King Obama is very satisfied with himself today as he announced new regs which put tobacco under control of the Food and Drug Administration for the first time.
This is just more of the same – the same old hypocritical stance the government has used for decades. They want to seem to care about the public health, yet the taxes levied upon tobacco are needed, wanted, and critical.
"After a decade of opposition, all of us are finally about to achieve the victory with this bill, a bill that truly defines change in Washington. I’m proud the House and the Senate have acted swiftly and in overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion that will protect our kids and improve our public health," the president, a current smoker, said from the Rose Garden.
First, we do not know if he has quit for good or not. Update: press conference on June 24th, Obama admits he still smokes.
Second, liar, liar, pants on fire. You need the "revenue" so all this crapola about our health is, well, crapola.
Third, we touch upon rights – the rights of smokers, and yes, they do have all the rights the rest of us have.
Minnesota State Sen. David Tomassoni is a Democrat who opposes a statewide smoking ban and worries about the lost tax dollars.
“The taxes on smoking are being used to fund education, they’re being used to fund health care, they’re being used to fund real things. Now, if we eliminate smoking, does it mean that those things go away?” Tomassoni said. Less Tobacco Revenue
The bill says it will lessen the 400,000 deaths a year attributed to smoking. It would allow the FDA to reduce how much nicotine is in cigarettes. It would also ban most cigarettes flavoring, excluding menthol. Banning all flavors but not Menthol? I wonder which group that panders to?
Dumb, dumb, dumb. Instead of looking at nicotine, check out the additives – the poisons added to cigarettes! There are 599 of them! It is the additives that are addictive, not the nicotine. My personal experience — I know this as a 39-year former smoker. I stopped without a problem because I had been smoking non-additive cigs (Native). They had NO additives of any kind. If you are going to smoke, do yourself a favor and switch to Native. Buy them online as well.
Back to this schizophrenic relationship to tobacco…
Opposition in the House came from Republicans concerned about government intrusion in private enterprise and tobacco state lawmakers.
The bigger and magnanimous goal is to reduce deaths linked to smoking and the health care costs associated with it. That’s crapola and dangerous crapola at that! Next they will outlaw sugar. Oh yeah, Obama has already mentioned that soda tax and sugar tax — even a tax on beer and wine! How much longer will it take before they dictate exactly what (and how much) you are allowed to eat? Oh, they are already doing that under the guise of health. Get out of my kitchen, my dining room, my house and my life!
Smoking is responsible for more than 30 percent of all cancer deaths…and [this bill] should have a huge impact on reducing the death and disease brought on by tobacco use." said Dr. Douglas Blayney, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Dr. Nancy Nielsen, president of the AMA proclaimed this "historic legislation is a victory for public health over Big Tobacco." Yeah.
Yet….tobacco taxes fund health programs like SCHIP and anti-smoking educational programs and early education programs and lots more…. 22 Million New Smokers Needed
Honestly, I never thought I would have to move to Canada to be FREE!
[...] point is, that you already have new taxes (cigarettes that hit the poorest sector) and a whole bunch to come. They cannot be called "taxes" but [...]