Day: November 29, 2012

Hobby Lobby Says 0-Care Will Force Them To Shut

Hat tip Kate Rainey
Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. filed a lawsuit in September asking to exempt from the abortion/birth control mandate in ObamaCare on a religious grounds. The privately held chain of hobby stores is owned by evangelicals. It employees 22,500 persons. It faces $1.5 million per day in fines if it ignores the law. A federal judge rejected the request earlier this month, and Hobby Lobby immediately filed an appeal.
This letter by Hobby Lobby CEO and founder David Green was published in USAToday in September.
 
When my family and I started our company 40 years ago, we were
working out of a garage on a $600 bank loan, assembling miniature
picture frames. Our first retail store wasn’t much bigger than most
people’s living rooms, but we had faith that we would succeed if we lived
and worked according to God’s word. From there, Hobby Lobby has become
one of the nation’s largest arts and crafts retailers, with more than
500 locations in 41 states. Our children grew up into fine
business leaders, and today we run Hobby Lobby together, as a family.
 
We’re Christians, and we run our business on Christian principles. I’ve
always said that the first two goals of our business are (1) to run our
business in harmony with God’s laws, and (2) to focus on people more
than money. And that’s what we’ve tried to do. We close early so our
employees can see their families at night. We keep our stores closed on
Sundays, one of the week’s biggest shopping days, so that our workers
and their families can enjoy a day of rest. We believe that it is by
God’s grace that Hobby Lobby has endured, and he has blessed us and our
employees. We’ve not only added jobs in a weak economy, we’ve raised
wages for the past four years in a row. Our full-time employees start
at 80% above minimum wage.
 
But now, our government threatens to change all of that. A
new government healthcare mandate says that  our family business
MUST provide what I believe are abortion-causing drugs as part of
our health insurance. Being Christians, we don’t pay for drugs that
might cause abortions, which means that we don’t cover
emergency contraception, the morning-after pill or the week-after pill.
We believe doing so might end a life after the moment of
conception, something that is contrary to our most important beliefs.
It goes against the Biblical principles on which we have run this company since
day one. If we refuse to comply, we could face $1.3 million PER DAY in
government fines.
 
Our government threatens to fine job creators in a bad economy.
Our government threatens to fine a company that’s raised wages four
years running. Our government threatens to fine a family for running its
business according to its beliefs. It’s not right. I know people will
say we ought to follow the rules; that it’s  the
same for everybody. But that’s not true. The government has
exempted thousands of companies from this mandate, for reasons of
convenience or cost. But it won’t exempt them for reasons of religious
belief.
 
So, Hobby Lobby and my family are forced to make a choice.
With great reluctance, we filed a lawsuit today, represented by the
Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, asking a federal court to stop this
mandate before it hurts our business. We don’t like to go running
into court, but we no longer have a choice. We believe people are
more important than the bottom line and that honoring God is more
important than turning a profit.
 
My family has lived the American dream. We want to continue growing our
company and providing great jobs for thousands of employees, but the
government is going to make that much more difficult. The
government is forcing us  to choose between following our faith
and following the law. I say that’s a choice no American and no
American business should have to make.
The government cannot force you to follow laws that go against
your fundamental religious belief. They have exempted thousands of
companies but will not except Christian organizations including the
Catholic church.
 
Since you will not see this covered in any of the liberal media,
pass this on to all your contacts.
 
Sincerely,
David Green, CEO and Founder of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.

Meehan Rethinks ‘No New Taxes’

Tea Party activist Bob Guzzardi notes that Congressman Pat Meehan (R-7) is reportedly rethinking his ‘no new tax pledge’.

Remember George Herbert Walker Bush, Pat.

Does It Pass The Smell Test

We can’t live in a perfect world. Or maybe I should say…why can’t we live in a perfect world? There’s a good reason: What one person considers perfect, another may probably think of as…flawed. Consider…smells, if you will.
Surveys of Americans in recent years illustrated that cigarette smoking is down among adults, but both cigar and pipe smoking is on the rise. Yes, I said pipe-smoking! That’s the thing you may have seen protruding from your grandfather’s teeth as he ambled about the house.
Four-term New Jersey Congresswoman Millicent Fenwick who served in the 1970s, was known for smoking a pipe—a characteristic she adopted when her doctor advised her to quit cigarettes.
Personally, I quit smoking in 1980, but I keep a full cigar humidor handy for guests, and I still have a nice collection of pipes. And although it’s been years since I fired-up one of my briars or meerschaums, I can still recall the enjoyment I got from lighting up a bowlful of my favorite black Cavendish pipe tobacco.
Curiously, I have found over the years that a lot of cigar smokers also own a pipe or two. And a lot of the pipe smokers I knew would not turn down a good cigar if offered one. Cigarette smokers, on the other hand, I find almost parochial in their choice of tobacco. So much so, that most won’t even stray from their steady brand.
At least that’s the way it used to be. And I have smoked all three devices. I always considered a cigar or pipe something to be enjoyed slowly, and usually when I’m alone, whereas cigarettes were more of a …social activity. If someone else lit up; you did too.
Now, with cigar and pipe smoking on the rise, well, I guess that will also bring a new brand of tobacco Nazi out of the woodwork. I heard one recently on Philadelphia’s local news. “I can’t stand it when I’m on the beach and I’m downwind of someone smoking a cigar,” she complained. “They smell terrible! They think just because they’re out in the open they can smoke!”
Well, imagine their nerve: Smoking out in the open by the sea, and assaulting a TV personality’s nostrils. I wanted to talk back to my TV and tell Suzie newscaster that it’s just not a perfect world. Not for her; not for me.

Heroine Of The Day . . . Andrea Hernandez

Andrea Hernandez, a 15-year-old student in the San Antonio School District, has refused to wear a student ID badge embedded with a tracking microchip saying the chip is the “mark of the beast” and her Christian faith won’t let her wear it.

The chip allows the district to track its 4,200 students with GPS-like precision.
Good for you, Andrea.
American public schools are based on a model developed in Prussia in early 19th century with the purpose of instilling an instinct for obedience to the King of Prussia. It’s why classes begin and end with bells, and the rules are designed to wear down your spirit.
The faster you get you child out of the public school system the better off your child will be.
Give me a child at 7 and I will show you the man, as the Jesuits used to say.
Give me a child at 7 and I will show you a future Obama voter, as the NEA could say today.

Cryptowit

By William W. Lawrence Sr

Eqnngevkpi oqtg vczgu vjcp ku cduqnwvgna pgeguucta ku ngicnkbgf tqddgta. 

Ecnxkp Eqqnkfig 
Answer to yesterday’s puzzle: When people tell you how young you look, they are telling you how old you are. 
Cary Grant