Yes, I'm typing this with 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter. The ultimate in multi-tasking.
Pam had to work today. It's necessary, and we both accept it, but I don't like not having her with me on Sundays. I'm too dialed in to make conversation before church and too exhausted to do more than grunt after, but having her here is much preferred.
The Patriots released one of their receivers the day before the Super Bowl. How cold is that?!
I haven't worked on the trailer today. Sunday afternoon and power tools = bad stuff gonna happen. Besides, I've had some trouble and have problems to deal with. I started making the cabinets for the galley and didn't realize until I assembled the face frame for the upper set that one of the pieces of wood was warped. Take it apart, cut a new piece and re-assemble. But when I set it in place I didn't like the looks of it. Asymmetrical, and makes for too big a cabinet door. So I'm going to disassemble it again and change the dimensions. I've put too much time and energy into this to settle for something I'll be unhappy with until I die. The relatively small amount of additional time and money is well worth it in the end.
This is a good final few minutes!
Is taking a dive and letting the other team score sportsmanship?
OK, I like the outcome. I am not a Tom Brady fan.
I can watch the first 15 minutes of Meet the Press before I have to leave for church. That first segment this morning was in interview with Newt Gingrich. He brought up something that seemed to genuinely surprise David Gregory, the host, who said, "Do you think that's going to be an issue in the election?"
On January 20 the Obama administration in the person of Kathleen Sebelius, HHS Secretary, issued an executive order that requires all employers to include birth control in any employer-provided insurance policy, and provide it with no deductible. The order allows an exemption for organizations whose primary function is religious and which oppose birth control on moral grounds. But affiliated organizations are not exempt. Accordingly (and most notably), the Roman Catholic Church is not required to provide birth control as part of its health insurance plan. But all affiliated Catholic institutions, including colleges, hospitals, social service agencies, etc. are required to provide it. Not surprisingly, Catholic leaders had lobbied very hard against the plan and as a concession the administration gave them an additional year, until 2013, to comply. It's hard not to think the goal in that move was to put forced implementation on the other side of an election.
Never mind that timing, the delay gives opponents another year to be forced to violate their conscience. And even if this escaped David Gregory's notice it didn't get past the Catholic leadership. The next Sunday bishops took to the pulpit to decry the decision with some very harsh words. "President Obama has abandoned his Catholic constituency."
I am not an opponent of birth control. We used it before and after the birth of our two sons. The theological view of the Roman Catholic Church that leads them to that tenet is not biblically defensible. (They believe the only purpose of intercourse is procreation and anything which prevents that goes against God's purposes.) But this isn't about theological accuracy, it's about the freedom of religion. And this action by the administration comes as the latest in a string of very worrisome decisions out of Washington and elsewhere. Faith based adoption agencies have been required to either adopt into same-sex homes or lose the government funding essential to that kind of work. NYC Mayor Bloomberg issued a decree (the correct word in this context) that beginning next Sunday no churches may rent public schools for services, despite the fact they only use the buildings when no other school activities are conducted, it provides additional income to janitors, off-duty officers and the districts. Most of these churches are located in inner city neighborhoods and have significant impact on their communities.
It's hard to understand these decisions, the reasons behind them. Same-sex couples have other options for adopting children. Why force faith-based agencies to violate their moral convictions or effectively close their doors, leaving a hole in adoption work that cannot be filled by other agencies?
I'm also not given to conspiracy theories, but an anti-religion (anti-Christian) bias seems the most likely explanation (Occam's Razor). The Republicans are now engaged in a great civil war, testing whether this party, or any party, can make it to the general election without self-immolating. But I can't believe these issues won't be part of the post-convention campaigns. Not only is religious freedom important to the actively religious it's kind of a big deal in the Bill of Rights.
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