is living in the dark ages. Long gone are the times where families needed to have a dozen children to work on a farm or whatever they did and the mortality rate of babies is no where near what it used to be. I read somewhere that many more catholics use some form of birth control (other than the rhythm method) then those who do not use birth control. Why can't the catholic church realize that the world population needs to be controlled and they need to change with the changing world? It is not against the teachings of christianity to use birth control. Be fruitful and multiply is an outdated idea. Asking that all employers offer birth control in their health plans is not a bad thing. Or perhaps all employers should give each employee money to purchase the health insurance they want, and then it would not be the employer offering the birth control. It just seems that the religious schools have been eager to take government money for their schools, but they do not want government to have them offer things like birth control. Back when I was in school, public schools received tax dollars, but private religious schools did not. The religious schools were entirely funded by the church and their members or others who paid tuition themselves to attend them. Mos
3 hours ago · Like

Cheryl Zimmerman Baker As for churches offering birth control to their employees, that is not something I say they have to do. Most church employees are actually members of the church anyway, but in the case of hospitals, not all of us are practicing catholics. Some have said we should just go find a different job. Easier said than done, when at least half of the hospitals in this area are run by catholic ministries. I originally signed on with a non-sectarian hospital, but then it merged with a catholic one and I had not choice but the be part of the merger, as I needed my job. That seems to be what is happening all over the place. It might be good if all employers just allotted money to employees to buy health insurance and then no religious employers would have to feel guilty about their insurance plans covering birth control. I have just found it interesting that catholic employers have no qualms about paying for viagra so some 70 year old guy can keep up with his 20 year old girlfriend and father children with her, but to help a woman control when she has children is a bad thing. I agree with Andrey that the cost of having insuring a child is so much more than paying for birth control. And yes, I feel that abortion should be an option available to women, especially in cases of rape or incest. Unfortunately, conservatives want to take that away too. Would a catholic church official really expect a woman to carry a baby to term if it was concieved as the result of rape or incest? How could someone expect that?
3 hours ago · Like

Dick Baker Cheryl, you're smart. Why are you missing the point? This isn't about birth control. I couldn't care less about the Catholic church or what they teach. It's about the federal government, in this case specifically in the form of the president, dictating to a church what it must provide to employees, regardless of the beliefs of the church. I don't think I've ever seen so blatant a frontal assault on the First Amendment. Also, it's not "the government" giving money for anything. It's our tax dollars. As for religious schools getting public money--and I'm assuming you're talking about choice schools--what about those of us who don't have children? What about those like Debbie's mother, who worked two jobs to pay $2000 per semester for each of her five children to attend catholic grade school, all the while paying through her property taxes for the education of other people's children? In the end, though, I'm just arguing about the abuse of power on the part of President Obama, and how David Axelrod, his advisor, has deftly shifted the spotlight from the unconstitutional power grab to the subject of contraception. Next thing you know he'll be gutting the Fifth Amendment while pulling a rabbit from his pocket.
about an hour ago · Like ·  1

Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: dogmush on March 25, 2012, 09:04:39 AM
I'm not Catholic, indeed I don't attend any church at all but:

Quote
The catholic church is living in the dark ages. Long gone are the times where families needed to have a dozen children to work on a farm or whatever they did and the mortality rate of babies is no where near what it used to be. .....Why can't the catholic church realize that the world population needs to be controlled and they need to change with the changing world?

I think she truly doesn't understand the concept of religion.  It's a problem I've seen in plenty of folks, as America goes more secular.  People don't understand, on a bone deep level, what Faith really means. Which is why they think you can just "adjust" it.  Or that you can talk peace into Jihadists.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Perd Hapley on March 25, 2012, 12:58:22 PM
I think she truly doesn't understand the concept of religion.  It's a problem I've seen in plenty of folks, as America goes more secular.  People don't understand, on a bone deep level, what Faith really means. Which is why they think you can just "adjust" it.  Or that you can talk peace into Jihadists.

I don't think it has anything to do with religion. Secular ideas have no obligation to change, either, just to keep up with trends.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Monkeyleg on March 25, 2012, 01:11:22 PM
I think her issues are more political than religious. She thinks that government should provide for everything, and that any notions of constitutionality or religious convictions are overridden by her perceived needs.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: MechAg94 on March 25, 2012, 02:15:51 PM
Quote
It might be good if all employers just allotted money to employees to buy health insurance and then no religious employers would have to feel guilty about their insurance plans covering birth control.
She buried this in one of her posts which seems to be hitting at least close to the truth.  She just needs to branch that idea out to a lot of other things.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Daniel964 on March 26, 2012, 04:05:03 AM
She buried this in one of her posts which seems to be hitting at least close to the truth.  She just needs to branch that idea out to a lot of other things.

I think employers do alott money for those things.

It's called a Paycheck.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Monkeyleg on March 26, 2012, 09:34:21 AM
My SIL is engaging in behavior I've noticed liberals using for years, perhaps decades. She's bouncing from one issue or question to another, never addressing my points, and constantly changing the discussion. Here's the follow-up to the above:

************
Cheryl Zimmerman Baker Dick, what about conservatives dictating what women can do with their bodies (ie: abortion)? What about governmental meetings being started with christian (only) prayers? There is abuse of power on both sides as they each have their agendas and have big money backing those agendas. I still feel we need some form of health care law in this country. Too many people are not able to get any kind of health insurance, or if it is offered to them by an employer, they cannot afford it. If it takes some kind of law to get everyone decent health care, then it will have to be done. Why should there be so many have nots?
20 hours ago · Like

Cheryl Zimmerman Baker Kathy, we do not have a fence or a big dog. Just BIG me and believe me, I am much more dangerous than a dog! :) I think the guy who bugged us yesterday will heed a no soliciting sign for a while now. I scared the crap out of him.
20 hours ago · Like

Kathy Tyson Once I put the dog out they never bothered to even attempt to knock on our door, so I didn't have to get up to answer. Wish our front yard was fenced in at this house.
19 hours ago · Like

Cheryl Zimmerman Baker Doubt they would honor a fence. Many of the religious canvassers seem to think they are above fences and no soliciting signs. The ones who do take the chance, meet ME! I lost respect for door to door religious salesmen after some insulted m...
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19 hours ago · Like

Kathy Tyson I'm sure they wouldn't honor a fence. It was my dog that kept them away.
16 hours ago · Like

Cheryl Zimmerman Baker Like I said, I am the one they fear when I answer the door. My husband usually just says "sic em" and I take care of those who seem to not be able to read the signs.
16 hours ago · Like

Kathy Tyson If the wind was blowing just right would I hear you at my house? lol
16 hours ago · Like

Dick Baker Cheryl, I'm not going to get bogged down in an abortion debate, except to say that I can find no "right to privacy" in the constitution as found by the the Burger court in Roe v Wade. Therefore, the federal government has no authority in such matters, as any such right is reserved for the states as written in the Tenth amendment. As for opening government meetings with prayer, that's a tradition going back to the settlement of this country. Like it or not, the US is a Christian country, although other religions are obviously equally accepted. I'm sure you could find a congressman or congresswoman to write a bill abolishing the prayer before opening of session, but I doubt it would get the requisite votes to pass. Christians are still the majority, and the First Amendment guarantees freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion. (Funny that some complain about "separation of church and state" selectively, when it's to their convenience to have such a separation or to not have it, as though it's a faucet to be turned on and off) As for health care, you want a law passed, and I don't. You want me to pay for it, and I don't. . There are 50 to 60 million people without health insurance in the US, and the majority of those don't have it by choice (young people, etc). I'm sure we can find a way to insure those who need it without handing over control of 16% of our economy to the federal government. We haven't seen the cost of Obamacare yet, as the full costs won't kick in until he leaves office, but the costs are going to be enormous. We already have unfunded mandates from Social Security and Medicare that total $116 trillion. That's nearly ten times one year's GDP, and it's unsustainable. Add the cost of Obamacare, and we'll be borrowing 80 cents of every federal dollar spent rather than 42 cents of every dollar being money borrowed from bondholders like the Chinese as it is now.
15 hours ago · Like ·  1
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Perd Hapley on March 26, 2012, 11:59:33 AM
My SIL is engaging in behavior I've noticed liberals using for years, perhaps decades. She's bouncing from one issue or question to another, never addressing my points, and constantly changing the discussion.


That's actually how most people argue.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: BridgeRunner on March 26, 2012, 10:03:03 PM
I note that one of your "points" is implying that she's stupid.  I wouldn't dignify that with a direct response either.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Boomhauer on March 26, 2012, 10:12:34 PM
Quote
Why can't the catholic church realize that the world population needs to be controlled

When people start using the words "population" and "control" in the same sentence, it makes me nervous. Quite a few other people have had ideas that the population needed to be controlled. We all know the names.



Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: roo_ster on March 26, 2012, 10:28:26 PM
When people start using the words "population" and "control" in the same sentence, it makes me nervous. Quite a few other people have had ideas that the population needed to be controlled. We all know the names.

To top it off, there is no population bomb.  She needs to get more recent data than that tossed about by Ehrlich in the early 1970s.  It seems her arguments mostly come dressed in leisure suits.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: BridgeRunner on March 26, 2012, 10:31:53 PM

That's actually how most people argue.

Including Monkeyleg.  See above. 
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Monkeyleg on March 26, 2012, 11:17:42 PM
Bridgerunner, where in all that do I imply she's stupid? She's not. She's very intelligent.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Perd Hapley on March 26, 2012, 11:42:55 PM
Monkeyleg,

Just quote Proverbs 31 to both these ladies (SIL and BR) and be done with it.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: BlueStarLizzard on March 27, 2012, 12:17:30 PM
Monkeylegs, please don't quote proverbs.  :facepalm:

My take on this, and, admitadly I don't know all that much about the recent dustup, so it may be a little skewed.

