Catholics v. Obama

The Hill describes the wave of Federal lawsuits filed by Catholic organizations against the ObamaCare "free" contraceptive coverage.

Dem-backed law may be downfall of Obama birth control mandate

The biggest legal threat to the White House’s birth control mandate could come from a decades-old law that was championed by liberal Democrats, according to legal experts.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) has been mentioned in nearly all of the more than 30 lawsuits pending against President Obama’s administration over the mandate. One, filed by the University of Notre Dame on Monday, cited RFRA’s protections in the first paragraph.

The RFRA was kicked around by Ed Whelan and David Rivkin, writing in the WSJ, and Ms. Greenhouse of the NY Times last February. Ms. Greenhouse presented an abbreviated version of the law,so her analysis is a bit more lib-friendly. Let's cut back to The Hill:

Because of the law, courts now have to apply certain standards to federal actions that might inadvertently infringe on religious liberty. In one sense, laws under scrutiny must aim to achieve a “compelling” government interest. In another sense, they must be designed in a way that burdens religion as little as possible. 

The second claim might be hard for the administration to meet when regulators could have taken many other steps — like expanding Medicaid — to provide better access to birth control, DeGirolami said. 

“Even if one concedes that the state has a ‘compelling interest’ in ensuring that all women have free access to contraception,” he said, “there are many, many less restrictive means of achieving that interest.”

Ms. Greenhouse overlooked the "least restrictive" requirement.

SHAKE DOWN THE THUNDER: Here is the Notre Dame filing.

Comments

[Rob Crawford]

How can someone be so poor as to not be able to afford keeping their pants on?

[Dana Ward]

Because THEY can actually get laid.

[GMAX]

I wonder if old doubledumb will comment on the poll showing only 24% of americans now think of the shooting of grillntats as murder and 40% think its self defense? Cuz I am positive he thought there was some great win win strategy. Looks like its more lose lose strategy from where I sit, and as folks learn more actual facts, the disparity will only grow. Since 12% of the country is black, that leaves a tiny white prog community singing from the hymnal. Over to you now, doubledumb...

[steve]

“Even if one concedes that the state has a ‘compelling interest’ in ensuring that all women have free access to contraception,”

Let's take this bit by bit.

A compelling interest in ensuring ALL... ? Why is it necessary that the state ensure that women who can afford birth control get it for free?

..... FREE ? As many have pointed out, it really isn't free, even if there isn't a charge assessed at the point of (non) purchase.

... contraception? How or why is it compelling for the state to ensure that women get contraception? The country survived just fine for many years without doing so, at least to the extent that the state wants to do so today.

[GMAX]

OK I will bite. What is the compelling interest that the government has in free contraception? Its not like condoms cost a lot of money or are not widely available. Educate me on this remarkable compelling tale...

[Rob Crawford]

What is the compelling interest that the government has in free contraception?

And if such an interest exists, wouldn't sterilization be more cost-effective?

[Neo]

The enginuity of the Obama Administration is only matched by this clown ...

An executive at a Palo Alto software giant was charged Monday with four felony counts of burglary, after authorities said he allegedly made his own bar code stickers, switched the tags, and then bought boxes of LEGOs at Target stores for huge discounts.

Thomas Langenbach, 47, who lists himself as the vice president at Palo Alto's SAP Labs Integration and Certification Center on his LinkedIn profile, is expected to be arraigned Tuesday in Santa Clara County Court.

[Rick Ballard]

"And if such an interest exists, wouldn't sterilization be more cost-effective?"

Sure. Mix in a bit of state approved euthanasia (you should probably start with Progressive Approved partial birth abortion) and utopia is just around the corner.

The 'answer' has been absolutely clear since Plato first advanced The Malthusian Final Solution 2300 years ago. The progs have just been in a hurry for the past hundred years due to sharpening of the contrast with reality.

[Dana Ward]

He was standing his ground against inflation.

[Gus]

Thomas Langenbach sounds like a PITZER man.

[Neo]

“Under the mandate, even the work of Mother Teresa wouldn’t be qualified as religious,” said Cardinal Wuerl in the video.

“Contrary to America’s great tradition of religious freedom, embodied in the First Amendment, Catholic institutions will now be forced to act against their conscience and provide coverage for drugs and procedures they believe are morally wrong, simply because they serve people of all faiths or no faith equally,” said Cardinal Wuerl.

