HEALTH CARE REFORM IS NOW LAW
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A broadly smiling President Barack Obama on Tuesday signed a historic $938 billion health care overhaul that guarantees coverage for 32 million uninsured Americans and will touch nearly every citizen’s life, presiding over the biggest shift in U.S. domestic policy since the 1960s and capping a divisive, yearlong debate that could define the November elections.
Celebrating ‘a new season in America’ – the biggest accomplishment of his White House and one denied to a line of presidents before him – Obama made the massive bill law with an East Room signing ceremony. He was joined by jubilant House and Senate Democrats as well as lesser-known people whose health care struggles have touched the president. Obama scheduled back-to-back events to mark the moment, with much of his White House audience, as well as hundreds of others, heading to the Interior Department immediately after the signing.
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
“This is the worst day in American history”-Doug Schoen
So does this mean we can get those internment camps up and running? I want my internment camps, dammit! Oh, yeah, and Death to Granny!
He’s accomplished what many before have tried to achieve. There’s still much to do, but this is a decent step forward.
One thing he can still do is continue his “spread the truth” tour, because Lord knows the Bamboozlepalooza-Misinformation Machine will be in high gear from now until November.
Hey, first things first…has the Obamadoc given you an abortion yet?
Those new death panels should create needed jobs as well.
I’m glad he did it quickly. A round of “Obama should veto the bill” editorials from the usual bunch of contrarian/right wing idiots has been avoided.
And the FEMA camps! Don’t forget!
Is that ENORMOUS PACKAGE still down Republicans’ throats?
Enormous black package Cid. Rammed down their throats.
Let’s see what those conservative AG’s and the Conservative SCOTUS have to say about the legislation now….
All the cheering will be for naught if SCOTUS voids it…and this Court has a record for activist decisions to please their Corporate sponsors…
I think that’s a justification right there for most provisions to require coverage until 2014- because the makeup of the court may have changed by then.
Happy Dependece Day!
or for conservatives, Happy Depends Day!
Don’t count your chickens just yet, looks more and more like ObamaCare will end up in the hands of SCOTUS and what with Barry blindly picking a fight with the Roberts Court of late, things are sure to get a lot more interesting.
So naturally cons will be against the court overturning this law because remember, they are totally against “legislating from the bench.” Amirite?
william, it’s Depends Day. You know, because you pathetic Democracy Haters keep crapping your pants over all Teh Socialism. When the fuck are you gonna Go Galt, anyway? You know, ’cause yer such a badass rugged individualist and everything.
…er…hadn’t seen your comment…
Be sure to tell your friend Frank to rip up his Medicare and Medicaid cards!
That’ll show em!
So, you are speculating that Justice Roberts would be willing to overturn a law based solely on his personal sense of outrage? Well, that would make him a Republican, all right. Who needs the law when you’re always Right?
“Remember, kids – it’s not judicial activism when we do it!”
So now are you “true patriots” gonna rip up your Medicare cards and Social Security checks in protest?
You really think Roberts is as petty as the tea baggers? Plus, there was nothing on that Bloomberg page, unless it’s my browser or some crap.
Wingnuts are eskeerd of Romneycare, except when it’s done by nice white boys with Reagan haircuts and shoulders you could land a DC3 on.
Just so I understand it, what is the violation of the Constitution that would put this into the SCOTUS? We already have Social Security and Medicare, and they seem to have passed muster.
Since the Preamble states that the purpose of the Constitution (and by extension the government it created) is, among other things, to promote the general welfare. What in your opinion does health care reform do that ERODES the general welfare? Obviously, if it PROMOTES the GW, it is constitutional at least as far as the Preamble is concerned.
Don’t count your chickens just yet, looks more and more like ObamaCare will end up in the hands of SCOTUS
The bill is now the law of the land. A court challenge that makes its way to the Supreme Court is, so far, a wingnut wet dream.
Which one of us is “counting chickens” here?
People talking about scotus and hcr repeal are same ones who spoke with legal certainty on schiavo case
They’re also the same ones who said the Stimulus wouldn’t lower the unemployment rate. And that the 1st time Homebuyer credit wouldn’t jump-start the housing market. And that Obama would create deficits that put Bush’s to shame.
The massive violation of the Constitution is the “buy insurance, or pay higher taxes” provision. As you know, any time you’ll pay higher taxes if you don’t buy something, you’re being forced to buy that thing. That’s why I just bought a house – because if I didn’t, I’d pay higher taxes by not having the mortgage interest deduction. It’s not that I *want* to live in a nice house – it’s that if I didn’t, I’d pay higher taxes. So, I’m being forced, by the socialislamifascist Obama, to buy a house.
It’s because they don’t like it. And if they don’t like it, it must be unconstitutional – because they loves the Constitution.
That mortgage interest deduction is such a bummer. Since I bought a house, I pay less now to own it than I paid to rent one 20 years ago, and that’s in real amounts, not adjusted for 20 years of inflation. Everything I pay that isn’t deductible interest adds to my equity. Who wouldn’t be angry about that?
Mambo: Word.
“Deficits don’t matter” — Richard B. Cheney.
And Farris? You do understand that those AG’s (or whoever) ends up filing those lawsuits will do it not because they think they’ll win; but because it’s a good way to keep the “base” riled up about the issue?
To any GOP candidate planning on running on repealing HCR? All I can say is, “Please, oh pretty please do that!!”
“Deficits don’t matter” — Richard B. Cheney.
“Reagan proved it!” – also Richard B. Cheney
Didn’t you know? Laws signed by a black president aren’t “real” laws and white mercans don’t have to obey them.
