Contraception, Ongoing

Clarice Feldman surveys the field in an excellent American Thinker piece.

FEELINGS, NOTHING MORE THAN FEELINGS:  The Politico reports on Obama's careful analysis behind the contraception decision:

In the end, Obama was motivated by personal conviction, aides said. He made the passionate case that several million women — many neither Catholic nor rich enough to pay $60 a month for contraception — should have access to free birth control, even while working for church-run institutions.

Let's move past Obama's "free" fantasy and ponder a different question - just how many women work for Catholic-run groups?  I don't know either but since the entire US workforce is roughly 130 million, I doubt whether "millions" of poor women are working for the Catholic Church.

Maybe we can develop a bit of a ballpark figure.  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishps website includes these employment factoids:

In 2003-2004, the total, full-time equivalent teaching staff in Catholic elementary/middle and secondary schools was 162,337. (That was with a total student enrollment of roughly 2.5 million)

Catholic hospitals employ over 598,934 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs).

Today, the Catholic Charities network — more than 1,600 local agencies and institutions nationwide — provide help... thanks to the dedication of more than 51,000 staff and 175,000 volunteers.

We are not provided with an employment figure for Catholic universities and colleges.  However, were are told that

Over 720,000 students attend 221 Catholic colleges and universities in the United States.

That is roughly one third the number of students in the elementary and secondary schools.  If total employment at the lower levels is 162,337 it can hardly be higher for the colleges and universities.

So, adding up charities, hospitals, schools and colleges we come to total employment of about 970,000 (600,000 + 50,000 +2 x 160,000).

Well, if all of those employees are women with a twin sister we can get to "millions" of women.  Otherwise, it appears that Obama went to mandates based on phony intelligence.

Oh, whatever - we never took that "reality-based" stuff seriously anyway.

Comments

[Clarice]

And, Jane, his chief of staff, Jack Lew, said the "compromise" is the president's final decision.(How many times have we seen him stamp his cute hoofs and draw a line he retreated from as soon as it was clear he'd lost?)

[Gmax]

As did the Catholic League as did much of the Law faculty at Notre Dame. Catholics for Choice is still trying to find an actual Catholic as a spokesman however.

[Jane]

I wasn't clear Clarice, I was referring to Obama's compromise. It seems you are saying it fell flat. But is it a done deal? What are the mechanics that are going on? Under Obamacare doesn't Sibileus have the power to deem whatever she chooses?

It might be colder in DC than MA, BTW.

[Gmax]

You left off the quote marks on "compromise". Where I come from both sides how input and agree on the compromise. This was nothing other than a rhetorical trick that not a single Bishop was consulted.

[Gmax]

how = have

Sheesh autocomplete is a nightmare some times.

[Jack is Back!]

Jane,

No one in the Church hierarchy has back off - in fact they have totally rejected the compromise/accommodation/bald faced lie and are ready to go the Ganhdi route. Who is telling you different?

Now that Jack Lew has said the Regime's position is final and there is no more compromise (tickle me with a feather) the lines have been drawn. We just have to wait and see who blinks but I think that both parties are now supending all offensive actions until SCOTUS. Why burn money and time and alliances if there is still an independent decision left to play out.

[Captain Hate]

Amazing round of golf for Phil

[Jane]

Thanks Clarice and Jib, you have explained.

I'm watching Jack Lew. Is he slime or what?

[Ignatz]

--Amazing round of golf for Phil--

Of course. He's left handed.
Nicklaus would have had 30 majors if he approached the ball from the naturally superior side. :)

[Jack is Back!]

Local scene.

[Gmax]

Most courses are designed by righthanders for righthanders, which makes Phil all the more amazing.

[henry]

Belgium? First they came for independent breweries, now this. Can you imagine Belgium with only one beer? Miller owns as many politicians as the unions.

[Benjamin Franklin]

"So Chief Kickin Poo gets caught sockpuppeting ( despite his often plaintiff wails about it to others ) and promptly skeedadles? LOL"

GobMax and alter-ego rangerfield, along with DoT verify Hit's conclusion that they really want me here.

So....Occupy JOM!

[Pops]

I think what bothers me the most is what about the men? Shouldn't we have a first payee clause for any contraceptive? I mean - whose the real benficiary here?

Shouldn't Clinton have to pay for his interns contraceptive - he's reaping all the benefits?

