steve, get this: AB2744 has been introduced in California to raise alcohol taxes:
Distilled spirits tax rate would go up 160%.
Reason?
The Bill actually admits that due to the fact that they are spending the tobacco settlement on projects other than health, they need monies to replace that cash, so they want to increase taxes on liquor, beer, and wine for health care.
Of course they use the same flawed statistics to try to justify their actions.
"From July 1, 2000 to July 30, 2001, 60% of the patients admitted into emergency rooms in LA tested positive for alcohol."
So? Did it have anything to do with the reason they were there? No.
I guess if they surveyed patients admitted between the hours of 6am & 10 am they'd find that 75% had milk or coffee in their systems!
These politicians have got to go.
As for removing kids from homes where parents smoke: I really believe this can happen. If a kid gets torqued off at his parents, all he has to do is complain about "abuse at home." Social Services would be on the parents so fast it would make their heads spin!
It would actually come down to "if social services" had time to pursue it. But, I have seen nuttier things happen, when it comes to kids. Remember that woman with the teen-aged son, and she divorced her non-smoking husband? The Judge made it so she could NOT smoke around the son, in her apartment or car! Talk about Communism.