Would Catholic hospitals and such possible say "Fuck you then, we won't offer insurance"? I mean, that'd cause a lot of employees to up and quit, but...

I suspect that's the real endgame, and all the birth control and religious freedom stuff is a way to get people all riled up about it. The real intent is to throw roadblocks up against (closer to) universal healthcare on the whole, even though most of those institutions are already offering insurance, and a lot of their employees would quit. Culture war thing, and political football, not actual thought-through consequences.

He cited the problem that would create for “good Catholic business people who can’t in good conscience cooperate with this.”

I'd like him to find 10 to come forward and say this in front of their employees.

Would Catholic hospitals and such possible say "Fuck you then, we won't offer insurance"?

It seems likely enough, considering that Catholic charities have decided to close orphanages and stop doing adoption services, something the Catholic church has been doing in some form for more than 1,000 years, rather than have anything to do with adoptions by gay couples.

I just want to know when Pope Ratzinger is going to unveil the shiny new white armor for his Swiss Guards.

a gagillion Catholic institutions already offer bc in their health insurance. This is such a stupid BIG deal to be making. also, already law in like 28 states.

ION, I made it at work a WHOLE WEEK! I would like a bonus now.

Today is the first day with my direct boss and he did not take me to lunch which I was kinda expecting.

IOON, mac threratened self-harm at school today. Must apply extra cuddles tonight.

Aw, mac. Cuddle away. How's his therapist?

ita, my derby team has been salivating over those leggings. Too spendy for derby, however, since they will end up in tatters.

Yeah, I have to admit I'm kind of boggled at the Catholic Church, the place that coined syncretism and adopted the Celtic goddess Brigid as a Saint, insisting on this kind of ideological purity.

Cosigned. And, again, it's an ideological purity that does not and cannot actually exist in the world -- if you're seriously going to whine about "abortion-inducing drugs," at high enough dosages or in combination with the right/wrong other drugs, that's broad enough to cover just about every drug in existence. In which case your beef is with modern medicine, not Obama.

And, again, 98% of sexually active USian Catholic women and their partners either currently are or have at one time completely ignored this call to ideological purity, which means by the Church's own rules it's no longer valid.

There's a giant shitstorm flying in the comment threads at the National Catholic Reporter, which just posted an article headlined "Catholics Unite In Opposition To Contraception Mandate"; the comments are a practically solid wall of "Are you fucking kidding me? United? Have you seen the polls? How could you post that with a straight face?" I haven't seen so much calling-out-of-bullshit within a major Church publication in, like, ever.

20 common grammar mistakes. Some are valid mistakes, some I don't get why people make, some I make myself, others I swear I've never seen, and at least one I have to say "Oh, give it up" on.

Nauseous? It's had both meanings for 100 years now. If it ever was a battle, it's OVER. Untwist your knickers.

I care about nauseous, if only because of my fondness for Strunk & White's advice: "Do not, therefore, say 'I feel nauseous,' unless you are sure you have that effect on others."

Nauseous is useful as an identifier for people who are probably just too annoying to even hang around.

(People who would correct another person in speech on that, I mean. I did that once. And my first thought after it came out of my mouth was "damn, do you need to get over yourself.")