Monday, December 31, 2012

9lengthy) STAND UP FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS AND AGAINST OBAMACARE!


Take a stand for religious freedom
 
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Dear Conservatives,

One of the reasons we encourage you to support Point of View is so we
can educate you about important stories that are ignored by the
mainstream press and often, even other conservative media.
Stories like what will happen to Hobby Lobby starting January 1, 2013.
They are about to be fined more than a million dollars a day due to
regulations in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known
as Obamacare.

Shop Hobby Lobby on January 5th
I want to encourage you to take action to support the leadership of
Hobby Lobby and their stand for religious freedom.  Please take
time on Saturday, January 5th to shop at Hobby Lobby or Mardel to show
your support for their courageous stand.
Both the craft store Hobby Lobby and bookseller Mardel sued the
government in September for violating the owner's religious
rights and ability to freely exercise their religion. U.S. District
Judge Joe Heaton ruled in November that Hobby Lobby must provide
abortifacients to their employees or they will have to face daily
fines of $1.3 million from the federal government.

It is worth noting that the owners of Hobby Lobby (the Green family)
do cover contraceptives for their 13,500 full-time employees. They
merely object to covering abortifacients like Plan B (the so-called
morning after pill) and Ella (the week after pill).

The family and their companies hoped to forestall the implementation
of these federal fines by appealing to the Supreme Court. Justice
Sonya Sotomayor rejected Hobby Lobby's emergency request that
they not be forced to follow the mandate or be subject to fines until
its lawsuit could be decided in a lower court. Although other courts
have issued preliminary injunctions in similar cases in Colorado and
Michigan, she ignored those precedents. Her ruling illustrates why she
is unqualified to sit on the court and why she was chosen by President
Obama in the first place.

Obamacare requires employers to provide all "approved
contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures and patient education
and counseling for all women with reproductive capability."
Churches and houses of worship are exempt from the regulation, but
there is also a narrow exemption that was added for nonprofit
religious employers whose employees "primarily share its
religious tenets."

Hobby Lobby would seem to qualify. Bible-believing Christian families
run the companies, play Christian music in their stores, and close on
Sunday for a day of rest. I might also mention they pay full-time
employees a minimum wage of $11 per hour versus the federally required
$7.25 minimum wage.

Hobby Lobby Store
http://www.pointofview.net/site/R?i=M5bq9JdmAVLEBbIMHCa4Kw

Mardel Store
http://www.pointofview.net/site/R?i=pkhpOUREYOQm42ZXwB1MLw

I encourage you to join the campaign to show support for Hobby Lobby
just as people did for Chick-fil-A.  Please take time to shop at
a Hobby Lobby or Mardel on Saturday, January 5th.  We will be
talking about these campaigns and about the plight of Hobby Lobby on a
regular basis. Keep listening to Point of View and support us
financially.

http://www.pointofview.net/site/R?i=AcfYOUUn1Ph30eR6LXUYmg

Sincerely in Christ,

Kerby Anderson, Host
Point of View Radio Talk Show

Hobby Lobby to defy Obamacare mandate

Facing $1.3M daily fine for refusing to cover 'abortion-inducing drugs'

