'Marlboro Country' Montana Gets Smoking Ban

fox ^ | 4-7-05

[LouAvul]

HELENA, Mont. — Montana, which has served as Marlboro Country in magazine ads depicting rugged cowboys puffing on cigarettes while riding a fence line, is about to outlaw smoking just about everywhere but the great outdoors.

The state Legislature voted Thursday to ban smoking in all enclosed public places, including bars and restaurants.

The Senate approved the measure 40-10 on Thursday. It passed the House last month.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer (search) said he will sign it. Montana (search) will become one of just 10 states to ban smoking on such a widespread scale. California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island have similar laws.

[SheLion]

WOW I'm up late. LOL!

[JohnD9207]

Carton price of cigarettes on the internet 25.00 state tax ZERO. Screw em. And the ups truck brings them to your front door. Where there is a way.........

[SheLion]

Hey you two! I am going to shut down for the night.

I will come back here in the morning to ketchup.

Have a wonderful night there and don't let the anti's get you down! Stand up and fight for what is right like you both always do!!!!

Your friend,

Sleep well.

[Gabz]

SL - I have to start at the bottom of your post - I'm just laughing far too hard.

He thinks I live in a double wide .....

I was reading some real estate listings to hubby yesterday afternoon from the weekly paper - a 20 year old doublewide less than 20 miles from us is listed at close to $300,000. I kid you not - and I can guarantee they will get it because of it's location. If it were located just another mile away they could get $500,000.

I have come to the conclusion that the "FReepers" that call smokers vile names and question our hygiene or intelligence are the ones that do not get out much.

I have met a lot of FReepers, non-smokers and smokers at different functions and to a one they are on our side when it comes to bans and taxes

The day I meet a "FReeper" face to face who tells me that government bans of smoking on private property is a good thing is the day I will turn off my computer.

[Gabz]

Carton price of cigarettes on the internet 25.00 state tax ZERO

Learn about the other cigarette companies - there are many brands out there as good as "the" brands and a heck of a lot cheaper.

When I can't get my preferred tobacco for rolling my own (RYO) the brand I buy is only $12.00 including sales tax at the local markup(oops market). I also buy from a company that does not participate in the extortion known as the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA).

[Gabz]

Sleep well, my FRiend.........plese ping me in the morning if something comes up on this thread - as I am about to also shut down for the night.

I played to late last night and it is catching up with me - I'm not as young as I used to be and have to be upto deal with hair and getting child on the buss before 7:30.

[Mears]

My goodness,my little dog was 13 in January. My last one lasted until 14.

This little one has gone deaf in the past year,has vision and hip problems,but still loves to eat,and eat,and eat.

Time for a diet!

[Mears]

My all time favorites are:

1. We all have low birth weight babies.

2. Our kids are more likely to become delinquents.

3. The filthy stuff on our walls has to be SCRAPED off!(Remember that one).

$. The entire non-smoking poulation has to pay our huge medical bills.

[calex59]

I seriously doubt SHS has anything to do with the hip displasia (sp?) and arthritis my 13 year old lab/chessie is dealing with.

Most pure bred dogs are susceptible to hip disorders, comes from having to inbreed somewhat to keep the line pure. Most mogrels will not get these hip disorders, or so I am told by a vet, maybe he is wrong?

[clearsight]

Government Health Police.........
...........THEY ARE EVERYWHERE.....THEY ARE EVERYWHERE.......RUN AWAY....RUN AWAY.....RUN AWAY......

[Gabz]

My old girl will be 13 in June - the "puppy" will be 2 next month.

The first dog I had was a daschund that was born the day before me..she was actually my grandfather's dog but I was her person. My mother would take me to the park, while daddy and pop were at work, as an infant and bring the dog with us. she would put the dog in the carriage to cross the 6 lane street - you did not attempt to touch the baby (me) while that dog was around.

I remember that dog actually biting my father not long after my parents bought the house I grew up in - I was 5 and he swatted my butt for running into the street. That was one protective dog.

[Mears]

Daschunds are feisty little things,aren't they? There is one next door.

I doubt if I'll get another dog,although I can't imagine not having one.

We'll see!

[Gabz]

Gee, now I'm a delinquent???????

Both my parents smoked - the only times I was sick as a kid was when I had the mumps and chicken pox. My younger brother also had both and also scarlet fever.


Last I heard none of those diseases have anything to do with smoking or being exposed to it.

As to filthy walls - when I took down the pictures from the walls in the place we sold in Dover the only things I had to do were remove cob webs and patch the holes. Beyond that, the walls were just fine.

[Mears]

Sounds like my five kids----communicable diseases and LOTS of cuts,scrapes,stitches,and broken bones.

I don't know how I even gave them good care I was so busy smoking!!!!! LOL

[Gabz]

Hip disorders are generally found in the pure breds - there is litle question about that.

As a rule mongrels will not get the hip disorders and so your vet is correct. I happen to know the progeny of my old girl, and so it is not suprising to me. What is suprising is that she is as old as she is.