Birth control and the desission to take it/administer it is between the patient and the docter. I see this issue as one between insurance companies and the inviduial rather then church vs. emplyees.
The only church arguement is if you are running a business (like a hospital or a school) you do need to keep in mind that your hired workers are not all members of your church, there for, you really should not try to dictate what they should and should not do, based on your theology. Notice I said should, not need or have to.
I think this whole blather falls under emplyee rights. The pill has become a basic and commenly proscribed medication with multiple off label uses and is a pretty basic staple of medication for womens health. It's really annoying, this whole arguement that implies it's a recreational drug. Plus, it is actually cheap.

Insurance companies do have to follow laws to basic provide coverages to the people paying for it's service, and medically administered birth control is a hell of a lot more basic and nessasary then, oh, ED drugs. Furthermore, the emplyees are paying for their healthcare. If they pay for it, then they have some say in what it does and does not cover. And the government has the right and duty to back the people up on this, as we have established that this is a business practice issue, not a religious one.
I find it retarded when we let the right of religion trump the rights of the induvidual. Even more so, when it's a debate that really doesn't have anything to do with interfering with religious authorities.

Basically, insurance companies who provide health services need to PROVIDE health services bases on what they are being paid, and birth control is such a basic and nessasry service that it belongs right in with blood pressure meds and antibotics. I don't see how this messes with religious rights or business rights, and I do see this as protecting induvidial rights.

As for health care reform, and state run health care, well, if I trusted the government to do it right, which I don't think it can and we could afford it, which we can't, it would be dandy. For now we are stuck with a broken system that favors a very few and we have to patch it up until someone comes up with a better solution.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: makattak on March 27, 2012, 01:11:45 PM
Monkeylegs, please don't quote proverbs.  :facepalm:

My take on this, and, admitadly I don't know all that much about the recent dustup, so it may be a little skewed.

Birth control and the desission to take it/administer it is between the patient and the docter. I see this issue as one between insurance companies and the inviduial rather then church vs. emplyees.
The only church arguement is if you are running a business (like a hospital or a school) you do need to keep in mind that your hired workers are not all members of your church, there for, you really should not try to dictate what they should and should not do, based on your theology. Notice I said should, not need or have to.
I think this whole blather falls under emplyee rights. The pill has become a basic and commenly proscribed medication with multiple off label uses and is a pretty basic staple of medication for womens health. It's really annoying, this whole arguement that implies it's a recreational drug. Plus, it is actually cheap.

Insurance companies do have to follow laws to basic provide coverages to the people paying for it's service, and medically administered birth control is a hell of a lot more basic and nessasary then, oh, ED drugs. Furthermore, the emplyees are paying for their healthcare. If they pay for it, then they have some say in what it does and does not cover. And the government has the right and duty to back the people up on this, as we have established that this is a business practice issue, not a religious one.
I find it retarded when we let the right of religion trump the rights of the induvidual. Even more so, when it's a debate that really doesn't have anything to do with interfering with religious authorities.

Basically, insurance companies who provide health services need to PROVIDE health services bases on what they are being paid, and birth control is such a basic and nessasry service that it belongs right in with blood pressure meds and antibotics. I don't see how this messes with religious rights or business rights, and I do see this as protecting induvidial rights.

As for health care reform, and state run health care, well, if I trusted the government to do it right, which I don't think it can and we could afford it, which we can't, it would be dandy. For now we are stuck with a broken system that favors a very few and we have to patch it up until someone comes up with a better solution.

Congress shall make no law regarding an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

Let's put this another way. I will not pay for your birth control. Have I now dictated what medicines you can take?

And, to reverse it. The government has decided to force me to pay for your birth control. Has the government now decided to prohibit the free exercise of my religion?

That's the debate here. These employees are not prevented from obtaining their own medical insurance NOR are the prevented from purchasing birth control at their own expense. There is no "imposing their religion", there is a "sticking to my convictions" on my own actions.

I'm absolutely dumbstruck by the people who think that the free exercise of religion ONLY applies to churches.

Here's another wrinkle. Many church ministries already self-insure (meaning they pay for the health care, not just insurance of their employees) because of mandates like this in several states. There's no "insurance company" to hide behind there.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: MechAg94 on March 27, 2012, 01:47:13 PM
I know my employer directly pays for health case.  Our health provider is just the management company. 
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: BlueStarLizzard on March 27, 2012, 01:48:05 PM
Congress shall make no law regarding an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

Let's put this another way. I will not pay for your birth control. Have I now dictated what medicines you can take?

And, to reverse it. The government has decided to force me to pay for your birth control. Has the government now decided to prohibit the free exercise of my religion?

That's the debate here. These employees are not prevented from obtaining their own medical insurance NOR are the prevented from purchasing birth control at their own expense. There is no "imposing their religion", there is a "sticking to my convictions" on my own actions.

I'm absolutely dumbstruck by the people who think that the free exercise of religion ONLY applies to churches.

Here's another wrinkle. Many church ministries already self-insure (meaning they pay for the health care, not just insurance of their employees) because of mandates like this in several states. There's no "insurance company" to hide behind there.

Did you actually read what I wrote?

I said "should", not "have" too. That is just my opinion. I personally beleive that relgious orginaizations who provide health care should include birth control. However, I freely admit that there is no legal force that can make them do this.

I was saying that Basic health care plans should provide the pill. Which means if you pay for basic health care, the pill is included.

I did not say YOU have to pay for it. I am saying YOU have to pay for your share of a plan that includes the whole group, or I AM NOT GOING TO PAY FOR YOUR WHATEVER.

And if you don't pay for it, then you get what you get. If the government is the head of it, then the pill, abortions and whatever else has to be included, because by not doing so based on your religious principles inhibites on my right of religion (or lack there of). If a privet group pays for it, WITH NO FINACIAL IMPUT OF IT'S EMPOLYEES, then they can pay or not pay for anything they want, and I am free to call them whatever names I see fit because I think they are aholes.
However, if the employees do input a finacial contribution, then, yes, they darn well better get the full ride of what they as induviduals, making a decision with their doctor, want. Why? Because they did pay for it.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: AmbulanceDriver on March 27, 2012, 02:33:35 PM
BR, I gotta disagree here.  Not a catholic, SWMBO is on birth control, no real dog in the fight on this one.  But those people, employed by religious organizations, made a decision to seek employment there.  I know, I know, tough economic times, no other jobs, yes, it sucks out there.  But, at the time they were hired, they knew they were working for a religious organization.  They also should have known that their insurance did not cover birth control, and I'm betting that the exclusion is strictly for birth control being used for birth control.  I bet that if it was for another medically necessary reason, it would be covered.  BUT I DON'T KNOW THAT TO BE FACT.  Just putting that bit out there. 

Having said all that, these people entered into a free-will agreement with their employer.  As part of that agreement, their employer agreed to provide certain benefits and wages.  These were known by the potential employees prior to entering said agreement.  Now, they're whinging that "it's not faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaair".  "They should have to pay for my birth control, and who gives a [censored] about their religious beliefs!  THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD MAKE THEM PAY FOR MY BIRTH CONTROL!!!!"

If they want free birth control so badly, go work for an employer that doesn't have a religious objection to birth control.  Or attend a school that doesn't have a religious objection to birth control. 

And no, I don't think that they SHOULD have to do something that is against their religious beliefs.  Any more than a Muslim SHOULD eat pork.  Or a Jew SHOULD wear a cross.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: zxcvbob on March 29, 2012, 10:00:34 PM
Birth control is *cheap*, unless you use abortion for birth control, so pay for that small piece yourself and be glad you have insurance to cover the big stuff.  And be glad you have a job.  I don't think anybody objects to paying for pap smears, breast exams, obstetrics, prenatal care, and whatever else the "women's health" umbrella covers.

If Washington has their way, Catholic Charities will be forced to choose between funding abortions and closing their doors, and they will close their doors first.  (.gov wants everybody dependent on *them* and NGO's get in the way of that)  Then the people whinging about free birth control can instead whinge about losing their jobs)  I'm not exaggerating; this whole issue is just a shot across the bow of Catholic Charities and like-minded groups.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: coppertales on April 01, 2012, 01:20:47 PM
I don't debate anything with brain damaged, aka liberals.  You are just wasting air to do so.  I am puzzled about liberals wanting free birth control.  They haven't used it in the past to have more kids so uncle sugar will give them more money.  If you don't want more kids, just keep  your pants on.  That is free birth control....chris3
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: BridgeRunner on April 01, 2012, 11:46:52 PM
BR, I gotta disagree here.

With what?  That ML suggested his SIL is stupid, or that ML "argued" by repeating his opinion, regardless of what the other person said?  'Cuz that's about all I said in this thread.

Quote
Not a catholic, SWMBO is on birth control, no real dog in the fight on this one.  But those people, employed by religious organizations, made a decision to seek employment there.  I know, I know, tough economic times, no other jobs, yes, it sucks out there.  But, at the time they were hired, they knew they were working for a religious organization.  They also should have known that their insurance did not cover birth control, and I'm betting that the exclusion is strictly for birth control being used for birth control.  I bet that if it was for another medically necessary reason, it would be covered.  BUT I DON'T KNOW THAT TO BE FACT.  Just putting that bit out there.  

Having said all that, these people entered into a free-will agreement with their employer.  As part of that agreement, their employer agreed to provide certain benefits and wages.  These were known by the potential employees prior to entering said agreement.  Now, they're whinging that "it's not faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaair".  "They should have to pay for my birth control, and who gives a [censored] about their religious beliefs!  THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD MAKE THEM PAY FOR MY BIRTH CONTROL!!!!"