Repeal Obamacare?Should Congress Repeal Obama's Policies? Vote Here Now. www.newsmax.com/surveys
HobbyLobby
Hobby Lobby, the Christian-owned company that provides hobby, arts and crafts supplies to tens of millions of customers across America, will defy the Obamacare mandate that health insurance for its employees cover “abortion-inducing drugs.”
The confirmation is from a statement released by an attorney, Kyle Duncan, who said in a website statement that, “The company will continue to provide health insurance to all qualified employees. To remain true to their faith, it is not their intention, as a company, to pay for abortion-inducing drugs.”
The conflict is the latest firefight in the battle against Obama’s mandate that employers pay for abortifacients no matter their religious beliefs. The administration has argued in many of the dozens of lawsuit that have erupted over the conflict that religious people who own corporations must give up their rights to religious freedom.
Hobby Lobby’s case against the mandate remains pending in a lower court, but the statement from the attorney, who is with the Becket Fund, was released after an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was rejected.
Officials estimate the company could face $1.3 million in daily fines for refusing to pay for abortifacients as Obama demands.
Sonya Sotomayor, who responds to emergency actions to the Supreme Court from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, simply told the company that officials could pay up for the abortifacients or face crushing penalties while its case continues in the lower courts.
Duncan’s statement confirmed those appeal efforts will continue.
“The Supreme Court merely decided not to get involved in the case at this time. It left open the possibility of review after their appeal is completed in the 10th Circuit,” he wrote.
Sotomayor wrote in her rejection of the appeal for recognition of the Constitution’s requirement for freedom of religion that the company didn’t meet the legal standard for blocking enforcement of the Obama demand.
While the judges at the 10th Circuit had rejected the company’s request, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier handed Christians a major victory against Obama, who previously has supported extreme abortion – to the point of advocating that babies who survive abortions be left to die.
“The government … represented to the court that it would never enforce [the mandate] in its current form against the appellants or those similarly situated as regards contraceptive services,” said an order released by U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
That three-judge panel said the government promised there would be “a different rule for entities like the appellants … and we take that as a binding commitment.”
“The government further represented that it would publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the new rule in the first quarter of 2013 and would issue a new Final Rule before August 2013.”
The judges continued: “We take the government at its word and will hold it to it.”
Dozens of lawsuits have been filed on behalf of Christian business owners, religious colleges and others. Several judges, including those at one appellate bench, have ordered the government not to enforce the mandate for now.
The decision from the federal appeals court in Washington comes in a case brought by Wheaton College of Illinois and Belmont Abbey College.
The lower courts had dismissed the cases as premature. Now the appeals judges have reinstated the cases and have ordered the Obama administration to report back every 60 days, starting in February, until its promise for a new rule that protects the colleges’ religious freedoms is in effect.
“The D.C. Circuit has now made it clear that government promises and press conferences are not enough to protect religious freedom,” said Duncan. “The court is not going to let the government slide by on non-binding promises to fix the problem down the road.”
The judges said that based “expressly upon the understanding that the government will not deviate from its considered representations to this court, we conclude that the cases are not fit for review at this time because ‘if we do not decide [the merits of appellants' challenge to the current rule] now, we may never need to.’”
“The colleges argue that the government’s promise not to enforce the mandate still leaves them exposed to liability from ERISA claims brought by employees and other beneficiaries,” they continued.
“Although the parties disagree over the likelihood of that happening, we see nothing about the bringing of those claims that alters our conclusion that the petitioners’ lawsuits should be held in abeyance pending the new rule that the government has promised will be issued soon.”
The judges said the government must file “regular status reports … every 60 days from the date of this order.”
Duncan called the decision a win not just for Belmont Abbey and Wheaton, but for all religious non-profits challenging the mandate.
“The government has now been forced to promise that it will never enforce the current mandate against religious employers like Wheaton and Belmont Abbey and a federal appellate court will hold the government to its word,” he said.
But other victories have been earned by corporations seeking protection from a presidential mandate to pay for killing the unborn. Another previous decision by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set the tone for the developing arguments.
That court agreed with three U.S. district judges and blocked the enforcement of the Obamacare mandate that would have forced a Missouri company to pay for health insurance, including abortifacients in violation of the religious beliefs of the owners.
According to the American Center for Law and Justice, the order put on hold the White House-promoted requirement in the case involving Frank R. O’Brien and O’Brien Industrial Holdings, a St. Louis, Mo., company that runs a number of businesses that explore, mine and process refractory and ceramic raw materials.
“By granting our motion, the appeals court blocks the implementation of the HHS mandate and clears the way for our lawsuit to continue – a significant victory for our client,” said Francis Manion, senior counsel of the ACLJ. “The order sends a message that the religious beliefs of employers must be respected by the government. We have argued from the beginning that employers like Frank O’Brien must be able to operate their business in a manner consistent with their moral values, not the values of the government. We look forward to this case moving forward and securing the constitutional rights of our client.”
In October, a federal district court judge granted Obama’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The ACLJ immediately filed an appeal, and the higher court today granted the motion for an injunction.
The lawsuit, launched in March 2012, marked the first legal challenge to the HHS mandate from a private business owner and his company, the ACLJ said.
O’Brien, a Catholic, told the ACLJ his religious beliefs provide the framework for the operation of his businesses, which employ 87 people. The company website states the mission “is to make our labor a pleasing offering to the Lord while enriching our families and society.”
Meanwhile, district judges in Colorado, Michigan and Chicago have issued similar rulings to protect companies in those locations while they fight what they describe as a blatant violation of the owners’ religious rights.
Earlier in the O’Brien case, the government determined that the mandate is a “burden” on religious rights.
“Indeed, defendant [Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen] Sebelius herself has publicly acknowledged that the mandate raises religious concerns,” said a court filing from the ACLJ.
