MM> I applaud people investing their money and making products
 MM> and services people want to patronize. Unfortunately there
 MM> have been recent crises in the news about the religious
 MM> beliefs of the owners of companies and government. Recent
 MM> news have brought forth the refusal of Oklahoma based craft
 MM> store Hobby Lobby to fund the morning after pill because it
 MM> leads to termination of pregnancy and various business

 The Afordable Health Care act applies the previous law banning
 the govt paying for abortions except under limited
 circumstances. The morning after pill is an abortificant.
 Therefore it should not be considered under contraception.
 Bringing it in distorts the debate.

 MM> owners in states that opened up marriage to same sex
 MM> couples not wanting to do business with them.

 Not covered by Obamacare. Though I get your meaning.

 MM> Unfortunately we are entering the uncomfortable topic of
 MM> should we allow private business owners to object to laws
 MM> on moral grounds.

 Depends on the laws. Navaho get their sacred mushrooms.

 MM> It is a very dangerous precedent if
 MM> allowed by our courts. I certainly would not want a
 MM> Jehovahs Witness employer to refuse to cover my blood
 MM> transfusion if I got in a major medical incident. I would
 MM> not want a cost cutting employer to deny medicines for
 MM> Diabetes if I should need them to function properly.

 And that is the real focus of the debate.

 MM> The irony is craft and hobby stores have a dominant female
 MM> clientele and they are going to be hurting their female
 MM> employees big time by their decision. I remember during the
 MM> Sandra Fluke incident earlier in 2012, she was asking for
 MM> her schools health plan to cover contraceptives and she got
 MM> major flak from Rush Limbaugh. Economically speaking,

 Limbaugh is an idiot.

 MM> health care costs are higher when more items are subsidized
 MM> and in some cases you can get cheaper prices by paying in

 Long term covering contraceptives can be cheaper than not paying
 for contraceptives.

 ...

 MM> If we want to prevent conservative business owners from
 MM> going Galt as in the case in Ayn Rands Atlas Shrugged where
 MM> the productive people of society ran away from an
 MM> oppressive government, we need to adapt single payer.

 Let them go Galt. We will hardly notice. Business owners on a
 large scale have little to do with actually running businesses,
 and small business would be beneath the notice of the Galts.

 The business owners may run away, but the productive people
 won't.

 MM> Single payer would give all of us universal health care
 MM> that would be free from the dictates of the employer. This

 That is the big advantage.

 MM> would lead to healthier workers and increased productivity.

 But no more than a Swiss or Japanese or French style national
 health care system.

 ...

 MM> For Hobby Lobby they should understand that they are
 MM> operating a business that serves the public, it is not
 MM> selective like a church where they can boot people for not
 MM> believing their principles of faith or boot people because
 MM> they may be queer.

 The other big point in the discussion.

...

 MM> Religious nullification of laws would be very
 MM> dangerous and outright stupid. If someone is a Muslim and
 MM> wants to be a supermarket checkout clerk at Albertsons,
 MM> they should realize that they will have to handle ham once
 MM> in a while and there would be no excuses or a designated
 MM> ham holder to step in when the time arises.

 True... however, is handling a ham actually forbidden to
 Muslims? After all, if a wild boar were found dead on property
 owned by a Muslim or Jew, he would have to clean it up.

 MM> For the photographer, innkeeper and the trolley owner who
 MM> refuses to do business because there are same sex couples
 MM> in our society. Who in their right mind wants to turn down
 MM> customers in todays economy?

 And that is the lead question.

 ...

 MM> ... An armed populace is the greatest insurance against
 MM> tyranny. --- FMail/Win32 1.64.GPL-Beta

 Prosperity is the best insurance against an armed populace.



BOB KLAHN bob.klahn{at}sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... Traditional state sport of Michigan: Snow ball fights.
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