If they want free birth control so badly, go work for an employer that doesn't have a religious objection to birth control.  Or attend a school that doesn't have a religious objection to birth control.  

And no, I don't think that they SHOULD have to do something that is against their religious beliefs.  Any more than a Muslim SHOULD eat pork.  Or a Jew SHOULD wear a cross.

Ok.  

Um.

I didn't actually mention any of that stuff, so I'm not sure what you were refuting here?  ???

But, if you are interested in my opinion, then basically it comes down to whether one finds it acceptable to pay women less than men for the same work.  It's an equal pay for equal work scenario.  I don't find it acceptable for an employer to ostensibly pay the same amount of money for the same job to women as they pay to men, except for that the pay for women does not include a major item of routine health care that requires an office visit and a prescription (which pretty much is what differentiates it from say, toothpaste or athlete's foot spray) and the pay for men includes all major routine health care (that requires a medical professional's intervention, etc, see above).

Stuff paid for by an insurance company is not "free" stuff.  When the insurance is a benefit of employment, the stuff received is usually a combination of stuff received in exchange for premium payments deducted from one's paycheck and stuff received in exchange for premiums paid by one's employer--as a part of a benefits package that is a part of one's pay for doing the work.  It's not free.  When you get on the phone with your insurer to argue over some billing screw-up that is costing you money, are you doing that because you want to get whatever service/drug for "free" or because you are entitled to it in exchange for work performed or payments tendered?

So, it all comes down to whether one considers it appropriate for the fedgov to require that women be paid the same amount as men for the same work.  There is a legitimate difference of opinion on this point that tends to split along the line between liberal/conservative.  However, the argument that women who take this sort of job should suck it up because they knew it was not fair is pretty silly.  Thanks for noticing that women's lives, like everybody else's, are not fair.  But in the immortal words of Calvin "Why can't it ever be unfair in my favor?"  Women, just like people, tend to try to make our lives a bit less unfair for us.  Wanting to get paid the same money for doing the same stuff is a far cry from whining for free stuff.  And this pretty much comes under the heading of the principle behind the post-civil war amendments: It is simply not enough for gov't to say "Hey, y'all are free, go forth and prosper."  When there's institutionalized discrimination denying equality to a specific class of people on a fairly broad scale, saying they're free to work where they want, study where they want, live where they want, is meaningless so long as those institutions persist in denying that class of persons equal--or even reasonable--access to work, study, or reside.

Obviously, this is on a much smaller scale, but the same principle applies.  The "and be glad you have a job [that pays you less because you have women's health needs they don't like]" is pretty disingenuous.  One is permitted to want, and demand, what one wills from his employer.  At my last job, I was very glad to have a job, but pushed my employer pretty hard to keep the office open later in the evening, to make my life more convenient.  I was glad to have a job, but appreciated it when a colleague who was in a slightly more secure position agitated for overtime pay.  If one believes that fedgov interference to ensure equal pay for equal work is acceptable, then absolutely, agitating for this particular benefit is a legitimate expression of a reasonable and ethical desire.

Heck, I'm glad to have a roof over my head, but I want my landlord to clean my funky carpet.  I'm entitled under my lease, and therefore I want it.  I'm glad I have a left arm, but want to have less pain using it.  I'm not entitled to it, but I want it, and I'm going to do what I can to get it.  People strive for stuff.  People want more than what we have.  It's what landed men on the moon, it's what settled the West, and it's what built this weird place we call the USA.  It's what makes us people.  Even those of us who have vaginas.  

And speaking of having vaginas, I like to use mine.  To have sex.  Kind of like most of you like to have sex.  But that's utterly irrelevant.  In fact sex in general is utterly irrelevant.  There's an unequal benefit and there's a religious principle.  That those two things involve sex does not matter. The issue isn't the sex, it's the unequal employment benefits.  But as it was raised, so sure, I'll go there.  Seems that according to the Catholic Church (and most others), having sex is pretty much a duty spouses owe to each other.  It's also a pretty vital component of most non-sucky spousal relationships. Do you gentlemen really want women to stop having sex?  Cuz you'd get tired of jacking off pretty quick, one would think, no? And if you don't actually want women to stop having sex, why do you keep saying so?  Why is this a part of the issue?  Seems to me that if a woman wishes to not pay for birth control to keep her pay (as close as possible to) equal to her male colleagues', she simply needs to insist he use a condom.  Personally, aside from the taste, I have no issue with condoms, but haven't met too many guys who really enjoy them.  And the latex taste issue is resolved pretty easily, but again, have yet to meet a guy who thinks my solution is a particularly great plan.  So, I'm assuming that most of you do actually want your wives, significant others, less-significant others, etc., to use the sort of birth control that y'know, doesn't generally decrease your enjoyment of sex.

But of course, there are principles at stake way bigger than whether you like to wrap it or not.  It's about issues of government and religion and other big issues.  And reasonable minds can differ on that point.  Especially since it's really about equitable application of job benefits, and not about sex at all.  

So, why, for the love of the gods and all that is holey, why have so many men made this about smearing women who like/have too much sex?  Why has this become about jokes about aspirin between the knees and name-calling?  What purpose does it serve?  

In a democratic republic, the rights of two parties to be free to do as they will tend to bump heads an awful lot.  This is another instance of that.  No more, no less.  Equal pay v. religious freedom.  Ok, so it's a biggie.  But sluts?  "Keep your pants on"? "Any woman who spends more than $3000 on birth control is a slut"? "whinging"?

 Double-yew-tee-eff, gentlemen. Please find some civility and use it, because throwing your weight around about how much more sexual freedom you ought to have than women is a-stupid, b-incorrect, C-NOT THE *expletive deleted*ING ISSUE.

PS: Employer-sponsored health insurance is a stupid, expensive, foolish system that frustrates small business development, perpetuates terrible, abusive marriages, ties adult children to the apron strings for years, and leads to insane waste, not to mention a whole slew of interesting constitutional issues. And it was brought to you by Congress and the Internal Revenue Service.  Imagine my surprise.  Best answer to this whole mess, and a whole bunch of others, is get rid of the government-imposed economic benefit to employers for offering insurance.

You're all so busy railing against gov't in health care, without acknowledging fully that gov't is neck-deep in it, manipulating it and screwing the market around, inflating prices and turning people into drones tied to a paternal employer with its hand so deep in our health that we don't dare start a small business, find a different job, explore better options for us and our families, lest the punishment be death or disability through medical neglect.

It does seem to me that something could be worked out with deductibles and what-not to enable women to not have to pay more out of pocket than men without their employers purchasing something they don't want to purchase.  And I double-dog-dare you to call me a liberal because I want to gov't to stop throwing health care right into employers' laps
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: BridgeRunner on April 02, 2012, 12:06:36 AM
I don't debate anything with brain damaged, aka liberals.  You are just wasting air to do so.  I am puzzled about liberals wanting free birth control.  They haven't used it in the past to have more kids so uncle sugar will give them more money.  If you don't want more kids, just keep  your pants on.  That is free birth control....chris3

Anyone who thinks all liberals are brain-damaged has clearly not bothered to listen to many of them.  Liberals are not stupid.  They just disagree with you.  And me, on a bunch of things.  But they are not, by definition, intellectually challenged. 

I find it foolish to build one's entire perception of one's political enemies' position built entirely on the dismissal as "brain damaged" of a series of self-built straw men that loosely relate to the actual issues. 
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Monkeyleg on April 02, 2012, 12:10:40 AM
Sigh. It's not about sex, or contraceptives, or equal pay, or vaginas, or men or women. It's about the president of the United States pushing around a church and its religion and "prohibiting the free exercise thereof."**

**See Constitution, Bill of Rights, Amendment One
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: zxcvbob on April 02, 2012, 12:16:57 AM
Now, if you are interested in my opinion, then basically it comes down to one finds it acceptable to pay women less than men.  It's an equal pay for equal work scenario.  I don't find it acceptable for an employer to ostensibly pay the same amount of money for the same job to women as they pay to men, except for that the pay for women does not include a major item of routine health care that requires an office visit and a prescription (which pretty much is what differentiates it from say, toothpaste or athlete's foot spray) and the pay for men includes all major routine health care (that requires a medical professional's intervention, etc, see above).

Stuff paid for by and insurance company is not "free" stuff.  When it's a benefit of employment, it's usually a combination of stuff received in exchange for premium payments deducted from one's paycheck and stuff received in exchange for premiums paid by one's employer--as a part of a benefits package that is a part of one's pay for doing the work.  It's not free.  When you get the phone with your insurer and argue over some billing screw-up that is costing you money, are you doing that because you want to get whatever service/drug for "free" or because you are entitled to it in exchange for work performed or payments tendered?

But it all comes down to whether one considers it appropriate for the fedgov to require that women be paid the same amount as men for the same work.  However, the argument that women who take this sort of job should suck it up because they knew it was not fair is pretty crass.  Thanks for noticing that women's lives, like everybody else's, are not fair.  But in the immortal words of Calvin "Why can't it ever be unfair in my favor?"  Women, just like people, tend to try to make our lives a bit less unfair for us.  Wanting to get paid the same money for doing the same stuff is a far cry from whining for free stuff.  And this pretty much comes under the heading of the principle behind the post-civil war amendments: It is simply not enough for gov't to say "Hey, y'all are free, go forth and prosper."  When there's institutionalized discrimination denying equality to a specific class of people on a fairly broad scale, saying they're free to work where they want, study where they want, live where they want, is meaningless so long as those institutions persist in denying that class of persons equal--or even reasonable--access to work, study, or reside.

