In recent weeks the biggest controversy in the American public unfortunately isn't massacres in Libya or Palestine instead it is the HHS mandate of President Obama's healthcare plan. Bleeding-heart Christians make their argument for the freedom of religious beliefs in the first amendment. While their opposition site their freedom to as Rush Limbaugh, in his mass bigotry, would characterize "to be a slut".
In protest of this mandate, people from over 140 cities around the country with a strong female representation have taken to the streets to express their disapproval. The mainstream media has been all over coverage of this issue from all sides. Whether it be MSNBC and their predictable "pro-contraception liberal" spin or Fox News and their expected "anti-whore conservative" view; It's laughable to see Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and their male cronies make these grandiose proclamations against this issue regardless of the fact they themselves will never have to take birth control. But they need to make sure they don't pay the extra five cents out of their multimillion salaries for contraception. Meanwhile, in Israel we are sending billions in taxpayers' money to fight a war that we have no business in, and any reasonable person wouldn't want.
Of course the single group with probably the largest outrage at this issue are the people of the Roman Catholic faith. Myself being Catholic, I am subjected to weekly sermons (rants) of how we need to protect the "sanctity of life" how this issue goes against "God's will" and further fear-mongering of how this is the sign of "the fall of our great Nation". It is interesting though that they have never said much about corruption of children within the confines of our own religion. The Priest incites upheaval over the thought of our tax dollars going to pay for "murdering children", while certain churches collect thousands every mass that funds sexually abusing children. The hypocrisy within the Catholic churches and organized religions in general is quite staggering indeed.
To get a pulse on the viewpoints of fellow classmates I spoke with Ms. Natasha Wilson. In our conversation Natasha tried to shed light on what she believes are the motives for our President in the wake of this mandate. "I don't necessarily think President Obama intended to insult Catholic and other religious institutions with his proposal. One of Barack's key political platforms is nationalizing healthcare, and in doing so gives women their own choice and furthers his healthcare agenda."
Given the mass amount of media attention this particular mandate and issue in general receives; one thing that is for sure is that this debate will continue to rage on for the foreseeable future. But it is hard to see this issue as anything more than a distraction; we carry on with this inconsequential debate while Barack Obama signs executive orders like the National Defense Authorization Act. This legislation acts as a follow up to George Bush's "Patriot Act" and suspends the writ of Habeas Corpus for any "suspected terrorists". Or more recently his signing of the National Defense Resource Preparedness Order, which in effect gives him the power to declare Martial Law. But don't worry about that, gays are getting married, girls want the right to choose what they do with their body, a new episode of Jersey Shore is on tonight, Whitney Houston's autopsy just came out, and the Elite 8 starts tonight. These are just a few among the endless supply of distractions from the prison being built around us and the suspension of freedoms. But don't worry ours is the land of the free and home of the brave, where you are free...to do as we tell you!!!
