Affordable Health Care America Act Signed Today

Doug Mills/The New York Times

"We have just now enshrined, as soon as I sign this bill, the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health care," President Obama declared.

A big day in Washington D.C. and a monumental day for the nation, as we move forward towards affordable health care and the removal of pre-existing conditions which, for years, has kept millions of people uninsured. Today, Obama, armed with pen, signed his health care overhaul; this bill is, perhaps, the biggest act of social legislation in decades. Obama used twenty pens in the signing of the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which he planned to pass out as tokens to key lawmakers. The Affordable Health Care Act has been a dream for many politicians for 40 years, starting with the late Senator Ted Kennedy in 1970 when he introduced the idea to provide national health insurance. In the audience, Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island (perhaps one of the most important players in the quest for this health bill), held his father's original bill from 1970 which he gifted to Obama with a personal message inside.

Passed by the House on Sunday night by a vote of 219-212, the bill will provide coverage to the estimated 30 million people who do not have it, as well as:

• require most Americans to have health insurance coverage
• add 16 million people to the Medicaid rolls
• would subsidize private coverage for low- and middle-income people
• cost the government about $938 billion over 10 years
• estimated that the bill would reduce the federal deficit by $138 billion over a decade

The battle is far from over and there will be many who are not happy about the signing of this bill. There are always two sides to every argument and there will be a lot more said about this subject before any recognizable changes can be seen within our health care system. No longer will Americans be disenfranchised regarding their health care. In the recovery community countless people will be able to get health insurance for the first time. This bill will have lasting effects perhaps unlike anything seen since the 30's regarding social legislation. We will be following this story.

"Our presence here today is remarkable, and improbable: with all the punditry, all of the lobbying, all of the game-playing that passes for governing in Washington, it's been easy at times to doubt our ability to do such a big thing, such a complicated thing; to wonder if there are limits to what we as a people can still achieve." -President Obama-

Mexican Cartels Are Not Playing Around and They Will Stop At Nothin

Mexican cartels have been ravaging the pristine forests that cover the vast state of California. Unlike anything that has ever been seen, the size of the cartels marijuana fields dwarf any fields planted by the residents of California. As the medical marijuana movement sweeps across the country the cartels have found a way to exploit the relaxed marijuana laws. Plant numbers are of no concern to the cartels who smuggle illegal immigrants into the country to tend 70,000 plant crops on public lands, which end up yielding 35 to 75,000 pounds of marijuana in one harvest. At the end of the day it makes financial sense for the cartels to grow marijuana in the United States, having the product already on this side of the border saves millions in transportation costs. When the marijuana is harvested the cartels can easily move the drug to every major city in the United States. California is finding that it simply does not have the manpower to police these activities.

Brent Wood, a supervisor for the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, said to the AP; "just like the Mexicans took over the methamphetamine trade, they've gone to mega, monster gardens". Methamphetamine production shifted across the border into Mexico a few years back when the United States cracked down on the availability of Pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in Meth. The meth labs created in Mexico were larger than any ever attempted before, reminiscent of the scale of the guerrilla marijuana operations taking place in the States. The cartels are not playing around and they will stop at nothing to get what they desire - billions of dollars.

On top of trashing public lands, the cartels have been holding people hostage on the farms to work the land. The cartels find out where their workers' families are back in Mexico and use their loved ones as leverage to keep them working. "Many of the plots are encircled with crude explosives and are patrolled by guards armed with AK-47s who survey the perimeter from the ground and from perches high in the trees", according to an AP report. How are local authorities supposed to combat this growing threat?