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The Truth About Smoking: A Government Extortion Racket
CNSNews.com Commentary from the National Anxiety Center ^
| March 20, 2002
| Alan Caruba
Posted on 03/20/2002 5:50:27 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen
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To: Stand Watch Listen
Kinda like 95% of what both state and federal governments do. If people really added up all the blatant and hidden taxes they pay they'd realize were are already more slaves than we are free and it's getting worse.
2
posted on
03/20/2002 5:57:00 AM PST
by
ridensm
To: Stand Watch Listen
I'll bet they are really drooling over the prospect of fast food money. What's next, let's go after the soda pop bottlers for tooth decay, this moniter is hurting my sons eyes -that should be actionable. Hell, the "revenue enhancement" possibilities are endless
3
posted on
03/20/2002 6:00:24 AM PST
by
steve50
To: steve50
Shhh! Let's not give 'em any ideas.
4
posted on
03/20/2002 6:03:05 AM PST
by
rdb3
To: Puff_list
idx.
To: Stand Watch Listen
The settlement was never about getting people to smoke less. It was nothing more than an extortion scheme by the states and the people who end up paying the bill are those who, by their own free choice, want to smoke. It's not about healthier people. It was and is about the MONEY.
Yep. A friend of mine who went to take a junior faculty position at the U of Miami told me that his research was to have been funded from the tobacco settlement money. The state had pledged to devote a certain amount of it to research into health impacts of smoking. It didn't take them very long to go back on their word and say, oh, we're going to devote a certain percentage of the interest we get on the settlement money. It didn't take long for them to tell the university, "Oh, wait. We're not getting as much in interest as we expected we would; so you have to refund what we gave you and which you've already used to hire people, start up labs, and start doing research; and in addition, in order to get more money for research, you'll have to show some publications on the results by the end of the first year--Now we know that it takes that long to get a lab and cell lines established and the protocols written and approved by institutional review boards for human and/or animal research and that it's unreasonable to expect publications, but we're just stupid, greedy bureaucrats who wouldn't know scientific research from our own butts and want to have as much of this money as possible to buy favors with in order to ensure our continued position in this sinecure called "public service"."
6
posted on
03/20/2002 6:13:38 AM PST
by
aruanan
To: Stand Watch Listen
Yep, Rush was right. Now to see if the national media will cover this, probably not.
To: Stand Watch Listen
If they ever get to the truth about the recession, they'll find that it was caused by this tax. You don't put that heavy of a tax on 20% of the population and leave much for disposable income. If I ever come across the black market, you can bet that's where I'll get mine. A crook is a crook and see no reason to reward the government for their tyranny.
To: All
This is supposed to be a nation where we have personal liberty, but so long as we are taxed for our free choice of what we want to consume, the smoking, drinking or eating habits we want to pursue, that concept is meaningless. This is the most important line in the entire article...
No one knows what freedom is anymore...
It is no longer taught, certainly no longer practiced, and every move that the government makes is to continualy reduce what little freedom individuals have left...
The sheep are slaves...
Whether or not you sheep realize that you are slaves is irrelevent to the reality that you are...
May you one day become aware of the chains that hang around your conscious neck...
9
posted on
03/20/2002 6:42:00 AM PST
by
Ferris
To: Stand Watch Listen
The result of Prohibition was the creation of organized crime syndicates because people wanted to drink. I find it hard to believe that organized crime syndicates did not exist before 1920-ish. Especially since I've read reports of organized crime being involved in loan sharking, gambling, organized labor and prostitution all the way back to the mid 1800s for sure and probably earlier.
To: Stand Watch Listen
Most states have a coalition under the Health Care system called Partners for a Tobacco Free Everything! But they keep raising the cigarette taxes and can't balance budgets without our money. They can't have both!!!
11
posted on
03/20/2002 6:56:39 AM PST
by
SheLion
To: Stand Watch Listen
I lived in Colorado in the early '90's and there was quite a stir when it was discovered that the Colorado chapter of the American Cancer Society had money invested in the tobacco industry. There is no limit to the hypocrisy!
12
posted on
03/20/2002 6:57:03 AM PST
by
scholar
To: scholar
This billion dollar shakedown was a turning point for me as to the thuggery used by our government.
To: ridensm;steve50;rdb3;StriperSniper;aruanan;blackbart1;Lion's Cub;Ferris;thatsnotnice;SheLion...
To: Stand Watch Listen
Hypocrites..... Alberta raised their tobacco taxes again yesterday, a pack of 25, is now $9.
To: Ferris
Whether or not you sheep realize that you are slaves is irrelevent to the reality that you are... May you one day become aware of the chains that hang around your conscious neck...Correct me if I am wrong, I am thinking you are talking about smokers being slaves to tobacco, if that be the case, I would like to remind you that it isn't just smoking.
The powers that be, are seriously thinking about taxing junk food....... you see, they are running out of smokers, and has to start feeding their dependency from new sinners....... THE OBESE. You may ask, who comes next....... maybe you. ?
To: Great Dane
Correct me if I am wrong, I am thinking you are talking about smokers being slaves to tobacco, if that be the case, I would like to remind you that it isn't just smoking. Actually, no, I'm talking about conscious humans being slaves to the government that controls most of your life, extorts money from you by force and fraud, and gives you nothing in return except creating problems where none previously existed...
Which naturally, needs to be solved by more government...
The result is you have less and less freedom...
The powers that be, are seriously thinking about taxing junk food....... you see, they are running out of smokers, and has to start feeding their dependency from new sinners....... THE OBESE. You may ask, who comes next....... maybe you. ?
You are correct...
17
posted on
03/20/2002 9:15:35 AM PST
by
Ferris
To: Ferris
#17.......... As I said, I stand corrected, my apology for misunderstanding you, read as intended...... you are right, the trouble is, they pick on minorities so even if we revolted, we don't have the numbers to stop the insanity, that will change when they are forced to pick on obese people, as they are in the mojority.
Subject on talk radio the other day "FAT TAX," you should have heard the screams.
To: Stand Watch Listen; All
Re my previous post about Colorado--I worked for the Colorado Dept. of Health in the cancer registry which was funded by (believe it or not) the U.S. Dept. of Energy. If anyone is interested about that I can give more info later.
My point here however,is that the Colorado Dept. of Health in 1995 was pushing an initiative for a $0.50 tax on a pack of cigarettes. My fellow employees were rubbing their greedy little hands together, assuming that they would get nice salary raises.
At the time I left Colorado, there were at least three law suits against the health dept. because they had been pushing this initiative on government time, which we all know is against the law. Wish I knew how it all turned out as I left Colorado six years ago.
19
posted on
03/20/2002 10:28:27 AM PST
by
scholar
To: scholar
. because they had been pushing this initiative on government time, which we all know is against the lawAh, but scholar, in the "fight against the merchants of death" [gag, barf] perversion and corruption of the law is not only expected, it's consciously sought. Much like the People's Republik of Kalifornia's Families First Commission, aka Rob Reiner's Jackpot, which used government employees to defeat Prop 10. Reiner had the balls to stand up in a meeting and scream at Ned Roscoe, "You're trying to steal my money!" For some reason THAT wasn't reported in the press and the effort to rescind Prop 10 fell, along with any hope of fairness and justice for California smokers.
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