Stand Up For Religious Freedom Nationwide Rallies Sat. October 20

On October 12, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a statement in response to the shameful HHS Mandate lie that VP Joe Biden told during his debate with Congressman Paul Ryan.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate forces virtually all employers to include sterilization and contraception, including drugs that may cause abortion, in the health insurance coverage they provide their employees.

Biden said:

“With regard to the assault on the Catholic Church, let me make it absolutely clear. No religious institution—Catholic or otherwise, including Catholic social services, Georgetown hospital, Mercy hospital, any hospital—none has to either refer contraception, none has to pay for contraception, none has to be a vehicle to get contraception in any insurance policy they provide. That is a fact. That is a fact.”

Ryan shot back (before he was cut off); “Why would they keep — why would they keep suing you? It’s a distinction without a difference.”

That part of the conversation starts at 4:05 in the video:

The Bishops agreed with Ryan, calling Biden’s comments, “not a fact”:

The HHS mandate contains a narrow, four-part exemption for certain “religious employers.” That exemption was made final in February and does not extend to “Catholic social services, Georgetown hospital, Mercy hospital, any hospital,” or any other religious charity that offers its services to all, regardless of the faith of those served.

HHS has proposed an additional “accommodation” for religious organizations like these, which HHS itself describes as “non-exempt.” That proposal does not even potentially relieve these organizations from the obligation “to pay for contraception” and “to be a vehicle to get contraception.” They will have to serve as a vehicle, because they will still be forced to provide their employees with health coverage, and that coverage will still have to include sterilization, contraception, and abortifacients. They will have to pay for these things, because the premiums that the organizations (and their employees) are required to pay will still be applied, along with other funds, to cover the cost of these drugs and surgeries.

USCCB continues to urge HHS, in the strongest possible terms, actually to eliminate the various infringements on religious freedom imposed by the mandate.

For more details, please see USCCB’s regulatory comments filed on May 15 regarding the proposed “accommodation”: www.usccb.org/about/general-counsel/rulemaking/upload/comments-on-advance-notice-of-proposed-rulemaking-on-preventive-services-12-05-15.pdf

A Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally will take place Saturday, October 20 at noon your local time. It will be the third nationwide rally this year – the first two Stand Up Rallies were held on March 23 and June 8.

My coverage of the March 23 rally in Kansas City is here. I compiled some of the best speeches from the nationwide rallies, here.

The Stand Up For Religious Freedom Rallies are coordinated at the national level by Eric Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League and Monica Miller of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society.

This peaceful, nationwide event, the third of its kind, will protest the HHS Mandate and other attacks on religious freedom coming from the federal government, especially during this critical election year.

The first two Stand Up Rallies were held on March 23 and June 8. Over 300 rallies were held in cities and towns across the country, with attendance topping 125,000.

What to expect at the Stand Up Rally

Each of the October 20 Stand Up for Religious Freedom rallies is being locally sponsored and organized, so no two are quite alike. However, you can expect to see colorful signs and banners at the Rally, hear inspiring speeches about fighting the current attacks on religious freedom like the HHS Mandate and join in hymns and prayers for our nation.

For more specific details on your local Rally, look for information below. You may also wish to contact your local Rally Captain (see link below) if you have additional questions.

Don’t see a Rally in a nearby city? Sign your city up!

If you don’t see a city near you on the list below, consider signing on to be a Rally Captain. Just fill out this form, and the Stand Up Rally Team will be in touch with all the information you need.

Be there or be square.

Whoa! Ohio Coal miners Fight Back Against Obama’s and Complicit Media’s “Absolute Lies” – Ask Him to Immediately Stop His False Ads (Video)

It has come to this. Coal Miners in Ohio had to hold a press conference in order to combat the lies that are coming from the Obama campaign and his minions in the media about a rally they took part in back in August for the Romney Campaign.

The Politico helped spread the regime’s disinformation on Sept 20:

If some of the coal miners standing with Mitt Romney in his new campaign ad don’t look happy, it’s probably because they’re not.

The campaign pulled the footage for its new “War on Coal” spot from a recent Ohio rally that some coal miners complained they were forced to take a day off without pay to attend.

RT TV also reported: Miners forced to attend Romney’s rally.