Obviously, this is on a much smaller scale, but the same principle applies.  The "and be glad you have a job [that pays you less because you have women's health needs they don't like]" is pretty disingenuous.  One is permitted to want, and demand, what one wills from his employer.  At my last job, I was very glad to have a job, but pushed my employer pretty hard to keep the office open later in the evening, to make my life more convenient.  I was glad to have a job, but appreciated it when a colleague who was in a slightly more secure position agitated for overtime pay. 

Heck, I'm glad to have a roof over my head, but I want my landlord to clean my funky carpet.  I'm glad I have a left arm, but want to have less pain using it.  People strive for stuff.  People want more than what we have.  It's what landed men on the moon, it's what settled the West, and it's what built this weird place we call the USA.  It's what makes us people.  Even those of us who have vaginas. 

And speaking of having vaginas, I like to use it.  To have sex.  Kind of like most of you like to have sex.  Now, this whole line of reasoning is utterly irrelevant.  The issue isn't the sex, it's the unequal employment benefits.  But as it was raised, sure, I'll go there.  Seems that according to the Catholic Church (and most others), having sex is pretty much a duty spouses owe to each other.  It's also a pretty vital component of most non-sucky spousal relationships. Do you gentlemen really want women to stop having sex?  Cuz you'd get tired of jacking off pretty quick, one would think, no? And if you don't actually want women to stop having sex, why do you keep saying so?  Why is this a part of the issue?  Seems to me that if a woman wishes to not pay for birth control to keep her pay (as close as possible to) equal to her male colleagues', she simply needs to insist he use a condom.  Personally, aside from the taste, I have no issue with condoms, but haven't met too many guys who really enjoy them.  And the latex taste issue is resolved pretty easily, but again, have yet to meet a guy who thinks my solution is a particularly great plan.  So, I'm assuming that most of you do actually want your wives, significant others, less-significant others, etc., to use the sort of birth control that y'know, doesn't generally decrease your enjoyment of sex.

Of course, there are principles at stake way bigger than whether you like to wrap it or not.  It's about issues of government and religion and other big issues.  And reasonable minds can differ on that point.  Especially since it's really about equitable application of job benefits, and not about sex at all. 

So, why, for the love of the gods and all that is holey, why have so many men made this about smearing women who like/have too much sex?  Why has this become about jokes about aspirin between the knees and name-calling?  What purpose does it serve? 

In a democratic republic, the rights of two parties to be free to do as they will tend to bump heads an awful lot.  This is another instance of that.  No more, no less.  Equal pay=religious freedom.  Ok, so it's a biggie.  But sluts?  "Keep your pants on"? "Any woman who spends more than $3000 on birth control is a slut"? "whinging"?

 Double-yew-tee-eff, gentlemen. Please find some civility and use it, because throwing your weight around about much more sexual freedom you ought to have than women is a-stupid, b-incorrect, C-NOT THE *expletive deleted*ING ISSUE.


PS: Employer-sponsored health insurance is a stupid, expensive, foolish system that frustrates small business development, perpetuates terrible, abusive marriages, ties adult children to the apron strings for years, and leads to insane waste, not to mention a whole slew of interesting constitutional issues. And it was brought to you by Congress and the Internal Revenue Service.  Imagine my surprise.  Best answer to this whole mess, and a whole bunch of others, is get rid of the government-imposed economic benefit to employers for offering insurance.

You're all so busy railing against gov't in health care, without acknowledging fully that gov't is neck-deep in it, manipulating it and screwing the market around, inflating prices and turning people into drones tied to a paternal employer with its hand so deep in our health that we don't dare start a small business, find a different job, explore better options for us and our families, lest the punishment be death or disability through medical neglect.

It does seem to me that something could be worked out with deductibles and what-not to enable women to not have to pay more out of pocket than men without their employers purchasing something they don't want to purchase. 

1) I'm not Catholic.  I have nothing against birth control, except where it's a slippery slope to abortion (and I'm not going to make that argument because it's pretty lame -- for now)  What does The Pill cost these days, about $15 per month?  $25? Arguing that it really costs much more than that because of the exams and prescriptions and such is disingenuous *unless* those office visits are not covered. 

2) "all that's holey" *snicker*  Good one!

3) I don't think anybody is defending Rush Limbaugh's personal attacks of that Georgetown student whats-her-name.  But he was right to point out the ridiculousness of that $3000 figure she pulled out of... somewhere. 

4) How about if women's health premiums were $30 per month cheaper than men's if birth control is not covered?  (assumes gyno office visits are covered (and probably always have been))
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: BridgeRunner on April 02, 2012, 12:20:27 AM
Sigh. It's not about sex, or contraceptives, or equal pay, or vaginas, or men or women. It's about the president of the United States pushing around a church and its religion and "prohibiting the free exercise thereof."**

**See Constitution, Bill of Rights, Amendment One

Sigh.  Yes, it is about some of those things.  Even if you insist it isn't.***

***Condescending citation do something-or-other.****  

****Probably all those dozens of cases defining the scope of the protections of the free exercise clause, coupled with the constitutional bases for sundry laws prohibiting pay discrimination on the basis of sex, among other thing.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Perd Hapley on April 02, 2012, 12:32:50 AM
Does anybody here object to a health insurance plan covering contraception, for men or women?
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: BridgeRunner on April 02, 2012, 12:39:56 AM
1) I'm not Catholic.  I have nothing against birth control, except where it's a slippery slope to abortion (and I'm not going to make that argument because it's pretty lame -- for now)  What does The Pill cost these days, about $15 per month?  $25? Arguing that it really costs much more than that because of the exams and prescriptions and such is disingenuous *unless* those office visits are not covered. 

I have no idea if they are are or not, but I do know my closest irl friend is consigned to the joy of condoms because she can't take the pill, or other hormonal bc, and can't afford an IUD--about $300, for the one she would get.  I don't know if the office visit is covered or not.  I can see it not being covered if one is being seen specifically to get the bc, and not rolling it into a routine visit.  Seems if one is saving up for the device, it would be more likely to have it be a separate visit.  

I use a Mirena IUD, because I also should not use hormonal birth control.  Pretty much most of us with a fairly substantial dose of the crazy shouldn't, because the hormones can do wacky, wacky stuff to out-of-whack moods.  She absolutely cannot, meds conflict.  I also have taken antibiotics for up to several weeks a year, spread throughout the year, due to bronchial and sinus problems, and those render the pill ineffective, hard to know for how long, and thus leads to some major stress.  People on long-term abx or who use abx frequently are often advised to try other BC options.  And I have ADHD.  Remembering to take a pill, at the same time, every day, is.... :lol: :laugh: :lol:   :laugh: ....yeah, it just hasn't ever worked out that way.  If one has a halfway intelligent doctor, demonstrated failure to reliably stick to a precise meds schedule is a good reason to advise other options.  Mirena is somewhere upwards of $500.    

Quote
2) "all that's holey" *snicker*  Good one!

Thank you, I was proud of that  =)

Quote
3) I don't think anybody is defending Rush Limbaugh's personal attacks of that Georgetown student whats-her-name.  But he was right to point out the ridiculousness of that $3000 figure she pulled out of... somewhere. 

I'm not troubled by Limbaugh's BS so much as by his defenders--and yes, there are many on this board.  But mostly by his emulators.  I've been called a slut for intelligently discussing this issue and defending womens' use of birth control for the purpose of having sex, usually within a marital marital relationship, more times in the past month or so than in the thirty-three years prior to that delightful moment of talk radio.  

I don't recall the breakdown of the $3000, but I think it was over three years, not a single year.  And it's a tad excessive, but not really outrageously so.

Quote
4) How about if women's health premiums were $30 per month cheaper than men's if birth control is not covered?  (assumes gyno office visits are covered (and probably always have been))

Not really a good solution, see above.  But a good solution could readily be crafted.  

[/quote]
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: roo_ster on April 02, 2012, 12:44:36 AM
Does anybody here object to a health insurance plan covering contraception, for men or women?

Well, only in that it is not "insurance."  Describe it properly: an ate up and hyper-inefficient way to pre-pay for expected & foreseeable expenses. 

"I demand oil-change insurance for my car!"

"I demand toilet paper insurance for my bunghole!"

Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: zxcvbob on April 02, 2012, 12:57:25 AM
Well, only in that it is not "insurance."  Describe it properly: an ate up and hyper-inefficient way to pre-pay for expected & foreseeable expenses. 

"I demand oil-change insurance for my car!"

"I demand toilet paper insurance for my bunghole!"



Obligatory picture of "Cornholio":

(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fen%2Fthumb%2Fb%2Fba%2FCornholio.jpg%2F150px-Cornholio.jpg&hash=1fd351412b4b4f50e89307e2e46bf7a47b1b5b12)
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Monkeyleg on April 02, 2012, 01:49:15 AM
Quote
Sigh.  Yes, it is about some of those things.  Even if you insist it isn't.***

***Condescending citation do something-or-other.**** 

****Probably all those dozens of cases defining the scope of the protections of the free exercise clause, coupled with the constitutional bases for sundry laws prohibiting pay discrimination on the basis of sex, among other thing.

BridgeRunner, I do believe I would know what my own complaint was with President Obama on this issue, and I do know that I wasn't upset about birth control. Unless you've acquired some sort of mind-reading skills, I suggest you take me at my word when I say what my issue is.

The birth control debate may be relevant to all sort of people, but it's been used as a smokescreen by the White House to deflect attention from one of the most visible violations of the Constitution that Obama has perpetrated.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: makattak on April 02, 2012, 08:22:22 AM
But, if you are interested in my opinion, then basically it comes down to whether one finds it acceptable to pay women less than men for the same work.  It's an equal pay for equal work scenario.  I don't find it acceptable for an employer to ostensibly pay the same amount of money for the same job to women as they pay to men, except for that the pay for women does not include a major item of routine health care that requires an office visit and a prescription (which pretty much is what differentiates it from say, toothpaste or athlete's foot spray) and the pay for men includes all major routine health care (that requires a medical professional's intervention, etc, see above).

