My feelings about the powers of the Federal Government.

Birth Control, really!  This is where the discussion on religion and its rights is headed.  What's missing from the discussion on mandating birth control be offered in health insurance is the fact that Catholic women overwhelmi­ng use birth control during some portions of their marriages? All my Catholic friends do, and while I haven't had the opportunity to ask them about this, I do wonder if they would feel that it was government intrusion to offer them a service that they have in fact personally used. I think it more likely that they would appreciate the opportunit­y to have this medical expense covered as their net health care costs continue to rise. The Catholic Church never complains about Government intrusion when they give tax relief and or food stamps to families with a lot of children. In a way the rest of us are subsidizing these large families. We even pay for their education with our taxes.

This is a silly argument about Government intrusion. Thank God the federal Government intruded during the Civil war. Thank God the Federal Government intruded during the 1961 freedom riders bus trip throughout the South. Thank God the Federal Gov. intruded when the Governor of Alabama bared the doors to their university to Blacks. Thank God for the Federal Government when they passed the voting rights act in 1964. Thank God that this same Federal Government had to spend years enforcing the rights of minorities. Could these issues really have been left to the States?

As for the Catholic Church; where were they during this struggle against racism?  Where was the Baptist church when its members were bashing the heads of peace loving marchers trying to gain their freedoms already granted by their Constitution?

Where was the Church when its youngest members were taken advantaged by its own Priests?  Whose side were they on?  It says something about a church when its members have to ignore some of their teachings on subjects like birth control or marriage.

We need the Federal Government to protect the citizens against States and corporations that would force their own morality or rules on us. We need the Federal Government to protect our children from corporations that would use their labor to make profits while at the same time poisoning our natural resources. I am sick and tired of hearing how bad the Federal Government is. Left to only States Rights our country would not be called the United States but New Europe.  We are stronger for the power of our Federal Government, Safer too.