House Leaders Meeting Now with Bishops To Discuss Health Care Bill, Abortion

I find it odd and somewhat disturbing that the Conference of Catholic Bishops is meeting with lawmakers to determine the language for a bill they mean to vote into law. I hate to keep going back to that pesky Constitution and Bill of Rights, but Separation of Church and State was a pretty major part as I recall. I suppose I will get yelled at because this has happened during past administrations as well, so I will state right from the start that I was not aware of it if it did, and I would have railed against it then also.

Separation of Church and State was a pretty major part as I recall.
War919 | Nov 6, 2009 6:42:00 PM

Separation of Church and State does not make the religious second class citizens without the right to petition their government. The doctor associations have been consulted on the bill, AARP has been consulted, insurers consulted (in the high profile summit that kicked this off way back in March), etc. The bishops aren't getting any special treatment - indeed, they are the last at the table and would have been left at the door if the bill didn't need a final few votes.

44,000 Americans die each year because of inadequate health insurance, according to a recently released report by the Harvard Medical School.
Our infant mortality rate is twice as high as the infant mortality rate of countries like France, where the Catholic Church is largely ignored. According to a recently released report by the CDC, indequate pre-natal care is one of the major causes of this infant mortality rate.
Many women are driven to abortions because they cannot afford health insurance for their children or because the fetus has a congenital health problem that no insurance company will cover.
So the Catholic church wants to eliminate health care reform because the anti-abortion provisions are not anti-abortion enough. I don't of course know what if anything will satisfy the Catholic church.
In the meantime, babies will keep on dying, and women will keep on getting abortions because of our for-profit health insurance industry.
The Catholic church has blood on its hands.

I just had to quote the first ammendment to once again illustrate that "separation of church and state" is just not there, “ Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. ”

Once again the Dem party proves that it is open to hearing from a wide variety of people in an attempt to get a HC bill that will get wide-ranging support.

Do you think the Rep party would meet with anyone besides the evangelicals to discuss important national issues?

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Democrats would come out as BIG WINNERS if they would VOTE THIS THING DOWN!
Flush it.
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Per IRS rules (IR-2007-190),Nov 19, 2007
charities and churches can engage in advocating for or against issues and, to a limited extent, ballot initiatives or other legislative activities. Also
IRS Publication 1828, Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations, contains a discussion of the law affecting political campaign activity by churches and religious institutions.

Why would the dems want a healthcare plan that could kill preborn babies, will they stop at nothing?

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will HEAL THEIR LAND"

2 CHRONICLES 7:14

There is sup[posed to be a religion and government in this country. The bishops have a right to speak as individual citizens but as a body representing the Roman Catholic Church they are bound to abide by the directions of the Pope. Perhaps the congress will next seek advice from the Taliban. Next they will be seeking out a wickham for consultation. All of these groups opinions and/or comments should have any barring on the law of the land.

I must have missed the people's vote which put Catholic Bishops in office. As an abortion supporter why should a Catholic Bishop's opinion take precidence of my opinion?

After the disgusting spectacle of the Roman Catholic Church excommunicating the mother of a 9 years old girl who was raped by her step-father as well as excommunicating the doctors and nurses who performedthe abortion that saved this young girl's life, I find it impossible to understand why religious clerics are consulted on anything! They know nothing because there beliefs are premised on fantasy and mythology.

Has Pelosi ever heard of seperation of church and state?

Is there any special interest group these kleptomaniacs will not pander too?

This so called health care bill is not even constitutional and is a massive fraud to ensure the Democrats secure a majority with the help of illegal aliens that will be covered.

How nice. How special. Have they ever considered lunching with the liberal side of the democratic party before selling out all the democratic ideals and positions? ...Of course not.

And that's exactly why they're going to lose big time at the next election.

First of all, it's not the first amendment which has providence here but the tenth. That which is not expressly forbidden by the federal government is the providence of the states. Just like, it think it's page 1596, Pelosi wants to regulate what distributors can put into their vending machines, it's none of her God damned business!

A to the matter of the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church of Rome and little matters like pedophilia, hypocrisy and the love of money (the Church of Rome is by far and away richest organization on the planet. They could buy Microsoft out of petty cash) I do believe that the Church's tradition position for the last two millennia as been to burn the sinner at the stake so to make absolutely certain that their souls entered the Kingdom of Heaven fully purged, cleansed and purified. Anytime they want to err on the side of caution, revive the tradition, take their own advise, have a giant firesale, and donate the proceeds to charity, as far as I'm concerned, that would be just ducky, But that's just me.

All of this religion bashing and specifically, Catholic bashing is ridiculous - especially coming from the group who claims that they are such academics and have open minds. Also, as to the Bill of Rights arguments and citations, they also hold no weight. If they people citing it read what they posted - they would see that nothing in that wording is being violated (though they blindly like to hope it is). May I remind those folks that the Bill of Rights guarantees 'Freedom OF Religion', not 'Freedom FROM Religion'. Memory tells me that Russia was the last place to exercise 'Freedom FROM Religion' - and using the term 'freedom' there is a misnomer, because it was forced...

Nancy Pelosi lunches with the liberals everyday and that is why she created the 2,000 page mess that she has. Obamaa specifically said he wasn't going to take over health care and tried to cover up that he really was a huge liberal - and that is the only reason he was elected in the first placee. If you haven't noticed, liberals don't sell well in America - the reason they keep trying to cover themselves up by making up new names like 'progressive' to cover their real intent...

Seperation of church & state?

Never heard of it.

This is out of hand:

PELOSI: Buy a $15,000 Policy or Go to Jail
JCT Confirms Failure to Comply with Democrats’ Mandate Can Lead to 5 Years in Jail
Friday, November 06, 2009

Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.

In response to the JCT letter, Camp said: “This is the ultimate example of the Democrats’ command-and-control style of governing – buy what we tell you or go to jail. It is outrageous and it should be stopped immediately.”

Key excerpts from the JCT letter appear below:

“H.R. 3962 provides that an individual (or a husband and wife in the case of a joint return) who does not, at any time during the taxable year, maintain acceptable health insurance coverage for himself or herself and each of his or her qualifying children is subject to an additional tax.” [page 1]

- - - - - - - - - -

“If the government determines that the taxpayer’s unpaid tax liability results from willful behavior, the following penalties may be applied”

“Criminal penalties

Prosecution is authorized under the Code for a variety of offenses. Depending on the level of the noncompliance, the following penalties could apply to an individual:

• Section 7203 – misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.

• Section 7201 – felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.” [page 3]

When confronted with this same issue during its consideration of a similar individual mandate tax, the Senate Finance Committee worked on a bipartisan basis to include language in its bill that shielded Americans from civil and criminal penalties. The Pelosi bill, however, contains no similar language protecting American citizens from civil and criminal tax penalties that could include a $250,000 fine and five years in jail.

“The Senate Finance Committee had the good sense to eliminate the extreme penalty of incarceration. Speaker Pelosi’s decision to leave in the jail time provision is a threat to every family who cannot afford the $15,000 premium her plan creates. Fortunately, Republicans have an alternative that will lower health insurance costs without raising taxes or cutting Medicare,” said Camp.

According to the Congressional Budget Office the lowest cost family non-group plan under the Speaker’s bill would cost $15,000 in 2016.

Calib , great ,now can you report on my mandatory auto and homeowners policy that the govt makes me get ??????