Accomplishments of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Accomplishments of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy

(Source: Fox News)

The following is a list of legislation molded in whole or part by Kennedy:

1964: Head Start -- Provided meals and early education to pre-school children through the Employee Opportunity Act.

1965: Hart-Cellar Act: -- Changed immigration policy to abolish quotas and lift a 1924 ban on immigration from Asia.

1968: Bilingual Education Act-- Mandated for schools to provide bilingual education programs.

1970: Voting Age-- Lowered the age to vote to 18.

1971: Federal Cancer Research Program -- Quadrupled the amount of money spent by the federal government to fight cancer.

1972: Meals on Wheels-- Strengthened the federal program offering nutritional meals to homebound seniors.

1972: WIC-- Offered food, nutrition counseling and health services to low-income women, infants, and children.

1972: Title IX-- Demanded equal funding for men's and women's athletics on college campuses.

1974: Campaign Finance-- Imposed limits on contributions to political candidates and set up a public financing option, post-Watergate.

1975: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)-- Guaranteed free and appropriate public education to children with disabilities.

1978: Civil Rights Commission Act Amendments-- Expanded the jurisdiction of the Civil Rights Commission to protect people from discrimination on the basis of disability.

1978: Airline Deregulation-- Allowed airlines to choose their own fares, reducing costs for consumers.

1980: Refugee Act-- Established a U.S. policy for providing humanitarian assistance, admission and resettlement to refugees around the world.

1981: Fuel Assistance-- Provided home heating fuel for low-income and working poor families.

1983: Martin Luther King Day -- Established a national holiday to celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday.

1984: Improved Access to Polling Stations-- Required polling stations to provide physical accessibility for physically disabled and elderly people on federal election days.

1986: Employment Opportunities for Disabled Americans Act-- Allowed disabled workers to receive SSI benefits and Medicaid coverage.

1986: Anti-Apartheid Sanctions-- Banned the purchase of gold, coal, iron, and other goods from South Africa to protest apartheid.

1987: Even Start-- Offered early education, family literacy and related services to disadvantaged parents and their children.

1988: Fair Housing Act Amendments-- Prohibited discrimination towards people with disabilities in the sale or rental of housing.

1989: National Military Child Care Act-- Established the Department of Defense child care system.

1990: Americans with Disabilities Act-- Prohibited discrimination against any qualified individual with a disability in job application procedures, hiring or discharge, compensation, advancement and training.

1990: Ryan White CARE Act-- Provided assistance to states to develop effective and cost-efficient AIDS care programs, aimed particularly at early diagnosis and home care.

1991: Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty-- Halved the world's nuclear arsenal through cooperation with the U.S.S.R.

1991: Women in Combat-- Lifted the ban on women serving as combat aviators.

1992: Summer Jobs for Youth Program-- Appropriated $500 million to give 300,000 youth with summer employment.

1992: Mammography Quality Standards Act-- Ensured the safety and accuracy of mammograms and promoted the use of the procedure

1993: National and Community Service Trust Act-- Created AmeriCorps and the Corporation for National and Community Service to help expand volunteerism and education grants for students who choose to volunteer for service after college.

1993: Student Loans-- Allowed students to borrow money for college directly from the federal government.

1994: Family and Medical Leave Act-- Provided up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family emergencies or after the birth of infants.

1994: Crime Act-- Secured funding for 100,000 new police officers, imposed new penalties for crimes involving gangs and firearms and authorized the Police Corps, a program to award college scholarships to students in return for a commitment to serve as police officers.

1996: Kennedy-Kassebaum Act-- Enabled employees to keep health insurance after leaving their job and prohibited insurance companies from refusing to renew coverage on the basis of preexisting medical conditions.

1996: Mental Health Parity Bill -- Eliminated limits on mental health coverage that differ from other covered illnesses.

1996: Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Act-- Established Welfare-to-Work Initiatives to reduce the number of families dependent on government assistance.

