The only place this can go

[ekg]

is in 'Bizarro Amerika'

How can anyone, who doesn't agree with this direction, stay silent on this shit? Is this really where the GOP hopes to go? This far to past the fringe right and into the world of mullahs and Ayatollahs?


Democratic Women Boycott House Contraception Hearing After Republicans Prevent Women From Testifying

This morning, Democrats tore into House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) for preventing women from testifying before a hearing examining the Obama administration’s new regulation requiring employers and insurers to provide contraception coverage to their employees. Republicans oppose the administration’s rule and have sponsored legislation that would allow employers to limit the availability of birth control to women.

Ranking committee member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) had asked Issa to include a female witness at the hearing, but the Chairman refused, arguing that “As the hearing is not about reproductive rights and contraception but instead about the Administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience, he believes that Ms. Fluke is not an appropriate witness.”

what a mealy-mouth bullshit argument..  They pretend it's not about one thing when it will prevent that one thing from happening.. what pussies!


And so Cummings, along with the Democratic women on the panel, took their request to the hearing room, demanding that Issa consider the testimony of a female college student. But the California congressman insisted that the hearing should focus on the rules’ alleged infringement on “religious liberty,” not contraception coverage, and denied the request. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) walked out of the hearing in protest of his decision, citing frustration over the fact that the first panel of witnesses consisted only of male religious leaders against the rule. Holmes Norton said she will not return, calling Issa’s chairmanship an “autocratic regime.”

amazing..

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/02/16/426850/democratic-women-boycott-issas-contraception-hearing-for-preventing-women-from-testifying/

[Howey]

Let me see if I have this right. In order to protect the so-called freedom of religion of one group, they feel the need to deny the freedom of speech of another group?

[uselesslegs]

Let me see if I have this right. In order to protect the so-called freedom of religion of one group, they feel the need to deny the freedom of speech of another group?

Pretty much.  "Contraception has nothing to do with this issue."

Really?

[Howey]

Here's another one that has to be in here...This is, of course, the nincompoop funding Ricky:

[ekg]

Here's another one that has to be in here...This is, of course, the nincompoop funding Ricky:

I love Andrea Mitchel's reaction..

I have a real question... where does a vasectomy fall with all the guys who want to stop a woman from making her own medical choices? Do these 'religious freedom' companies pay for vasectomies? Does Santoruim think those shouldn't be allowed in this country also? Why can't we get a real 'reporter' to ask that question?

Oh and why isn't this solely about 'religious freedom' like the GOP is trying to pretend that it is? Because of the Blunt bill. That bill would allow any employer who thinks birth control is immoral to refuse to offer insurance that would cover it. So if the Walton family decided they didn't think any woman had the right to birth control because they feel the same as Santorum that it's bad for women and bad for society, well then they can stop their employees from having the right to get the bc paid for by their health insurance.. This isn't about 'religious freedom' we saw with the NYC mosque where the GOP falls on that issue, this is simply another attack on the non-white-male that white men love to start.. ironically the GOP is starting to look a lot like a pro-Sharia law party..They may pretend to be 'scared' of it and want to 'ban' it from ever happening here, but they damn sure like many aspects of it and want to implement them all, all in the name of their god, when it's really about hurting 'those' people that shouldn't have any rights to begin with..

This is why we need universal care.. it's nobody's fucking business what I do with my doctor... but my employer might not like the idea of abortion or birth control so I will suffer because I can't get a company policy that would pay for either..But I bet I could get a boob job and viagra in that policy... What I do with my ovaries and vagina is not my employer's decision.. and until we get healthcare out of the hands of private companies and employers, we'll continue to have this problem...

The rest of the world must look at us like we're some 3rd world country...

wait, 3rd world countries have universal health care.. never mind.

[Howey]

Believe it or not, the Bishops are all for insurance companies andbthe church footing the bill for Viagara. I guess they don't want the altar boys to see their limp dicks

[uselesslegs]

If this "Moral Conviction" shit gets legs, it's not held to contraception...and that is what baffles me.  How do people miss that?

What if your employer is Jenny McCarthy and she doesn't believe in those "vaccine thingies"...tough shit for your kid.

The list could be fuckin endless under "Moral Conviction."

The GOP arguing that the reason women's contraception wasn't addressed within the frame work of "religious freedom"...regarding the very item the issue was over...stumped the shit out of me.

Alright, let's say it's a Widget that was used in the context of suppression of religious freedoms.  "The Church needs to supply their employees with Widgets." 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there buddy! You just crossed the line of religious freedoms! The church doesn't believe in the use of Widgets, you can't force us to supply them to our employees...even though 98 percent of our followers use them and a large portion of our revenue comes directly from monies derived from federal fundings in our other operations...we still contend we're not forced to supply them to employees, within a church framework."

"Alright, ya know what, I'll agree with you.  The Church itself is allowed through religious protections to rebuff this.  So instead, we'll make it so insurance providers in your other operations must approach women concerning Widgets."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there buddy! The other organizations are under the flagship of the church.  We reserve the right to also ban insurance companies from providing Widgets, specifically to women...AND...we'll still be taking those federal monies...that make up 62 percent of our 2.9 billion dollar total revenue!"

"You trying to fuck us here?"

"Not unless you're under the age of 15 and a male! badda bing!"

"Oh, you silly Catholics, hehehehe."

The SECOND the Church, through the GOP, decided they wanted to take it from the actual church, into their outlying federally funded operations, THEY OVER REACHED and it INSTANTLY became about suppressing the employees right to unfettered insurance and about the "right" to Widgets.

You want to discriminate, based on doctrine in your church and you have followers willing to take that shit?  Knock yourself out.

You want to discriminate, based on doctrine in a secular environment, you're employees don't have to take that shit and they shouldn't be forced to quit either.

The GOP has lost it's fuckin mind.

[Howey]