Dems: Hey, let’s take over tobacco industry! Obama: Great idea!
Banks? Check.
Auto industry? Check.
Housing market? Check.
Health care? Getting there.
Tobacco? Why the hell not?
The Senate took a step Tuesday toward giving the government some controls over the tobacco industry, bolstering the chances that a long-sought goal of anti-smoking advocates will finally be realized.
The 84-11 Senate vote to consider the bill came a month after the House overwhelmingly passed a similar measure giving the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Sixty votes were needed to advance the legislation, and the success in reaching that threshold increase the likelihood that the Senate will move to a final vote by the end of the week. If the House concurs with the Senate measure, it would go to President Barack Obama, who is ready to sign it into law.
The Senate vote came on a day when Obama is to meet Senate Democratic leaders on courses they may take to bring down the runaway costs of health care.
Supporters of the FDA legislation, such as the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association, say controls over tobacco products would be a good place to start: they say tobacco use kills more than 400,000 Americans every year, resulting in $96 billion in health care costs.
Under the measure, the FDA could restrict tobacco marketing, specifically to young people; order changes to the ingredients in tobacco products; and require more prominent health warnings. It would ban remaining tobacco-brand sponsorships of sports and entertainment events and restrict vending machines to adult-only facilities. It would bar the use of “reduced harm” descriptions such as “light,” “mild” or “low.”
It would impose a fee on cigarette manufacturers to pay for FDA regulation.
The FDA would not have the authority to ban cigarettes and other tobacco products.
“The FDA would not have the authority to ban cigarettes and other tobacco products.” Well, of course not, silly. They need the taxes to pay for S-CHIP, Obamacare, etc., etc., etc.
***
I particularly like this detail: “Under the measure, the FDA could…order changes to the ingredients in tobacco products.”
Dried arugula flakes?
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
ohpleaseGodnodon’tletthemtakemycigs
This is a step toward legalizing marijuana.
I’m not a smoker but this sort of makes you want to light up, doesn’t it?
I quit smoking years ago, and so glad I did. I’m not a pawn in that game at least.
Hmm there may be a new term to describes native born residents of the United States—-illegal citizen.
Seems everything is goin to be under the control of DC DeadHeads.
I am glad the Congress is focused like a laser on the real needs of this country.
/sarc
Well, I guess it’s ok as long as Obama and a centralized federal government don’t get too much power over us. Jesus.
It’s going to take a long time and a lot of pain to correct the mistakes of our government in the recent past and distant future.
Atlas isn’t just shrugging. He’s saying WTF!
Anyone know where I can get a roll call on that vote? What happened to smaller government, less intrusion in our lives Republicans?! Only 11 people in the senate still uphold the Constitution?
Don’t kid yourself Jarhead: Atlas has left the country!
Here is what the bill states on that regard:
I’d be very interested in the votes of our senators in VA and NC, the tobacco states. I’m sure I already know how weasels vote, though.
I see your game, Trebeck…
You wanna change ‘Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms’
to
‘Wheat Grass Juice, Hemp and Harsh Language’.
The headline tomorrow will read:
Obama taking steps to control the Rummage Sale industry, and the Childrens Lemmonade Stand industry.
If nationalizing industry and redistributing wealth isn’t socialism, then the word has no meaning.
‘Course.
The same way that at times in history, Muslims rulers were not too enthusiastic about too many of their Dhimmi subjects converting to Islam, because that would reduce the rulers’ jizya tax base.
Similarly, in The Adventures of Robin Hood, (Norman) Prince John (Claude Rains) cautions (Norman) Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone) not to kill too many Saxons, because then there would not be enough Saxons left from whom to collect the…”ransom?”…yes,…the “ransom”.
Really? They have proof? Bet not. Bet this is just another liberal-inflated number meant to bolster the reason behind a typical liberal-fascist-socialist takeover of whatever the liberals decide is the “flavor of the month.”
Are cigarettes bad? Yes. Is it the government’s place to destroy commerce? No. Besides, how many hip young 20 somethings smoke and voted for The B.O.? Probably all of them. Just one more group he’s going to anger.
