Senior Administration officials outlined the imminent compromise to be announced by President Obama, which follows the "Hawaii compromise" by mandating that insurance companies reach out directly to employees at religiously affiliated institutions and offer them contraceptive care. The officials described a process that "accommodates religious liberty while protecting the health of women."

Under the new policy, the religious exemption remains largely the same for churches and religious non-profits. For religiously affiliated institutions, like Catholic hospitals and universities, "All women will still have access to free contraceptive care no matter where we work. That's the core principle," said the senior official. The insurance company will be required to "reach out directly and offer her contraceptive care free of charge. The religious institutions will not have to offer anything, and they will not pay for it."

[snip]

But it remains to be seen whether the compromise will take on this highly charged issue, and whether either side will find this acceptable.

The very conservative hierarchy won the war with the Encyclical Letter of Pope Vi, "Humanae Vitae", 1968, continuing proscription of most forms of birth control.  But even at that time, the battles continued.  Cardinal Suenens the Belgium prelate and a moderator of Vatican II Ecumenical Council questioned whether moral theology took sufficient account of scientific progress which can help determine, what is according to nature.  Cardinal Suenens begged the Council to avoid another Galileo affair, one being enough for the Church.  

Pope Paul Vi based his position on what became  two advisory committees--the majority report was not accepted, the minority report prevailed. Archbishop Karol Wojtyla, of Poland (and two popes later, became John Paul II), was influential in the minority report.  Humanae Vitae sets forth the "negative consequences" of artificial birth control, including hormonal anti-ovulants, as being sex without consequences, a lowering of moral standards, a false sense of autonomy (for women), and the danger that men may reduce women to being a mere instrument for satisfaction of their own desires.

The battles continued and the acceptance waned.  But, this continues as Catholic doctrine, not only for members of the Church, but for others, now under the guise of religious freedom.

As for the goal of deflecting their role in the sexual abuse case, Cardinal Egan, former Archbishop of NYC and Bridgeport, Connecticut (now retired)  may be a bellwether for he now feels comfortable enough to have retracted his apology made ten years ago for sexual abuse handling  and claims that even now he is not obligated to report sexual abuse cases in Connecticut.   Egan had once claimed (and Cardinal George as well in his deposition) that his priests were not employees, but rather, "sub-contractors".  So taking heed, this may be a path to accommodation--so long as contraceptives are available, accessible and without co-pays.  

"When the Belgian government decided to pour cold water on the country's firefighters and increase their retirement age, the men struck back with the same method...literally.

Several hundred firemen broke through police cordons and hosed down the prime minister's office. The men, dressed in full gear, were smiling as they directed the water at the building...and the small bunch of police officers huddled in front of it."

-- RT video

Our own elections, the ones our government has modeled for the world, are a hoax. What other word should we use to describe this year's presidential election, whose outcome will turn on which party's super PACs gets the most generous bribes from billionaires? The Republicans, enabled by decisions of a Supreme Court they still control, were the first out of the gate and are far more culpable in destroying our system of popular governance. But the Democrats, no less committed to winning at any cost to political principle, have now jumped in.

The generally reserved New York Times editorial page responded to the Obama campaign's decision to seek super PAC funding with a scathing editorial headlined "Another Campaign for Sale." The Times reminded that Barack Obama, in his State of the Union speech two years ago, called out the Supreme Court justices sitting before him over their decision to free special interests from campaign spending limits. "I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests," Obama said then. "They should be decided by the American people." But sadly, as the Times editorial noted this week, "On Monday, the President abandoned that fundamental principle and gave in to the culture of the Citizens United decision that he once denounced as a `threat to our democracy.'"

Monday was the day the Obama campaign sent out an e-mail announcing that members of the president's administration would solicit funds for Priorities USA Action, one of the super PACs that can now, thanks to the Supreme Court decisions that Obama had castigated, raise unlimited funds in an effort to sway the election.

read it all...

"Subsequent decisions have consistently held that the right of free exercise does not relieve an individual of the obligation to comply with a valid and neutral law of general applicability on the ground that the law proscribes (or prescribes) conduct that his religion prescribes (or proscribes)."

They are afraid, the Empire is afraid. The Empire is afraid that the people of the United States might find out about the truth, they are afraid that something like that could erupt in their own territory -- a Bolivarian movement; or a Lincoln movement -- a movement of citizens, conscious citizens to transform the system. . . . So, why do they demonize us? They know -- those who direct the Empire -- they know the truth. But they fear the truth. They fear the contagious effect. They fear a revolution in the United States. They fear an awakening of the people in the United States. And so that's why they do everything they can. And they achieve it, relatively, that a lot of sectors in the United States see us as devils. No one wants to copy the devil."

Mittens looks like he knows he is losing.

Rasmussen has Santorum doing better against Obama than Romney.

Midway through Season 2 so far...

I saw enough spoilers last year to know this is going to come to grief, but man, do I love Jesse! So glad to see Aaron Paul got an Emmy. He makes that character human and lovable against all odds.

I'm having a hard time buying that Walt would keep cooking after all he just went through with Tuco, but maybe he will sell me on the idea...

Bryan Cranston is so good. He almost had me believing he was telling the truth to Skyler, when even she knew he was full of it.