Senate moves forward with government tobacco takeover
Photoshop credit: Mike
On June 2, I called attention to the Democrats’ plans to complete a government tobacco takeover.
The next step took place today while America slept. Another day, another industry grab:
Congress struck the government’s strongest anti-smoking blow in decades Thursday with a Senate vote to give regulators new power to limit nicotine in cigarettes, drastically curtail ads and ban candied tobacco products aimed at young people.
Cigarette foes say the changes could cut into the 400,000 deaths every year caused by smoking and reduce the $100 billion in annual health care costs linked to tobacco.
The legislation, one of the most dramatic anti-smoking initiatives since the U.S. surgeon general’s warning 45 years ago that tobacco causes lung cancer, would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the content, marketing and advertising of cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Here’s the roll call vote. Only 17 Nays:
See what others have said
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So just who’s going to pay now?
I know A guy who can get you mexican or canadin tabacco.
Sigh, a whole new black market just opened up.
A bit disappointed with Barrasso and Enzi voting against business. Must have been the anti-smoking angle that got them. Sen Barrasso is a doctor after all.
Moral dilemma. . .do I vote anti-smoking but government interference with business? or do I vote lassaiz faire government and be accused of supporting smoking?
As a non-smoking taxpayer, I would have preferred they voted to keep government out of my business.
I bet all those employees at the North Carolina Tobacco Plants and Farms are so happy they voted for Prompterbama. At least the 2 NC Senators voted no on this bill. This could doom The One in North Carolina in 2012. Elections have consequences, don’t they North Carolina?
I have to move back to Oklahoma.
Inhofe and Coburn certainly beat Akaka and Inouye.
Why so many R defections ? This bill is anit business and anti freedom.
So many repubics.
Sounds like mobsters, union thugs and gang bangers have found another commodity to produce tax free income.
Hmmm. More regulation using an an agency without the capacity to do so.
I don’t see how this bill will reduce smoking. Kids learn to smoke from their parents behavior, from other kids and from TV and movies. Not from Ads.
And cutting the nicotine content will do….what exactly? reduce addiction? Unless these cigarettes have no nicotine, I doubt that addiction issue will go away.
Seems to me like this was just a way to tax the tobacco business more.
Increase consumption.
Nope, NOT the point. TAX revenue is the point.
Rags – bingo. I think this is the same idea that led to the regulation of the percentage of alcohol in beer.
What the heck is a “candied tobacco product”? Big League Chew or bubblegum cigarettes?
The “yeas” knew that tobacco SCHIPS, duh!
I want govt. out of my life now.
But we only have to watch what BIG BRO (which includes this Congress) does. EVERYTHING THEY DO will be designed for one of three reasons:
1. consolidate more and more power in the CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
2. find novel ways to tax people
3. make the democratic process less able to remove them from office
Please, mark my words. The machine is humming now without a governor.
Well, now, you’ve just outed yourself as a hate-filled right-wing extremist, ready to explode into violence at a moment’s notice. Janet Napolitano would like to see you in her office.
I’ve never heard of anyone who thought chain-smoking was GOOD for them… people start smoking aware of the risks, and it is not impossible to quit if you have the personal responsibility to do so, or did I just say a dirty word?
Rather than outlawing cigarettes, why hasn’t anyone prohibited federal funding of that $100bn health care bill?
You want people to quit? Don’t pay for the habit. Let people be free to make their own choices and shoulder their own consequences.
This is just a another shameless advance of the cradle-to-grave nanny-state.
…and they want to control candy too. Today it’s “candied tobacco products” and next it will be all candy…and whatever else we should not be free to choose for ourselves.
Of course, all of the insurance actuarial tables just became obsolete and the date Social Security became insolvent moved forward by three years.
Black market gets a boost.
Not a comment on smoking, just an observation on statistics.
BIG boost for the Indian tribes, though…
Yup, that was my point. thank you.