I have a better way to cut health care costs and cut down on smoking. Just force the smokers to pay 3 to 5 times what non-smokers pay for health care. Put the burden of payment for smoking-related health issues on the smokers! Because I don’t smoke, my costs will remain the same or may go down. The smokers would now pay for the risks they take. Bet the number of smokers would go down dramatically in about 5 years.
Won’t happen though. Under The B.O.’s socialism, we all have to
suffersacrifice.How else is he going to secure his daliy fix????
I think Odopey prefers his with the “Coca” as the added ingredient.
same as his buddy Hugo.
Well, granite, the whole story is a sad one.
Normans and Saxons fighting over land they stole from the Celts!!
ALBA GO BRAGHHH!!!!!!!!!
Here is an interesting lawsuit against the government in regards to the AIG bailout.
The market has already done that. Insurance costs for smokers already have accounted for the actuarial costs of smoking.
Time to legalize marijuana so that the FDA can regulate that and Congress can tax it.
Next, the poppy fields of Afghanistan!
Don’t forget, he still hasn’t gotten around to bankrupting the coal industry. That’s gotta be on the list.
I think you are correct.
This is likely nothing more than a power play, pure and simple.
Look, folks…
There ARE no limits under the current mind-set of BIG BRO. They will control every aspect of life, if we let them.
Why should they not?
It is time to break the machine.
Actually, a recent bill about the restrictions on lead already can apply to rummage sales.
So liberals have drawn the line: don’t tell us what to do in the bedroom, but certainly let us tell you what to do in your living room, kitchen, den, garage, car, back yard….
Pretty soon the property assessor will be measuring the irradiance of your property. If it’s not reflecting enough sunlight you are contributing to Goreball Warming and will be taxed accordingly.
I find it interesting that NOBODY except Hugh Hewitt has noted the HUGE incursion into the market and cost imposition on every American that the new Consumer Product Safety regs constitute.
Small and medium businesses are firmly in the cross-hairs of this administration, consistent with fascist economics.
When do I wake up and find out that this is all just one big, very horrible dream?
*clicks heels together three times*
There’s no place like home . . .
There’s no place like home . . .
There’s no place like home . . .
I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore, Toto . . .
Agreed.
I strongly recommend this series of articles at The Gates of Vienna about Hitler, the Nazis, power, the state, and the economy.
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2009/05/hitler-myth.html
See for yourself whether there are not striking parallels between the Nazis and our own domestic enemies – the socialists who are in power in D.C.
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
Perhaps a “Tobacco Party” is in order? I’ll start growing my own. Tax THIS BHO!
Addictive Properties of Popular Drugs
Sadly, the Constitutional revolution that FDR forced in the Supreme Court in the 30s and 40s would allow even that.
I don’t recall the name of the case that revolutionized all Commerce Clause jurisprudence, but it involved a farmer, growing his own grain, feeding it to his own livestock, which I think the farmer consumed himself. That was held…against all precedent…to still be eclipsed under “interstate commerce”, because it had an “economic impact” on the national economy.
That was an immensely important turning point in the growth of unlimited central government.
Here is a link to buy tobacco seeds.
Red Russian and Little Yellow are already sold out…
No need to regulate mass media. They are willingly going along.
Crack.
Somewhat off topic, but…
Even David Brooks gets it…
Just finished this:
http://xs940.xs.to/xs940/09232/marlboro556.png
Well, if they are going to go in this direction, they will soon try to nationalize gun manufacturers, even thought they are robustly healthy…
VAT TAX folks, it’s coming. it will finally tax the criminal enterprise, the welfare slugs, the off the books tax cheating businesses, and the tax exempt do gooder institutions and religions. can you hear the howl when acorn and the rainbow coalition is charged 10% vat tax, how about the ymca, and the churches. great fun.
http://townhall.com/cartoons/2009/06/02/8
Gotta love the cartoonist…
Not only that, but they’ll also need some ready-made excuses for denying medical treatment when medical services rationing (a.k.a., “Universal Healthcare”) takes effect: “Oh, you are/were a smoker? Well, you brought your illness on yourself, didn’t you?”