That's a load of crap. What are men getting that women aren't getting if the Catholic church doesn't pay for their birth control? Equal pay means equal pay. It doesn't mean women get a special bonus because they have different expenses than men. Unles you are arguing that equality means equality of outcome.

Even if it were, this is a matter of religious freedom. If you don't want to be bound by the dictates of a religion that is not your own, do not go to work for that relgion.

Quote
So, it all comes down to whether one considers it appropriate for the fedgov to require that women be paid the same amount as men for the same work.  There is a legitimate difference of opinion on this point that tends to split along the line between liberal/conservative.  However, the argument that women who take this sort of job should suck it up because they knew it was not fair is pretty silly.  Thanks for noticing that women's lives, like everybody else's, are not fair.  But in the immortal words of Calvin "Why can't it ever be unfair in my favor?"  Women, just like people, tend to try to make our lives a bit less unfair for us.  Wanting to get paid the same money for doing the same stuff is a far cry from whining for free stuff.  And this pretty much comes under the heading of the principle behind the post-civil war amendments: It is simply not enough for gov't to say "Hey, y'all are free, go forth and prosper."  When there's institutionalized discrimination denying equality to a specific class of people on a fairly broad scale, saying they're free to work where they want, study where they want, live where they want, is meaningless so long as those institutions persist in denying that class of persons equal--or even reasonable--access to work, study, or reside.

Not giving women an extra benefit that men don't get =/= THE PATRIACHY IS HOLDING TEH WOMYN DOWN!

Quote
Obviously, this is on a much smaller scale, but the same principle applies.  The "and be glad you have a job [that pays you less because you have women's health needs they don't like]" is pretty disingenuous.  One is permitted to want, and demand, what one wills from his employer.  At my last job, I was very glad to have a job, but pushed my employer pretty hard to keep the office open later in the evening, to make my life more convenient.  I was glad to have a job, but appreciated it when a colleague who was in a slightly more secure position agitated for overtime pay.  If one believes that fedgov interference to ensure equal pay for equal work is acceptable, then absolutely, agitating for this particular benefit is a legitimate expression of a reasonable and ethical desire.

Only if you believe that equality of outcome is your goal. FURTHER you have to completely ignore the fact that the religion for whom these women are working is firmly opposed to this "benefit". Again, there are hundreds or thousands of other jobs than to go work for the Catholic church. To force this upon the Church in the name of "equality" is completely disingenuous. This is about forcing the Catholic church to abandon their beliefs in favor of your own.

Quote
Heck, I'm glad to have a roof over my head, but I want my landlord to clean my funky carpet.  I'm entitled under my lease, and therefore I want it.  I'm glad I have a left arm, but want to have less pain using it.  I'm not entitled to it, but I want it, and I'm going to do what I can to get it.  People strive for stuff.  People want more than what we have.  It's what landed men on the moon, it's what settled the West, and it's what built this weird place we call the USA.  It's what makes us people.  Even those of us who have vaginas. 

But, if after signing a lease that says you'll clean your own carpet, you petition the government to force your landlord to clean your carpet for you, that would be more the case here.

Quote
And speaking of having vaginas, I like to use mine.  To have sex.  Kind of like most of you like to have sex.  But that's utterly irrelevant.  In fact sex in general is utterly irrelevant.  There's an unequal benefit and there's a religious principle.  That those two things involve sex does not matter. The issue isn't the sex, it's the unequal employment benefits.  But as it was raised, so sure, I'll go there.  Seems that according to the Catholic Church (and most others), having sex is pretty much a duty spouses owe to each other.  It's also a pretty vital component of most non-sucky spousal relationships. Do you gentlemen really want women to stop having sex?  Cuz you'd get tired of jacking off pretty quick, one would think, no? And if you don't actually want women to stop having sex, why do you keep saying so?  Why is this a part of the issue?  Seems to me that if a woman wishes to not pay for birth control to keep her pay (as close as possible to) equal to her male colleagues', she simply needs to insist he use a condom.  Personally, aside from the taste, I have no issue with condoms, but haven't met too many guys who really enjoy them.  And the latex taste issue is resolved pretty easily, but again, have yet to meet a guy who thinks my solution is a particularly great plan.  So, I'm assuming that most of you do actually want your wives, significant others, less-significant others, etc., to use the sort of birth control that y'know, doesn't generally decrease your enjoyment of sex.

No, the issue ISN'T sex. It may be the Catholic's issue, but as I am not Catholic, I don't have the same beliefs. It IS about forcing the Catholics to conform to your beliefs because you think their "issues" are  wrong wrong wrong and must be put down in the name of "equality!!11"

Quote
But of course, there are principles at stake way bigger than whether you like to wrap it or not.  It's about issues of government and religion and other big issues.  And reasonable minds can differ on that point.  Especially since it's really about equitable application of job benefits, and not about sex at all. 

Yes, and it's about FREEDOM, not equality of outcome. That's why those of us (and as far as I can tell, not a single Catholic has opined yet) who are not Catholics take this so seriously. This is an abridgement of the first amendment.

Quote
So, why, for the love of the gods and all that is holey, why have so many men made this about smearing women who like/have too much sex?  Why has this become about jokes about aspirin between the knees and name-calling?  What purpose does it serve? 

In a democratic republic, the rights of two parties to be free to do as they will tend to bump heads an awful lot.  This is another instance of that.  No more, no less.  Equal pay v. religious freedom.  Ok, so it's a biggie.  But sluts?  "Keep your pants on"? "Any woman who spends more than $3000 on birth control is a slut"? "whinging"?

Rush's point (and my own when I adopted it) was that she was LYING. The slut reference was to call attention to the absurdity of her claims. Further, if Ms. Fluke didn't want her sex life the subject of national scrutiny, perhaps she shouldn't have made it a topic of a congressional photo op/press conference.

Quote
Double-yew-tee-eff, gentlemen. Please find some civility and use it, because throwing your weight around about how much more sexual freedom you ought to have than women is a-stupid, b-incorrect, C-NOT THE *expletive deleted*ING ISSUE.

Civility begins with honesty. I think dishonesty should be treated with disrespect.

As for the rest, I completely agree that the employer based health insurance is a very stupid arrangement. However, until that is rectified, further government intrusion on freedom should and will be fought. The precedence of abridging the first amendment in the name of "equality" is not some light thing.

Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: De Selby on April 02, 2012, 09:14:21 AM
The day you all have the "freedom" to be entirely at the mercy of health care companies and your employers will be the day your freedom to vote gets smart.

Bridgewalker is making the point that anyone without market power (read 99 percent of the population with health care) would for an essential service.  No rational person loves the market so much that they'd rather do without life altering medicine for its sake.

So, today it's birth control, tomorrow the vast majority of you who will have heart disease will be complaining about some invented government rule that just forced Pfizer to charge you $200 a day, leaving you either broke or dead.  Medicine is one of those products that if you're selling it, you're always going to be able to get nearly whatever you want.  

Excuse me now while I go feel oppressed by the doctor tomorrow, who because of public health care will be charging me a whopping $30 for a service that would run me $500 at home.  
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Monkeyleg on April 02, 2012, 09:56:58 AM
My thread is not about **expletive deleted** health care! It's about the First Amendment, and Obama's undermining of it. Go start your own healthcare/contraception/sex thread.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: De Selby on April 02, 2012, 10:07:51 AM
My thread is not about **expletive deleted** health care! It's about the First Amendment, and Obama's undermining of it. Go start your own healthcare/contraception/sex thread.

Laws of general application do not offend the first amendment just because one religion doesn't agree with them.  That's why religions don't get exceptions to laws on peyote.  It's also why they don't get them on laws about commercial practices.

Religious groups are more than welcome not to engage in regulated activities that, because of a generally applicable rule, would contradict their beliefs.

The right to worship is not a special licence to get out of otherwise perfectly constitutional laws.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: makattak on April 02, 2012, 10:16:35 AM
Laws of general application do not offend the first amendment just because one religion doesn't agree with them.  That's why religions don't get exceptions to laws on peyote.  It's also why they don't get them on laws about commercial practices.

Religious groups are more than welcome not to engage in regulated activities that, because of a generally applicable rule, would contradict their beliefs.

The right to worship is not a special licence to get out of otherwise perfectly constitutional laws.

Exactly! Just like we didn't exempt anyone from military service when we had a draft for religious reasons!
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: De Selby on April 02, 2012, 10:42:57 AM
Mak, that's a very good comparison -any Catholics believe they have a religious obligation to determine whether a war is morally right before choosing whether to serve in it.  We most certainly do not afford them that right as an exception to the rule.  The just war doctrine doesn't get you conscientious objector status. 
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Ron on April 02, 2012, 10:50:27 AM
This administration seems to be interested in forcing people and institutions into contracting for services they otherwise wouldn't.

I guess the commerce clause trumps the limitations on government enshrined in the bill of rights and voids the whole concept of inalienable rights.     
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: makattak on April 02, 2012, 10:52:23 AM
Mak, that's a very good comparison -any Catholics believe they have a religious obligation to determine whether a war is morally right before choosing whether to serve in it.  We most certainly do not afford them that right as an exception to the rule.  The just war doctrine doesn't get you conscientious objector status. 

Impressive obfuscation counsellor. You're getting good practice in today.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: De Selby on April 02, 2012, 10:56:10 AM
Impressive obfuscation counsellor. You're getting good practice in today.

