From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
And Republicans Still Want To Kill It ASAP
Today marks the 47th anniversary of a milestone that reminds us what a Democratic president and solid Democratic majorities in Congress can accomplish. And, like the Affordable Care Act, it wasn't a slam dunk until late in the game.
You know it, you love it, tens of millions can't live without it! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...Medicare:
The legislative logjam finally broke with the election of 1964, which swept LBJ into the White House behind large Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress. Shortly after that election, a breakthrough occurred when House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Wilbur Mills (D-Ark.), who had previously blocked Medicare proposals, said, "I can support a payroll tax for financing health benefits just as I have supported a payroll tax for cash benefits."
What a moment. Presidents Johnson and Truman
shake hands after Medicare signing in Independence,
Missouri---July 30, 1965.
When the long-stalled Medicare effort came before the 89th Congress in January 1965, congressional leaders designated the bills as H.R. 1 and S. 1. Despite determined resistance by organized medicine and some of its congressional allies, the Medicare bill moved forward. A Mills rewrite cleared the House on April 8 by 313-115. The Senate approved its version on July 9 by 68-21. A conference committee labored for more than a week in mid-July to reconcile 513 differences between the two chambers.
At the White House bill-signing ceremony [in Independence, Missouri], Johnson enrolled Truman as the first Medicare beneficiary and presented him with the nation’s first Medicare card.
Said President Johnson at
the signing:
"No longer will older Americans be denied the healing miracle of modern medicine. No longer will illness crush and destroy the savings that they have so carefully put away over a lifetime so that they might enjoy dignity in their later years. No longer will young families see their own incomes, and their own hopes, eaten away simply because they are carrying out their deep moral obligations to their parents, and to their uncles, and their aunts. And no longer will this Nation refuse the hand of justice to those who have given a lifetime of service and wisdom and labor to the progress of this progressive country. [...]
Harry Truman's Medicare application,
signed by Lyndon Johnson
In 1935, when the man that both of us loved so much, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, signed the Social Security Act, he said it was, and I quote him, "a cornerstone in a structure which is being built but it is by no means complete."
Well, perhaps no single act in the entire administration of the beloved Franklin D. Roosevelt really did more to win him the illustrious place in history that he has as did the laying of that cornerstone. And I am so happy that his oldest son Jimmy could be here to share with us the joy that is ours today. And those who share this day will also be remembered for making the most important addition to that structure, and you are making it in this bill, the most important addition that has been made in three decades."
Forty seven years from now, in a 2059 edition of C&J, I hope to be writing a little "Today in History" item like this one about the 2010
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which added to that Democratic Party-built structure that Americans love and depend on today. To demonstrate how my writing will have matured by age 94, I'll give you my punchline in advance: "Goiter? I hardly know her!"
That'll be a Jello-out-the-nose moment, boy, I bet.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Monday, July 30, 2012
Note: Today's Secret Million Dollar Hidden Mystery Phrase is: "Good luck finding it!" Good luck finding it!
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Shark Week: 13
Days 'til the 65th annual Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland: 2
Estimated number of Pennsylvanians who do not have a valid ID for voting purposes under the state's new law: 997,494
(Source: ACLU via MSNBC)
Registered passenger vehicles in Portland, Maine in 2004: 49,872
Registered passenger vehicles in Portland, Maine in 2011: 38,179
(Source: The Portland Press Herald)
Minimum number of Medicare beneficiaries who have saved an average of $629 on prescription drugs in 2012, thanks to the Affordable Care Act: 1 million
(Source: The White House)
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U.S. Olympic Medal Count
Gold: 3 Silver: 5 Bronze: 3
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Puppy Pic of the Day: For that summer-fresh puppy scent…
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CHEERS to running for office with scissors. I got a great idea. Let's kick off Monday by doing what the Romney campaign does, only in reverse! Let's take Romney's words, do a little creative slice-'n-dicing, and put them in an ad, shall we? Yes, let's…
[Ominous oscillating deep musical hum]
Announcer: Did you hear what Mitt Romney said to the Israelis and the Iranians?
