Watching the worst bowl game ever. Rutgers and Va. tech have the worst offenses I’ve seen since, well, every Steelers game this season.
Archives for December 2012
Hobby Lobby To Defy Birth Control Benefit Mandate and Hopefully Go Bankrupt [updated]
Yesterday, I told you that Justice Sotomayor rejected Hobby Lobby’s emergency appeal, thus requiring Hobby Lobby to suck it up, provide contraception access without copay to its employees, and wait for its case to proceed in district court.
Welp, Hobby Lobby is none too pleased with that decision, and has chosen to throw a million-dollar tantrum while it waits to litigate the merits of its case at the lower court level. Hobby Lobby’s attorney stated today that Hobby Lobby will not follow federal law requiring it to adhere to the HHS mandate (aka, provide slut pills to its slutty lady-employees) and that it will risk incurring 1.3 million dollars in fines — per day — rather than follow the law:
With Wednesday’s rejection of an emergency stay of that federal health care law by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Hobby Lobby and sister company Mardel could be subject to fines of up to $1.3 million a day beginning Tuesday.
“They’re not going to comply with the mandate,” said Kyle Duncan, general counsel of The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the company. “They’re not going to offer coverage for abortion-inducing drugs in the insurance plan.”
As for the potential fines, Duncan said, “We’re just going to have to cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Setting aside the fact that Plan B is not an “abortion-inducing drug”, Hobby Lobby is being flat-out ridiculous. Why?
BECAUSE HOBBY LOBBY STOPPED PROVIDING CONTRACEPTION IN ITS HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS ONLY AFTER THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TOLD THEM THEY WOULD HAVE TO START PROVIDING IT.
That’s right. Hobby Lobby used to provide what it views as baby-murdering drugs and only balked when the birth control benefit would require them to do so.
More Michael, Less (seemingly No) Fredo
Via TPM, ponder this report on the latest in the fiscal cliff slope clusterf**k talks between our outstanding GOP opposition clueless toads and the President:
“I’m modestly optimistic that an agreement can be achieved,” he added.
Obama announced that the fate of a potential deal lies with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who will work together to present a prospective package to their respective conferences over the weekend.
Should that effort fail, however, Obama indicated that he would call upon Reid to bring the original White House proposal — extending Bush era tax rates on income below $250,000 including other measures — for an up-or-down vote in the Senate.
“We should let everybody vote, that’s the way this is supposed to work,” Obama said.
As Jed Lewison over at the Great Orange Satan put it:
Basically, Obama is saying that if there is no deal, if Boehner and McConnell don’t allow a vote, he’s going to go to town on them—that he’s prepared to use the entire weight of the presidency to hold them accountable for being obstructionists. And don’t forget: he’s got the inauguration and the state of the union to follow through on his threat.
This is the guy I hoped would show up today. And it appears he did. Channeling (imperfectly) my inner Tim F. — if you are represented by a GOPster, give ’em a call. Hell, if you’re represented by friends of my reps, Barney Frank, John Kerry and (for this last little while) the Senator from Cosmopolitan, the Hon. Scott Brown, (Holy FSM, do I feel good taunting that man), then give the good folks a call too, just to buck them up.
Image: Marinus van Reymerswale, The Tax Collector, 1542
More Michael, Less (seemingly No) FredoPost + Comments (149)
Shorter Senate Democrats
Open Thread: Something Upon Which We Can All Agree
From Gawker:
On the day of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, two new petitions were added to the Obama administration’s home-brewed “We the People” petitioning system.
One called on the White House to “immediately address the issue of gun control” through legislation; the other demanded the Westboro Baptist Church be “legally recognize[d]” as a hate group.
The former has nearly 200,000 signatures. The latter is well on its way to 300,000.
Spurred by WBC threats to picket funerals of deceased Sandy Hook victims, the petition is now officially the most popular “We the People” petition ever posted on the site since its launch in September of last year…
Apart from denigrating IRL trolls, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
Open Thread: Something Upon Which We Can All AgreePost + Comments (54)
Joo Joo Eyeballs
Am I the only one who looks at this and snickers? Not only is it stupid politics and annoying extra work for baristas, but it’s also an exhortation to simultaneous orgasm.
Must Have
This looks so awesome I am afraid I am falling for an elaborate hoax:
Please be real.