A few thoughts:
1) Note that this was in a Friday news dump from the administration, to have minimal news impact.
2) The provisions, while welcome, do not go far enough. Nobody should be required to pay for abortion and contraceptive services against their will. Religious freedom matters for everybody, not just the minimum number that the Obama administration thinks it must grant religious freedom to.
3) This is a sign of weakness. The Obama administration has begun to realize how badly it has burned itself by its thuggish, totalitarian move to restrict freedom of religion to freedom of worship in this country.
4) This is not the time for the bishops or others to go soft. It’s time to press further and demand full respect for religious liberty. Caving at the first opportunity would be a grave mistake.
5) Ignore analysis about tone (e.g., taking a conciliatry tone, dialing back rhetoric, etc.). Tone is just the wrapping on the package. What’s inside the package is what counts.
wow.
There is NO accommodation, nothing but distraction. It is a full frontal assault on liberty, regardless of the window dressing.
Hegelian dialectic.
You buy this? You don't know propaganda when you see it? The Obama gang is in full "lie big - rinse - repeat" mode.
Perhaps this whole thing will be moot. If the SCOTUS rules Obamacare to be unconstitutional in the curent court calender.
The administrators or third party managers would be responsible for contraception coverage? What if these folks are the religious organization itself (which is why they are self insured) or against contraception coverage too?
Still Unconstitutional.
This is only a partial reading of the HHS announcement. The goal is to put off any implementation until after the election. The 90 day listening period is only the start. After that there will be internal HHS discussions and proposals and more listening periods. After Obama is reelected there will be a very minor change in the original mandate and it will become law. Mike Barone is one of the few who have continually written about Obama’s strategy of pushing any important, controversial, or possible damaging decision to after November when they will no longer be in a position to damage him and where he will be able to implement the entire prog agenda with impunity. This is why the total ineptitude shown by the GOP in Congress and its POTUS candidates will enshrine this present GOP in an exalted place in an American Hall of Shame.
Instructions for providing comments on this regulation can be found at:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2012-06689.pdf
Don’t be a dupe. Any compromise now will end as soon as fools reelect this goon.
I wonder how that will play out with all the Christians who band together and ante into the pot to cover each other so outside insurance isn’t required.