filed a lawsuit against the obama administration saying that providing access to birth control, part of any basic health insurance policy violates their religious liberties of the catholic church. >> right. >> the catholic church is opposed to contraception morally opposed to it. and they feel like obama is forcing them to buy birth control for their students so their students can have sex willy-nilly all over the place. that's the way they're looking at it. >> the students won't have sex unless they say it is okay. >> unless you cover their contraception. >> bill: we know that's right. >> that will stop them. >> bill: one is this morning there's one with bishop the bishop of stockton california, has split with the catholic bishops over this saying no, no no. we should not be doing this. this is a bad move. several other bishops now have said they agree. it is a split among catholic bishops on this. and also i think related a

reading in "the washington post" this morning, there is the highest ranking priest yet brought to trial for the sexual abuse of all of these altar boys and priests. this is up in philadelphia. this is a monsignor. he testified yesterday that he was told by the cardinal that he couldn't reveal the names of priests who had been accused of molesting kids. and they were moved to other parishes. they were -- the cardinal would not permit anybody to tell members of the next parish why they were suddenly getting a priest moved from another parish when the guy was moved because he was molesting little boys. he's moved over to another parish. what does he do in the next parish? >> priests are protecting the children. >> bill: this scandal is still unresolved and still going on and then the bishops, instead of dealing with this are attacking barack obama.

>> the conservatives are all over teacher's unions because they say the unions are protecting the teachers instead protecting -- instead of looking out for the kids in schools bought they're not all over the churches who are protecting the priests instead of the kids under their care. this is one of the problems that we have with conservatives, it seems like they have no consistency about their beliefs. no stomach for people who abuse children. the churches have got to deal with this in a more forthright way. >> bill: the catholic church particularly. >> it is not just the catholic church. there are other ones. >> bill: you know, it seems to me, i remember the days when the catholic church, for the most part, i'm going back to jfk and the nuns, they were out -- you saw rallies where there were nuns in the front row, you know. they're out there cheering on john f. kennedy. today the catholic church has become almost an arm of the republican party. at least --

>> the nuns are out there fighting the good fight. >> bill: the nuns are still fighting the good fight. >> they split with the bishops. >> bill: the nuns supported obama care. laura bassett is here and jamal simmons and you at "full court press." join the conversation. give us a call at 1-866-55-press. >> announcer: on your radio, on tv the "bill press show." new on current tv. it's go time. >>every weeknight cenk uygur calls out the mainstream media. >>the guys in the middle class the guys in the lower end got screwed again. >>i think you know which one we're talking about. the overwhelming majority of the country says"tax the rich, don't go to war." >>just wanted to clarify that.

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on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 13 minutes before the top of the hour. laura bassett and jamal simmons in studio with us. we'll be right back and take your calls and rejoin the conversation. but first a little reminder, for some of you who are having a hard time making ends meet at the end of the month here's an idea. check out incomeathome.com. you've heard me talk about them before. they're america's leading work from home business. doing business today in over 80 countries. they know what they're doing. you can trust them and you know this is something you can do no matter your age, education or experience. you can literally be earning money from your kitchen table 24/7 using your own laptop. all you need is a little extra time and the coaching that the folks at incomeathome.com will give you. so check it out. if you're sick of living paycheck to paycheck worried about job security or retirement, ready to make some extra money from home part-time or full time incomeathome.com.

they're adding my listeners in record numbers, even giving away $1,000 to somebody just for checking them out. that could be you! it is incomeathome.com. that's incomeathome.com. laura bassett, jamal simmons. we're talking about these various issues relating to rights of women and legislation. but it is also -- it has a much broader impact which is on this 2012 election. where the women's vote, jamal still pretty important constituency, right? >> absolutely. you can just look at the last two elections george bush lost to john kerry by thigh points among women and he won the presidency. john mccain lost to president obama by 13 points among women and he lost the presidency. you cannot lose women by double digits and be president of the united states. >> bill: what are the republicans thinking when, for example, like on the violence against women act or the lily

led led better act and the federal leave act and all of these issues which do impact just the rights of women to be considered first class citizens i guess in this country. laura, what are they thinking? >> i don't know what they're thinking. a lot of their moves have not been very politically smart lately. but you see them like, for instance, with the violence against women act, republicans put forth a woman to introduce the act sandy adams from florida. she was actually a domestic violence victim. she didn't actually write the bill but they basically boehner chose her and said because you're a woman and you were abused, you're going to sponsor this and it is going to make us look less anti-woman here. we've got all of these republican women that are supporting it so how can it be a war on women. it is a war on democratic ideals. so i think that's the route that they're trying to take here. and i don't think that it is necessarily working. >> bill: it is a pretty smart

strategy though, jamal. >> it is a smart shot. >> bill: cynical. >> smart shot if you decide you're trying to appeal to a bunch of people who would prefer to have an america where you know harriet was still in ozzy's kitchen, you know. rock hudson was still in the closet and lucy and ricky were the only interracial couple anybody had to think about. if you think that's the kind of america we ought to go back to which is what the republicans are selling, we have to go back to what made us great you come up with the cynical ploys like this to fix the game. >> bill: stephanie the president of emily's list was in studio a couple of days ago. and she was talking about still how few women we have in the united states senate, how few women we have in the house overall. and even in some of the states where this year, there are senate candidates. elizabeth warren in

massachusetts. i didn't realize she would be -- if elected please, god, she would be the first woman elected from massachusetts. >> yes. >> bill: in the united states senate. stunning when you think of it. massachusetts. tammy baldwin in wisconsin. great candidate. she would be the first woman elected from the united states senate from wisconsin. so i guess the point is like coming from california, dianne feinstein, barbara boxer. we're used to it. we take it for granted. you think about -- >> you think about the west coast, you have a lot of women senators from the west coast. patty murray, olympia snowe -- maria cantwell. you've got women up and down the west coast. >> bill: it is not true across -- my point is it is not true across the country. i hadn't thought of it that way. we still have a long ways to go in terms of parity among elected officials. some very important races. i just mentioned just two of them. >> talking about 12 or 13 women

senators. >> i don't know the number. >> it is a small -- 13% of the united states senate. half of the -- 52%, 54% of the country. >> bill: so we have a long way to go which is why what you're doing is so important. >> thank you. >> bill: and what you're doing is so important. we can get these women elected make sure they're democratic women. the other thing -- >> i'm going to tell them i'm going to do my personal plug here. i'm speaking at my high school graduation. >> you're graduating high school? >> bill: you're finally graduating? >> on june 4th. in detroit michigan. so i'm going to encourage those young ladies to get involved in public life, too. >> bill: good for you. jamal simmons, thank you so much for coming in. laura bassett, good to see you. >> good to be here. >> bill: i get the last word. i'll be back with a quick parting shot coming up next. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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