Shouldn't we pass the bill to John Edwards for his flings contraceptives? Ooops, OK maybe their actually were none in that case.

But what about Jessie Jackson..ooops again

Come to think of it, Clinton was prone to using cigars.

Maybe none of these liberals are actually paying for contraceptives.

But my point is still valid, he who gets the benfits should pay the fee....

[Pops]

I can't wait until we get to the who pays for my medical marihjuana and who pays for my sex change...

[Clarice]

Actually, Jack is a very honest person though he began work as an aide to MA Dem Tp O'Neill which is where his loyalties lie. I suppose what comes with the office of chief of staff is having to go in front of the cameras and spin b.s.

[Boatbuilder]

"Weekly Buzz" online poll results in my Obama-cheerleading Hartford Courant in overwhelmingly blue Connecticut:

"Should church-owned institutions be required to provide contraception as part of their insurance plans?"--Yes-15%; No--85%.

Same poll reports that 79% say that the state should not raise the minimum wage.

Hit--I think that your "Democrat for the Coolness Factor Only" or whatever you call it is dead on. Except when I identify myself as a Republican or we are talking about an explicitly political issue, I find that most of the Democrats I talk to are well to my right on most issues (except economics--people just don't understand economics).

I conclude that it the Republican Party had the balls to stand up for its principles, it would be riding roughshod over the Dems. (If wishes were horses...)

[narciso]

Well there might be some intelligent life out there after all, over there. On the other hand
the fnork has pushed someone who seems ill adept at basic principles, and exiles and tries to dismiss someone who does actually believe in the issues, Regardless of the response, I found Chris Wallace's little stunt
with the 'Game Change' clips, something one would expect on MSNBC, not CNN, they've been
relatively fair to her.

[Boatbuilder]

I should amend that--well to my right on most issues they know something about, or which affects them personally.

[narciso]

In other news I'm sure this is an oversight;

http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/02/what-is-an/

[narciso]

There's a reason they call it Al Ghuardian

http://cifwatch.com/2012/02/12/ethnocentric-facial-hair-bias-guardian-lefts-latest-bizarre-apologia-for-a-loathsome-terrorist/

[Danube of Thought]

No legislation or regulation of this sort would have a ghost of a chance in a society of self-respecting free people.

[narciso]

what they accuse others, is what they are willing to themselves with relish;

http://patdollard.com/2012/02/republican-ny-state-senator-mark-grisanti-wife-beaten-by-leftist-goons-at-niagara-falls-casino/

[Boatbuilder]

What percentage of women and/or families pay more for cable service per month than what Obama and Sebelius want to force the Catholic Church (and all the rest of us) to pay so that they can have this vitally important healthcare benefit that they or their husbands or boyfriends or their local Planned Parenthood or publicly-funded women's healthcare clinic or whomever can't possibly help them out with so they go without and millions of unwanted babies are forced upon us?
Maybe cable should be included in employer-mandated healthcare plans. After all, according to the commercials that show repeadly during basketball and football games, if you don't have the right cable you end up being the father-in-law of a punk with punk grandchildren, or getting beat up and thrown into a ditch, both of which obviously are healthcare-related.

[Clarice]

What free thinking people would willingly turn over so much of their lives and the nation's economy to a Secretary of HHS given broad discretion to write whatever damned rules she chooses?

[jimmyk]

I don't think it's been done willingly--rather, fraudulently. People who voted for this clown were gullible, but few of them wanted this, as evidenced by Scott Brown's election and the parliamentary tricks they had to pull to get the piece of carp passed in the first place. Unfortunately we have to wait till November to vote them out, but vote them out we will.

[Rick Ballard]

jimmyk,

You mean until the Catholic majority on the Supreme Court overturns the Constitutional law professor as ordered by their bishops, don't you?

'Cause that's the legend that will be told until the last prog weasel expires.

[narciso]

They lied and cheated with every fiber of their being, with the we're going to save 3,000% on your insurance, those amputation happy surgeons, et al, the Stupak fake out, the Louisiana
and Nebraska purchases, the exemption for the entire state of Florida.

[jimmyk]

'Cause that's the legend that will be told until the last prog weasel expires.

Like the one that says the four conservative justices plus Kennedy gave the election 7-2 to Bush in 2000. That's the new math.

[matt]

The provisions for the takeover of faith based health care were already in the bill when it passed. Sebelius was simply implementing using her discretion to do whatever the hell she wants under the Obama Doctrine.