The bill bans flavored tobacco, with the notable exception of menthols. Obama can keep his Kools, but cherry, vanilla, chocolate flavors are out. Why anyone would want a chocolate flavored smoke is beyond me, but my cloves will no longer be able to be legally imported.
As a smoker, I’m not buying the Obama quit smoking story one bit.
Not really…They just brought tobacco under FDA just like any other products we consume/put on our body. Thats why even many republicans supported it.
Looks like Malkin moved from being just a hypocrite to a complete liar with irrational thoughts while still being a hypocrite.
And don’t even think about smoking Cheerios!
My brother tried smoking a puffed cheeto back in the day. It was much more flammable than he expected. Considering his (my brother, not Obama) history of drug abuse, perhaps Obama should ban cheetos as a gateway drug.
I’m tempted to grow my own tobacco, smoke it when and where I feel like it.
I get mine from Israel, about $10-$12/carton including shipping delivered right to my door by the USPS.
That’s why we like her. She’s like…the anti-Gore.
As NJ-Aviator already said, Ragspierre has beat me to it, this is all about finding a way to cause greater consumption of an evil product thus filling the govt. coffers even faster. BHO and all these politicians don’t give a rats patoot about the people. BHO with the support of the majority of congress is rapidly moving towards a complete take-over of this country and we will be left with no choice but to follow along or else. Our president is a greater threat to this country than al-Queda.
We will all be Stepford Wives. Even the men. I won’t mind really. As long as I get a pony.
Whatever happened to corporations that would rather shut down than tolerate a government takeover?
My post #30 was meant to say that like NJ-Aviator, Ragspierre beat both of us to the point. I hate to sound like ‘Betway Bob’ in trying to explain “what I mean’t to say” but…
What I meant to say #31 was I surrender Obama. Buy my food, pay my mortgage, drive my cheap little Goremobile. Regulate my life to the minutest detail. Got any good medications Barrack? Some of us won’t go down quietly without them.
I get a little punchy after a busy day.
I hope the libs are the ones to suffer most!!! chickens coming home to roost!!
oh you mean like supplements??
Hey Speakup, that Da’ad poem was relly great. Reminds me of when my son was growing up and also now that I have a little granddaughter.
Southpaw, do you ever have anything of relevence to say? I’ve read each of your comments on this topic and you sound like a drunk, a stoner or a 10 year old—which is it?
Same thing that happened to Tareyton smokers that would rather fight than switch!
The process seems to me to be two fold. One, further regulate the lives of the serfs. Two, boost income. By adding regulations that govern the content of tobacco products, costs will absolutely increase because of the additional controls manufacturers will be required to implement. Higher cost over the counter translates to higher taxes since sales tax is a function of a percentage of the retail price.
Who do you think will be required to pay for the compliance bureaus, inspectors, inspections and testing of the new, ’safer’ tobacco? Oh, wait, the manufacturers will pay, right? Sure, they wouldn’t dare pass the cost on to consumers, would they?
I’m actually glad I quit smoking though not as much for the health benefits as simple cost. Last pack I bought cost something like $3.50 a pack, buying by the carton. Last sign I saw for my brand, prices are at or over $6.00 a pack. Who can afford this anymore?
Last question, who pays for BHO’s smokes, and, no, I don’t believe that he quit. I think he just quit doing it in front of cameras.
Obama:
I want it written into the bill that from now on the US taxpayers will foot the bill for this POTUS’ nic addiction.
Careful.
He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
HAD I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with the golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams beneath your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams
Yeats
How many times do I have to explain this: 80% of what I say is rhetoric or sarcasm. 19% is just being stupid. The other 1% is actually intelligent, which makes me about average for an Internet poster.
So regale us with your wisdom. Or do you prefer to just bend over and grab your ankles? Take it like a – whatever you are.
I am not Southpaw, nor do I believe Southpaw needs my assistance in defending his position, but although I am not a smoker, I see this as just more Big Bro. What’s next? No spicy food because it might make your bum burn when you make poopies? No walking except on approved sidewalks because there might be a *ooooh* scary bug in the grass? No cats and dogs as family members because they are unclean and not allowed by the quoran?
