Obama- Catholic Church and contraceptives- Hot topic !

2/7/2012


This hot topic of Pres. Obama, the Catholic Church and Contraceptives is a
hot topic that's about to explode, 70 Million Catholics against the Govt., I
believe the Govt. has no business telling religious organizations they have to
comply to the Govt. Health Care bill, what is your opinion ? Mine, their wrong
they have no business telling religious groups what to do, separation of State
And Church ......
Cheers..Joe..

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/02/06/catholic-league-poised-to-go-to-war-with-obama-over-mandatory-birth-control-payments/

I agree with you, Joe.
I don't know where President Obama is coming from here.

2/7/2012


I think this going to be an explosive issue,
the Govt. doesn't know it's treading on egg
shells...


Cheers..Joe..

The Health Care Bill has been out for a very long time. All of its provisions have been available for detailed review. We are all too lazy to do that review; instead we listen to the hype of the news media.

As I understand the Health Care Bill, it requires employers to provide health care for all employees that meets specific standards. That means that the insurance provided by the employer must cover certain universal health care costs. The purpose is to protect employees from employers providing sub-standard insurance to save money. It is mostly the minimum wage workers who did not have insurance before who will at last have the same opportunities as the fat cats have always had to pursue optimum health.

The bill provides that employers have an opportunity to provide alternative means for their employees to access medical care; but the medical care must be provided that is standard across the entire bill.

The bill does not exempt employers who have a vested interest in cutting specific services from those available to all employees across the nation and to those fat cats who can afford their own luxurious insurance since their incomes have been doubling and tripling.

In this bill, a hospital is a hospital = employer. Employers must provide the insurance that gives employees the OPTION to receive specific medical services. Just because an employer doesn't want to provide flu shots because they violate certain principles of specific religions (which they do) it does not mean the employer can take that piece out of their insurance for employees to lower the cost. Every employee of Catholic hospitals is not Catholic. This is a political power play on the part of those making a case from it.

No, we should not need the government to provide a plan to insure everyone. Medical care should be affordable to all - without insurance. Dream on. All employers should provide insurance on their own. All children through age 18 and all adults 18 and over should have options and the money to pay for their medical needs. Reality: children, elderly, mentally deficient, working poor and now the unemployed middle class are dying every day from lack of insurance. Their medical needs become emergency/hospital expensive before they are met. When society does not provide for itself, then a modern government provides for the good of that society.

Catholics employ 1 in every 6 hospital workers in Catholic hospitals and schools. They have time and options to implement the Health Care provisions in ways acceptable to them. It is far better to clang their cymbals and scare the public as their power is slipping over the world.

My children attended Catholic school; they attended Catholic Church. I have had some positive and negative experiences so I know about their hospitals and schools and employees.

2/7/2012


The Govt. should keep out of
Church business , it's not for
them to say or demand.........


Cheers..Joe..

I suppose it doesn't mattter--we pay for nohing anyway, as it is all borrowed from China.

Only 8 % is from China.7% Japan. Then Europe. Then U.s. investors. The giov Is not in church business.. the church is not caring for its own. Catholics are dying for lack of care..

2/7/2012


I still say the Govt. is stupid, there is a separation
from Church and State, the sooner the idiots learn
this the better , keep their noses clean and keep
out of people's business and STOP trying to tell
the public what to do, the public is getting very
angry over this issue...


Cheers...Joe....

You tread on hallowed ground when you separate "church from state." While the idea sounds good, the practical application is rife with political intonations and agendas.

How can the President attend the National Prayer Breakfast? This is a multi-religion country. Prayer is not part of every religion and certainly not part of atheistic beliefs.

"In God we Trust" is everywhere.

2/8/2012


It amazes me how the Democratic party has changed since I
was a kid in 1960, now their all Socialist Democrats, if this
country went the way of Europe and became a Socialist
nation we'd be screwed ! We are a nation of Christians and
no government person wether it be a President or a Congress
men , we are a " FREE," Nation, not a Socialist Nation. Everyone
knows the President is just a figure head, he holds no power to
change anything, only Congress holds that power thank God,
Thank God the fore-fathers had insight on how to keep things
in check.....On with a new 1776 !

Cheers...Joe..

Joe, you said: "We are a nation of Christians and
no government person wether it be a President or a Congress
men , we are a " FREE," Nation, not a Socialist Nation."

Your comment is ambiguous.

Need to define the word, "Christian". Is it a title, a belief or a way of life?
Is it not based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth? If that be the case, then Jesus could be labeled a socialist. There are many variations of socialism and as such there is no single definition encapsulating all of socialism.
The word is often used to denigrate Europe. Many democratic countries in Europe provide services, i.e., healthcare, for all its citizens. The methods/systems vary. These programs make needed services available to everyone thus saving lives. Because they care for the poor and needy, they are denigrated as doing something evil.

2/8/2011


Abe...

