The Birds and The Bees

Back when I was still in high school, my grandfather, a dairy farmer by trade, decided to make sure I had a clear understanding of the birds and the bees.

Grandfather:  Do you know how a woman gets pregnant?

Me: Yes, sir.

Grandfather: Do you know how a woman does not get pregnant?

Me: Yes, sir.

Grandfather: Good, remember that.

My take on this conversation – only abstinence prevented pregnancy.  Thanks to Steven Colbert of the Colbert Report, I now know there is one other sure way to not get pregnant – “Be a man”.

Majority vs. Minority

Is it just as wrong to make policies that discriminate against the majority as it is to make policies that discriminate against the minority?  Should the government deny the majority health care services on the premise that it might go against a minorities’ beliefs?

As for religion and state, the government is charged with due diligence to protect the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of The People.  It has not been charged with protecting the liberty of religious organizations.  While religious organizations are made up of people, they are not The People.  The First Amendment protects the free exercise of religion, and mandating health coverage does not impinge on the exercise of faith.  It does not require any one to use the coverage, only for organizations to provide it for those who choose to use the coverage.

In the end, it comes down to money, or in other words taxes.  Whether the tax is levied in the standard sense or through mandating organizations to cover heath care equally, it is still a tax.  So rather than arguing about contraception, maybe the argument should be on whether religious organization should lose their tax exemptions?  This change has been called for, but I think that our churches would prefer simply offering health care, it would probably be much less costly.

Tit for Tat

During the recent congressional hearing on the issue of the whether President Obama had violated the first amendment by requireing Catholic hospitals to cover services such as birth control,  Rep. Darrell Issa was reported by ABC News to have “pointed out that Democrats barred Republican witnesses when they were in the majority.”*  This was his argument for why the panel was so one sided.

Well kudos to him for lowering the bar to kindergarten level politics.  It is no wonder the public has such a low opinion of the Congress.

 

*Quoted from the ABC article Rep. Darrell Issa Bars Minority Witness, a Woman, on Contraception by Tom Shine

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/rep-darrell-issa-bars-minority-witness-a-woman-on-contraception-2/