While the "fair & balanced" Fox News gave scant, if any, attention to the social justice message of the "nuns on the bus," the Little Sisters of the Poor have become a cause célèbre because of their lawsuit over having to sign an opt-out form to trigger their exemption from the HHS birth control mandate. This, of course, dovetails nicely with the patented Fox meme of persecuted Christians at the hands of anti-Christian forces led by our anti-Christian president. Last week, Megyn Kelly, in an emotional interview with a lawyer representing the nuns, made no secret of her support for the poor Sisters of the Poor. In keeping with the Fox script, she suggested that the president is, for no reason, persecuting these nuns. This morning, famous "dick" and proud gay basher Tucker Carlson, reinforced the narrative.
As the introduction music was playing, Carlson was heard saying "unbelievable." He immediately launched the propaganda: "Well, speaking of nuns, there is a new development in the White House battle against nuns, the Little Sisters of the Poor. The White House, having failed to tame Al-Qaeda or get Syria under control, the White House has a new enemy." After Kooiman made an exclamation of disgust, Carlson described the nun's work in helping the terminally ill"and asserted that the White House "has decided that they [he shouted] must comply with the Obamacare regulations that require employers to provide birth control to their employees." Carlson accused the president of "siccing" the DOJ on the nuns.
Fact Check - Tucker is lying. The mandate does not require that employers provide birth control to their employees. It requires that employer health plans provide birth control coverage unless, like the nuns and other religious groups, they are exempted in which case they sign an opt-out form which acknowledges their opposition to the policy. As a result of a compromise, provided by the administration, the insurer then can cover the birth control without, in this case, the nuns being involved. And contrary to Carlson's allegation, the DOJ didn't initiate the "siccing," but, rather, is responding to the nun's lawsuit as they have on a number of similar cases. Nobody mentioned that the nuns' insurers are the Christian Brothers who DO NOT offer birth control.
After Carlson misrepresented the facts, Clayton Morris, in providing a more accurate assessment of the case, explained that the nuns have to sign a "permission slip" to get the exemption. Note that the "permission slip" phrase is that used by the lawyers representing the nuns. Video of Mike Huckabee's earlier Fox & Friends appearance was shown in which Huckabee accused the administration of "going after" the nuns who have First Amendment freedoms. Huckabee, not a historian, speculated that the Founders would be appalled by the DOJ trying "to push" the nuns into providing birth control coverage. He claimed that this is "government gone wild." The chyron framed the message: "Little Sisters vs. Big Government, Justice Dept. Says Nuns Have No Legal Basis."
Kooiman claimed that the administration is "telling the nuns to quit your bellyaching" because of this third party. She summarized Huckabee's claim that the administration's accommodation for religious groups is like if she wanted to kill Clayton Morris, she could hire a hit man and her hands would be clean but not really.
So it's not just Obamacare that is an infringement of religious liberty; but it's President Obama, himself, who is persecuting nuns. Even "The Onion" has more credible material!
Hey, Ray — maybe you were asleep at the time, but ACA was argued before the SC a year and a half ago, and found constitutional . . .
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/29/us/supreme-court-lets-health-law-largely-stand.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
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Hedgehog himself is no angel: he got forced from office in SD after a campaign finance scandal — that must REALLY scorch Carlson’s britches; the fact that his dad got beat out by a criminal . . .
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Now for the dirt:
Tucky is the last person to talk about enemies list. His dear old daddy, Richard lost to Roger Hedgecock in the 1984 San Diego mayoral race. Daddy was not happy with the Hedge, and neither was his son, Tucky.
Tucky has no love for the Hedge, and the Hedge could care less about this kid or Daddy. A nasty, long feud that Tucky and Daddy don’t talk about. There’s your enemies’ list.
As for Kooiman (and really, what kind of name is that for a good FoxNoise personality? It sounds positively furrin), the “administration is telling the nuns to quit your bellyaching” line is so funny coming from someone at FoxNoise. Weren’t the FoxNoise liars basically telling Jews and atheists “to quit your bellyaching” (albeit not exactly with those words) during the whole “War on Christmas” crap? To just shut up and let the schools sing religious (ie, “Christ”) songs as part of the Christmas pageants? To let schools have Christmas trees and parties “for the kids” (presumably, the “Christian” kids only—the rest just needed to suck it up and deal with it)? And didn’t the whole FoxNoise liars basically tell gays to “quit your bellyaching” regarding Phil Robertson’s comments because of his “religious beliefs”? I guess it’s only “bellyaching” when FoxNoise wants to attack the Obama administration’s dealings with a religious group. (I won’t even get into the whole absurdity of FoxNoise personalities’ essentially saying that some groups don’t need to follow the law when it’s “inconvenient” for them. Do you suppose the FoxNoise people have done a 180 and now support minority voters who claim that voter ID laws being passed by GOP legislatures are unfair to them? Of course not. It’s just more right-wing hypocrisy on display.)