“In a press release issued on Jan. 20, 2012, announcing the finalization of the mandate and the temporary safe harbor period for nonprofit entities that object to contraceptive services, defendant Sebelius opined that the temporary reprieve ‘strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventative services.’
“Subsequently, in a press release issued on July 31, 2012, Sebelius stated that ‘the Obama administration will continue to work with all employers to give them the flexibility and resources they need to implement the health care law in a way that protects women’s health while making common-sense accommodations for values like religious liberty.’”
The legal brief, filed in U.S. district court for the Eastern District of Missouri, continued, “The defendants cannot make a straight-faced argument in this litigation that the mandate does not impose a substantial burden on the exercise of religious beliefs. Indeed, the defendants have postponed for a year the application of regulations that purportedly advance a compelling governmental interest solely because of the burden the defendants themselvesrecognize that these regulation impose on the exercise of religion.
“Clearly, nothing but a burden of a ‘substantial’ nature could justify such a postponement,” the brief said.
Dozens of Christian organizations around the country, and a number of companies, have launched legal actions over the mandate, which also now may be heading back to the U.S. Supreme Court for review after the justices ordered an appellate court to consider religious rights claims by Liberty University.
Leaders of a number of religious-advocacy groups are warning of the Obamacare contraception mandate consequences for business owners of faith:
  • Larry Cirignano, president of Faithful Catholic Citizens: “Give up your religion or go bankrupt. This is not a mandate; it is an ultimatum. Buy insurance and kill babies or go bankrupt fighting us. Not all of us can afford lawyers to fight this ‘mandate.’”
  • Matt Smith, president of Catholic Advocate: “Aug. 1 will be remembered as the day our most cherished liberty was thrown in a government dumpster and hauled away. A day when family owned small businesses were forced to abandon their religious beliefs to provide products and services for free. And if they don’t, they will be taxed and fined at a time when job creators are struggling with enough costs and bureaucratic red-tape at every level of government just to stay in business. While the courts have provided a reprieve for one family business in Colorado, the government will never be able to repair the broken conscience of thousands of others until this mandate is removed.”
  • Brent Bozell, chairman of ForAmerica: “August 1st is a day that will live in infamy for the First Amendment and the fundamental freedoms and rights we as a people have enjoyed since the founding of our nation. The HHS mandate imposed on the American people is the beginning of the end of freedom as America has known it and loved it. August 1st marks the day when many family owned and operated businesses lose their rights to exercise their faith in their daily lives. The government has told them – either comply with this mandate in violation of your faith and do what we tell you, or you will pay crippling faith fines to the federal government. With the stroke of a pen, the Obama administration has shredded the First Amendment and the Constitution right before our eyes.”
  • Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute: “The Obama administration’s assault on religious liberty is taking root … Failure to comply with the mandate will result in penalties that could cost business millions of dollars. The administration clearly did not reach a much-vaunted ‘accommodation’ with business owners who strongly oppose the mandate and believe it is a clear violation of their constitutional protection of religious liberty. The HHS mandate forces business owners to choose between following their religious beliefs or obedience to the federal government. The Obama administration clearly believes the government is supreme and that individuals and businesses must bow to its dictates or suffer severe consequences. We know that Obamacare is wrong for America. The HHS anti-conscience mandate is clear evidence of why the law violates the most fundamental principles upon which our country is founded.”
  • Gary Marx, executive director of the Faith & Freedom Coalition: “Confidence in the system and hope for religious liberty was mildly restored when a federal district judge issued a temporary injunction blocking Barack Obama’s health-care mandate from compelling a business to provide insurance coverage of sterilization, contraception, and abortion-inducing drugs. This is certainly a victory, but the fact that it only applies to one company means the federal government is still going to force millions of Americans to choose between having health insurance or their conscience and faith. With an administration intent on suppressing religious liberty, we can expect a historic turnout of voters of faith show up in November.”
  • Penny Nance, president and CEO of Concerned Women for America: “The only solution that has been provided to the majority of Americans is to stand up and fight for their religious rights by refusing to comply or battling in court. … We must remember the wise words of Thomas Jefferson, ‘All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.’ To force religious groups to deny their deeply held convictions is not called balance; it is called tyranny.”
  • Jeanne Monahan, director of the Family Research Council’s Center for Human Dignity: “Today as a result of this initial implementation of the HHS mandate, the relationship between the separation of church and state is critically changed. Americans can no longer follow their consciences or religious dictates on issues as critical as abortion-inducing drugs. Organizations such as Wheaton College, or businesses such as Weingartz Supply of Ann Arbor, Mich.,will be forced to violate their consciences. On this sad day Americans have no ‘choice’ in this matter.”
  • David Stevens, MD and CEO of the Christian Medical Association: “What will stop this administration, with its radical pro-abortion agenda, from further undermining conscience rights and pursuing policies that effectively force out of medicine physicians with life-honoring convictions? Who will keep government panels from effectively denying physicians and patients choice about what are the most effective and appropriate medicines, surgeries and treatments? We call on Congress to turn back this law’s assault on our freedoms and restore American values and constitutional principles in health care.”
  • Paul E. Rondeau, executive director of American Life League: “History tragically teaches us that if our government can abolish one constitutional right, then all constitutional rights are put in jeopardy. This path sets a dangerous and foolish precedent that First Amendments rights such as freedom of speech, association, freedom of the press and the rights to assemble and petition the government may be just as easily curtailed in the future. We call on all citizens to tell their elected representatives that this erosion of rights must not stand.”
  • Kristin Hawkins, executive director of Students for Life of America: “Today marks the beginning of the end of religious and conscience rights in America. As an employer, I am forced to make a false choice between providing a vital service to my employees and violating my conscience and values. The abortion-pill mandate is an egregious attack upon my rights, as well as the rights of all people of values and faith in America.”
Is America headed toward civil disobedience and rebellion?
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Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/hobby-lobby-to-defy-obamacare-mandate/#oUxozwU5uspQASxM.99 
 
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