'Amanpour Debuts on CNN International | Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC | Christine Quinn's New York Mayoral Race

Kate Moss | Steven Klein | W Magazine March 2012 | Good Kate-Bad Kate’ AOC Private Studio

Daily French Roast

Archbishop Timothy Dolan wrote a letter to his fellow bishops, blasting Obama’s compromise on birth control coverage. David Handschuh/New York Daily News

Anne is reading …

America’s Catholic bishops announced that they will not support the Obama administration’s proposed compromise on mandatory contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act. After agreeing to study the proposal, New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said that under the compromise, Catholic leaders would be called upon to facilitate contraception coverage for employees of Catholic universities, hospitals, schools and other ‘public’ entities.

The bishops called the plan “nationwide government coercion of religious people and groups to sell, broker or purchase ‘services’ to which they have a moral or religious objection.” They said the plan represents “an unprecedented attack on religious liberty.”

The Guttmacher Institute and Catholics for Choice confirm that 98/99 percent of all sexually experienced Catholic women have used birth control at some time in their lives. This reality makes the Catholic bishops totally divorced from the realities of Catholic women, even though Rev. Robert Bubel called contraception ‘poison’, speaking for Archbishop Dolan today. The Archbishop is in Rome, where he will become a cardinal this week.

The history of monotheism is focused on a patriarchal control of women’s bodies and answering to a ‘higher law’ than those in America. The Supreme Court has ruled that women are entitled to control their own reproduction. The Catholic bishops say ‘no’ putting Catholic women and the rest of us, too, in a totally untenable position.

AOC agrees with yesterday’s New York Times op ed The Freedom to Choose Birth Control.

If a religious body does not like a public policy that affects its members, it is free to try to change it, but it cannot simply opt out of society or claim a special exemption from the law. Besides, contraceptive access is already in place in 28 states, and has been the law in New York for a decade, without inflicting the slightest blow to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, which has complied.

Mr. Obama had already gone too far out of his way to exempt churches and their religious employees from the preventative care mandate. It was not necessary to carve out a further exception for their nonreligious arms, like Catholic hospitals and universities, which employ thousands of people of other faiths.

Related reading: How the Church and Susan Komen Place Themselves Before Health The Atlantic

FLOTUS Launches ‘Platypus Walk’

First lady Michele Obama’s Let’s Move tour hit Orlando’s Disney World, where FLOTUS led a gorup of school kids and Disney stars in the dance inspired by the ‘Phineas and Ferb’ cartoon.

More DFR

Catholic magazine America writes A Lost Generation? confirming the decline of interest in Catholicism among younger women.

More recent data (2002-8) from the annual General Social Survey indicate that the reduced religiosity of American Catholic women extends to the millennial generation (born between 1981 and 1995), as well. Millennial Catholic women are even more disaffected than Gen X women are… . Both genders of millennial and Gen X Catholics are much less devout and much less orthodox than their elders, and many practice their religion infrequently if at all. But the decline is steeper among women. Millennial Catholic women are slightly more likely than Catholic men their age to say that they never attend Mass (the first generation of American Catholic women for whom this is so), and the women are significantly more likely to hold heterodox positions on whether the pope is infallible and whether homosexual activity is always wrong. None of the millennial Catholic women in the survey expressed complete confidence in churches and religious organizations.

Meet Leading 2013 Democratic NYC Mayoral Candidate Christine Quinn

Photo: Patrick McMullanNew York City may elect — not only its first woman mayor in 2013 — but one who is openly a lesbian. New York Magazine calls Christine Quinn the early favorite in the 2013 mayor’s race. Quinn, the Speaker of the New York City Council drew extra scrutiny this week. But her upcoming wedding to corporate lawyer Kim Catullo, her partner for a decade will require sensitivity and balance.

“The ability to elect the first woman and the first openly gay mayor of New York City is going to be a national cause,” says Human Rights Campaign’s Brian Ellner.“It’s an instance where you have both substance and symbolism, and that will create enormous excitement.”

‘Amanpour’ Debuts on CNN International

Christiane Amanpour’s new show ‘Amanpour’ will debut this week on CNN International. The half hour program featuring a mix of international news and interviews will air weekdays at 3pm and repeat at 5pm ET.

Melissa Harris-Perry at MSNBC

Tulane professor Melissa Harris-Perry held the MSNBC Rachel Maddow audience when guest hosting. As a reward, MSNBC president Phil Griffin has given Harris-Perry her own show at 10am Saturdays.

Anne of Carversville

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AOC Apple Valley

Petroleum Jewellery raises awareness about this controversial substance that is widely abused by consumers all over the world. The designers say that it is essential to learn how to preserve it in order to take care of our planet for future generations. Each piece of Petroleum Jewellery is handmade, containing a droplet of petroleum magnified by mineral glass, encased inside a delicate silver or gold cocoon. The concept has been re-interpreted by Anna Gram’ Design Studio in various forms, encompassing rings, earrings, pendants and bangles. via Yatzer