Posted on 08/02/2006 2:28:12 PM PDT by HAL9000
Excerpt -
LITTLE ROCK - Gov. Mike Huckabee, who successfully pushed for a statewide workplace smoking ban earlier this year, predicted Wednesday that cigarettes eventually won't be sold because of their health risks."I think the day will come when we probably won't" sell cigarettes, Huckabee said on his monthly call-in radio show. "If cigarettes were introduced to the marketplace today, they wouldn't be sold. They'd never make it because what we didn't know when they were first created, sold and marketed is just how deadly harmful they were."
Huckabee was responding to a caller's question of why cigarettes are allowed to be sold if they are so harmful. The governor fielded complaints from at least two callers about the state smoking ban, which went into effect July 21.
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(Excerpt) Read more at pbcommercial.com ...
"If cigarettes were introduced to the marketplace today, they wouldn't be sold. They'd never make it because what we didn't know when they were first created, sold and marketed is just how deadly harmful they were."
If automobiles were introduced today they would not be approved by the government due to the dangers they pose to individuals. If the Hoover Dam were proposed today it would not be approved due to enviro effects. If aspirin were introduced today it would not be approved due to the FDA requirements.
So what? The "Big Dig" is responsible for more deaths than exposure to second hand smoke.
"The question is, should the rest of us be responsible for any of the harm?"
Another "conservative" that would like to solve problems caused by socialistic policies with fascist policies. There seems to be a lot of these "conservatives."
Comparing Excise Taxes on Cigarettes, Beer and Wine
Number of six-packs of beer that must be sold in Arkansas to produce the same state excise tax revenue generated by one carton of cigarettes: 26.3
Number of bottles of wine that must be sold in Arkansas to produce the same state excise tax revenue generated by one carton of cigarettes: 22.9
Arkansas Smokers' Contributions to the State Economy - 2002
Smokers Pay Excise Taxes2 $ 79,846,771
Smokers Pay Sales Taxes2 $ 32,876,060
Smokers Pay Tobacco Settlement Payments3 $59,189,991
Total: $171,912,822
"To me - I think it is rude to smoke around other people who choose not to smoke..."
It is even ruder to utilize government force to ensure that the property owner can not cater to a market segment he desires. If you don't want to be around smoke then don't enter private property that allows smoking. I find a lot of rudeness at buffet restaurants, as a result I don't frequent those venues. I would never dream of supporting legislation to outlaw buffet restaurants to ensure that I don't take the risk of encountering rude behaviour.
"Nor is the use of a poison a part of my definition of life itself."
Ewwww, you bathroom must be filthy!
The Volstead Act?
Perhaps the government should declare war on cigarettes. I'm sure it would be as successful as their war on poverty and drugs. And I'm not even a smoker.
Not sure which one you mean, but if the liberal nanny state people get their way they will be banning beef for the fat and cholesterol, skimpy bathing suits for the skin cancer danger, knives because we might cut ourselves, and automobiles because of the high injury and fatality rates.
Won't happen, at least not by government fiat. One only need look at prohibition and the current "drug war" to see how it would turn out.
I was referring to the skimpy bathing suits, however, after your explanation I understand fully how they fit with the rest. This is all so pathetic. Choices and personal responsiblity.......great ideas gone done the black hole.
LOL!
I have to admit smoking in a regular grocery store is where I personally draw the line.
Not that I have the right to tell a grocery store owner he couldn't allow smoking, I just wouldn't patronize one that did.
I don't even smoke in my house, much less around food! Ugh!
(grin)
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We do have a local Mom & Pop convenience store that has a section in the back where the locals coffee clatch every morning, and customers and employees do smoke in the store. Places like that where all freedoms are still honored is one of the joys of living in the sticks! :-)
Well, not anymore. You just blew their cover.
;-)
I did not live in the sticks 20 years ago. I lived in the suburbs of a major city. Nearly everyone in the check out line at the major supermarkets would light up as they waited their turn.
It was the same at doctors offices, hospital rooms, unless oxygen was being used, and the like. We were not always patrolled and castigated as we are now.....back in the days when America was a free country.
he talks drunk talk
Presumption of guilt before establishment of legal fact.
You MIGHT become a gigolo, since (I'm guessing), you have the equipment to become such. Can you be prosecuted as one just because you have the POTENTIAL to prostitute yourself?
'Impairment' is no different. The Founders established our country with the intention that the people were sovereign, and that a person had to actually be judged guilty of committing a crime before you could be punished for it.
Seeing the reverence in which you (rightfully) hold the Constitution on your homepage, one would think you would understand the document a little better before spouting off.
What addiction?
I've smoked off and on for 45 years.
I stop and start. It's not even a conscious decision, I just periodically run out of supplies and it just doesn't occur to me to restock. Sometimes that goes on for years, one time for 7 years.
That's not an addiction.
But, as I said, the choice is yours.
That certainly was the case before you behavioral scientist thugs became emboldened through a highly-successful propaganda campaign.
If this is his mindset, along with the other legislation he proposed, then yes, he is off the list. And no, I don't smoke.
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