[AliceH]

As I remember it, the mandate's failure to comply with the RFRA is what first propelled me into commenting here (and I haven't shut up since.)

[NK]

Obviously it's a great thing when LibDems are hoisted by their own petard. Sweet.

[daddy]

She can't speak, she's ugly, she's shrill, she sneers, and she's a shrew.

Andrea Mitchell snidely telling us Mitt Romney Has Been Getting a "Free Ride" From The Media.

What an ugly person.

[Danube of Thought]

By God I want these people smacked down.

[NK]

At WS-- they copy an Obama fund raising email based on sticking 'Bam's tongue up Billy Clinton's ..... The Once is pathetic, now Bubba's supposed to be the savior? Who's playin' who in this? I know I've lost track....

[Jane]

I've never thought of myself as a prude. Never ever! But I can't figure out when things went from "sex is special" to sex is like eating, everyone does it all the time regardless of age or whether they like the person or anything else.

Is that a Clinton legacy?

[Jane]

I am so happy!

Breitbart News has established that Obama's grades and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores may have been even lower than those of his supposedly less capable predecessor, George W. Bush.

[Dave (in MA)]

Thomas Langenbach sounds like a PITZER man.

Is that something like a Piltdown man?

[Danube of Thought]

Is there a cite for that, Jane?

[Janet]

from Breitbart -
". Indeed, like much else in his biography, Obama seems to have fictionalized the process through which he gained admission to Columbia. Obama writes in Dreams: "[W]hen I heard about a transfer program that Occidental had arranged with Columbia University, I’d been quick to apply"(172).

However, there is no record of such a "transfer program" existing at either Columbia or Occidental."

[BeeKaay]

"What is the compelling interest that the government has in free contraception?"

Simple. It advances Marxism. That is very compelling to Obama.

[matt]

In the interest of "Can't we all get along" I am today going to register a new charity called "Condoms for Catholics" or "The Fluke Fund".

This charity will be dedicated in the service of man and womankind to solicit donations both in cash and in kind for the purpose of assisting those nominal Catholics who desire to have birth control available to them at no charge.

We will first solicit organizations such as Planned Parenthood, the Los Angeles Unified School District, GLAAD, NARAL, and others for their support and then go on to request the assistance of great Catholics such as Kathleen Sebelius, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, and the Kennedy and Cuomo families.

We will then solicit the faculty of Georgetown and other faith based institutions, the Maryknolls, and the Jesuits for their assistance in passing out these condoms to graduate students and other "dissidents" engaging in sexual activity consistent with the teachings of the Liberal Left.

Please make all checks out to "cash" or deposit non-sequential bills in the hat being passed among you.

[MarkO]

"What an ugly person."

Yes, daddy, in so many ways.

[Captain Hate]

Is that a Clinton legacy?

Yes

[Porchlight]

It seems to me that the state has more of a compelling interest in having as many babies born as possible, so as to provide maximum future taxpayers for entitlement Ponzi schemes.

[Danube of Thought]

I don't think the Breitbardt piece tells us anything at all about Obama's SATs.

[Porchlight]

However, there is no record of such a "transfer program" existing at either Columbia or Occidental."

Why would an Ivy League institution want carpy Occidental students?

Not that Occidental is a terrible school, but I can't see why Columbia would be into the idea.

[Captain Hate]

Tammy Bruce is blasting Trandrea right now.

Btw narc, here's a podcast of the Ed Klein interview: http://tammybruce.com/2012/05/public-podcast-ed-klein-author-of-the-amateur.html

Update, she's now talking about the "courage" of Colin Powell by not endorsing anybody now to the hard-hitting Matt Lauer.

[Porchlight]

"Trandrea" is one of your best ever, Cap'n.

[Jane]

I don't think the Breitbardt piece tells us anything at all about Obama's SATs.

SPOIL SPORT!

[GMAX]

Chalk this up to another of the cigars massively blowing up in the incompetent one's face. Courtesy of Ed Morrissey:

...parishioners attending church every week will hear constant updates on the lawsuits and their status. They will hear appeals from the bishops asking Catholics to pressure the White House into retreating on the mandate. Homilies from the pulpit are likely to echo arguments such as this from Cardinal Wuerl, noting that Mother Teresa's charitable AIDS hospice in Washington, D.C., wouldn't qualify as a religious organization in Obama's mandate. How many priests will ask from the pulpit for their congregations to consider the absurdity of government regulations that would have forced Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity to provide free sterilizations and abortifacients? I would bet the number will be more than just a few.