Mitt Romney: "My message to the people of Israel and the leaders of Iran is one and the same:" -snip- "We" –snip- "will look the other way."
Look! He's using a teleprompter!
Ha Ha Ha---what a wimp.
Announcer: Really, Mitt? That's your foreign policy plan?
Mitt Romney: "We" –snip- "will look the other way."
Announcer: Mitt Romney---wrong on foreign policy. Wrong for America.
President Obama: I'm Barack Obama and I don’t know if I approved this message, but I do know I just approved $70 million in aid to Israel. Suck on that, Mitt the Twit.
[
Raises hand.] If it's worth anything, I approve.
JEERS to the politics of fear. Fifty six years ago---on July 30, 1956---to ward off evil Communist spirits, the phrase "In God We Trust" became our country's national motto, a move led by a Democratic congressman---Charles E. Bennett:
He proposed putting the phrase “In God We Trust,” which began appearing on coins in 1864, on all paper and coin currency. “In these days when imperialistic and materialistic communism seeks to attack and destroy freedom, we should continually look for ways to strengthen the foundations of our freedom,” he declared on the House floor.
Today people snort cocaine through rolled-up paper currency.
Freedom!!!
CHEERS to pushing back. Fresh off his "The IRS equals the Gestapo and it wants to kill people" remarks in June, Maine Gov. Paul LePage is out with a fresh insult for July. While noting that our education system could use some improvements, he had to be a dick and say that "I don’t care where you go in this country, if you come from Maine you're looked down upon." That didn’t sit well with some lots of folks from our fair state:
Maine Gov. Paul LePage says America looks down on us.
With him in the governor's mansion, I don't blame ya.
Ashley Graffam, a 2006 graduate of South Portland High School, headed to the University of New Hampshire for her college education, along with a number of other Maine students. At no point, she said, did she feel judged as inferior for being from Maine.
Jackie Richio, a 2002 Portland High School graduate who went to college in Florida and now lives and works in New York, said she doesn't pay much attention to Maine politics. When told of the governor's comment, Richio said, "That's absolutely absurd. It's insulting."
I'd love to tell you what the response is from our state's teachers, but my blast shield is still at the blacksmith getting a fresh coat of asbestos.
CHEERS to archiving a claim. Global warming is a hoax and it's all a plot by the United Nations and blah blah blah to something something something. A letter to the editor in The Portland Press Herald says as much, but the writer---David Dilley---makes a bold prediction that I'd like to preserve for posterity:
Several researchers such as myself (Global Weather Oscillations Inc.) are predicting a natural and very dramatic global cooling to begin within the next eight years. Are the governments of the world prepared for this event, or merely stuck in the political agenda mud? To find out, we all must gather and read all we can about both sides of the issue.
David Dilley
Dilley, it turns out, is on global warming denier James Inhofe's
bogus list of "expert" global warming deniers. Dilley doesn’t think anyone will remember to check up on his global-cooling prediction eight years from now. He's wrong. I'm taping it to the fridge. Silly Dilley.
CHEERS to an eye for an eye. On July 30, 1863, in response to reports that Confederate forces were executing blacks captured wearing the uniform of the Union Army, President Lincoln issued orders to shoot one rebel prisoner for every black prisoner reported shot. In fairness, that was only after threatening to revoke their beach volleyball privileges didn’t work.
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And four years ago in C&J: July 30, 2008...
A place for everything
and everything in its place.
CHEERS to the right answer. Yesterday's C&J poll asked about the proper placement of toilet paper on the roll, and the debate in the comments was hot and heavy (the overs beat the unders in a landslide). But amid all the friction appeared a perfect pearl of wisdom, provided by Kossack Ericy with the
wisdom of Yoda, Gandhi and Plato combined:
The toilet paper goes in the neighbor's tree. You know---the one that still has the Bush sticker on their car.
And if you can't find a Bush sticker, any old McCain one will do. Happy heaving!
Okay, it's Monday. Off to the salt mines we go. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Bill in Portland Maine may be the first person arrested for an aggravated raspberry.
---Jonathan Turley
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