Woe Unto the Pharisee Hobby Lobby
Well, isn’t that special?
It seems very convenient that Hobby Lobby wants to be against contraception when it’s going to cost them money in providing health insurance. But, oh boy!, they are all for it when it comes to making them money.
When Hobby Lobby filed its case against Obamacare’s contraception mandate, its retirement plan had more than $73 million invested in funds with stakes in contraception makers.
These include drug companies that produce drugs specifically made to induce abortions and also drug companies that make contraception and Plan B.
So …. Hobby Lobby ain’t real particular about what is inside the cup, just so long the outside is clean.
The Book of Matthew, Chapter 23
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.
26 You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.
Hobby Lobby: We do not want to provide contraception. We just want to make money off of it.
Thanks to David for the heads up.
Why am I not surprised?
1Swine.
2The catholics on the Supreme Court probably have several of the same types of companies in their investment portfolios.
3Seems Christians these days should be more worried about keeping the Christ in Christian than in Christmas….. and what was that about money changers in the temple again?
4Also a friend pointed out that their store is full of products from China where women are forced to have abortions. I have the feeling that the guys at the top tackled this issue the way they would at home in their personal family communities but what works there just might not work at the national level.
5It’s not about contraception or Benghazi or the IRS or Obamacare. It’s about a black man in the Whitehouse.
6The next question is whether the supremes will consider whether the right hand knows what the left hand is doing in judging the ‘freedom of religion’ clause.
Leonard Pitts had the right idea the other day: your right to [x] stops where my nose begins. In this case, it’s “your right to your religion,” especially in this case since your “religion” seems to be a matter of convenience, not faith.
7Hobby Lobby is suddenly seeing a big turnover in customer loyalty. They are learning that they are not the only craft store on the globe. When you hit ’em in the wallet is when they learn!
8maggie: roger that! I am not a big Hobbyist, but I have begun to shift my business from Home Depot to other hardware stores, even though it is a short, 3-minute drive from my house.
I also try to avoid Koch brands like Brawny paper towels and Angel Soft and Quilted Northern. All the paper towels and TP in their own inventory couldn’t clean the [dirt] from those [ice] holes.
9If you’re avoiding Koch paper brands, try the ones made from recycled paper. We don’t need to cut down trees to wipe up spills or clean our bums.
If Hobby Lobby owners are serious about their religion, they will (at least) announce that they didn’t know about this but will promptly disinvest in these contraceptives.
We’re waiting….
10I was sad to leave Hobby Lobby, but I’m a firm believer in my spending backing up my vote. No chik fil lay, no Koch brothers products – that one is a little hard, they have a hand in EVERYTHING! I found a list on the interwebs some time ago, and that helped.
Women are Hobby Lobby’s bread and butter, if we speak with one voice, it will make a difference.
11Hobby Lobby has been providing contraception in employee benefit health care plans for years — but only for those employees they helped provide with healthcare. They are really just angry they are being forced to provide healthcare to all employees. The owners were in fact recruited by right-wing factions to bring this challenge to Obamacare. Because the right hates helping people. Well, hates helping people who aren’t rich. Because, Jesus.
12Their religious convictions are serious beliefs as defined by their paid lobby. Their investments are only a hobby.
13The fact that they have previously provided contraceptive care to any employee sets the precedent. Period.
14Everything else is blatant hypocrisy.
If hobby lobby prevails, can’t wait until a company takes their case to the Supreme Court so that their Jewish or Muslim religious views are upheld.
15Love it! Because, Jesus…. Thank you, Mark Johnson. And yes, Diane… #15 above… that is their worst nightmare.
16We have no Hobby Lobby within boycott range. But, if they ever try to build here, will be the first to wrestle our mayor to the ground to prevent it.
Sanctimonious gohmert control freaks need to butt out of their employees personal medical business. If someone finds out that Papa Lobby is taking Viagra like a hypocrite, think I can find another loose K-Note for Wendy Davis and Leticia and a couple for Emily’s List. For a peek into Shellie Adelson’s and the Koch bros medicine cabinets, will throw myself on my mother’s mercy to let her know her favorite son needs some cash, before November. There are really some terrific women emerging as candidates for the Democratic Party in 2014. Republican boys broke it, we need Democratic women to fix it.
If this Hobby Lobby decision is a repeat of the Citizens United disaster, impeaching Roberts, Thomas and Scalia would make a fine hobby.
17Did you ever wonder what kind of person was in the crowd yelling “crucify him!”?
You know, the kind of person with vested interests in maintaining the status quo and dominance of a religious heirarchy?
18I love this blog and all the sharp wits who comment here. I really do.
Bill Moyers says he’ll believe that corporations are people when Texas executes one. (Actually, I think he credits a friend with this thought, but whatever)
I wrote my nasy letter to Hobby Lobby last year and received some snotty reply about “you are free to believe what you choose and HL is free to believe as it chooses.” I said I believe I’ll give my business to Michael’s.
19Oh, sorry, I forgot this ain’t no blog – it’s a professional political organization. My bad.
20daChipster, I am also an ex-Home Depot customer despite the fact that the place is also extremely convenient to my house. They hired, shmoozed and used my son for about five months before they unceremoniously dropped him on the excuse that the job was always temporary, as are all the jobs at that joint. Part-time, slave wages, slave jobs, and temporary. They also cheated him of his last week’s pay. But what else can anyone expect from a business that used Mitt Romney as a consultant for their business plan! I now use an independent family owned hardware store about three miles away by car. They are small in the size of the store but ready and willing to truly help (compared to HD where a lot of the staff hid out) and have been in business since about the mid 1940’s. Best of all, their mascot and “owner” was a marvelous striped grey tabby for many years who greeted customers with a very friendly meow.
21Rude Pundit has an interesting take on this issue the other day. It seems alot of HL’s products are made by companies in China. Companies that pay taxes to the Chinese gov. The same government that has a very active program of forced abortions to keep the population in China down.
So HL is actively supporting abortion in China by doing business there. Funny how things work, eh?
22Good to see I’m not the only one no longer shopping at Hobby Lobby.
23HL is saying they don’t have a problem with contraception, just the four types that don’t allow eggs to implant. I’m guessing if they hammer that hard enough the majority Supremes are going to find that it’s not an undue burden and err on the side of “what the Republicans want,” in other words “whatever the Evangelicals say.”
24I also avoid Hobby Lobby. Michael’s and Joann Fabrics get my business.
25I had never heard of Hobby Lobby before the case came onto my radar. I support local merchants, and if there’s a choice, buy American-made goods. I avoid shopping at chains. I’d rather buy my pen from the stationer around the corner, who sells it without all the unnecessary packaging, even though it costs more than the same pen at Staples. The only Koch Bros. product anywhere in my wardrobe is the small amount of Lycra in some of my clothes, and many of those were made before their acquisition of Lycra.
I just looked, there are eight Hobby Lobby stores in the state of NY. I think the closest one to home is in Poughkeepsie, and that’s a fair distance. Pharisees describes them aptly.
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