Bush Bait and Switch

Administration continues to blatantly discriminate against women


While we were paying attention to the peripheral bull* surrounding the auto industry bailout and the hoopla surrounding Obama’s inaugural invocation choice, Dubya and company tried to slip another one past us.

With no fanfare, the outgoing administration quietly put into place a sweeping new law designed to protect health care workers who refuse to provide services that they say violates their personal beliefs. Click here to read a summary of the rule.

The new regulation cuts off federal funding for any state or local government, hospital, health plan, clinic or other entity that does not accommodate doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other employees who refuse to participate in care they find ethically, morally or religiously objectionable. The measure was championed by conservatives, abortion opponents, and others who want to protect and safeguard workers from discipline or other sanctions, who refuse to do their jobs. Those in favor of the new law say that all it does is to protect the civil rights of health care workers and to stop religious discrimination.

The 127 page “right of conscience rule”, was issued just in time to take effect in the 30 days before regime change in Washington on January 20th. Women’s rights advocates, pro choice groups and many members of congress have condemned the measure by saying it hinders, women’s health services, including infertility treatments, birth control services, end of life services, and halts many areas of scientific research.

The Obama administration is reportedly already looking at all of the “eleventh hour” laws that Bush is putting into place. The new administration says it is working on just how to repeal these measures.

Two senators, one of them Hillary Clinton, have already introduced legislation to repeal this law. It is pending in Congress, now. The proposed repeal law also has many opponents who say they will work to keep Bush’s regulation in place.

The rule, which will cost more than $44 million to put into place, gives more than 584,000 health-care organizations until October, 2009 to provide written certification of their compliance. Those who don’t will have their funding cut off or be required to return funding they have received.

Officials at hospitals and clinics predict the regulation will cause chaos, forcing family planning centers and fertility clinics, as an example, to hire workers, even if those workers oppose abortions or in vitro fertilization procedures that can destroy embryos.

The new rule also goes so far as to prevent or make it difficult for states to enforce laws allowing hospitals to administer the “morning after pill” when a woman has been raped or sexually assaulted, according to officials who have read the regulation.

Bush’s Health and Human Services secretary, Mike Leavitt, who issued the new rule, initially said the regulation was intended primarily to protect workers who object to abortion. But the final rule, has a much, much bigger affect. It also protects workers who do not wish to dispense birth control pills, Plan B emergency contraceptives and other forms of contraception they consider equivalent to abortion. Nor do they have to tell patients where they might go to obtain such care. The rule could also protect workers who object to certain types of end-of-life care or to withdrawing care, or even perhaps providing care to unmarried people or gay men and lesbians.

This new regulation was primarily aimed at doctors and nurses. However, in it’s final form, it offers protection to anyone with a so called "reasonable" connection to objectionable care – In other words, the ultrasound technicians, the nurses aides, the secretaries and even the janitor who might have to clean equipment used in procedures, can refuse to do their job if they feel that their religious and moral rights were violated.

Like a Dog with a Bone

The FCC and the Justice Department, just won’t let go. The Foolish Communications Commission and the US Department of Jakeleg Justice has taken nipplegate to the United States Supreme Court. The FCC wants SUPCO to drop everything and overturn a lower court decision which threw out the half million dollar fine against CBS network, levied following the superbowl performance of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. You can read about it here.

The lower court ruled back in July that the FCC had lost its mind and gone all the way crazy trying to protect folks from the so called morally debasing performance of Ms. Jackson and Mr. Timberlake. Especially since the problem part of the several minute song and dance lasted just 9/16th of one second. Click here to refresh your memory.

I don’t understand the FCC’s rabid pursuit of this one incident, when there are hundreds of other incidents that can be pursued daily. Things that routinely come out of the mouths of broadcasters with names like Cunningham, Limbaugh, Savage, Quinn, Hannity, O”Reilly to name a few, who are hellbent on slandering or destroying anyone or anything that does not fit their definition of America.

Bill Cunningham, in particular galls me because he hails from my neck of the woods and because I one time considered him a friend. But the things coming out of his mouth these days, makes me wonder about my own sanity in remembering that we had at least broken bread as fellow reporters chasing the same stories back in the 70s. I met Cunningham when he worked as a radio reporter for WCKY, before and during the time he went to law school. I worked at the same time for 55-KRC/Q102 AM & FM. We were rivals, yes, but friendly rivals. There was no hint of the vitriol that he spews now. A lady named Nancy Clark was the main street reporter for CKY, but Cunningham hit the streets regularly, too. All reporters know every other reporter in their city. We spent more than enough time together as rivals to know each other’s personality. I’m truly surprised. Click here for more.

The FCC is another one of those government agencies run amok within the Bush Administration these past eight years. Among the many first things that our new president needs to do is to rein in these idiots by taking back the so called morality protection mandate handed them by Dubya and company. As for SUPCO, well, it has better things to do then to contemplate the fleeting glance of a superstar’s pastie covered left breast.