1996/2007: Minimum Wage-- Increased the minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.15 in 1996, and then again from $5.15 in 2007 to $7.25 by 2009.

1997: State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) -- Supported state efforts to provide health insurance to uninsured children in low-income families.

2000: Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education Act-- Improved data systems and research on the extent and severity of minority health problems, and authorized significant resources to help enhance the delivery of health care to minorities.

2000 Public Health Threats and Emergencies Act-- Introduced initiatives to control the spread of germs resistant to antibiotics, and to protect the country against bioterrorism.

2001: No Child Left Behind Act -- Required more rigorous testing of public school students and permitted parents to transfer their children from low-performing to higher-performing schools.

2002: Bioterrorism Preparedness Act-- Established plan to help the country prevent, prepare for and respond to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies.

2002: Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act-- Expanded the country's intelligence and law enforcement capabilities to help identify individuals who have violated visas or have links to terrorist organizations.

2003: Up-Armored Humvees-- Provided funding for additional armor for military vehicles to meet the safety needs of American troops.

2003: PROTECT Act-- Provided funding for AMBER Alert notification systems along U.S. highways and awarded grants to states for the implementation of improved communication technologies.

2005: Gulf Coast Recovery and Preparedness Act-- Provided emergency funding to assist in the recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina.

2006: Family Opportunity Act-- Provided states the opportunity to expand Medicaid coverage to children with special needs and allowed low- and middle-income families with disabled children the ability to purchase coverage under the Medicaid program.

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Fr. Roger's Eulogy

Roger Joseph Ebacher, OCSO
May 19, 1919 – April 15, 2008

Eulogy

My name is Jim Ebacher, and I am Fr. Jerome’s nephew. My father was Fr. Jerome’s kid brother. They called him Bill, and we call Fr. Jerome, “Roger”, and his Medicare card calls him Joseph. It’s all kind of confusing. But, had my father lived into his old age, I’m sure he would have been here today at this lectern, also finding a way to make you laugh a little bit. So, I guess I’ll speak to you in his place.

Roger was born on May 19th, 1919, to French Canadian immigrants on May 19th, 1919, and grew up in Amesbury, Massachusetts. We trace our ancestry to one lone mercenary, a Frenchman, recruited by the Braunschweigers to fight the American colonial rebels in the war of Independence. The Braunschweigers lost that fight, but like many of those who were defeated, Jean-Baptiste Ebacher and his descendents the Ebacher and Baker families, settled in and around Quebec, Canada. At the turn of the last century many French Canadians we enticed to immigrate to Amesbury, Massachusetts to work on the new carriage factories, making the early horseless carriages. They needed skilled carpenters. Roger grew up as a boy in the Amesbury neighborhood called the “brickyard”, and as you might guess, this area was not known for its stunning views or fine homes. He was one of a family of four brothers and five sisters. Their mother died when Roger was in the 6th grade, naturally a traumatic experience which scarred Roger throughout his life and lead to his frail disposition. He has three surviving siblings; Beatrice, Margaret and Therese, all religious sisters in the order of St. Critienne in Marlboro, Massachusetts. Please keep them in your prayers.

Roger began his religious life at the minor seminary of Our Lady of LaSalette, in Enfield, New Hampshire. There, he was schooled in High School subject matter and in the languages of Greek, Latin, French and English. After LaSalette he explored his vocation with the LaSalette fathers, and I believe was quite close to ordination with them, when he felt called to the Trappist community at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Mass, which he then joined. While at this Abbey, he lost all his collected poems as the result of a fire, something he quietly grieved his entire life. He was part of the original foundation to Pecos, New Mexico, and he studied at the Vatican for a short time. He was with the community when they moved to this location in 1955. My apologies if I have any of this wrong.

