Adventures in Ad Law, cont’d

Whatever happened to baby pain? I mean, has the the Obama administration’s ludicrous “accommodation” of the Church’s opposition to the compelled provision of free contraception, sterilization and abortifacients resolved the serious constitutional affront involved? Or has it thrown one more into the mix? Somehow the Democrat Media Axis has transformed the discussion into something else entirely.

I’ve been looking for a copy of the regulation enacting the “accommodation” and requiring the insurers of Catholic institutions to provide free “preventive services.” George Orwell would be proud of these folks. They make it a challenge to stay focused on the issue before the country, with the Newspeak and the Two Minutes Hate and all.

Yesterday afternoon the administration served up a press release announcing “advance notice of proposed rulemaking on preventive services policy.” It’s a preview of coming attractions. The regulation is coming! The Washington Post story on the notice sheds about as little light as it is possible to shed.

The advance notice is to be published in the Federal Register on March 21, but it is now posted online here. You have to read it not to believe it.

The rulemakers — the Departments of Labor, HHS and the IRS — kindly seek your assistance. They present themselves full of ideas about how “free” goods and services are to materialize, but Uncle Sam wants you: “The Departments welcome ideas on other options for the source of funds for contraceptive coverage.”

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius assures us: “The President’s policy respects religious liberty and makes free preventive services available to women. Today’s announcement is the next step toward fulfilling that commitment.” To paraphrase Mary McCarthy’s judgment of Lillian Hellman, every word in Sebelius’s short comment is a lie, including “and” and “the.”

Via Hot Air.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses