News about the new health care plan finally being passed spread like wildfire late Sunday night/early Monday morning. I actually watched President Obama's speech on CNN Live after the Senate passed the bill and his words never cease to inspire me.
After checking up on the latest reactions to the bill, I came across a TIME Magazine article describing how and why the President used 22 pens to sign it... That's right. 22 pens.
Why, you ask? Well thanks attentive reader for asking. I'll tell you.
Apparently signing historic documents with many pens is a white house tradition. More pens means more historical memorabilia. It's as simple as that. These pens are often given out as tokens of appreciation to those who may have helped in the process.
According to TIME, President Lyndon Johnson used more than 75 pens to sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and gave one of the first pens to Martin Luther King, Jr.
Video of President Johnson signing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK2GdOxz3s0
On to more pressing issues...
I'm sure you're wondering about the whole suing part. Well, I'll get right to it.
CNN posted a story describing how 14 states' attorney generals are taking legal action, 13 in federal court against the new health care reform bill. CNN says, "Thirteen of those officials filed suit in a federal court in Pensacola, Florida, minutes after Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act."
CNN article & video of press conference: http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/23/health.care.lawsuit/index.html?hpt=T1
Reportedly, 12 of those thirteen officials are republicans and one is a democrat. Including attorney generals from the States of Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Washington. The governor of Washington, Chris Gregoire (democrat), criticized the state's Attorney General Rob McKenna(republican) for adding the her state to the lawsuit.
Florida's Attorney General Bill McCollum deems the bill as "unconstitutional." And the lawsuit states, "The Constitution nowhere authorizes the United States to mandate, either directly or under threat of penalty, that all citizens and legal residents have qualifying health care coverage."
Now does that even sound right?
I have 4 responses to the lawsuit:
1. Nor does the United States Constitution anywhere prohibit such a mandate.
2. Federal law always overrides state law.
3. This is a waste of tax payers money.
4. Are you retarded?
I'll leave it at that.
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