[Gabz]

Yes, daschunds are feisty.........I've never had another one. She was nearly 17 when we lost her

Hubby says that when our old girl goes we will remain a one dog household - he said the same thing when we lost our first one 2 years ago.....however I do agree the size will come down quite a few notches. I'm thinking beagle, bassett, cocker size - not lab size.

[Gabz]

You're too funny!!!!!!!!!

And I'm too tired - I need to call it a night.

Love ya FRiend....sleep well.

[JohnD9207]

The entire non-smoking poulation has to pay our huge medical bills.

Love that one. If the state and federal taxes were culled out and set aside, we could buy Montana and set up hospitals for our own use. However those TAXES are used to fund every Left/Right wing cause with no regard paided to smokers needs and wants. The Lung/health police are everywhere even among the conservative movement.

[An American Patriot]

"I may be wrong...but the use of the tobacco settlement money is strictly regulated...it doesn't go back to the State for the State's use...it goes to non-smoking campaigns, etc. The States are getting no tax relief from this settlement."

Sorry, my friend, but you are WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!

Don't' know where you have been living, but EVERY state, (including mine, Vermont) has used very little of their windfall as it was intended. Most have used it to balance their budgets or for other general fund purposes. Here is one article: Altria's current plight, rife with irony and contradiction, demonstrates how private and public interests can become entangled in surprising ways.

The very states that won huge tobacco settlements in 1997 and 1998 became hooked on the money, which for many states is staving off budgetary catastrophe. The Illinois court order threatens the tobacco cash flow and has sent the states scurrying to switch sides.

All of this has angered public-health activists and some of the attorneys general who were part of the settlements. "Certainly many of us never anticipated that states would become addicted to the tobacco money as a way to finance their operations," said Scott Harshbarger, who was attorney general of Massachusetts at the time of the settlements. "It's a perversion of the intention of the litigation, and it's very unfortunate, both as a matter of public policy and a matter of health policy."

The settlements didn't restrict how states could spend the tobacco money. But the purpose of the state lawsuits was to generate funds to cover public-health costs and smoking-prevention programs, not general budget needs, Mr. Harshbarger said.

What changed? Under the tobacco settlements of the late 1990s, major cigarette manufacturers agreed to pay the states a total of $246 billion over 25 years to settle lawsuits. The companies also agreed to a series of restrictions on the way they sell cigarettes.

The settlements have given state governments a huge additional interest in the continued financial health of the tobacco industry, especially in these days of declining tax revenues and widening state budget deficits. Many states also have relied increasingly on cigarette-excise taxes.

Philip Morris, for its part, is aggressively playing on the states' dependence. The company is due to pay $2.5 billion to the states by April 15 but is warning it may not be able to do so because of the Illinois bond order. Philip Morris is responsible for roughly half of the yearly settlement payment to the states. Its annual payment is usually made early, on March 31, but on Monday, the states didn't get their fix.

'Real Money'

William H. Sorrell, the Vermont attorney general, said he has already warned the state's governor and legislators that "they might not be getting money they have already spent" -- $13 million, in Vermont's case. Said Mr. Sorrell: "Thirteen million dollars is real money in Vermont."

Several states that had planned to issue bonds backed by expected tobacco-settlement payments were scrambling to come up with new ways of raising money to close budget deficits. Virginia's treasurer, Jody M. Wagner, Tuesday put on hold $767 million in such bonds, sales of which were scheduled to close on Thursday. "We spoke with the underwriters this morning, and they told us they couldn't proceed with closing this deal," Ms. Wagner said. The state had planned to use the bond money to revitalize the economy of its slumping tobacco-growing regions.

Also now in doubt: California's plan to sell $2 billion of bonds backed by tobacco payments in mid-April to help finance its huge deficit. Similarly at risk is a plan in New York to float a hybrid $4.2 billion bond offering backed by personal-income tax revenues and tobacco money. Kansas had planned to float $175 million in capital-improvement bonds, funded partly by tobacco-settlement payments, which would have covered that state's $105 million budget gap for the current fiscal year

http://reclaimdemocracy.org/weekly_2003/state_tobacco_dependence.html

[An American Patriot]

"No smoking in bars, that is unreal. I can understand resturants, but bars?"

No, my friend, what is "unreal" is that some states (mine, for instance, VERMONT, which is always left out of the list) has taken this "Nanny-state" initiative one step further.

Here in Burlington, the City Council recently passed an ordinance to prohibit smoking in Private Clubs as well as restaurants and bars and the House just this week, passed a bill applying this standard state-wide.

I'm sure it will pass the Senate and even though we have a R Governor, (Douglas) I am convinced he will sign this bill.

Now just imagine, you are in the reserves/guards and get called up; you put your "butt" (pun intended) on the line and if you survive and return to "the world," and decide to join the VFW or Legion, you now cannot light up?

Is there something wrong with this picture?