A ponderable about bombing in Turkey and Contraceptives

A suicide bomber killed two at a US embassy in Turkey today.  It looks like the carnage was limited to the area around the security check point.  Kurdish rebels or Islamic militants are suspected.  But I got to wondering, would the world be a less violent place if so many people weren’t convinced of an afterlife?

Just think about all the suicide bombers who might have second thoughts, about all the so-called Christians who might be nicer to women and children and less forgiving of badly behaved rich people, if they thought that this life was all there was and they wouldn’t get anything extra after their death.  For all we know, God might have intended this life to be the ultimate thrill and it doesn’t get any better than this.  It might make people more careful and kinder.

Like I said before, God needs a major rewrite.

Oh, and it looks like the Obama administration has caved to the Red Beanie Boys and will offer religiously affiliated employers an opt out on contraceptive coverage:

The administration is expected to detail how it will handle two of the more controversial situations, said a source familiar with Friday’s announcement.

“Religiously affiliated organizations will be given the option of exempting themselves from the requirement of providing their employees with contraceptive access or service that they are morally opposed to,” said the source.

A spokesman for the Health and Human Services Department refused to comment on the expected policy announcement.

If an institution opts out of paying for contraceptive coverage, individual employees will get coverage through a third entity. That separate exchange, said the source, would be paid for by the insurance company.

What??  The Obama administration is caving to the religious right on contraceptive coverage in insurance policies??Whoa! Didn’t see *that* coming.  Oh, sure, it’s just a technicality and there will be a workaround.  (For women, just the first of many workarounds to overcome in the years to come, no doubt)  Still, it very much feels like there is something distasteful and unsavory about contraceptives now that the Obama administration has caved.  Yep, and somehow, I think the religious right has won this round.

And how is this going to work anyway?  Will the option to go to the insurance company directly be clearly and explicitly spelled out to each female employee at the time the policy commences for her?  Or will the employer ask for another exemption specifying that they are under no moral obligation to provide the female employee with the details?  Because you know some asshole representative from a red state is going to want to put that into legislation somewhere.  Oh, heck! This exemption has opened the floodgates to all the Republican dominated state legislatures around the country to go on a free-for-all extravaganza of gag rule legislation. (Ahhh, I see that Texas got a head start)  It will be like the Mexico City rule for all American women.  So, technically, a female employee would have the right to full contraceptive coverage from the insurer but not be aware of it. Maybe if she wants contraceptives, she has to approach her human resources department and make a direct inquiry.  Now, the company knows that’s she’s a slut and in this job market, character counts.  Hiring managers want to see your facebook account these days.  Lovely.   See how this works?

Funny, I’ll bet these kinds of scenarios never crossed Obama’s mind.  Thus we see the true value of a Harvard law degree.  Or maybe he just doesn’t give a shit.  Or at least not enough of a shit to actually, you know, stand up for women, who stupidly just handed him the presidency for four more years without demanding anything in return.

Now, to my completely untrained eye, it looks like people who believe in supernatural beings and 3000 year old bronze aged texts, who are under no obligation whatsoever to provide any evidence for their beliefs, have more freedom and are more equal than women who can now fight on the front lines for their country but are forced to abide by the supernatural and unverifiable belief systems of male dominant institutions.  If she were black back in the 50’s, she could still ride the bus.  She’d just have to sit in the back.  Why is she complaining?  The bus is still going to take her where she wants to go, right?

Is that what’s happening here or am I just seeing things?

Anyway, have a nice day, Obama ladies!  God knows you need a rest from all the stress the campaign put on you.