US Bishops dictate the language to be used in Nelson Amendement

The US Catholic Bishops act like most women in the US use abortion as a means of birth control. Furthermore no one was trying to get the government to fund abortions in the first place contrary to what certain congresscritters are saying. And what about separation of church and state? Why is the Catholic church tax exempt? Why are there so many evil white men making laws governing women's bodies? Why am I so filled with hatred for our legislators during the season of 'peace on earth good will to all'? In fact, I am furious at everything going on in Washington. Nice way to say thanks to the American taxpayers, shitheads in DC.

There's a great commentary by Carol Marin in the Chicago Sun Times.

Excerpt:

When bishops lobby legislators, they should be required to do what all tax-exempt 501(c)3 groups have to do. Create a parallel political organization and pay taxes on the contributions they receive. And fully disclose, like every other lobbying organization -- corporate or charitable -- what they take in and what they spend to advance positions they advocate.

As a woman and a taxpayer, I rebel against the notion that a group of men more obsessed with our wombs than other significant life-and-death issues -- war, poverty, pestilence -- are given favored tax treatment in order to reduce a woman's freedom of choice.

Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, and Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, argued on the Web site Politico that the bishops "distorted the facts about the health reform proposal by claiming that the proposed system would have used federal dollars to cover abortion care. They're wrong."

Wrong because the original bill "included a compromise that required all plans to separate public and private dollars in the new system."

In other words, women could access the public plan but abortion coverage would come from their private dollars.

Keenan and O'Brien said the bishops, in accepting vast federal funding for Catholic hospitals and charities, "never question their own ability to lawfully manage funds from separate sources to ensure that tax dollars don't finance religious practices. Yet they reject the idea that others could do the same. This is the very definition of hypocrisy."

Hypocrisy compounded by what the bishops are doing in Washington, D.C., when it comes to the issue of same-sex marriage, their other primary fixation.

There, the local archdiocese has threatened to shut down its extensive social service programs for the needy if the city goes ahead and legalizes same-sex marriage.

So much for the stated mission of protecting the vulnerable.