Care to explain?  You cited an example of a law that does not make exceptions for religious beliefs, namely, he draft.   You did so apparently in the mistaken belief that it did.  Nevermind that the draft is about compulsory service and not about setting conditions on entry to the market; it isn't an example of special treatment for religions.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: makattak on April 02, 2012, 11:04:57 AM
Care to explain?  You cited an example of a law that does not make exceptions for religious beliefs, namely, he draft.   You did so apparently in the mistaken belief that it did.  Nevermind that the draft is about compulsory service and not about setting conditions on entry to the market; it isn't an example of special treatment for religions.

So the Amish served in the military?
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: De Selby on April 02, 2012, 11:18:19 AM
So the Amish served in the military?

Some did without a doubt- but others joined Atheist pacifists on the sidelines.  The supreme court explicitly rejected laws that made an exception only for religious people and not for others.  Yeah, the statute that enacted the draft created exceptions for religious beliefs, and the supreme court shot that policy down (on first amendment grounds)

Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: zxcvbob on April 02, 2012, 11:30:32 AM
So the Amish served in the military?

There was at least one pacifistic (don't know if he was Amish) who served unarmed as a medic, and was awarded a MOH.  

(shouldn't be too hard to find his name... wait just a minute...)  Desmond Doss.

ETA:  another couple of name:  Thomas W. Bennett and Joseph G. LaPointe, Jr.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: makattak on April 02, 2012, 11:31:06 AM
Some did without a doubt- but others joined Atheist pacifists on the sidelines.  The supreme court explicitly rejected laws that made an exception only for religious people and not for others.  Yeah, the statute that enacted the draft created exceptions for religious beliefs, and the supreme court shot that policy down (on first amendment grounds)

Quote
Beliefs which qualify a registrant for C(oncientious)O(bjector) status may be religious in nature, but don't have to be. Beliefs may be moral or ethical; however, a man's reasons for not wanting to participate in a war must not be based on politics, expediency, or self-interest. In general, the man's lifestyle prior to making his claim must reflect his current claims.


http://www.sss.gov/FSconsobj.htm

Emphasis mine.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: makattak on April 02, 2012, 11:33:24 AM
There was at least one pacifistic (don't know if he was Amish) who served unarmed as a medic, and was awarded a CMOH.  

(shouldn't be too hard to find his name... wait just a minute...)  Desmond Doss.

Perhaps I should be pointing out that they aren't required to act in contravention of their religious beliefs, which, of course, is the point.

If the current law required the Catholic Church to provide funding for its employee's education on Natural Family Planning in the place of artificial birth control, I could support that. I would not have a First Amendment objection to that.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: TommyGunn on April 02, 2012, 12:20:36 PM
 

Excuse me now while I go feel oppressed by the doctor tomorrow, who because of public health care will be charging me a whopping $30 for a service that would run me $500 at home.  

Oh, I'm sure you pay that doctor the $500.00 and possibly more.  Just not at the time you're writing out the check for his bill.  Perhaps when you pay your taxes.  Or when someone else pays his taxes.
  
TANSTAAFL.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Monkeyleg on April 02, 2012, 03:05:26 PM
OK, legal types. Just what can or cannot the president force churches to do? Can he force the Catholic church to fund abortions for its employees? Can he force the Church to display works of "art" such as the crucifix dipped in urine? Can he force the church to hire atheists?

Excuse my naivete, but I'm trying to figure out where the line is that the government can't cross. Obama made recess appointments while the Senate was technically in session, which is a violation of the Constitution, but the outcry over that didn't last long, either.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: zxcvbob on April 02, 2012, 05:04:28 PM
The president can do anything he wants.  To hold him accountable would be racist.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Monkeyleg on April 02, 2012, 06:22:33 PM
Well, I'm just a little confused here, zxcvbob. Folks can successfully sue to have Christmas trees removed from public property on the grounds of "separation of church and state", and the Ten Commandments have been removed from courthouses, and kids don't have to sing the National Anthem in school because it contains the words "under God". Yet the president can tell the Catholic church what it must either provide to employees or have insurance that covers it, even though it violates the fundamental beliefs of the church.

Is there a double standard at play, or was the First Amendment always written with an escape clause?
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: zxcvbob on April 02, 2012, 06:52:41 PM
Quote
Is there a double standard at play, or was the First Amendment always written with an escape clause?

That's a rhetorical question even though you addressed it to me, right?
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: De Selby on April 03, 2012, 01:17:17 AM
Monkeyleg, there is a fairly clear difference between Christmas trees and a health care law - one specifically promotes a religion, the other has nothing to do with religion.   Laws that exist for a secular purpose and that apply generally are valid; you can't use religion as an excuse not to follow the law. 

If you had a religion that didn't recognise any contract not signed before a high priest of your church, would you expect the government to let you off the hook for phone bills or the like? Of course not, even if you sincerely believed it.   That's why when the government makes a secular rule like "health insurance ,use cover x y and z", it can expect that it will be followed by people no matter their faith.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Monkeyleg on April 03, 2012, 01:29:44 AM
De Selby, is the church even required to provide health insurance to employees? If so, is it written into the Obamacare law that every employer must provide X, Y and Z coverage? If so, are contraceptives part of the X, Y and Z coverage provisions?

If not, why specifically require the Catholic church to provide contraceptive coverage? My wife's birth control pills were never covered by insurance, ever. Are the unions and other groups exempted from Obamacare still required to provide contraceptives?

If you can't see the difference between contracts, phone bills and the Catholic church's proscription on contraceptives, then I don't think there's any point in continuing the discussion.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: De Selby on April 03, 2012, 01:45:24 AM
De Selby, is the church even required to provide health insurance to employees? If so, is it written into the Obamacare law that every employer must provide X, Y and Z coverage? If so, are contraceptives part of the X, Y and Z coverage provisions?
.

Yes to the above.

Also, you seem to be missing the point about phone contracts - to distinguish between the two beliefs at law would require the government to decide that catholic religious beliefs are somehow more legitimate than another religion's simply because it finds them ridiculous.   The first amendment doesn't allow government to make that sort of call - "more acceptable" or "more traditional" religions don't get any treatment that sincerely held oddball religions can't get.

And that is why a law which has nothing to do with religion has to be followed, even if your religion opposes it.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: BridgeRunner on April 03, 2012, 01:58:45 AM
My thread is not about **expletive deleted** health care! It's about the First Amendment, and Obama's undermining of it. Go start your own healthcare/contraception/sex thread.

Once again, yes, it is.  If you want to debate an issue, or to discuss the debate on an issue, you cannot reasonably expect all participants to proceed with the understanding that only your conclusion is correct, and that any other interpretations are irrelevant.  Because that's not debate.  That's agreement.  They're not really the same thing.

But you're smart, so I'm surprised you didn't realize that.

(See what I did there?  Tell me again how smart you think your SIL is...)

Incidentally, is there any particular reason why the Catholic Church needs to have employees?  I've read most of the catechism, and I recall nothing stating that salvation is available only to those who are members of a network of corporate entities operating in the marketplace.  If the Catholic Church does not want to conform with employment laws, they can simply stop having employees.  Seems pretty simple to me.  After all, Eternal Salvation is way cheaper than $25/month, just need to hold some beliefs, accept a few sacraments, do some good works.  This church just needs to stop it's whining about how the US needs it let it do anything it wants, regardless of whose employment rights it infringes.

Disclaimer: For anyone who didn't notice, the above is entirely snark for the purpose of illustrating a few ideas stated earlier.  I do not literally mean the above.  At all.  And if you get snippy at me for suggesting the Church quit the marketplace in favor of house-churches with no paid employees, I shall  :laugh: in your general direction.  At least. 
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: De Selby on April 03, 2012, 02:05:08 AM
Oh, I'm sure you pay that doctor the $500.00 and possibly more.  Just not at the time you're writing out the check for his bill.  Perhaps when you pay your taxes.  Or when someone else pays his taxes.
  
TANSTAAFL.

Actually, I know exactly how much I pay because it's on my taxes - 1.5 percent of my income so long as I buy private insurance (2.5 percent for some people who don't buy health insurance).  The total cost per person across the board is significantly lower here.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: zxcvbob on April 03, 2012, 02:36:01 AM
Quote
ncidentally, is there any particular reason why the Catholic Church needs to have employees?  I've read most of the catechism, and I recall nothing stating that salvation is available only to those who are members of a network of corporate entities operating in the marketplace.  If the Catholic Church does not want to conform with employment laws, they can simply stop having employees.  Seems pretty simple to me.  After all, Eternal Salvation is way cheaper than $25/month, just need to hold some beliefs, accept a few sacraments, do some good works.  This church just needs to stop it's whining about how the US needs it let it do anything it wants, regardless of whose employment rights it infringes.

As I said before, I'm not a Catholic, but I'll try to answer this one anyway.  In Matthew 25 (the parable of the sheep and the goats),  "42for I was hungry, and you didn't give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; 43I was a stranger, and you didn't take me in; naked, and you didn't clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn't visit me.' 44"Then they will also answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn't help you?' 45"Then he will answer them, saying, 'Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you didn't do it to one of the least of these, you didn't do it to me.' 46These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." 

So indirectly Jesus is giving a commandment to take care of the poor.  (it's also in the Golden Rule)  That's what Catholic Charities is trying to do, and they've decided they can do that more effectively by hiring workers.  (and perhaps but I don't know, some of those workers are the poor that they are helping *by* providing a job)

I suppose that's somehow exploitative?  And government welfare is not?
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Monkeyleg on April 03, 2012, 03:02:02 AM
Quote
Also, you seem to be missing the point about phone contracts - to distinguish between the two beliefs at law would require the government to decide that catholic religious beliefs are somehow more legitimate than another religion's simply because it finds them ridiculous.   The first amendment doesn't allow government to make that sort of call - "more acceptable" or "more traditional" religions don't get any treatment that sincerely held oddball religions can't get.