We have many programs in this country that help
people. States have programs that help people pay
their medical bills, I say free enterprise of health care
is better than Govt. controlled health care..


Cheers..Joe..

I believe we are the only developed country in the world that does not provide a universal health care system for all its citizens. Many less developed countries also provide health care. It is a human need as basic (and even more so ) as food.

Unfortunately, this countries citizens who have access to affordable health care walk over those without, just as those who are fed walk over the people lying in the streets of big cities across the world. Don't look and you won't see them; after all, what can one person do.

In this country, one person can vote for a president with courage to promote the well-being of all citizens in the country, not just the elite few. I consider myself one of the elite. I have Medicare. Without medicare, I would like die in a few years because I could not afford the simply, basic medicines that contribute to my positive health. Because I have the blessing of medicare, I should cry out against universal health care.

I am just ignorant enough to believe that a healthy country makes it better for all citizens. Contagious diseases are reduced. Minds are free to operate at their highest levels. Crime is reduced when there is adequate mental health care (still woefully inadequate due to historic thinking that placed mental health in a different category than other organic parts of the body).

Christian nation? No, this is a political nation. Each religion, interest group, special interest group that has the funds to control the politicians runs this nation. Radical points of view that are detrimental to the well-being of many God-fearing, honest and hard working people abound in the name of religion.

Bigotry, hypocrisy, hate, cruelty, and ignorance all wear the religious banner. Give me a country where religions of all faiths come together and work in concert with the government to meet the needs of all the people, regardless of their religious orientation or lack of, then I will call it a Christian nation for following the actual philosophy of the man called Jesus Christ and the words he gave in his time.

Jesus Christ is not the only wise spiritual leader and there is much to learn from many. That is what the benefits of living in diverse parts of the world and studying other cultures reveals. I choose a church that teaches thoughts they believe are promoted by Jesus Christ, but they also incorporate others. My, how heretical to think that in a world as vast as ours there might be other ideas that are worthwhile considering.

As for government, when the people cannot care for themselves, the government helps. That's why we have sewers and city water and highways with regulations. That's why we also need universal health care.

It is is not "Obamacare." It is a cobbled health care plan that was put together to provide at least more protections for citizens than ever before available. If the Republicans dismantle it they are creating a death knell that will echo throughout the land. I am ashamed of what was my party of choice.

I am a fiscal conservative that believes in less government and more private responsibility. However, private responsibility does not mean private corporations gaining excessive profits overseas while our nation starves for jobs; it does not mean fanatical religious views that deprive women of health care and the right to make choices about their own bodies. It does not mean depriving people of health care because the costs of pharmaceuticals, hospitals, physicians, malpractice and attorney tort cases have gone crazy without regulation.

Christian? To whom much is given, much is expected. This nation has had the luxury of prosperity and now it needs to take medical care of its citizens. In the name of political rhetoric and desire for power and religious fanatical laws I do not see the Republican party as the party of family values. Thank goodness Newt Gingrich ran for office to show just how lacking in those values any person can be, regardless of party.

Family values mean we take care of each other, give each other a lift to higher expectations through education, health, housing, jobs and a standard of living that at least meets basic needs. This country has sufficient wealth to do that; it takes taxing that wealth to make it happen.

Life is easy for those who close their eyes and adopt one point of view with no wavering. They are basically dead. Nothing in life remains the same. Every cell in our body changes over. Look at your pictures; your body does not stay the same. The brain does not congeal either unless it's allowed.

Open minds and hearts and look around. Ignore the political rhetoric paid for my those that should instead put the money into schools, roads and health care. Who do you know that was turned down for insurance because of a pre-existing condition? Who is paying COBRA because they have no job and can't afford to eat. Who is malnourished because it's food or medicine? Who died because they stopped the medicine to pay for food for their family? Who cannot afford insurance at all and is just dying.

I am not a bleeding heart liberal because I am not a label. I am a human being walking a very human earth for a very short time. I want those walking this path with me to have their basic needs met. Yes, there will always be some slackers and some con people - just as the worst cons are found on Wall Street and in the major corporations. Human nature is human nature. However, the majority of people only want to live a quality life with integrity. Having basic needs met is the first step.

2/8/2012


DK..

Yes I have Medicare too, I have seen in this
town where young ladies with children are very
well taken care of, they have Medicaid which is
by the State. I know this because of a clinic here
that is non profit and the state gives them money
and if you don't have insurance they go by a sliding
scale. Oh yes I switched my Medicare to a private
insurance carrier, they get my Medicare money from
the Govt....Prescriptions cheaper, Private Dr. 0 payment
specialists $20- Emergency room $65-

Cheers..Joe..

If u have a job u do not qualify for aid. The working poor have no insurance. Those without jobs have no insurance. State programs are federal funded. It's a hodgepodge with major gaps.

