Vice President Joe Biden and Republican contender Paul Ryan clashed over abortion and religious freedom during their debate and of the statements, Biden defended the administration against claims that the government is forcing Catholic organizations to violate conscience with the enforcement of the controversial contraception mandate.
On Friday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a statement, fact-checking Biden’s commentary and railing against the notion that institutions will be free and clear from the mandate’s clauses.
In a statement published on the bishops’ web site, church leaders sought to clarify Biden’s words about the regulation and its impact on faith-based institutions. Contrary to what Catholic leaders have been fighting against — even taking to the courts to try and prevent — Biden said during the debate that hospitals, schools and other religiously-affiliated groups — won’t have “to pay for contraception.”
“With regard to the assault on the Catholic Church, let me make it absolutely clear. No religious institution—Catholic or otherwise, including Catholic social services, Georgetown hospital, Mercy hospital, any hospital—none has to either refer contraception, none has to pay for contraception, none has to be a vehicle to get contraception in any insurance policy they provide,” he said. “That is a fact. That is a fact.”
The USCCB has come out strongly against Biden’s statements, claiming that they are not based on “fact.” Here’s the statement that the church put out in response to his proclamation:
"This is not a fact. The HHS mandate contains a narrow, four-part exemption for certain “religious employers.” That exemption was made final in February and does not extend to “Catholic social services, Georgetown hospital, Mercy hospital, any hospital,” or any other religious charity that offers its services to all, regardless of the faith of those served.
"HHS has proposed an additional “accommodation” for religious organizations like these, which HHS itself describes as “non-exempt.” That proposal does not even potentially relieve these organizations from the obligation “to pay for contraception” and “to be a vehicle to get contraception.” They will have to serve as a vehicle, because they will still be forced to provide their employees with health coverage, and that coverage will still have to include sterilization, contraception, and abortifacients. They will have to pay for these things, because the premiums that the organizations (and their employees) are required to pay will still be applied, along with other funds, to cover the cost of these drugs and surgeries.
"USCCB continues to urge HHS, in the strongest possible terms, actually to eliminate the various infringements on religious freedom imposed by the mandate."
After attending yesterday’s House Oversight Committee’s hearing entitled, “The Security Failures of Benghazi,” Representative James Lankford (R-OK) expressed serious concern over the State Department response to the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012.
“Issues like, we had four Americans that were killed when there’s a lot of terrorist activity that was happening in Benghazi but doesn’t seem to be any preparation for that in our facility there. The American Red Cross had already pulled out because of multiple terrorist attacks in Benghazi. The United Kingdom had already pulled out their facility from Benghazi. But we still sat there with this smaller force that was well below what was requested by the security personnel on the ground. They had requested at least 18 additional people than what was actually there. And we’re trying to figure out why those requests were turned down. 
So, they knew immediately, yet five days later, seven days later, the story was still coming out this was from some protest that we now know there was no protest there at all. It was just a straight-on terrorist attack. So, we’re trying to get answers on why that story changed and why that story came out at all from there. 
Weeks before the presidential election, President Barack Obama’s administration faces mounting opposition from within the ranks of U.S. intelligence agencies over what career officers say is a “cover up” of intelligence information about terrorism in North Africa.
The Iranian effort also seeks to take the international community’s spotlight off Iran’s support for its Syrian ally.
Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President Peter Schweizer released a new 108-page GAI investigation into the threat of foreign and fraudulent Internet donations in U.S. federal elections. 
There’s more.
The Spanish language television news network Univision unleashed a bombshell investigative report on Operation Fast and Furious Sunday evening, finding that in January 2010 drug cartel hit men slaughtered students with weapons the United States government allowed to flow to them across the Mexican border.
Citing a Mexican Army document it obtained and published, Univision reported that “[t]hree of the high caliber weapons fired that night in Villas de Salvarcar were linked to a gun tracing operation run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).”