Why not just round up ALL the smokers???

KOMO TV ^ | 11/27/2001 | Ken Schram

[notyourregularhandle]

SEATTLE - Maybe it's time to just round up all the smokers.

We can send authorities out to rip little babies from the arms of those Marlboro smokin' moms. Dads can stoically drag on a Lucky Strike as their kids watch them being hauled away.

Why not? Smokers are all pariahs; a blight on society whose only value is the ever-increasing tax revenue they provide by their pitiful purchases of packs and cartons of tobacco.

With passage of Initiative 773, that tax revenue takes a big bump up. Maybe.

I-773 adds another .60 cents in tax to each and every pack of cigarettes. On Jan. 1, that'll total out to $1.43 tax per pack.

Now, while smokers may be pariahs, they're not stupid. They can get a better deal at tribal smokeshops. They can order tax-free cigarettes over the Internet. Of course, it's illegal to do that.

Which has redrawn the attention of state authorities and state economists. With dollar signs lighting up their eyes, state folks are trying to figure out how to trap those swindling smokers.

'Cause if they can catch 'em, then they can fine them.

Oooooh, MORE revenue!

Who should be next? Tax cheaters who buy expensive clothes and stereos online, slicing the state out of the take?

How about we frisk grandma as she comes back from Oregon with a couple of untaxed bottles of peppermint schnapps in her purse?

Forget it. That's a bad idea. See, they're "good" citizens.

Smokers? They're easy targets. Who'd speak out for someone dumb enough to be sucking addictive, unhealthy crap into their lungs? Tax 'em with impunity!

By the way, time to fess up here. I smoke.

So, who knows. Maybe someday you can round us all up; snatch the babies from our arms; send us off to where we'll never be heard from again (once the tax coffers are filled).

Then? Well, then you can go after those red meat eaters!

[Fraulein]

Smokers are all pariahs; a blight on society...

Somehow smoking in the US has turned into a moral issue. If you smoke, then you must be a bad person...

[Chuckster]

those Japanese tourists who visit Hawaii, they demand their smoking privileges, too. So see, it's not all banned. For victory & freedom!!!

Not so fast there; don't get your hopes up. The city council in Honolulu (Now that Japanese visitor traffic is down nearly 50%) Is considering driving a stake through the heart of the states only real industry, tourism, by instituting a smoking ban like the one in force in California. The sponsoring councilman, strangely enough Duke Bainum from Waikiki, is running for mayor too.

[notyourregularhandle]

lol

[Jaded]

Is PETA behind TaxMeat? Sunday, George Will likened Montgomery Co., MD to the Taliban for EVEN suggesting the law that is soon to be on the books.

[notyourregularhandle]

WASHINGTON...BUY EM HERE!!!

[ofMagog]

Cancer cures smoking.

[Yankee]

Well I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't go to the reservation for tax free cigarettes, to save money.

I spend money on smokes there, out of a sense of obligation, to make reparations for the atrocities commited against Native Americans by our forebears.

Just like X-42 said.

See, I've learned to turn the stupidity of "enlightend liberal" thinking to serve my own purposes.

(I also convinced my girlfriend that it is inhumane to kill poor defenseless animals, just to make a fur coat for her to wear. Now I need one to cover gemstones. Maybe something about the poor, exploited, third-world, diamond mine workers. Too bad that South African boycott ended. )

[Old Professer]

Did you know that until just a few years ago, most firefighters were active smokers?

So were miners; odd, isn't it?

[Old Professer]

Stupidity kills more people than all the tobacco in the world could do.

It's too crowded around here, anyway.

[notyourregularhandle]

Did you know that until just a few years ago, most firefighters were active smokers? So were miners; odd, isn't it?

Yeah what happened?

[notyourregularhandle]

I spend money on smokes there, out of a sense of obligation, to make reparations for the atrocities commited against Native Americans by our forebears.

I like it! ;)

[Fraulein]

How quickly we forget that liver disease/cirrhosis is one of the top ten leading causes of death in this country, and that alcohol is listed as a leading cause in accidental deaths.

People who eat meat are at least 30 percent more likely to die of a heart attack, 40 percent more likely to get cancer, and are at risk for many other diseases and illnesses, including stroke, obesity, appendicitis, osteoporosis, arthritis, and diabetes.

Where do we draw the line? Anyway, the main point is that the government doesn't want smokers to stop smoking. That's just a smokescreen. And the tax revenues aren't going toward health costs anyway.

States are frittering away the money they extorted from the tobacco firms

[notyourregularhandle]

sooo everyone that disagrees with you ADDICTED sickos are NAZIS??????-

You just called me an "ADDCITED SICKO...AND A NAZI?"

AM I UNDERSTANDING THIS RIGHT?

If so, you're a very very confused person...

[Old Professer]

They died.

[headsonpikes]

"...you're a very very confused person..."

Nope. He's just jonesing for a smoke! lol

[notyourregularhandle]

LOL