2/8/2012


The state gives them Medicaid, if they have a job
they do a co-pay by a sliding scale on how money
they make...New Mexico does very well by it's
citizens, I guess because the whole state's population
is under 1 million...


Cheers..Joe....

DK I applaud your posts. There's very little one could add. Living with dignity is important.

2/8/2012


DK..

It depends on the state's population, now New York
which is 12 million people it would be hard for a low wage
working person to get Medicaid....


Cheers..Joe..

That's right, Joe. Every state administers their grant differently. That applies to many things. I remember when I was unemployed in Michigan, my friends there said I would be making a mint. They didn't realize I was unemployed in Florida. The difference in the max unemployment between the two was $250 a month.

I think the important thing is to have an open mind to the fact that there are dire needs in this country that need to be met. Private means have been available to meet them for years - and yet too many people are starving and in desperate need of medical care. Those costs are too high - the cost of sickness, contagious diseases, and health issues that aren't treated until Diabetes takes limbs and creates blindness or cancer reaches Stage 4 - and more - the inability to get insurance with pre-existing conditions and the many groups of people without access to insurance at all - the government must step in to fill the gap.

Maybe the current health care plan is imperfect. Then it is the responsibility of responsible people to improve it, not throw it out and start over. Private companies are not going to make it better. They have one goal: profit! They have put us where we are with their lobbies and their influence. Pharmaceutical influence has kept the cost of pharmaceuticals in this country outlandish.

My mother just got her detailed bill for the pharmaceuticals used for her gall bladder surgery: $10,000. That's not the bill for the physicians or the surgery. What did they give her, liquid gold? I know they once used gold shots for the relief of arthritis.

The least able to fight for their needs in this country are the political footballs for the Congressional rangling for power. The tax structure needs to be fixed back to the days when the wealthy were getting richer AND paying their fair share of taxes. This country has plenty of resources to provide basic services to the poor and needy. More resources need to be poured into our inner cities and the family farms and the desperate southern states - in the form of education, training and job creation. More resources need to be poured into infrastructure.

I love the idea of putting returning servicemen to work on infrastructure. What an idea! They could also be sent to classrooms in the inner city to bring new discipline to children without a home or neighborhood environment to teach them how to function in a classroom or a job site, to form clubs and activities to give them a sense of belonging to something bigger than a gang.

There are many positive things that the government may do to make the lives of the least of us reach a higher level to pay back through their own contributions to society.

I ran many government grants. Because I had a sense of business purpose, I always calculated Return on Investment - the return was always four times the investment when the grant supported students and led them to jobs. I can't tell you how many puny little grants I turned into rich investments in people who left welfare and took their families into a new way of life by completing LPN training.

Government does have a role in hard times. Private industry and government can partner to make that role more productive and efficient. The problem is that every private entity with which I partnered paid their executives high salaries, insisted on an impossible profit margin for themselves, and cut corners at every turn to cheapen the final outcome. Whenever I went to a business meeting as an educator I was like the country cousin, seeking support from the ivory towers. It was debilitating. Corporations are swimming in money while government services are struggling. We used to say we had done so much with so little for so long we could now do everything with nothing.

Churches are not much different than corporations. Try to get affordable help from Catholic Community Services. They charge as much for counseling as any other therapist office.

The only organization I know that truly turns all their income back to the needy is the Salvation Army - and then they spoil it by turning down a donation because it came from a group that had lifestyles of which they did not approve. Christians turning down money to help the needy based on their bias from reading a Bible that teaches differently. Other than that, it's the only religious organization I support besides my monthly obligation to my own church (that tithes 10% of their offering to local charities.)

Oh, there are other great local organizations in every town that do magnificent work with direct monetary pass throughs. I just mention Salvation Army because they really take in the worst of the worst and help them turn their lives into productive citizens. And their executives and paid workers are at the bottom of the pay scale, not the top. If you work for Salvation Army, you are there as a heart felt service.

In a great country such as ours, you should not have to grovel for medical care. It should be available because you are born and you live and you develop into a healthy person who can study and work and give back to society. Health care should not be an elite system but rather a system that provides a broad baseline for everyone - and for more, the wealthy can pad all they wish.

2/8/2012


DK..

I agree with everything you say. Most important
please check this out, it's for anyone who has a
medical problem, I just ordered one, I even told
my Dr., about it, read it carefully it's unique !

Cheers..Joe..

http://www.lakeside.com/catalog/all_sku_listing_product_detail.jsp?productId=prod580425&showSoldOut=true&fm=pinSearch&_requestid=93036

Joe, what a great idea! Mother's Day and Father's Day are coming up - great gifts. However, it takes a computer literate person to type all that stuff in - unless the doctor's office will do it.

2/9/2011


DK....

It is a great gift, I was thinking of your Mom, You
can type her info for her. I think anyone who has a
medical problem should have one...


Cheers..Joe..

DK. Your post would make a great Blog.