Posted on 07/27/2011 6:54:41 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
i agree with you, smoking bans are usually ridiculous.
this one, though, i’m fine with. if these people can afford to smoke, why can’t they afford to get off public assistance?
Some how I can’t get too worked up over the freedoms of those receiving public housing. Particularly, considering the cost of tobacco taxes. (a 2 pack a day smoker is paying almost six dollars a day or 180 a month in taxes) We are subsidizing their housing, they are paying taxes back to the Gov’t in Tobacco Tax and the only beneficiary is the gov’t which gets their votes for keeping them in public housing.
To paraphrase Ben Franklin: “Never let the poor be comfortable in their condition or they will never be motivated to change it.”
Just some quick math will show you that a smoking habit costs $300 per month.
Exactly. See post 21
Cries of “RACISM!” (sponsored by Newport) coming in 3....2...1....
I’ll start the popcorn
As a smoker and taxpayer, I must say, that if I cannot smoke in or near the buildings I help pay for (courthouses, dmv, etc.), then by golly, no one should smoke in a building I help pay for.
Additionally, I am assuming most of these folks are on welfare and I resent helping them pay almost 10 bucks a pack, so they can sit home and smoke all day.
Yes but it is also a good method of getting tax money from the poor.
This is just like county jails that’ve banned smoking.
I’m not at all certain we want this particular crowd to think there’s no difference ~ else they’ll be using crime to finance jail time vacations or something ~ just to, like, you know, GET AWAY FROM IT ALL.
What everyone fails to notice is these people have a pack per day (at least) habit and live in public housing. I’m not a smoker but a pack per day is roughly $150/month. How can they afford this while I am paying for their housing? That’s the real outrage.
wait until they ban french fries!
I suppose you could say the same thing about Obama.
If you are a smoker the solution is simple. Move out of public housing. They seem to lack money for rent, but do have money for tobacco, booze, drugs, gold teeth, fancy rims and tattoos. Go figure. They get no sympathy from me.
Mixed opinion on this one.
On one hand of course is the huge issue that we are paying for these people to have a roof over their heads, food on their tables, healthcare, daycare, etc etc. Cigarettes have become so incredibly expensive I have to question how anyone on welfare can afford to smoke but can’t afford to support themselves.
With that said, I have a huge issue with the government telling people what legal activities they can or can not engage in in the privacy of their own homes. Those who do not see a slippery slope only need to consider legislation that has been passed for years that have allowed the government to intrude into our homes, into our lives, the Constitution be damned, all for the current cause of the day.
Legislation has been proposed to outlaw smoking in cars when minors are present or even if minor children will at some point ride in that vehicle.
Legislation has been proposed that would outlaw smoking completely in multi-unit housing even in cases where the units are privately owned.
Give a politician a cause and more often than not they will propose a law that will infringe on our rights.
Once the camel gets a nose under the tent it’s impossible to stop him from fully entering.
Consider this before cheering on another way the government can go into peoples homes and regulate activity; you may hate smoking, but guaranteed one day there will be a law making something you enjoy illegal, if it hasn’t happened already.
They will smoke anyway and nobody will be able to do anything about it.
They have nowhere to go and they are supposedly poor. They aren’t going to kick them out on the street.
Nope, as long as you’re paying for it (and everything else in your life), it’s your own decision.
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