Hello everybody!   
      
   I applaud people investing their money and making products and services people   
   want to patronize. Unfortunately there have been recent crises in the news   
   about the religious beliefs of the owners of companies and government. Recent   
   news have brought forth the refusal of Oklahoma based craft store Hobby Lobby   
   to fund the morning after pill because it leads to termination of pregnancy   
   and various business owners in states that opened up marriage to same sex   
   couples not wanting to do business with them.   
      
   Unfortunately we are entering the uncomfortable topic of should we allow   
   private business owners to object to laws on moral grounds. It is a very   
   dangerous precedent if allowed by our courts. I certainly would not want a   
   Jehovahs Witness employer to refuse to cover my blood transfusion if I got in   
   a major medical incident. I would not want a cost cutting employer to deny   
   medicines for Diabetes if I should need them to function properly.   
      
   The irony is craft and hobby stores have a dominant female clientele and they   
   are going to be hurting their female employees big time by their decision. I   
   remember during the Sandra Fluke incident earlier in 2012, she was asking for   
   her schools health plan to cover contraceptives and she got major flak from   
   Rush Limbaugh. Economically speaking, health care costs are higher when more   
   items are subsidized and in some cases you can get cheaper prices by paying in   
   cash. However people elected Democrats for better or worse and we got this   
   health care reform and we need to learn to live with it. As long as Hobby   
   Lobby is not covering Viagra or any other male comparable drug, that would be   
   the only out I could see viable.   
      
   If we want to prevent conservative business owners from going Galt as in the   
   case in Ayn Rands Atlas Shrugged where the productive people of society ran   
   away from an oppressive government, we need to adapt single payer. Single   
   payer would give all of us universal health care that would be free from the   
   dictates of the employer. This would lead to healthier workers and increased   
   productivity. Nothing prevents people in single payer health care systems to   
   take out private health insurance as in the case in the United Kingdom.  If   
   conservatives dont want abortions dont have abortions. We could even pay women   
   to have an IUD device to prevent future abortions from happening which could   
   be a perfect compromise in Obamas America.   
      
   For Hobby Lobby they should understand that they are operating a business that   
   serves the public, it is not selective like a church where they can boot   
   people for not believing their principles of faith or boot people because they   
   may be queer. If you want to do business with the public you have to follow   
   the laws of the government no matter how silly they may be perceived to be. If   
   you do not like the rules of Caesar, you are more than welcomed to change the   
   government by donating money to politicians to make your world view come true.   
   I was bewildered that Hobby Lobby would not dare open up in California due to   
   its hostile regulatory climate and anti-discrimination laws for LGBT people in   
   the state, but they did, if Hobby Lobby was allowed to nullify the Obama rules   
   on contraceptives, imagine them saying we want to be allowed to discriminate   
   against LGBT employees in states that have those laws.  However, what LGBT   
   person in their right mind wants to work there? Religious nullification of   
   laws would be very dangerous and outright stupid. If someone is a Muslim and   
   wants to be a supermarket checkout clerk at Albertsons, they should realize   
   that they will have to handle ham once in a while and there would be no   
   excuses or a designated ham holder to step in when the time arises.   
      
   For the photographer, innkeeper and the trolley owner who refuses to do   
   business because there are same sex couples in our society. Who in their right   
   mind wants to turn down customers in todays economy? I may feel uncomfortable   
   serving customers with face tattoos where the individuals likely came back   
   from prison, but I serve them with the best professionalism I can offer. We do   
   not need to carry a Four Square type application to find out which businesses   
   do not want to serve LGBT people or which businesses those are inclusive to   
   LGBT people. That is why there are public accommodation laws. Anarchy would   
   indeed give us liberty, but anarchy would be one massive headache if the   
   Burger King refuses to serve black people and the McDonalds across the street   
   do not want to serve Asians.   
      
      
      
   Matt   
      
      
   ... An armed populace is the greatest insurance against tyranny.   
   --- FMail/Win32 1.64.GPL-Beta   
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