And that is why a law which has nothing to do with religion has to be followed, even if your religion opposes it.

OK. So no church is more legitimate than another under the law, right? Would you care to explain why peyote (natural mescaline), which has been illegal to grow, possess or use under federal law since the 1940's, is legal for American Indians to use for religious purposes? Or does that not count because it's not related to health care, contraceptives or vaginas?

Quote
Disclaimer: For anyone who didn't notice, the above is entirely snark for the purpose of illustrating a few ideas stated earlier.

It seems to me that your entire participation in this discussion has been snark. If you want to un-snark your participation, please tell me what the president can and cannot force a church--any church--to do.

Contraceptives, health care and all of the rest aren't even peripheral to that single question. I don't know why it's so difficult for someone to lay out what powers the president has with regard to churches.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: makattak on April 03, 2012, 08:01:42 AM
Actually, I know exactly how much I pay because it's on my taxes - 1.5 percent of my income so long as I buy private insurance (2.5 percent for some people who don't buy health insurance).  The total cost per person across the board is significantly lower here.

And, actually, I notice, as usual, once the meat of the matter of something like the conscientious objector provision to military service gets discussed you move on to some other less important matter.

I'll ask again: why is there a provision for conscientious objectors to military service but not to the administration's birth control decree? Is it because "pacifism" is something that liberals such as yourself finds acceptable but objections to birth control are not?

If so, why are you forcing your religion on Catholics?
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Monkeyleg on April 03, 2012, 10:20:29 AM
BridgeRunner, I forgot to address your criticism (twice) of my remark to my SIL about "being smart", which you characterized as being insulting.

My SIL has an IQ pushing 160. She's extremely intelligent, and everyone in my family has constantly made remarks about that since she and my brother met in 1970. Her daughter, a doctor, has the same gift. My brother and SIL never had much money, but their daughter made it through college and medical school entirely on scholarships. Quite an achievement.

Of course, I wouldn't have expected you to know the background of my family. At the same time, I wouldn't expect you to make derisive remarks about what I say to members of my family when you don't know the background.

Between you and DeSelby, it would seem that lawyers don't seem to be operating with full facts in this discussion. It makes me wonder about the profession as a whole.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: TommyGunn on April 03, 2012, 11:49:21 AM
Actually, I know exactly how much I pay because it's on my taxes - 1.5 percent of my income so long as I buy private insurance (2.5 percent for some people who don't buy health insurance).  The total cost per person across the board is significantly lower here.

Wait until Australia's government becomes as overbloated and regulation obsessed as America's and that 1.5% will seem like peanuts. ;)
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: De Selby on April 03, 2012, 09:21:02 PM
Monkeyleg, Speaking of full facts, why were you railing against this plan without any knowledge of how it came to be?  Wasn't it you who just asked if the rule applied to everyone, not just the Church?  That would seem to me a pretty basic question to explore before accusing Obama of targeting religion.


Mak, like with peyote, the law excludes certain people by its own language.. The native American church (not a race of people, a specific organisation) and conscientious objectors rely on statutory language, not a constitutional claim that the law doesn't apply to them.  Completely different issue - the government can write laws that have holes in coverage.  But you can't invent a hole in a law that has nothing to do with religion on first amendment grounds.  
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Monkeyleg on April 03, 2012, 10:51:50 PM
Quote
Monkeyleg, Speaking of full facts, why were you railing against this plan without any knowledge of how it came to be?  Wasn't it you who just asked if the rule applied to everyone, not just the Church?  That would seem to me a pretty basic question to explore before accusing Obama of targeting religion.


Mak, like with peyote, the law excludes certain people by its own language.. The native American church (not a race of people, a specific organisation) and conscientious objectors rely on statutory language, not a constitutional claim that the law doesn't apply to them.  Completely different issue - the government can write laws that have holes in coverage.  But you can't invent a hole in a law that has nothing to do with religion on first amendment grounds. 

DeSelby, that's a fantastic contortion act. Don't you recognize a rhetorical (and sarcastic) question when you see one? Of course Obama's rule targeted the Catholic church. That's the whole point of my tirade.

As for the Native American Church and its legal use of peyote, on what grounds would the US government have said the use was legal if not religion, and the First Amendment? Entertainment? Because indian clothing looks like 1960's hippie garb?  The government didn't set out to create a law that infringed upon certain tribes' use of peyote in religious ceremonies, but it did, and the law was rectified. In our current case, rather than rectify the law, the president has attempted to "rectify" the church.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Perd Hapley on April 03, 2012, 11:40:33 PM
And that is why a law which has nothing to do with religion has to be followed, even if your religion opposes it.

Are you suggesting that birth control has nothing to do with religion?
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Ron on April 04, 2012, 08:51:27 AM
Are you suggesting that birth control has nothing to do with religion?

Birth control paid for by the state or ones employer is obviously an inalienable right that religious oppressors are trying to deny the American people. 
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Perd Hapley on April 04, 2012, 12:38:56 PM
It reminds me of something a bozo journalist once wrote about how x religious group should not concern themselves with issue y, as it was not a religious issue.  :facepalm:  As if she was qualified to tell  people what is or is not relevant to their beliefs.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Jamie B on April 04, 2012, 02:03:17 PM
Are you suggesting that birth control has nothing to do with religion?

Only for the Catholics, AFAIK.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Perd Hapley on April 04, 2012, 02:29:32 PM
Only for the Catholics, AFAIK.


From what I understand, it was once a common teaching among Christians of all stripes, but not so much anymore. There are still non-Catholic groups that oppose it.

Not to mention that some methods are seen as equivalent to abortion, and many Christians see abortion as being anti-Biblical.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Monkeyleg on April 04, 2012, 05:31:21 PM
I can remember our church, which was not Catholic, urging members to use the rhythm method in the 1960's.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Jamie B on April 04, 2012, 06:09:09 PM
I can remember our church, which was not Catholic, urging members to use the rhythm method in the 1960's.

"What do you call Catholics who practice the rhythm method?' "Parents!"

I do not understand the Catholic position on birth control.

Fistful is right in one case, as I think that the morning after pill would fall into the abortion group.

As for prevention, I have never understood the Catholic position.
It has always been understood that about all of us used birth control, and never worried about the church's position.
We have never, ever, been asked by any of our priests over the years.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: BridgeRunner on April 04, 2012, 09:30:10 PM
MonkeyLeg, I suppose it is possible that there are people who are so obnoxiously and persistently patronizing they can't even wrap their minds around the implications in what they've said, but I'm having a hard time figuring out your issue with my comments because I know you're not one of those people.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: De Selby on April 04, 2012, 09:51:41 PM
Making laws about healthcare in this way isn't a religious process.   If the law requires dcoverage for blood transfusions (and it might), are we all going to call it a religious issue because at least one religion believes it to be?

The idea that the white house sat down and crafted obamacare based on religious ideas about birth control is ludicrous.   There are plenty of obviously secular considerations that would lead to this, and that's why there isn't a constitutional, first amendment problem.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Jamie B on April 04, 2012, 09:57:46 PM
Making laws about healthcare in this way isn't a religious process.   If the law requires dcoverage for blood transfusions (and it might), are we all going to call it a religious issue because at least one religion believes it to be?

The idea that the white house sat down and crafted obamacare based on religious ideas about birth control is ludicrous.   There are plenty of obviously secular considerations that would lead to this, and that's why there isn't a constitutional, first amendment problem.

I would say that the WH considered the religious impact specifically regarding the Catholic Church.
I recall reading some early comments from Biden, A Catholic In Name Only, who indicated that the Church would rebel against the birth control portion of the insurance mandate. He was right.

Barry did later try and temper the impact to the Catholic Church by advising that implementation would be delayed until the end of the year.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Monkeyleg on April 04, 2012, 11:29:39 PM
BridgeRunner, aside from your initial comment that I was insulting my SIL, which was not my intention and I don't believe was taken as such, I've been frustrated by you taking the discussion into a whole slew of areas that I don't think are pertinent to my complaint with Obama. I know that others are doing the same, but I guess you've done so at greater length, and have been more confrontational. You (and Deselby) have been insisting that health insurance is a separate issue from religion and, if I understand you correctly, that there was nothing unconstitutional in what Obama did. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on that.

I think it's possible to discuss what Obama did as it relates to the First Amendment without going off into discussions on the need for certain medications or other issues. That's why I'm frustrated. It's the same reason I was frustrated when Obama got the GM and Chrysler bond holders to take dimes on the dollar in the bankruptcy proceedings. It was extortion, and the media yawned. I think the case with the church is a big deal, and should receive more attention, and I'm frustrated that it's been (successfully) turned into an argument about contraceptives.

Certain unions, corporations and even entire states are exempt from Obamacare, all for political reasons. I'm not certain if the law has even reached the point where employers are required to provide insurance for all employees. If not, then how can the president single out the Catholic church and say that it must provide something that is against the teachings of the church? If the law now requires all employers to provide insurance, why do the unions and others get a pass, but the church cannot? (I hope I got that point across without muddying the waters with other issues).

Quote
The idea that the white house sat down and crafted obamacare based on religious ideas about birth control is ludicrous.   There are plenty of obviously secular considerations that would lead to this, and that's why there isn't a constitutional, first amendment problem.

The White House didn't "craft" anything. Congress wrote the bill, even though not a single member knows even a fraction of what is in it. That said, your argument is backwards. You don't start with an idea for legislation, craft it, then say that the secular considerations are necessary, so the First Amendment will have to take a pass on this one. Legislation should be crafted by first asking whether it is constitutional in whole or in part and then, if so, continuing to write the legislation.