My suggestion is that you just slink back into that septic tank and be thankful that there are people who will defend your “right” to be ignorant and live in diminishing freedom.
It appears that even IF the GOP were able to take back control of the House and Senate, Hussein would still have his way.
Damn GOP sellouts! Damn them all!
Not only did Congress seize the tobacco industry, in response to a direct question from a senator during testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, BofA CEO testified that the Federal Reserve and Treasury Dept has the right to fire bank presidents and their boards of directors. Ken Lewis’s testimony today set a new standard for the definition of “spineless weasel”.
The POTUS (thank you taxpayers), Europeans, and third world nations (where we’re headed on the fast track, thank you Mr. O) where big tobacco has been dumping their product unregulated for many, many years.
Good points JustAThought #37 I agree 100%. I would add that the additional revenue will not only be from manufacturer to consumer pass alongs which will as you said cause an increased sales price=increased tax revenue, but also increased tax rev. due to increased consumption. The “new” tobacco will have less nicotine which, like an earlier poster mentioned, will lead to greater consumption as when beer had its alcohol content reduced. Smokers will smoke more cigarettes to achieve the same effect as before the “new” tobacco became the only legal type available. This means greater tax revenue for BHO’s cadre. I too quit smoking many years ago and am glad on all counts.
Pretty soon we will be going to GM (government motors) for cars, WalGov for perscriptions, HospGov for meds, KroGov for food, KFGov for fried chicken, AutoGov for car parts, MacGov for hamburgers, BaskinGov for ice cream, and we will send emails on the InterGov. America is destroyed, not with a bang, but with a whimper.
I know it’s slightly off topic, but I have to mention that tonight I drove past a woman in a Yukon with an Obama/Biden sticker on it and thought, “Boy is she in for a surprise when he outlaws her vehicle.”
The sticker is her ticket to keeping it…
Do I need to bring my Mom and Dad too ? LOL I do not care what they think of me or call me. I want the freedom back they have slowly been taking from us. I have been saying for years that the govt. has been stripping our liberties away and if we do not stand up soon we will not be able to. I am taking John Voight’s take and I will go to jail for this but I will never pay taxes again till the govt. starts listening to ” we the people “. All I have to say is ” GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH “
Then why are you defending him? In his writings Southpaw has no positions and said so himself (see his post #39). You read waaay too much into what I said. Maybe I should have finished by saying as many others have, including myself before, that we need to keep after our dear leaders. That gets tiring to say, I don’t need to yell out to everyone: “Look at me, I’m a patriot because I’m writing letters and phoning and voting and writing letters to the editor and attending the tea party protests and working at the polls on election day and…” There, now you did it, you got me to puff up and talk about my own personal (normally private) efforts to fight back against the tide of Obamaism.
You are not above me so stop talking down, you make yourself look foolish and yes, ignorant, when you say
Just what exactly justifies that and many of the other sleezy comments you directed towards me? The bully tactic is the tool of the left, at least I thought it was. I won’t sink to the level you did because I do not need to. That is also my right. Thank you for your service and I have appreciated many of your other comments but I am still mystified by your obvious and sudden rage against me. Although lately, last several months, I have not posted much here, I have been with Michelle’s blog for several years now and read it alot but don’t usually have the time to comment like today. Maybe that is why you took my post in an incorrect way otherwise you may have known where I am coming from.
This is such a great example how Congress proceeds totally oblivious to the Law of Unitiended Consequences.
What idiots.
BOTH Virginia senators voted for this tripe.
Just what the h*ll are they smoking?
Sounds so simple doesn’t it?
But yet herbal products like tobacco are not subject to FDA approval because they’re natural products. The FDA does not regulate foodstuffs that you grow or animals that your raise. Does the FDA regulate the local tomato grower? Do they regulate the sun-dried tomato maker (processed foodstuff)? No.