Then the trap door opens under you, and you’re gone…
This is perhaps the only instance you will ever see in which liberals subscribe to the notion of “personal responsibility.” It has the added benefit of screwing certain social undesirables coming and going: milk them with vice-taxes, then save money by denying them treatment for what they were being taxed on. A two-fer!
These “health advocacy rackets” are just as guilty of driving up healthcare costs as the smokers they’re trying to regulate. These organizations are some of the primary pushers for universal healthcare because they’ll get a first-hand seat to the economic boondoggle. They claim they are only educating the American public but when they have a ton of lobbyists lobbying Congress for universal health care, my BS detector goes into overdrive. They only care about the payoff they’ll receive for the inevitable change in the healthcare system.
I’m mighty suspicious about their numbers. I do not deny the lethal effects of smoking. I saw a grandmother die of emphasema from over 40 years of smoking. I used to smoke until I saw what my inevitable future would look like if I didn’t quit. That works a lot more effectively than so-called “controls.” It’s not only anti-American, it’s anti-democratic, a trait that many Dems think they don’t possess.
Shouldn’t these “health advocates” be more concerned about obesity? Isn’t obesity now the leading cause of death in America- the attached side effects being diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc.? Are they going to tax Cheetos, Hershey kisses, and the like? Mandate exercise to employees or they lose their jobs?
Such Big Brother overreactions illustrate what is basically a lack of trust in human self-control. Democrats and their healthcare non-profit do-gooders don’t trust people to make their own choices. That’s the real telling thing about all this. These people think they can be anybody’s nanny and need to control everything until they finally eliminate human self-will entirely.
You will do Big Brother’s bidding or else!!! I thought the book “1984″ was a joke when I read it in school only to discover that it’s alive and well. And these Dems think that they’re really “pro-choice”?
Only when it suits them during election season, I guess.
Rags – Wicker v. Filburn is the court decision about the farmer feeding his cows his excess wheat. It only made it because Roosevelt was able to put 2 very pro New Deal judges on the court in 1938. Up until then, most of Roosevelt’s New Deal policies had been attacked by the court as unconstitutional (which they were and, for the most part, are).
So, my 2nd theory of Democrat politics (any legislation they can’t win by popular vote they will take via liberal judges) was as true 70 years ago as it is today.
It’s OK to smoke. Just use the Bill Clinton method and don’t inhale.
Haven’t they already started this by controlling the market for the copper needed to make bullets?
He is known to use tobacco products in ways that tend not to be the norm.
So,let me get this straight:Through regulating the tobaco industry,Obama will save 400,000 people from dieing of cancer,so he can kill them in Govenment Motors mini clown cars.Liberal Logic,ya goota love it.
Oops,gotta.
That was part of it, but the larger reason is that FDR threatened to enlarge the Supreme Court, and pack it with statists. The sitting justices caved in order to keep the Court what it had been, rather than see it subverted by Roosevelt. You can see them follow the precedents the year before. It is a frightening revolution in American law, and came about by the exercise of raw power. Nothing could be more clear.
A criminal waste of good cigars. (Of course, Bill might have been a fan of flavored cigars…)
What flavor would that be, Ragspierre? Lox?
Obama Control Voice:
There is nothing wrong. Do not attempt to adjust or change anything. We are controlling everything we want to. If we wish to raise taxes, we will raise them. If we wish to take over corporations, we will take them over. We will control the CEO’s. We will control the COO’s. We can roll the image of the USA, make it bow. We can change the focus to blur what we are saying or sharpen it to crystal clarity when Prez Obama wants to speak on TV. For the next lifespan, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to… The Obama Limits.
Madam! A gentleman must forebear…
My bad; nothing as fancy as lox–perhaps gefilte fish?