Makattack has already shown that draft legislation has been written to allow for religious considerations. I've shown that American indian tribes have been exempted from federal drug laws as they pertain to peyote due to religious (First Amendment) considerations. I'm quite certain I can find other exemptions in laws for religious considerations, although if you want me to do so, I'll have to bill you for my time. ;)

Obama stepped on a mine when he got involved in this, people howled, and his advisors scrambled to fix his mistake. The fact that this thread has veered down so many diverse paths is a testament to the skill of his obfuscation specialists.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Perd Hapley on April 04, 2012, 11:54:54 PM
Making laws about healthcare in this way isn't a religious process.   If the law requires dcoverage for blood transfusions (and it might), are we all going to call it a religious issue because at least one religion believes it to be?

Is there another option? Is there some other way that something qualifies as a religious issue, other than "one religion believes it is"?


Quote
The idea that the white house sat down and crafted obamacare based on religious ideas about birth control is ludicrous.   There are plenty of obviously secular considerations that would lead to this, and that's why there isn't a constitutional, first amendment problem.
  :lol: 

"We have plenty of secular reasons for making you kill enemy soldiers, so denying you conscientious objector status is not a first amendment problem."

"We have plenty of secular reasons for forcing your church to marry same-sex couples, so it's not a first amendment problem.

I love it.


Of course it's a first amendment problem. That's what you have when government gets involved in things it should leave alone, like how employers pay their employees.

Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: purequackery on April 07, 2012, 01:08:25 PM
Invasive surgery violates someone's religion if they believe that any cutting will cause the soul to escape.  Government subsidy even minimally for catastrophic health insurance is unconstitutional therefore.

Paying for roads maintenance violates someone's religion if they believe that paying for infrastructure for use by infidels is sin.

Paying for the war machine violates the Jain religion and is unconstitutional therefore to pay for with mandatory taxes.

Females who want birth control have more expenses and should have to budget accordingly, I see in this topic, It's a predictable expense, I see.  Why shouldn't unfortunate souls with type 1 diabetes also budget for insulin out of their own pocket?  Why do you and I have to pay for their routine predictable medical expenses?  Treatment for chronic disease is the same as birth control.  Only the costs change.  When is a medication or treatment a personal budgeting issue and when should it be covered by heathcare?

Paying insurance premiums to employees and letting them buy their own healthcare is libertarian fantasy.  Employees acting alone cannot buy the same level of coverage at the same price.  Groups can negotiate rates and coverage in cases where individuals cannot.  That is the reason for government subsidized healthcare.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: zxcvbob on April 07, 2012, 02:19:51 PM
Quote
We have plenty of secular reasons for forcing your church to marry same-sex couples, so it's not a first amendment problem.
I've discussed this with my pastor.
When that law comes (and it will eventually) he said he will stop performing legal marriages for anybody, gay or straight, to avoid the issue.  He'll still conduct the wedding ceremony, but will not sign any certificates.  I think it would legally be considered a common-law marriage.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Monkeyleg on April 07, 2012, 02:20:34 PM
Taking things to an extreme to make a counterpoint? I might as well do so, too. Government subsidized health care leads to socialism which leads to communism, which leads to genocide (see Stalin and Mao, ~120 million murdered). Therefore, subsidized health care = genocide.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: zxcvbob on April 07, 2012, 02:27:42 PM
That argument doesn't work, because the genocide is somehow OK when a Commie does it.

(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi0.kym-cdn.com%2Fphotos%2Fimages%2Fnewsfeed%2F000%2F061%2F297%2Fnickcage.jpeg&hash=7b3256dd0d61038c167166878a9cf3d35c729686)
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Perd Hapley on April 07, 2012, 07:54:23 PM
Invasive surgery violates someone's religion if they believe that any cutting will cause the soul to escape.  Government subsidy even minimally for catastrophic health insurance is unconstitutional therefore.

Paying for roads maintenance violates someone's religion if they believe that paying for infrastructure for use by infidels is sin.

Paying for the war machine violates the Jain religion and is unconstitutional therefore to pay for with mandatory taxes.

We're talking about government forcing churches to work with people who do stuff against their policies. We're also talking about government forcing churches to provide something out of its own pocket, to its employees, that it regards as sin.

So your hypotheticals do not apply, my hair is a bird, etc. Yeah, we can find some religion, or some non-religion, somewhere that opposes anything. That is one reason to keep government out of people's private lives.



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Paying insurance premiums to employees and letting them buy their own healthcare is libertarian fantasy.  Employees acting alone cannot buy the same level of coverage at the same price.  Groups can negotiate rates and coverage in cases where individuals cannot. 

Is there something keeping individuals from forming groups to get better rates, other than with their employers or government? Not being snarky; I really don't know.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: lee n. field on April 07, 2012, 08:40:50 PM
Making laws about healthcare in this way isn't a religious process.   If the law requires dcoverage for blood transfusions (and it might), are we all going to call it a religious issue because at least one religion believes it to be?

Sure.  JWs should be able to opt out as a matter of conscience.

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The idea that the white house sat down and crafted obamacare based on religious ideas about birth control is ludicrous.   There are plenty of obviously secular considerations that would lead to this, and that's why there isn't a constitutional, first amendment problem.

I suspect it is far, far more about abortion than contraception.  The RCC position on abortion is well known, and shared by many non-Romanists.  Contrawise, for many on the left, abortion is sacred, practically a sacrament itself (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moloch).
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: lee n. field on April 07, 2012, 08:41:29 PM
Barry did later try and temper the impact to the Catholic Church by advising that implementation would be delayed until the end of the year.

Barry has a tin ear.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: zxcvbob on April 07, 2012, 08:48:39 PM
Sure.  JWs should be able to opt out as a matter of conscience.

I suspect it is far, far more about abortion than contraception.  The RCC position on abortion is well known, and shared by many non-Romanists.  Contrawise, for many on the left, abortion is sacred, practically a sacrament itself (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moloch).

Very good tie-in with abortion and Moloch.  I salute you.

Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: roo_ster on April 07, 2012, 10:23:20 PM
Sure.  JWs should be able to opt out as a matter of conscience.

I suspect it is far, far more about abortion than contraception.  The RCC position on abortion is well known, and shared by many non-Romanists.  Contrawise, for many on the left, abortion is sacred, practically a sacrament itself (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moloch).

Very good tie-in with abortion and Moloch.  I salute you.

Indeed. 

The Biblically ignorant go all apey over Deuteronomy 21:18-21, but fail to understand:
1. The Canaanites were burning up their kids as part of religious rites.
2. The Bible forbade the Jews to do likewise.
3. Bringing the elders into the decision-making process effectively put a stop to the killing of disobedient adult children (for being disobedient). 
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Perd Hapley on April 08, 2012, 12:43:27 AM
Indeed. 

The Biblically ignorant go all apey over Deuteronomy 21:18-21, but fail to understand:
1. The Canaanites were burning up their kids as part of religious rites.
2. The Bible forbade the Jews to do likewise.
3. Bringing the elders into the decision-making process effectively put a stop to the killing of disobedient adult children (for being disobedient). 

Interesting. Got any sources on that interpretation?

My biggest question about the passage is, how often did Israelite parents actually stone their own offspring to death?
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: Ron on April 08, 2012, 09:55:06 AM
That this is an argument taking place on a forum where liberty and freedom lovers purportedly congregate tells you how far gone we are as a nation.

Just to be clear, there are folks here who believe that if insurance is offered to an individual, by their employer or directly by the insurance company, the Federal government should have the final say on the terms of what is offered in the contract?

Property rights, contracts, freedom to practice ones religion, all have been re-interpreted to mean the opposite of the original concept or argued away to one extent or another.

I pledge allegiance to the flag, and the bureaucratic tyranny for which it stands...

Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: dogmush on April 08, 2012, 10:08:07 AM
Why shouldn't unfortunate souls with type 1 diabetes also budget for insulin out of their own pocket?  Why do you and I have to pay for their routine predictable medical expenses?

That's a good question.  Why shouldn't they?  Why should you, me, or anyone else be mandated to support anyone else? 

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Just to be clear, there are folks here who believe that if insurance is offered to an individual, by their employer or directly by the insurance company, the Federal government should have the final say on the terms of what is offered in the contract?

There are, and it's sad.  They'll be along in a bit to explain why it's needed in this one case.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: roo_ster on April 08, 2012, 03:03:49 PM
Interesting. Got any sources on that interpretation?

My biggest question about the passage is, how often did Israelite parents actually stone their own offspring to death?

I assume the only question is on #3, since 1&2 are well-documented.

I can't give you chapter & verse...but that is sort of the point.  I was listening to some local Christian radio talk show, one of whose guests was speaking to this topic.  His contention was that there are examples in the Bible, Apocrypha, & other contemporaneous writings of just about every other punishment God mandated the Israelis dish out.  There were, however, zero examples of parents going to the elders and then the punishment being meted out on their children.

The larger point was the relationship of children to parents and the intrinsic value of human life.  The Canaanites had the authority to murder their children in religious rites, but God forbade parents from so destroying His creation.  He also placed practically insurmountable obstacles in front of parents who would both be in accord with God and wanted to kill their rebellious offspring.  From this (and other parts of the Bible) we see the beginning of both value of all human life as God's creation and the liberation of children from the absolute authority of their parents. 

That is about all I can recall.
Title: Re: The contraception debate and my SIL
Post by: roo_ster on April 08, 2012, 03:05:58 PM
There are, and it's sad.  They'll be along in a bit to explain why it's needed in this one case.

Because it is about sex.  Not only is denying anyone any possible opportunity to get off terribly uncool, we must now subsidize them all.