The coal miners from the American Energy Corp. Century Mine told Obama and the media to stop telling “absolute lies”.  Obama’s TV ad  essentially accuses miners of being props  for Romney, but the miners were not forced to attend the Romney rally by the mine’s owner, Robert Murray.

Miners held a press conference to release a letter signed by over 500 miners saying they were not forced to attend Romney event. They wanted to attend because there is a war on coal and Obama is leading it. If Obama is re-elected he will put us all out of work permanently.

Partial transcript via Gateway Pundit:

“There are numerous false statements and absolute lies concerning our participation in this event, mostly started by a local ‘shock jock’ radio host,” the miners’ letter to Obama states. “Why would you (Obama) lie about the 500 working miners who have signed this letter? We, the employees of the Century Mine would request you immediately stop these false ads.”

This summer, Murray Energy Corp., parent company of the Beallsville mine, cut or relocated 56 workers with the closure of the Red Bird West mine near Brilliant. Murray also cut 29 mining jobs from The Ohio Valley Coal Co.’s Powhatan No. 6 Mine. All of this was done, Robert Murray said, because of Obama’s “war on coal.”

UPDATE:

A particularly poignant comment at YouTube:

Thank you all for everything you have done in the coal rally.My husband is a miner unfortunately we has been laid off since June 22nd.We have 3 kids 1 is 6 months,

how does Obama think we can raise our kids??Mining coal is our way of living,thats all thats around here in Western Kentucky.

Ma’am, why would your husband want to work in a stinky old coal mine when Obama’s got you covered. Just sign up for your free Medicaid, Welfare, foodstamps, and Obamaphone. Obama’s got a plan to tax millionaires and billionaires so people like you, whose jobs he destroyed, can live on the dole.

Linked by iOWNTHEWORLD, and Doug Ross, thanks!

Video: Corrupt Bridgeport Mayor Promises to Deliver the Votes For Dem U.S. Senate candidate – Even if it Takes Days to Count

Well this is upsetting enough to cause a burst blood vessel or two in not only in Connecticut, but anywhere honest people are paying attention to politics…

The Democrat mayor of Bridgeport, Bill Finch, was caught on tape joking about corruption in the race between Ct. congressman Chris Murphy’s bid for the U.S. Senate against Republican Linda McMahon…

”You can be guaranteed you’re going to get the vote,” the Mayor told Murphy.

As Joseph Stalin used to say, “The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything” – an aphorism today’s Democrats apparently take to heart.

Via The Weekly Standard:

Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch is at it again. The Democrat who presided over a 2010 vote casting and counting scandal in the tight race for governor was caught on video Friday guaranteeing Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Christopher Murphy a big result in the state’s largest city–even if it takes days to count.

Bridgeport provided a crucial and dubious margin of victory to Democratic and Working Families Governor Dannel P. Malloy in 2010 amidst unprecedented chaos at the city’s polling places. The 2010 Bridgeport assault on democracy included photocopied ballots, altered hours at polling places, a mysterious bag of votes and Finch’s abuse of the city’s emergency notification system to increase turnout on Election Day.

Surely there are still some honest Democrats out there who will be disturbed by this?

Or have they all become like the anti-Democratic party as described by Matthew Vadum in FrontPageMagazine, last June?

Democrats love to count perhaps even more than a familiar “Sesame Street” character known for his fangs, monocle, and cape. If they don’t like the results, Democrats keep counting the votes over and over again until they get the result they want. They tally, calculate, and enumerate their way to victory whenever their candidate is within what columnist John Fund calls the “margin of ACORN.” (See U.S. Sen. Al Franken, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, to name just two recent examples.) With the help of radical financier George Soros they even created the Secretary of State Project to install state officers who would help rig elections for Democrats.

Democrats want the votes of everyone to count, from U.S. citizens to illegal aliens and lawfully disenfranchised felons. Corrupt Democratic election officials routinely expand the electorate, accepting votes from the under-aged and the dead. That’s why they collectively freak out when the topic of voter photo ID comes up, advancing the most ridiculous arguments against ID requirements. The poor, minorities, and the old are too dumb and frail to acquire photo ID – even though getting by without it is impossible in modern society.