You know better than I to be sure. From what I have read, Roosevelt’s original New Deal plan was shot down bit by bit by SCOTUS and it frustrated him so much he tried to pack the court with 6 additional seats.. The Senate shot him down coldly but he got his majority in ‘38.
Sadly, the Senate now seems to be in Blue Lips’ pocket so this time we may not be as fortunate. If the very slim majority Conservatives have in SCOTUS foils Obama even once, it is not inconceivable that he would try the same thing.
My grandfather used to tell me, “Moses once said, ‘Take up your picks and shovels, gather your asses and camels and follow me to the promised land.’
Roosevelt said, ‘Drop your picks and shovels, sit on your a$$es and light a camel. We are in the promised land.’”
Some things never change.
WELL, I never…!
(Actually, I have, I do, and I will…)
CiE,
I would have enjoyed meeting your Dad.
Sometimes, the threat of doing something is enough to where you want to go. It has worked for tyrants throughout history. Apparently, the threats by FDR were possible, and the consequences so unthinkable that the same justices that had followed precedent in (I think) 1939 stood it on its head the next year.
Only 11 opposed? Could it be that some of them were Republicans? You know, the limited government party? What ever happened to them? Oh yeah, they’ve been recruited by the Dems to war on conservatives. And run for president.
I’m amazed at how fast FauxBama is moving. Every day there is something new to worry about.
I can’t keep up.
prendad…’The Obama Limits’ heh heh heh
I quit a year ago…it was obvious that aside from being a slave to tobacco I was also a tax slave.
Now I’m not at all on the former and not so much on the latter.
Starve the beast of tax money. It’ll get angry but it will weaken it…then maybe we can kill it.
He’s not doing it in a vacuum. We used to have an opposition party. I can’t remember what they were called but I’m pretty sure there was one.
By design.
I know; overwhelm people and they’ll be continually distracted.
It’s still amazing, and depressing, to see it put into action.
I quit smoking 5 years ago but the nanny country, states, and cities are making me sick. We need to start up smoke-easies so the Chicago mobs can get new money. I wonder if the non-smoking laws will pertain to pot-smoking. Is it legal to smoke in the White House?
Tobacco is already in a de-facto prohibition, and so expensive that average working folks cant afford it. Next stop will be ciggs sold off the back of a truck (large scale) and making the Mob rich. I will be first on line. If I am going to line the pockets of crooks with my cash I would rather it be the Mafia who have no illusions that they are crooks.
thanks, spackle. I’m with ya on that.
It’s the “foot in the door”. More to come. Smoke ‘em while you got ‘em. Create a crisis, then move in to “save the day”. More control over the people.
They plan to ban cloves? Bastards. I can smoke, but only the brands they choose. That’s just too much. If I can’t legally possess them, then I won’t bother paying taxes on them if I get them shipped from overseas.
I’m looking for a good internet cigar vendor off-shore.
Screw SCHIP and an other efforts to take my money!
The irony of this is that if the leftists took over the tobacco industry they would certainly reduce net tax revenue to zero while increasing taxes enormously and yet somehow manage to kill even more people with tobacco!
I suspect their plan would come down to something like the phone company does. They actually charge people who DON’T make long distance calls a fee every month. Check your bill. You will probably see something like a “minimum use charge” if you fail to make a certain amount of long distance calls. Verizon calls it “Shortfall Charge” and charges you $5.00 every month you don’t make $2.10 worth of long distance calls on your phone line. The government would charge those of us who DON’T smoke a SHORTFALL TAX for NOT smoking!
If the phone company can charge you more for services you DON’T use then you know the government can do it too!
“I am from the government and I am here to help…”
At this rate, there won’t be any free industry left anywhere in the country by 2012.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
I have a better way to cut health care costs and cut down on smoking. Just force the smokers to pay 3 to 5 times what non-smokers pay for health care.
This would do nothing to put money into the pockets of the thieves in Washington, so it will never happen.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
They sure do a good job keeping Cuban cigars out of the US. And with how they sealed our borders? No way a black market for cigs can start up with those guys in control.
