While some are calling yesterday’s change of policy with regard to contraception coverage a win-win for both the Catholic church and the Obama administration, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops does not see this as a win. Instead, they see it as one small little step, and they are pressing for much, much more.

The first amendment’s protection of religious liberty is not a license for religious organizations or individuals to disregard any law or regulation they don’t like. If the White House wants to end this fight, that’s the argument they’re going to have to make to the public. Instead, they have allowed the USCCB to set the terms of the debate, and the USCCB is quite happy to continue doing so.

This isn’t over, folks. Not by a long shot.

President Obama’s State of the Union address gave us a sense of what the Obama campaign thinks are his strengths and weaknesses. The auto rescue and several foreign policy successes made up a huge part of the speech. But if you weren’t paying extremely close attention, you may have missed Obama’s few passing references to his signature health insurance law.

Since President Obama took office the percentage of uninsured people in America has been steadily raising and has now reached a new high. That’s primarily the result of long term trends, rising health care costs, and the huge spike in unemployment during the economic crash, as workers lost their employer-provided insurance. But if puts a focus on the political decision to delay the ACA’s coverage expansions until 2014.

Okay, quick business quiz for everyone: What do you do with an employee who is incompetent, insubordinate, and constantly sneaking around behind your back? If you’re Barack Obama you force him to keep working for you.

Obama should be in serious political trouble and to a degree he would be if the Republican nominee is Mitt Romney. According to the same poll in a hypothetical match-up it would be Obama 47 – Romney 46; but since this is a poll of all adults Romney would likely hold a modest edge among those likely to actually go vote.

Jonathan Gruber, the economist who was a paid top adviser to the Obama administration on health care reform but didn’t disclosed the fact in media interviews at the time, continues his tradition of defending the Affordable Care Act with his special brand of half truths, distortions, extreme hyperbole and logically incoherent statements.

Daniel Avila, a lawyer for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, has resigned over a column he wrote ascribing same-sex attraction to Satan. Church Lady jokes aside, Avila’s resignation reveals a great deal about the USCCB’s efforts to get religious exemptions to various federal regulations on health care and providing social services with federal money.

Avila’s apology seems more aimed at his former employers at the USCCB than to LGBTs, which says a great deal about the political priorities and goals of the USCCB.

A new study projects that the new Vermont health care system, modeled on single payor, could significantly health care costs for the state. The savings amount depends on how soon the state can get a federal waiver under the Affordable Care Act and the state legislature and relevant agencies adopt recommended cost-saving mechanisms.

So much for the theory that it’s just a bunch of Firebaggers liberals that are dissatisfied with the Affordable [sic] Care Act.

The number of people without insurance hasn’t increased because Obama’s big health care reform law “failed.” The number of uninsured people has increased because the Affordable Care Act, for the most part, hasn’t started helping people get insurance yet. By design, it will not expand coverage until the year 2014.