A Petition For All Freedom Loving People to Sign UPDATED

Notice: This petition reached the goal and was responded to by the Administration.

Evidently, I’m getting ready for a Catholic Spring or something. After posting about the Facebook group all freedom loving people should join, see, I had another idea. After all, if I’m in for a penny, I’m in for a pound. Just like the Pamchenko, there is no “half way” with me. I’m either fully on, or fully off. And you knew John Wayne died a Catholic, right?!

So I drafted a petition to the White House regarding the HHS Mandate. Really. There’s a first time for everything, you know. If you would be so kind as to sign it, and share it with other like minded folks, that would be great. If you don’t think this applies to you, have a look at why it does here.

Here’s what the White House suggests I send folks regarding the petition:

Dear friends,

I wanted to let you know about a new petition I created on We the People,
 a new feature on WhiteHouse.gov, and ask for your support. Will you add your name to mine? If this petition gets 25,000 signatures by February 27, 2012, the White House will review it and respond.

Until 150 people sign it, however, it won’t be visible to folks on the site as a choice to sign. So if you can share it, and link to it through your blogs, social media, etc., to help get the word out, I would be much obliged.

We the People allows anyone (heh!) to create and sign petitions asking the Obama Administration to take action on a range of issues. If a petition gets enough support, the Obama Administration will issue an official response.

You can view and sign the petition here:

http://wh.gov/kl3

Here’s the wording of this petition:

We believe the Obama Administration should:

Rescind the HHS Dept. Mandate Requiring Catholic Employers to
Provide Contraceptives/Abortifacients to Their Employees

The present Administration, through the Health and Human Services
Department, is mandating that all employer healthcare insurance plans provide coverage for procedures which violate the beliefs of the Catholic Church, and Catholic institutions.

Basically, the new rules require the Catholic Church, and the institutions
operating faithfully under the aegis of the Church, to provide coverage for
contraceptive drugs and procedures. This requirement violates the beliefs of the Church.

Never before has the United States Government deigned to represent
“transcendental truth” on matters of conscience for any religion
within these United States. That in itself is unprecedented, which is also
why it is unconstitutional.

Sign to Let the present Administration know that this mandate cannot stand.

Be advised, it takes some time for the petition to load up when you click on the link, maybe even as long as one minute. Have patience, grasshoppers. Also, if you’re concerned about putting your location in, don’t be. Just leave the zipcode blank empty. And forget about the other scary thoughts that might keep you awake at night too.

Now, the faith part. All by myself, see, I don’t know 25,000 people. None of us do. But I have faith that by sharing this opportunity with all of you, you will do the same, and we’ll blow the doors off that little ol’ number long before February 27th. After all, St. Augustine said, “Pray as though everything depended on God and act as if everything depended on you.”

That’s the spirit! “But Frank,”you admonish, “everyone knows that petitions are worthless and weak. Besides, the bishops are going to fight this tooth and nail. Why should I bother to help?” Simple. How many bishops are there in the United States? 195. How many votes do they command? 195. If only the bishops speak, and there is no other tangible sign of support from the rest of us, you know, backing them up, they will just be perceived as barking in thin air. 195 + 25,000, on the other hand, might just get a little more notice.

UPDATE: As of 15:59(EST) on 2/07/2012, the 25,000 signature goal was met!. Help keep us flyin’ folks! More fuel is needed, and we want to keep this going, so please sign it and share it too.

UPDATE II: This process is easy, but not necessarily intuitive. Filling out the form, once it loads up, is a multiple step process. Here’s a video tutorial.