So you might want to get ahold of the facts before you throw around the hyporite label.
This is going to be a huge mess and open up an big can of worms. VERY short-sighted.
Regulating herbals is an extremely complex issue, from both the regulatory and scientific perspective. The FDA is not set up to regulate natural product extracts like tobacco extract, let alone as a drug vehicle. You can not establish standards. It’s the same reason it’s nearly impossible to validate cannabis as having beneficial properties.
I guess for some conservatives this will be good because it will demonstrate what will happen to pot if it’s ever legalized, because if cigarettes are FDA regulated, pot most definitely will.
Wonder how long it will be before a GM vehicle comes out named after Oboingo? And how long before I am asking, “Anyone know where I can score a good pound of tobacco?”
Answer: Grow and roll your own your own. Probably not as high a quality, but if you’re that addicted, go for it.
Or, it could be a great second income, black market of course. But this country has been down that path before, haven’t we?
Every last one of those who voted yes would have voted for Hitler. Every last one of them is supporting tyranny and stabbing the Founding Fathers in the back. I’m sorry but the time for talk seems to be far over. What can we do to stop the endless charge into fascism? And if the answer is tea parties and talk, hasn’t worked so far. So what the hell do we do?
CW4_KGP
Crickets? You were wrong, man-up.
The rocket scientist has spoken.
If it moves, lays, plays, swings, loves, cries, breathes, jumps, runs, walks…or just makes money in a free market…Demonrats WILL tax it.
Democrats are nothing more than a millstone around the neck of America.
Don’t just regulate it- Ban it! I know a lot more libs that smoke than conservatives. Of course union workers will have to find another way to waste 20 minutes of every work hour but they will find a way.
One would think that with all the damage Obama and congress have done that the 2010 & 2012 elections should be a cakewalk. Only problem is…will very many remember these times beyond the day after tomorrow?
The New 2010 Barack (PBUH)! All electric! 100% Union Made! Makes a lot of noise but goes nowhere!
(to the tune of White Lightnin’):
G-Men, T-Men, Revenuers too
Looking for the tobacco that he grew
They were looking for to scold him
But my daddy kept a growin’
WWWhhhooooo, white smokin’
Maybe we can look forward to cars running down down back roads trying go get past the FDA and ATF to peddle their untaxed goods to the masses.
I could always hope that it would lead to a new racing car series. There’s not much STOCK CAR RACING left in NASCAR anymore.
Thanks, I’m glad you liked it.
I remember CEO’s as being pretty tough, some would shut down a business and then start a new one someplace else rather than allow anyone the slightest amount of control over what they’ve built.
First they came for the banks, and I did not speak out because I was not a banker.
Then they came for the car companies, and I did not speak out because I did not work for the car companies.
Then they came for the smokers, and I did not speak out because I was not a smoker.
Then they came for me, the obese, and there was no one left to speak for me.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/69925.html
I’m sure the 17 NAYs didn’t do it for the money and for reals just want government out of our business.
Smoking is bad for you, for your family, for your pocketbook and for the rest of us taxpayers who have to pay for your cancer treatments either through higher premiums or government health care or both. Let the blasted goverment take it over and fail. I have no sympathy for this industry, none. The death and destruction it has caused is immeasurable.
Special K – that was one of the worst examples of a “moral eqiuivalence” argument I have ever seen. To equate the tobacco death industry with holocaust survivors is evil. You should be ashamed.
It’s a RINO roll call LOL!!!!
No real argument, but we are talking about a legal substance. When/if it’s illegal, you’ll have a serious argument. In the meantime, maybe some of us are tired of paying for those who eat too much trans-fat. Or those who have 3 drinks / night (rather than the recommended 1 drink / night). Last I checked, these substances were not illegal either. Or maybe those who won’t get their bums off the couch and go for the occasional walk. You are missing the point. The point is, when government starts sticking its snout into places where it should not go, we should all be frightened of where it will lead. Where does it stop?