Obama and his team could have avoided all of this simply by allowing the exemption to apply to all religious organizations and not just the churches themselves. Now, however, it's probably too late; the damage to their relationship with the bishops has been done, and a retreat now would make Obama look considerably weaker. Instead, they will have to fight the bishops and the heretofore sympathetic Catholic organizations in court all the way past the general election, while trying to convince the parishioners that Obama is, to quote an old joke, more Catholic than the Pope.

[Captain Hate]

Courtesy of Ed Morrissey

Unpossible; I didn't see one "in fairness" sentence that litters all of Poppin's screeds.

[NK]

Columbia 1979-- It was a very different time than the last 15 years or so. In 1979 the "Birth Dearth" was rapidly approaching and universities knew lean times were coming in terms of paying students. Second-- NYC was still in the crapper. The corruption of Tamany Hall and the liberal insanity that replaced it in the early 1960s -- coupled with suburbanization-- had made NYC a dark ugly place by the early 70's and NYC was just starting to come back by 1979. So Columbia was scrapping by relative to other elite schools - so CC took in transfers it never had and never would in the future. But ultimately, 'bam got into Columbia College based on AA markers, black, Kenyan father, Indo upbringing etc.

[centralcal]

Well, CNN continues to decline - recently it hit a 15-year low, and last week it topped even that marker:

CNN Ratings Hit 20-Year Weekday Primetime Low

Nuttin' but bad news of late. Yesterday, a CNN executive caught depositing his dog's fece's in a neighbor's mailbox and tomorrow, who knows?

[Captain Hate]

Whoa, a flight from Paris to Charlotte has been diverted to Maine because of a security issue of a woman claiming to have a surgically implanted device. But remember, the war on terror is over.

[Dave (in MA)]

She can't speak, she's ugly, she's shrill, she sneers, and she's a shrew.

And, as once pointed out by Imus back when he was either still alive or at least had a bigger audience than Segway Morgan, when she gets home from work she has to let this guy get on top of her.

[hrtshpdbox]

I don't think the Breitbardt piece tells us anything at all about Obama's SATs.
Nope, it doesn't; in reading the article, I was expecting something like "the top score that year was such-and-such". But nope. Obama could've maxed the darn thing, for all the article tells us.

[marlene]

OT...Maine news outlets are reporting that US Airways diverted flight #787,Paris to Charlotte,NC to Bangor International Airport because of a "mentally unstable" person who claimed to have a surgically implanted device. Its not uncommon for overseas flights to divert to Bangor when there is an incident on an airplane. TSA says they are using an abundance of caution.

[NK]

Dave-- take it easy on Imus. I haven't listened for 9 years or so, but this month is the 40th anniversary of when I first started listening to him on WNBC 66.

[NK]

Was Fauxchohantas on flight #787?

[Janet]

I don't think the Breitbardt piece tells us anything at all about Obama's SATs.

Sorta like a painted rock didn't tell us anything about Perry's views on race. Oh well...it starts a conversation, doesn't it! I like seeing our side play hardball.

[Janet]

Nuttin' but bad news of late. Yesterday, a CNN executive caught depositing his dog's fece's in a neighbor's mailbox and tomorrow, who knows?

Hah!, centralcal!

[Jane]

I think the point is to get people to pressure him to produce that information.

[marlene]

Bangor Daily News now reporting that the FBI Boston office sent agents in Bangor to the airport to investigate.Two F-15 fighters were scrambled to escort the plane. The passengers were taken off the plane by bus.

[Captain Hate]

I like seeing our side play hardball.

I think there's such a complete national disgust with the JEF that Romney has more than enough material to hit him with while still letting some go to claim to be taking the high road. Meanwhile the LA Times is banging a story about Ann Romney owning extravagant horses. Please continue to beclown yourselves, MFM.

[MarkO]

Breitbardt is a start. There is a reason the great scholar hides his records. What is it? Modesty?

[Rob Crawford]

The passengers were taken off the plane by bus.

Before of after landing?

[Janet]

I think the point is to get people to pressure him to produce that information.

Exactly.

[Appalled]

The Breitbart article merely tell us that Obama was part of a crappy class of transferrees and that, if he were an average person in that group, his sat scores and grades were worse than w's.

This is vetting?