You can keep rolling out that quote all you want, but the size of Reagan’s deficits and Obama’s are literally incomparable.
You don’t know what “literally” means, do you?
while I am the first one to admit that politics is not my thing, I can’t see how anyone with a brain actually thinks this healthcare reform is a good thing. Why are we encouraging the unemployed to stay unemployed? Why are we enticing illegals to live here? Let them live in their own country and get insurance/handouts there. As that goes – get rid of the damn foreign policy. Take care of the USA FIRST and FOREMOST. Oh – and you want to adopt? NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE (that includes actors who are US citizens) should be allowed to adopt outside the US until all the orphans of the US have homes. STUPID to go to other countries. Their inability to deal with their own problems should not be a concern of the US. TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN FIRST. Imagine – if we cut back on the foreign budget how much we’d have to cut our debt. Cutting our debt would therefore help the US without increasing taxes. Wow. Novel concept.
It took me a few years , but I found a GP who takes Medicaid . Occasionally, certain things force me to return to the Walk-In Clinic. All I can say is that I look forward to the day when I’m standing on line waiting for my follow – up appointment with pregnant woman, injured children, and elderly folks with arthritic hips, bad backs and aching bones (yes, that’ what it like on Medicaid), that you’ll be on line with me to experience the wonders of ObamaCare.
Ooopsie!
Notice the source of the quote, Mr. Ferris. The correct comparison is not between Mr. Reagan and Mr. Obama, but between Mr. Cheney (and his pet squirrel) and Mr. Obama.
How much new and ongoing spending did the previous administration contribute to the grim picture you have pointed our way? What effect did their policies have on federal revenue? How much has Mr. Obama contributed?
Most of us, by the time we’re six or seven years old, come to recognize the principle of cause and effect. We discover that the person standing closest to the broken vase when it is discovered is not necessarily the one who broke it.
It appears you’ve yet to achieve that modest bit of experience.
Question for you Frank: If you weren’t receiving Medicare, where would you turn for medical care?
You seem to be alternately wishing for those who receive less care not to have what you have and for those who receive more care to get what you have.
Either way seems a bit spiteful, don’t you think?
Enlightened Liberal:
Enormous black package Cid. Rammed down their throats.
Didn’t you know? Laws signed by a black president aren’t “real” laws and white mercans don’t have to obey them.
Kinda fixated on Obama’s skin color and penis size aren’t you? And nice job propagating the racist stereotype that black men have large penises.
Are you going to start spouting about “brown people” too?
Abandon Medicare and turn to the free market, Frank. By golly, there’s got to be dozens of private insurance companies just champing at the bit to offer someone your in your age bracket quality coverage at discount prices!
No, Quaker, I want to at least feel that all you lefties that seem to be so overjoyed by the “defeat of the Republicans”, will feel the effects of the mistake you have made by supporting this disastrous legislation.
As for using the free market — I did. I applied for medicaid, and because I was eligible, I got it. If you were working for a company with a good health plan, would you :
a) Quit your job for a slightly different health plan, even if it weren’t necessarily better?
b) Ask to be removed from the health plan , so you could shop for one on your own?
c) Pay all your own medical expenses?
d ) None of the above
That’s what I chose , too …
All I can say is that I look forward to the day when I’m standing on line waiting for my follow – up appointment with pregnant woman, injured children, and elderly folks with arthritic hips, bad backs and aching bones …
Gosh, Frank, I had no idea that the government was forcing you to wait in line behind such common riff raff. The horror …
The commentators keep reminding us that Theodore Roosevelt was the first president who tried to bring universal health care to the American people. That’s not quite true. He never really expressed the idea while he was in office. In 1912 Roosevelt had been out of office for four years when he attempted to reclaim the presidency from William Howard Taft, the man he had picked to succeed him. Once in office, Taft began to dismantle most of the progressive reforms that Teddy had put into place. When he sought the nomination once again, his campaign slogan was “a square deal for every man and every woman in the United States.” Part of the “Square Deal” was health care for all. He arrived at the convention that summer with all the delegates he needed (and then some) to seize the mantle of standard bearer. It was not to be. His party would betray the people by giving the nomination to Taft in spite of his victory. They had had enough of Theodore Roosevelt and his progressive reforms. 1912 was the year that the progressive wing of the Republican party died. He was the last great Republican president – the very last.
A generation later TR’s distant cousin Franklin attempted to pick up the torch of universal health care. In his 1944 State of the Union address, he told the American people that his major goal for the post war world was national health insurance. Unfortunately for you and I, FDR did not live to see the war’s end. A film of that speech can be viewed in Michael Moore’s film, Capitalism: A Love Story. It’s is now out on DVD and is essential viewing.
The new health care bill is not perfect – far from it – but as the old Chinese saying goes, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” There will be improvements made on it down the years – there absolutely needs to be – but this is a fairly good first step. We’re on our way! The Conservatives will whine, but that’s what they do best. They’ll whine just as they whined when Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965, or the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Just as they whined when Harry Truman desegregated the army in 1947, or when Franklin D. Roosevelt brought Social Security into being in 1935. They’ll whine just like they did when Woodrow Wilson tried to form the League of Nations in 1919 – or when Abraham Lincoln ended the institution of slavery in 1863! They whine a lot. Did you ever notice that?
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
Your knowledge of history is as faulty as your assertion that ObamaCare “is a fairly good first step”, Tom. It was those racist Democrats, not Republicans, opposing Army desegregation in 1948 and the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts in 1964/1965.
And no doubt you can provide specific examples of Republican whining in the other instances you describe. It should be easy, I mean, as you say “they whine a lot”.