Posted on 04/02/2010 11:31:29 PM PDT by Arec Barrwin
Thursday, April 1, 2010 7:10 PM EDT
P.A.C.T. Act is signed into law
By Christopher Michel Olean Times Herald
With President Barack Obama’s approval, the U.S. Postal Service is now prohibited from shipping cigarettes - a devastating blow to the Seneca Nation of Indians’ $330 million tobacco industry.
On Wednesday afternoon, President Obama signed the Prevention of All Cigarette Trafficking Act into law, nearly two weeks after the bill received its final approval in Congress. In addition prohibiting the mailing of cigarettes, the new law provides for stricter requirements in reporting cigarette sales from tobacco merchants and increased penalties for falsely reporting cigarette sales. Additionally, both federal and state governments will have more power to investigate violations.
Calling President Obama’s action a “deliberate betrayal,” Barry E. Snyder Sr., Seneca Nation president, condemned the new law.
“The president of the United States invited Native American leaders to Washington D.C. in November and looked us in the eye as a sign of good faith in his pledge to protect federal treaties,” President Snyder said. “Now four months later, he has betrayed that promise.
“In 1779, President George Washington was referred to as Hanodagonyas, an Iroquois term meaning ‘town destroyer,’ for his attempt to quell Native American uprisings,” President Snyder continued. “I think that term should be dusted off and given to Barack Obama for the economic destruction that P.A.C.T. Act will cause.
In the weeks leading up to the bill’s passage, Seneca leaders have estimated the Nation will lose up to 65 percent of its import/export revenues, which funds Seneca social-welfare programs. In addition, Nation officials say approximately 1,000 local jobs tied to Native mail-order cigarette sales will be lost.
With the new law slated to go into effect on July 1, J.C. Seneca, a Tribal councilor, said the Nation will brace for the impact.
“This is devastating for the Seneca Nation, the businesses and all the employees, but it won’t take us down. We’ve been pushed around by the government for centuries and we keep finding ways to survive,” Mr. Seneca said. “We’ll all be looking at ways to adapt and save as many jobs as possible.”
(Contact reporter Christopher Michel at Cmichel@oleantimesherald.com)
Weren’t Injuns a major 0bama voting bloc?
"Black and White and Red All Over Man" speak with forked tongue.
Which makes him kind of yellow.
Cheers!
Well I wonder what Van (give them the wealth, give them the wealth) Jones thinks of this??
Maybe it won’t bother him since these Indians weren’t being GIVEN anything, they were actually earning it.
A ban on “trafficking” in a perfectly legal product!?! Isn’t that lovely?
Native Americans for Hope and Change. Sucka’s
Native Americans for Hope and Change. Sucka’s
Screwed again.
Hmm I wonder if I will be able to get my e cig liq & parts for the e cig. That ban will be next no doubt. If you plan to get one I would do it soon.
There's ALMOST an acronym in that... NACHOs? LOL.
I deeply empathize with you, President Snyder. Obama looked us in the eye and made thousands of pledges, which 14 months later, he has systematically betrayed all of those endless promises.
You had federal treaties he violated.
We had a Constitution.
Native Americans are/were a sizable democrat party voting bloc.
I got a solution, found a loop hole.
You are still permitted to grow tobacco for personal use, so basically you pay someone else to farm it for you then you just pay the Senaca Nation to turn them into cigaretts, since it all gets mixed in to the production process they can’t charge you tax because you own the tobacco already in the cigs.
I am sure there is a loop hole here that can be exploted for someone’s millionare benefit.
bttt
Yes and no. You have to understand how most vote-fraud is perpetrated to really understand the situation.
NA's aren't big voters, yet they get large participation numbers in each close election. Why?
Because large-scale vote-fraud depends on voters...get this...not voting.
You see, every registered voter has a specific polling place. You can only vote in **one** (1) location (let's not get into absentee and military).
When a voter goes to her polling place, she shows ID, gets her name crossed off of the registered voter list for that polling place, is given a ballot, she votes, turns in her ballot, and leaves.
Well, when the polls close and the lights are turned off, there are a few names left on that voter registration list who never showed up to vote.
The criminals then take that same number of ballots, mark them as desired, and "stuff" them into the ballot box. This is known as "stuffing the ballot box."
Of course, the more real voters who fail to vote means that the criminals can mark up more blank ballots "for them" on election day. In effect, the vote-fixers are "voting for you" when you fail to show up to exercise your right to vote.
Areas with low voter interest, such as NA's on the Reservation, therefor get high "voter turnout" from the vote-fixers performing ballot fraud instead of from actual voters showing up to vote.
What law is that? I'm curious because it's completely the opposite for alcohol. In most states if you make your own hooch you still have to pay tax on it. The only exception is ethanol produced for fuel and you're only allowed to produce a trivial amount of that.
All perfectly legal and above board but in some areas, at this point, homegrown tobacco should be declared. Don't worry, you're not declaring anything dodgy or illegal, you're declaring it so that Customs & Excise can charge you duty on your finished tobacco.
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