[centralcal]

Althouse poses an interesting question on her blog today. Was Booker's gaffe really a gaffe, or was it a planned distraction from the "born in Kenya per his publisher" noise?

Every few days it seems the O-team is going to have to dangle out a new shiny object to distract from the last shiny object.

These shiny objects just don't seem to have the longevity they used to!

[lyle]

Nuttin' but bad news of late. Yesterday, a CNN executive caught depositing his dog's fece's in a neighbor's mailbox and tomorrow, who knows?

Hope everyone is sitting down and braced for the shock of their lives. From the Daily Caller:

Bob Furnad of Covington, GA, was the president of CNN Headline News for four years

[snip]

And he HATES Republicans. I mean, he really hates Republicans. On Facebook, he’s a big fan of the anti-Republican page “LOLGOP,” and he’s a big booster of Democrat politicians, including Barack Obama.

[snip]

the neighbors who were being harassed by Furnad – Benjamin Dameron and Ralph Miller – are a gay couple. And quite out-of-the-closet…

File this under the ever-expanding category of "If a Repulican had done this..."

[matt]

cc, it was even better. It was his gay neighbor's mailbox. Those liberals are so intolerant!

[Danube of Thought]

Big Government:

"The Knights of Columbus, a social organization of Catholics, recently commissioned a nation-wide poll to gauge support for the Obama Administration's view. The poll, conducted by the respected Marist polling firm, interviewed 1,600 adults between May 10-14. In a shock result, 74% of adults said that freedom of religion should take precedence over government laws. A solid majority of adults all felt that religious providers should be able to opt out of providing abortions, contraceptives or sterilizations. The poll should send shudders through the Obama campaign."

[Janet]

This is vetting?

Yes. We learned how to vet this way from the WaPo.

If the left gets to say Obama is the smartest guy EVER based on no grades...then we can say he is as dumb as a box of rocks based on no grades.
I love this new way to vet politicians!

[jimmyk]

I noticed this in Notre Dame's filing:

Consistent with Church teachings, Notre Dame’s employee and student health plans cover drugs commonly used as contraceptives only when prescribed with the intent of treating another medical condition, not with the intent to prevent pregnancy.

Didn't Sandra Fluke hold out the case of someone denied contraceptive coverage for some medical need? I'd be surprised if Georgetown's policy didn't have a similar exception.

I asked this in another thread: Why does the Catholic Church not object more strenuously to taxpayer money being used for contraception? Let's grant that it's constitutional (though one might argue), why wouldn't the Church lobby against it? Even in their filing they seem to concede the point, in fact they use it to bolster their case that the mandate isn't necessary. Maybe the answer is that they have to pick their battles?

[marlene]

LOL,Rob Crawford. They are probably sitting in the waiting area of our lovely little airport wondering where the heck are we?

[Captain Hate]

cc, it was even better. It was his gay neighbor's mailbox. Those liberals are so intolerant!

They're the ones that insist on laws against "hate crimes"; how can that not be one of them? STEDMAN!!! Orca's bunions can wait.

[lyle]

Meanwhile the LA Times is banging a story about Ann Romney owning extravagant horses.

Didn't that Kerry feller have him some money, too? I guess not. I didn't hear 'nuthin 'bout it on the teevee.

[sbwaters]

Bangor? Isn't that in northeastern Canada.

[marlene]

Update...the flight has been cleared to continue.The suspicious woman is a French citizen who was born in Cameroon.

[NK]

Posted by: MarkO | May 22, 2012 at 01:58 PM
Raises an important point: of course 'Bam had lousy grades and was an AA case at Columbia and HLS. If 'Bam was a supergenius who killed the SAT/LSAT and was 4.0, his transcripts would be attached to every campaign email. He's never released them-- that means his grades and Boards sucked. No surprise there, as he was going AA, who needed grades, he had the Kenyan/Indo narrative that the patronizing Lefty academics at Columbia and Harvard adored.

[centralcal]

Matt and Lyle - I know all that, I posted the original link yesterday (Mediabistro) - which also had the security video of Furnad and and interview with the gay neighbors - who are quite low key and sensible sounding.

He has also been a "professor" at Georgia University - ha ha ha ha ha - sound like anyone we might know?

[centralcal]

Yes. We learned how to vet this way from the WaPo.

If the left gets to say Obama is the smartest guy EVER based on no grades...then we can say he is as dumb as a box of rocks based on no grades.

You're damned right, Janet!!!!

[Jane]

And he HATES Republicans.