Same thing done when Holder decided to reopen closed investigations or run gun running, or when the President unilaterally committed the military in Libya.

Oversight? We don't need no steenking oversight!

[narciso]

Interesting re Syria, and the supposed involvement of AQIM, Matthew Aid's book the Intelligence WArs, which confirms much of what you have observed over the years, points
out that both the Mukharabat and Syrian military intelligence, kept long term contacts with the Iraqi insurgents, he finds
the Yemeni security services and the army, substandard at best, and Kayani's previous
time at ISI Chief to be counterproductive.

[narciso]

I suppose he was basing it on findings like this,

http://www.intelligencequarterly.com/2010/01/syrias-financial-support-for-jihad/

[Danube of Thought]

"'Cause that's the legend that will be told until the last prog weasel expires."

If it comes out that way, I hope the progs say it and believe it. I want them to be unappy and frustrated.

[Danube of Thought]

*unhappy*

[narciso]

Sometimes I really don't think she gets it;

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2012/02/for-justices-in-center-i-dont-think.html

[daddy]

If only Herman Cain had been a Democrat: Entire Chris Matthews Panel Says New JFK Sex Revelations Are Totally Irrelevant

[Thomas Collins]

I was hoping you meant unappy, DOT. It would be a fit circumstance for progs to be deprived of all their apps. They should go back to "See Spot Run" books and begin their education all over again without apps.

[Danube of Thought]

Sixty Minutes is reporting massive Blue Demon medical fraud. Who can be surprised? It starts with the little things--bribing ACC basketball officials--and then you're on the slippery slope.

[narciso]

Well to be frank, daddy, Matthew's panel complete with Katharine Parker is pretty much irrelevant, now what was Chris Wallace's excuse, remember in Andrea Mitchell's bio, he agreed that Reagan got off easy.

[cajunkate]

re:Jack Lew
He also blatantly lied about having to get 60 Senators to pass a budget (which goes along with Obama's plan of blaming everything on the rascally Republicans). It only takes 51 Senators & yet he knows the MSM won't challenge his falsehoods. Sadly, I haven't heard a peep from any Repub challenging him either..

[narciso]

Were his lips moving at the time?

[Ignatz]

TC's 10:34 and Dot's 10:35 are perfect examples of why reading here is so fun.

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN (via Instapundit) for the beginning of what I think will be a continuing prog assault on retirement accounts.

[narciso]

Possibly the only Churchillian Tory in the bunch;

http://www.therightscoop.com/full-speech-daniel-hannan-at-cpac-2012/

[narciso]

I guess he borrowed the Delorean;

http://www.bizzyblog.com/2012/02/12/cnn-money-author-says-obama-put-in-place-automatic-401k-enrollment-provision-tracing-back-to-1998/

[Captain Hate]

I've referred to Urkel as McFly before but I had no idea CNN would run with it.

[daddy]

"They should go back to "See Spot Run" books..."

Dick and Jane and Vampires.

[narciso]

Btw, Captain, how far have you gotten with
'In Search of Klingsor'

[narciso]

My question, is why did let Suhail in there, in the first place?

[Captain Hate]

You know I'm a slow reader, narc; I'm only up to the point where Links is through his studies at Max-Gymnasium. I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

[narciso]

Well I'm glad you liked it, credit the translator, for making the words flow.

[jimmyk]

Narciso's 10:23 makes me think Althouse is going to somehow find another excuse to vote for Obama. Based on the comments, I'm not the only one who can't make any sense of her argument other than a need to find an excuse to bash conservatives.

[Captain Hate]

Based on the comments, I'm not the only one who can't make any sense of her argument other than a need to find an excuse to bash conservatives.

I'm not sure if it was unwise to read that link before I had coffee or massive quantities of alcohol.

Yes narc, the translation is excellent imo.

[Donald Forbes]

Accepting TMG's figure, how many of these women are sexually active enough to be at risk of an unwanted pregnancy and unable to afford their own contraception. Obama really wants to trash the church's fundamental doctrine regarding the sanctity of life for a number which is perhaps relatively small? Should the three-year-old Obama administration in any case be trashing the tenets of an institution that has survived for 2000 years and still commands the fealty of millions (real millions)? All the more odd in view of his proclamation of religious principle at the recent prayer breakfast.

[Cecil Turner]

I'm really more concerned about them trashing a 223 year-old law. (I figure the Church can handle their end of it.)