With all the enviro-crackpots in the Donks’ constitutency, don’t even pretend to think this ins’t coming … and soon.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
Here’s a thought: why not develop a new board game
OBAMANOPOLY?
Could be some fun.
We could play it by using phony money just like the Messiah.
Psst. I got some killer Virginian tobacco here. It’s vanilla-flavored, man.
So, I guess this will be the leftists’ utopia where tobacco is illegal but “medicinal marijuana” is available on every street corner in America.
This may turn out to be the best chance to finally take back the country. Once all the leftists are stoned out of their minds with “medicinal marijuana” the tobacco smokers would stage an angry, nicotine-withdrawal-fueled revolt and overcome the lefties without much trouble.
A new comparison with FDR. The press will not photograph our current president with a cig and the press then would not photograph FDR with his crutch, a wheelchair. Both media have been promoting an organized lie ie. propaganda. This is just the tip of the iceberg in both cases. Come to think of it they knew about JFKs romps in the hay, too.
It’s 1984 and next up is cameras in our bedrooms and bed checks. The good news…I’m guessing that more smokers are the same Democrat idiots who elected the idiots in Congress and the White House. Let em reap what they sow!
Just sayin
Where does one begin…
So, they’ll tax tobacco into extinction, then moan about the loss of tax revenue. Democrats are truely dumba$$e$.
Nah, remember all humans are now legally considered as pollutants if they exhale. Just find the ones that are still employed and tax them to death.
We could all quit smoking or keep smoking. Personally, I quit smoking packaged ciggys a long time ago. They are chemical laden scrap crap with very little tobacco in them. I was smoking chemical free tobakky ordered online and was paying $9.95 a can until SCHIP kicked in. Now it is $23. I will keep smoking this tobakky, but not nearly as much. It does not matter if I quit or not because we ALL will be taxed in one way or another because obviously smokers cannot fund SCHIP by themselves.
Rags,
The biggest difference between now and 1939 is that, back then, someone had the stones to take Roosevelt’s bunch to court.
Republicans are supposed to be the opposition party. Start opposing guys.. Come on!
No…Obama’s not a Socialist…he is not for a totalitarian one-party form of Government. Naw…comparing him with Hugo Chavez is nothing more that Right-Wing-Wacko talk. Saying he is attempting to become a dictator in this country is paranoid talk.
My God…how big does the writing on the wall have to be?
One thing strikes me as dark humor: Many of those politicians that want to ban smoking are in favor of smoking drugs. It’s okay to light up a joint, just stop him from smoking a Marlboro. That is dangerous to his health. Many years ago, I was a drug/alcohol counselor. It seems, still, a day doesn’t go by in the papers, when someone, drunk or high, kills someone/himself or gets into serious medical/legal trouble, yet, nothing is said. I went to too many funerals and hospitals for teens and 20-30 year olds for that. Oh, cause of death is always something else, of course. People tell me, sometimes, of the many kids who die at 3 am, underage and drunk, in their cars. My first reaction is to ask,”Were they smoking? That could be dangerous to their health.” Always get a questionable look. Heavily regulating tobacco will lead to new Lucianos, Kennedys and Capones. People will buy want they want to buy.
They won’t do it. Too afraid they may look racist for opposing the black guy, and all. Dems have ‘em right where they want ‘em this time. Only way out is for a statesman to step forward and blow this crap apart.
I’m a bit nonplussed misef… I KNOW there are lots of very good conlaw types out there, but I’m not hearing anything.
The states each have the ability to sue, as well.
Maybe there are cases in the making stage. Or maybe all this is just moving too quickly for people to absorb yet.
Dunno…
Rememeber the old Mickey Rooney movies where each movie had Mickey saying to his gang–”Hey, let’s put on a show!”?
Then, magically, a wonderful orchestra would begin to play and they would dance tremendously choreographed dances with no practice?
Well now it’s Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi saying to Obama and his cabinet–”Hey, Let’s take over all the conservative blogs”!