Author: Ring of Fire Staff

The debate continues regarding the new mandate for coverage of contraceptives as proposed by the White House.  Liberal Catholic figures have applauded the White House for seeking ways to resolve the concerns of objecting religious institutions.  Yet, the Becket Fund filed 47 cases for what it calls the affirmation of the freedom of religion guaranteed in the Constitution, or an injunction against having to comply with the mandate.   The new proposal works to find a middle ground between religious opposition to contraceptives and women’s health advocates who support coverage of birth control without co-payment. In summary, the proposal would...

Last week,  a judge approved a $400 million plea deal by Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig involved in the nation’s worst offshore oil disaster three years ago this April. Transocean agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of violating the Clean Water Act on account of negligence. They will pay $400 million in criminal penalties and may pay an additional $1 billion in civil penalties if the judge approves that part of the proposed settlement. The $400 million penalty was approved on Thursday by Judge Jane Milazzo, Eastern District of Louisiana. This news comes...

A GOP scheme to redistrict and rig the electoral college in favor of Republican candidates is living on in the state of Pennsylvania.  While the bill being pushed in Pennsylvania is slightly less brazen than previous bills put forward in states like Virginia, it would still change Pennsylvania’s current system to one that distributes their 20 electoral votes proportionately to each candidate’s share of the state-wide vote rather than giving all 20 votes to the winner. In the last election, if this bill had been in effect, President Obama would have won 12 electoral votes, instead of the 20...

Pope Benedict XVI stunned everyone when he announced that he would resign the position on February 28th; even the Vatican was surprised. This will be the first time a pope has resigned in centuries, and it begs the question as to why someone would give up their divine calling. It may be that, for someone so steeped in theological conservatism, the challenges of the changing world have proven too tough to tackle. Addressing a regular meeting of cardinals, the pope waited until the end of the meeting to make his big announcement, stating, “in today’s world, subject to so...

Elizabeth Warren is again making her presence known in Washington. She garnered instant attention at a Senate Banking Committee hearing last Thursday when she held regulators accountable for not taking financial institutions to trial. Regarding big financial institutions, Warren stated, “If they can break the law and drag in billions in profits and then turn around and settle, paying out of those profits, they don’t have much incentive to follow the law.” Warren, the first female senator in Massachusetts history, is advancing the role of women in politics. Not only has she become a powerful force in Washington in...