U.S. bill regulating tobacco heads to Obama - Government Takes Control of ANOTHER Industry!

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers took the final steps on Friday to pass sweeping legislation giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration broad authority over cigarettes and other tobacco products, sending the bill to the president to be signed into law." It also allows the FDA for the first time to monitor and inspect tobacco companies. Cigarette makers would have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in user fees, register with the agency, and provide a list of all the products they make. Smoking is not good for one's physical health, and I have no argument there. However, I don't know that government intrusion, in yet another industry, is the best solution. The government is not your Daddy! Tobacco has been used in its various forms for about 2,000 years: "c.1 BCE: Experts believe American inhabitants have begun finding ways to use tobacco, including smoking (in a number of variations), chewing and in probably hallucinogenic enemas (by the Peruvian Aguaruna aboriginals)." (Note: That last one is similar to what most non-smokers would like to tell smokers to do with their cigarettes.) Then we take a big leap forward, jumping over the intermediate history, to that with which we are most familiar:

"1493: Ramon Pane, a monk who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage, gave lengthy descriptions about the custom of taking snuff. He also described how the Indians inhaled smoke through a Y-shaped tube. Pane is usually credited with being the first man to introduce tobacco to Europe." Shortly thereafter tobacco was introduced to the courts of Europe, and the rest is familiar to most of us. This is history - it is not meant as justification for smoking, snorting, or chewing tobacco. However, that history helps to explain the continued use of tobacco today. Tobacco has been in regular, legal use since the beginning of the Renaissance some 600 years ago. It wasn't until the latter part of the 20th century that tobacco use was linked to some very serious health problems. It is estimated that directly or indirectly, tobacco causes more than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. annually, a figure that represents nearly 20 percent of all U.S. deaths. These deaths have been to a number of conditions defined as tobacco-related including; heart disease, cancer, chronic pulmonary disease and stroke.Those are the primary conditions attributed to smoking tobacco products, which could effect as many as 70,380,000 Americans. Those who choose smokeless tobacco are the beneficiaries of conditions such as cancer of the oral cavity, including the lips, gums, tongue and palette.

The government's justification for inflicting themselves on yet another industry, is to improve the general health of the population of the USA, and reduce the costs of medical care - another industry in which the government is seizing control!

I resent and fear excessive governmental involvement in any and all private industries! It's just one more step forwarding Obama's Marxist/Socialist "Progressive" agenda for the USA. Which industry will the government force its control upon next? Entertainment? Clothing? Your guess is as good as the next persons. If the people do not say, at this juncture, "ENOUGH!!", then there will be no end to governance OF the people, rather than BY the people.

There's a remote chance I could be wrong about this... but it is about as remote as the Lunar wilderness!

Outrageous Taxes Levied on Smokers and Drinkers

As of April 1st, 2009, Oregon State taxes on cigarettes increased by 59¢ per pack, and Federal taxes added another $1.01 per pack! This means that a pack of cigarettes will have a median price of about $6.00 per pack. Federal taxes on loose bulk tobacco, the kind used by the "roll your own" crowd, jumped from $1.09 per pound to $23.48 per pound! Statistically, this will create a new "class" of person. The working-class, low-income person is, statistically, far more likely to be the user of tobacco products, than are the middle- and upper-income persons. Assuming that "statistic" (I have not heard an exact percentage) is accurate, the new class will be the "well-to-do" working-class, lower-income person, who, regardless of the cost will refuse to surrender their tobacco habit, thereby making him or her the envy of his or her working-class neighbors. There's also an additional 50¢ per bottle tax on alcoholic beverages. This has been referred to as a "sin tax" for years, but it is, in fact, a pleasure tax. Tax those things that people enjoy, and you will reap greater profits for the Government than if you taxed things like cauliflower, vasectomies, or root canals! Certainly not everyone enjoys either or both of the aforementioned "sins", but enough people do enjoy them to make it very profitable for the Government. "So what?" you say "I don't smoke or drink, so it's no skin off my nose!" Well what do you enjoy? Fishing? Already taxed via "license fees". Boating? Already taxed via "registration fees". If you look at it from a practical standpoint, permits and fees are nothing more than a means of taxing people who enjoy certain activities. The "bowling fee" is probably coming soon, along with "golf permits", "softball licenses" and "Frisbee fees". Neither the Federal nor State Government "owns" the wild game of the USA, but the State sells you a "hunting license". Suppose that deer you just shot wandered over from one of the neighboring states just this morning? Does Oregon have the right to charge you a license fee to shoot a non-resident animal from the state of Washington or California? It's not like Oregon had anything invested in the maintenance of that animal. It's wild game! "Wild" implies that it belongs to nobody... "hunting license" is just a Government euphemism for another tax. And those "game tags"... one more tax!

The Obama administration seems to believe that we can be taxed into prosperity by adopting a more European tax standard - like 40+%. If that works so well, why are the Europeans experiencing the same kinds of difficulties the USA is having? We are not the Europeans!!
We are the United States of America, and there is no apology necessary for our ability to succeed in a free-market economy or to overcome adversity! Most Europeans envy us our successes, many resent us - not because we acted "superior", but because they felt inferior after we saved their collective asses in WWII. Yet even those that resent us still respect American technology, American creativeness, Americas willingness to help, and our military power.

Personally, I refuse to support his taxes, and smoked my last cigarette at 2pm, on April 3rd 2009! So far, so good.

There's an outside chance that I could be wrong about this... about the same chance that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has of becoming the Grand Ayatollah of Iran!