This opinion piece is from Ross Douthat in the NYT from Sunday regarding HHS’s mandate regarding contraception:

A parish would be exempt from the mandate, in other words, but a Catholic hospital would not. 

Ponder that for a moment. In effect, the Department of Health and Human Services is telling religious groups that if they don’t want to pay for practices they consider immoral, they should stick to serving their own co-religionists rather than the wider public. Sectarian self-segregation is O.K., but good Samaritanism is not. The rule suggests a preposterous scenario in which a Catholic hospital avoids paying for sterilizations and the morning-after pill by closing its doors to atheists and Muslims, and hanging out a sign saying “no Protestants need apply.”

Now go and read the rest…

One observation that no one has made until Dr. J. has, at least to his knowledge is this:

HHS has given religious organizations that do not meet criteria for an exemption an extension until August 2013 from August 2012.

Make no mistake, and let Dr. J. be clear. This was not by accident or the largesse of the Obama administration.

Above and beyond kicking it down the road past the election, so that he can dangle it as a carrot to the 54% of Catholics who voted for him in 2008, it also protects the administration in the short term from lawsuits being fast-tracked to test the constitutionality of Obamacare related to this specific issue until later because no one will be damaged by this rule until next year. By the time Catholic hospitals are damaged, Obamacare, with all its goodies will be in full effect.

‘Puter can correct Dr. J. on this one, but the Supreme Court can’t hear a case in the abstract, there must be a damaged party.

As that kid in the Connect Four ad used to say, “Pretty sneaky, sis…”

Dr. J.