Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

SDQT National Edition: President Obama reverses position on HHS mandate

COVERING THIS STORY LIKE A JIMMY HAT, SAN DIEGO - During a surprise ad-hoc press conference during a fundraising lunch at the home of Mission Hills doyenne Adrienne Hedgefund, the President announced that he had decided to drop the so-called "HHS mandate" that requires employers to include contraception coverage in the insurance they offer to their employees.

"It started while I was having a beer with [Vice-President Joseph] Biden a while back," explained Obama. "Well, I was having a beer; Biden was having four or five. Anyway, the attack on our embassy in Libya was still pretty fresh in our minds, and Biden was feeling defensive on my behalf, bless his heart. Somewhere near the evening's end, he had an aide pull up a YouTube clip on his phone of my comments after we'd learned about [the death of slain ambassador to Libya Christopher] Stevens. He stopped it after the part where I said, 'Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.'

"'Damn straight!' I remember him bellowing. 'You know, as long as they're not a bunch of crazy Catholics who don't wanna pay for condoms.'

"I was struck by my best drinking-buddy's words, especially since he is a Catholic himself, albeit a Catholic who is willing to 'pay for condoms,' as he put it, by ensuring that contraception coverage is provided for by American employers, regardless of their personal beliefs about its moral character. I began to wonder: was he right? Was I somehow denigrating the religious beliefs of others by demanding that they directly fund acts they regarded as intrinsically immoral? I concluded that I was, and so I am dropping the mandate.

"While I'm at it," concluded the President, "I'm going to let those Indians in New Mexico start taking peyote. And if some Santeria person wants to slaughter a goat, who am I to stand in the way? And hey, I just thought of something - wouldn't it just blow [Mormon Presidential candidate Mitt] Romney's mind if I said I supported Mormon polygamy during the next debate?"

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Navy solves San Diego homeless crisis by retiring four locally moored ships

Decommision Accomplished
Next Article

Seals hook up with Beaver

Salty’s Escape is a Mexican-Style cerveza brewed with corn and puffed Jasmine rice

COVERING THIS STORY LIKE A JIMMY HAT, SAN DIEGO - During a surprise ad-hoc press conference during a fundraising lunch at the home of Mission Hills doyenne Adrienne Hedgefund, the President announced that he had decided to drop the so-called "HHS mandate" that requires employers to include contraception coverage in the insurance they offer to their employees.

"It started while I was having a beer with [Vice-President Joseph] Biden a while back," explained Obama. "Well, I was having a beer; Biden was having four or five. Anyway, the attack on our embassy in Libya was still pretty fresh in our minds, and Biden was feeling defensive on my behalf, bless his heart. Somewhere near the evening's end, he had an aide pull up a YouTube clip on his phone of my comments after we'd learned about [the death of slain ambassador to Libya Christopher] Stevens. He stopped it after the part where I said, 'Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.'

"'Damn straight!' I remember him bellowing. 'You know, as long as they're not a bunch of crazy Catholics who don't wanna pay for condoms.'

"I was struck by my best drinking-buddy's words, especially since he is a Catholic himself, albeit a Catholic who is willing to 'pay for condoms,' as he put it, by ensuring that contraception coverage is provided for by American employers, regardless of their personal beliefs about its moral character. I began to wonder: was he right? Was I somehow denigrating the religious beliefs of others by demanding that they directly fund acts they regarded as intrinsically immoral? I concluded that I was, and so I am dropping the mandate.

"While I'm at it," concluded the President, "I'm going to let those Indians in New Mexico start taking peyote. And if some Santeria person wants to slaughter a goat, who am I to stand in the way? And hey, I just thought of something - wouldn't it just blow [Mormon Presidential candidate Mitt] Romney's mind if I said I supported Mormon polygamy during the next debate?"

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.