DOJ to Colorado Family: Give Up Your Religion or Your Business

CNSNews ^

[chessplayer]

(CNSNews.com) - The Justice Department last week presented the Newland family of Colorado--who own Hercules Industries, a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning business--with what amounted to an ultimatum: Give up your religion or your business.

“Hercules Industries has ‘made no showing of a religious belief which requires that [it] engage in the [HVAC] business,” the Justice Department said in a formal filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

The Newlands currently run a self-insurance plan, providing their employees with generous health-care coverage that is consistent with the teachings of the Newlands' church in that it does not cover sterilizations, contraception and abortifacients. They are precisely among the class of people that the unanimous Catholic bishops said have “no conscience protection at all” under Sebelius's regulation.

[nothingnew]

For the last 3 1/2 years we are witnessing the death of private business. It's only going to be worse.

FMCDH(BITS)

[detective]

“The Newland family founded Hercules in 1962 and have maintained it as a family-owned business ever since—growing it to the point where they now employ 265 people.”

Does anyone realize how difficult it is to grow a business from nothing and make it profitable and employ hundreds of people?

The Obama Administration wants to put the company out of business and have the employees thrown out into the street. The Obama Administration is destroying small businesses. They are destroying the economy. They are destroying America.

[vette6387]

You just have to wonder when the Catholic hierarchy are going to come out from under their collective altars and excommunicate the likes of Sebillius (who claims to be a Catholic). And that goes for all the Kennedy’s and Pelosi too.
And while I’m on the subject, the Mormons need to excommunicate Harry Reid. He doesn’t come close to adhering to his church’s teachings.

[MeganC]

January 20th seems so far away at moments like this.

[Pearls Before Swine]

One thing I don’t understand (although I sympathize). The article states that if they dump their employees on the government insurance plan, they’ll have to pay $2000 per employee per year. But, if they are already giving the employees a generous (if noncompliant because of lack of abortion coverage) plan, it has to cost them more than this. Why not dump the employees, give them a bonus that is the difference between their current costs and the penalty, and call it a day?

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

And Obama claims he is a Christian. More like the Anti-Christ, if you ask me, and I’m Jewish.

Holder has no religion other than Mamon and power. He is pure evil and a racist par excellence. A legal “StoneKiller”, if you will. Souless, heartless, hate-filled. Gee, the ultimate Obamite, like the Good Germans of WW2.

[RIghtwardHo]

This is ridiculous. Someone wanna mail em the First Amendment?

[Boogieman]

Obama and his leftie pals want to make everyone in America pay for abortions collectively, so that nobody will have a clean conscience in the matter. Maybe they think that fewer people will speak out if we all have blood on our hands, or maybe they just think that they will feel less guilty if everyone else is guilty too.

Behind the scenes though, they are just doing the bidding of another master, who would be well pleased if we were forced to betray our conscience in order to do business:

“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”

[chessplayer]

For the last 3 1/2 years we are witnessing the death of private business.

---

Yup. Remember when he said when he was in the private sector he was working behind enemy lines? Something to the effect. He considers private businesses as enemies of the state that need to be eradicated.

[Bryan24]

I’m guessing because they see the self-insured plan as a benefit that keeps their employees happy. How happy would they be to be dumped into a crappy government health plan?

[Sergio]

bkmk

[Old Sarge]

Give up your religion or your business.

Simple solution: Pay The Jizyah.

[the invisib1e hand]

Does anyone realize how difficult it is to grow a business from nothing and make it profitable and employ hundreds of people?

A lot harder than it is to become president of the USA.

[BRL]

And Obama claims he is a Christian

I would love to see a baptism record in addition to the long list of other missing documents he can't seem to produce

[Nachum]

The list, Ping

Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list

http://www.nachumlist.com/

[Pollster1]

From the article: “The exact magnitude of these penalties [for not providing insurance at all] may vary according to the complicated provisions of PPACA, but the fine is approximately $2,000 per employee per year,” says the Newlands’ complaint. “PPAC also imposes monetary penalties if Hercules were to continue to offer its self-insured plan but continued omitting abortifacients, contraceptive and sterilizations,” said the complaint. “The exact magnitude of these penalties may vary according to the complicated provisions of PPACA, but the fine is approximately $100 per day per employee, with minimum amounts applying in different circumstances. With 265 employees, a business like the Newlands' would need to pay the government $26,500 per day if they decided not to comply with Sebelius’s regulation and insured their employees anyway Over 365 days that would amount to $9,672,500.

I hope they take a risk on the second option. "Justice" Roberts wrote: p. 42 (page numbers on printed copy, which does not match pdf file page numbers) "Second, Congress's ability to use its taxing power to influence conduct is not without limits. A few of our cases policed these limits aggressively, invalidating punitive exactions obviously designed to regulate behavior regarded at the time as beyond federal authority . . . there comes a time in the extension of the penalizing features of the so-called tax when it loses its character as such and becomes a mere penalty with the characteristics of regulation and punishment."

and p. 58:

"In this case, however, it is reasonable to construe what Congress has done as increasing taxes on those who have a certain amount of income but choose to go without health insurance. Such legislation is within Congress's power to tax."

I would love to see Hercules v. Sebelius (this case if these good Christians stand up to evil) go to the Supremes and overturn the entire nightmare of ObamaCare. With a punitive fine of $9M per year, Roberts could play "good boy" who tried to be bipartisan, but Obama's power-hungry socialists overstepped in their power grab so that even Roberts was unable to twist the law into any form that looked constitutional, even by his disgustingly generous standards. Roberts wanted to play nice, but the bureaucrats grabbed for more and stepped across the line he had specifically drawn in the sand in the decision that gave Obama, Pelosi, and Reid their victory over the Constitution. This regulation is clearly punitive and thus not permissible under the power to tax.

[iontheball]

Holder’s henchmen are blatant hypocrites. All the company needs to do is point out that Obama had no difficulty providing his Muslim comrades an exemption from the entire Obamacare because it would offend their religious beliefs.

[treetopsandroofs]

Hussein calls it perfecting America.

It’s one of the few campaign promises he’s kept, and his mindless freak fans want more of this “fundamentally transforming America” horseclinton.

[I am Richard Brandon]

Kulaks! Enemies of The State! Exterminate them like our beloved Stalin did!