In his final days, Roger told me quite often that he felt on the whole quite blessed in this life. He also expressed regret that he did not have a stronger prayer life and that he wasn’t a very good monk. The rule of St. Benedict has the motto Prayer and Work. Roger’s work was teaching, which he did as novice master for many years, painting, and his duties as Mass Secretary, and finally keeping everything tidy in the Sacristy. He believed all priests should be grounded in the classical philosophical thoughts of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, as well as the 20th century writings particularly of Whitehead. During the 1970’s Roger embarked on a systematic study of modern science, reading Biology, Physics, Anatomy, Psychology, and finishing with what he came to believe was the basis of all understand of matter, Quantum Physics. Naturally, there were few he could knowledgeably discuss these pursuits with. At the same time he began a study of painting with a teacher in McMinnville, a pursuit he dedicated a number of years to. Roger didn’t think he would live to see the new church, but he did, and he liked it very much, although he has his doubts when it was being planned. He expressed his appreciation for the love and support of Abbot Peter often to me, and enjoyed a warm fraternal relationship with Dom Bernard.

Roger was nervous and frail for much of his life. He was very conscious of his weak voice. He had a touchy constitution and generally kept only a few close friends in the Abbey. He had a number of secular contacts; men and women who came to him for confession and who enjoyed discussions of philosophy. These visits were uplifting to his spirits. I don’t know anything about most of these relationships, but I’m sure their stories will be told and we will learn new things about Fr. Jerome.

He was a philosopher. His writings represent a body of concise thought about the nature of existence. And, in his later years he felt that it was quite complete, that he has said all he wanted to say, even if it sadly may never be read and understood by another human being. In his final years, he often spoke of how he felt a peace with the completeness of his writings. The only spiritual connection he ever spoke of to me was with ST. THERESE OF LISIEUX, a doctor of the church, known as the little flower. He had an old black and white photograph of her in his room, and he often spoke of feeling her personal presence with him.

Roger was a beloved uncle to me, and like a grandfather to my children. Maybe this is an odd thing for a monk. I don’t know. It seems quite natural to us. My relationship began the year before my father died, when I spend January term here, having come by Greyhound bus from Minnesota. Some of you here today remember this. Roger returned my visit by officiating at our wedding in Minnesota just 4 years later. He gave First Communion to our four children, and no matter how noisy and rambunctious they were, always received them with love and joy. Like us, he rejoiced in their achievements and growth. Over the past few years he often spoke of his longing to be with God in eternal life. He was impatient with his existence and not at all sure why he was still hanging around. Roger was my father surrogate, and although I miss my father very deeply, I have always felt he was actually still with me, not at all gone. And now, I grieve the loss to me of both of these gentle men who have given me so much.

His last coherent words to me were that when it gets down to it, it’s really all about the Father Almighty. Just the Father, at the center of it all. And I will leave you with that mystery. It might be an unwritten coda to the symphony of this one monk’s life of seeking an understanding of existence. Roger felt he had come to some measure of Truth in his thoughts and writings, and also felt the presence of the devil who was trying to shut him up. I believe Roger has finally won his struggle; his struggle with life and Truth.

When we come into the world we proclaim our arrival with loud cries and complaints. When we go, life just sneaks out of us. Somewhere between, if we are lucky and we put for the effort to find it, one can find a measure of revelation. This is what I’ve learned from my dear uncle.

I want to thank you all for coming today and letting me speak briefly with you. I want to express to all of you the gratitude for the prayers that made Jerome’s passing a smooth journey, and supported us throughout the vigil and his illness these past many months.

I want to close with a poem Roger wrote a long time ago. It’s called “Imaculata”.

IMMACULATA

She rests in the clean dawn, my white-
winged Dove, in the clefted reef, cooing,
wooing the Rising-Sun.

Mine is the Morning-Glory, bright
in twilit brittleness,
lipping,
lapping the soonest Ray.

She is a Forest-Virgin, awed
to tremor and hush, yet
dancing,
clapping her atom-hands.

Mine, this clearest fountain, with
trembling sparks in glee,
leaping,
telling of full-day’s Flame.

James Joseph Ebacher
Read at Roger's Funeral Reception
4-19-08

Jim and Pat Ebacher - Our Life

Saturday, August 29, 2009