Not as much as he hates gays - apparently.

If you had a bomb surgically implanted in you to blow up a plane would you announce it, or just push your belly button. (I'm assuming that is the method of detonation.)

[jimmyk]

I think there's such a complete national disgust with the JEF that Romney has more than enough material to hit him with while still letting some go to claim to be taking the high road.

Yep, that why, much as I hate to admit it, I half agree with Rove about the Wright stuff. It's old news, and while there's nothing wrong with bringing it up, $1 million could be better spent on Obama's abysmal record the last four years.

[marlene]

The woman is in custody. No word on who will do the implant searching,TSA or FBI.

[centralcal]

Another little factoid about Furnad, from yesterday's Mediabistro story:

Furnad spent years at CNN, and produced more major political events than any other executive in the channel’s history, a fact noted by former CNN DC bureau chief David Bohrman when he left the network last year.

Bold is mine. Hhhmmm - political events for CNN!

[MarkO]

I am willing to wager that at some strategic point in the campaign, Rev. Wright’s relationship to Obama is part of one or more ads run by independent groups, unaffiliated with Romney. Who’s up for the bet?

[Danube of Thought]

Jimmyk, I think the Catholics want to stress that they are not seeking to impose their religious views on others, but are merely seeking to avoid being forced to violate their own.

[centralcal]

Speaking of Andrea Mitchell (the liberal hag), in a Q&A interview discussing contraception and the Fluke affair (from her radical left perspective), the final question was:

Q: Have you ever seen anything like this?

A: It takes me back to the Clarence Thomas hearings. Some of the most liberal senators behaved miserably because they did not stand up for fair treatment of Anita Hill. I remember when the hearings ended and I was wrapping it up from the Senate. Tom Brokaw said, “What have we learned?” and I said something like, “I think we learned that the United States Senate is the last plantation.” I can’t believe I said that on network television!

[fdcol63]

" ... just push your belly button. (I'm assuming that is the method of detonation.) ..."

I'd also worry about Muslim men with fingers in their butts. LOL

[fdcol63]

It's clear to me that Obama either never took or he failed a basic macroeconomics class.

He knows nothing about the basics of capitalism, like supply and demand.

[matt]

Look, it's been a tough veek. First, I get zee TSA fondling mein cookies und snapping mein suspenders at LaGuardia und now I haff to deal mit zis crazy wife von mein.

Better she should mind her own bizness. Zese politische marriages are hell.

HK

[centralcal]

ha ha, matt!

[lyle]

Wrong Jew, matt.

[jimmyk]

I think the Catholics want to stress that they are not seeking to impose their religious views on others, but are merely seeking to avoid being forced to violate their own.

I think they have objected to taxpayer funded abortion, no? I would argue that objecting to taxpayer funding of something doesn't amount to imposing one's views on others, but it's a topsy-turvy world we live in.

[lyle]

SecState. FedChair. Whatever.

[centralcal]

White House Dossier:

There is growing talk that Vice President Biden will be booted off the ticket by President Obama. But dumping Biden begs an urgent question: Where to dump him?

The Supreme Court (well a nomination by Obama, not a guarantee).

[sailor]

Surely you jest, cc, re Biden and the SC.

[jimmyk]

There is growing talk that Vice President Biden will be booted

That article seems to overlook that Biden will be 70 in November. He can retire gracefully. (Or as gracefully as he's ever done anything.)

Who would replace him, other than Hillary?

[sailor]

jimmyk, I don't think any VP would "retire" unless forced to do so.

[Danube of Thought]

"I think they have objected to taxpayer funded abortion, no?"

I don't know. But that's more on a par with Quakers objecting to taxpayer funding of defense. They have a much more appealing case when they are simply asking not to be forced to doing something that is against their belief.

[Adjoran]

It is a huge mistake to frame this as something violating the rights of "religious institutions." The Bishops would have been appeased with an exception for themselves, which is just wrong.

What of the Catholic lay business owner? Or the atheist with a conscience about life issues? Why should their beliefs be trampled, and only "religious institutions" be protected?

No, it's a horrible and oppressive rule, typical of leftist command economics, and should be repealed in toto, and the persons who drafted and approved it banished forever.

[maryrose]

The Catholic Church,led by our fearless leader Cardinal Dolan is going to beat Obama like a drum on this issue. I said way back in February i twas a loser for him and now we are at the lawsuit stage. This coupled with Arizona's multiple lawsuits against this administration is the sound of a death knell for Obammy.
See ya, Glad I don't have to be ya!

[Jim Eagle]

We have a large Black Guild in our church and they were solid for Obama in 08. Talking after mass and the recent Jazz Concert they sponsor they are all bewildered by the HHS mandate and how Obama is being tone deaf to the Bishop's appeal on this. In 08 the parking lot was full of Obama-Biden stickers. See maybe one or two nowadays.

The times they are a changin'

Also, the reason Bangor or ex-Dow AFB is used on these type diversions from Europe is its spot-on the Great Circle Route, probably not as much as a 2 degee deviation depending on weather. That and an almost 12K foot runway allows authorities to isolate the plane if need be.

[jimmyk]

I don't think any VP would "retire" unless forced to do so.

Sure, but he's not going to get nominated for the SC at 70, quite apart from the fact that he's an idiot and a buffoon. If they want to get rid of him, an announcement that he wants to spend more time with his family is how it would go (with Axelrod secretly pointing a gun at him).

[lyle]

I've been--prematurely, it seems--predicting the death of parody for some time now. Not anymore:

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/campaign/228541-elizabeth-warrens-true-american-lineage

Don't worry, it only takes a couple of paragraphs to sink in.

[jimmyk]

No, it's a horrible and oppressive rule, typical of leftist command economics, and should be repealed in toto, and the persons who drafted and approved it banished forever.

I agree, though much the same could be said regarding some 50 percent of the Federal budget.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

That Biden clip on White House Dossier is a classic. He must have had a lot of plugs. He still has the phony smile, though. Another one of ElJefe's great selections.

[NK]

Booting Biden? you can smell the deperation now. Heh!

[fdcol63]

Booting Biden? That's a big f'ing deal! LOL

[Porchlight]

I agree Adjoran. But we need well-funded organizations fighting it in the courts, so I will take anything I can get at this point.

[Rick Ballard]

jimmyk,

Replacing SloJo wouldn't come close to fixing the problem. I can't see Hilary agreeing to take the XO slot on the Titanic with the bow already under water. It's possible that the Pinhead Troika might ask her to come along for the ride but I believe she's too sharp to ever agree.

She knows there ain't no cunning plan hidden in the ACME Political Strategery Manual.

[Captain Hate]

Some of the most liberal senators behaved miserably because they did not stand up for fair treatment of Anita Hill.

Oh the humanity. That the Senate allowed this prudish, asexual shrew of negligible to nonexistent intellect to turn a Senate hearing into a gossipy and unprovable discussion of the high crime and misdemeanor of possibly awkwardly discussing porn is one of the most embarrassing things the world's greatest deliberative body has done. Hill, who exhibited no subsequent actions that would have led a reasonable person to conclude that she'd been grievously offended, should have been laughed out of the hearing instead of being given any credence.

[AliceH]

Wow, lyle. That is some article.

First I scrolled to the bottom looking for a an explanation that it was satire, or at least a final sentence saying "Psych!". Nothing.

Then back to the top, in case I missed noticing the writer's name was "Chief Pile of Steaming Sophomore-Creative-Writing Speciman". Nope.

Even so, hard to believe that was serious! (Commenters are as puzzled as I am.)

[lyle]

True, CH. But the Anita Hill hearings did produce one of the funnest skits on SNL. Y'know, back when they were funny. Chris Farley as Howard Heflin is a classic. Now I forget who played Teddy.

[NK]

RickB@3:37-- not so fast. First never underestimate Hillary's ambition, and the conditions she'd impose on 'Bam. Second, "The Deal" -- that thing that exists between Hillary and Bill. Bill is itchin' to get back into power. The Wall Street folks he tapped for dough back in the day are not so free with Buck now, and the Euros are bankrupt. So his cashflow must be hurtin'. I saw Bubba on Feherty's 'golf' show last week, he hasn't changed. same ole' Billy coniving liar and angling always-- and hungry for power and money -- even more so now with fewer interludes with sweet young things after the triple bypass. I bet Billy is pushing Hil to run NOW.

[maryrose]

The Cleveland Diocese has filed suit. Boo-Yah!

[NK]

Lyle-- I'd forgotten the Hill hearings sketch on SNL-- Farley was killer funny. BTW it was Sen. Howell Heflin. fat good ole' boy from Alabama. I always pictured him wearing a sheet and carrying a torch back in 1955.