Almost forgot… Thank you Bunning and McConnell. Bunning always gets it right. McConnell, not so much, but more often than not. I’m proud to be a Kentuckian (born and raised). Looks like there’s still some common sense left in the Commonwealth.
With the high number of GOP defections on this one…
it must be “For The Chillllddddrrrrreeeeennnn”
Sure I would agree smoking that crap in packaged ciggys, with all of those chemicals is no doubt bad. You will notice on a pack of ciggys it never says anything about smoking “tobacco”. I smoke real unadulterated tobacco (chemical free), and I have the right to enjoy a smoke in the privacy of my backyard. I am 54 years young and in perfect health. If you don’t like it too bad– and if you think that smokers will shoulder all of the SCHIP burden that isn’t going to happen either. They will be in YOUR pocketbook next!
Nothing ticks me off more than being told what I should drive, what I should eat, smoke, etc, etc, etc. Last time I checked we lived in a free country! I thank God I live far, far away from all of the people that think they know what is best for me. There is only one person who knows what’s best for me, and that is me.
Another nail in Cornyn’s coffin. I’m not voting for him in the next election and will work my rear off to get him replaced in the primary.
My yucky senators snowe and collins need to switch parties immediately. I will vote for ANYONE who runs against them.
Question:
I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life. That being said, I don’t understand how they can kill the tobacco industry, but want to legalize marajuana. Can anyone explain that one to me?
I guess they think America isn’t quite stupid enough. Once they get everybody COMPLETELY HIGH, then EVERYONE WILL VOTE DEMOCRAT.
these people are stupid. It is not nicotine that kills you. It is the soke, the tar, the other 4,000 things in tobacco. therefore if you cut the nicotine in cigs you will simply make people SMOKE MORE CIGS to get their fix. Which we make a pack a day smoker a two pack a day smoker which means more deaths more illness.
If they really wanted to decrease deaths they would increas ethe nicotine in cigs.
Law of unintended consequences strikes again
Congress isn’t interested in smokers’ health. I think we all know that. What they are interested in is using the “hysteria” over smoking to increase taxes and control. It’s the same with insurance companies. Most group insurance policies have only 1 health question-smoking. You could drink a liter of vodka a day, and sit around snorting coke all you want, but if you smoke…up go the rates. Congress has to show that they are “doing something”. The only thing I see them doing is “encouraging smokers” simply because they need the revenues. I know here in Virginia, tobacco taxes make up a large part of the state budget revenue. If everyone quit, they may pass a law making people smoke…or go bankrupt.
Notice the decades long shift with PSAs downshifting the “war on drugs” into “stop cigarette smoking” for kids? I guess it’s harder to hit a moving target.
James Greenidge
Queens, NY
Exactly. So they are putting politics way in front of science. Now THAT is hypocrisy.
Those 4,000 chemicals weren’t added by the cigarette companies either, they’re in the plant. Unadulterated tobacco is just as bad. Some of those commercials about additives are just stupid (and also fly in the face of science). You could write one about adding dihydrogen oxide because it KILLS!
My extremely radical moonbat brother is a chain-smoker. Even this will not alter his adoration of Prompterman. He went over the edge and into the abyss years ago. I doubt that even this move will change people’s minds about what this administration is doing to our country!
North Carolina has become a blue state, but let’s see how well this goes over. All the liberal voters who moved to North Carolina after ruining New York and other northern states vs. the homegrown residents. It will be an interesting experiment to see if the state turns back red or holds its hands out for a bailout.
Yeah, a good friend of mine, I told her about the massive tabacco tax coming, she said, its a good think because it will make me quit. LOL, we’ll see about that.
I dunno if the weirdness I call home (NC) is necessarily blue. Obamaboy won by the slimmest of margins. If you notice, Kay Hagan (Schumer’s newest paid for senator) was the only democrat to vote NAY. She knows she only got elected because of the democrat straight-ticket lemmings here in NC, and that her bread is buttered far beyond Charlotte, The Triad, and The Triangle.
But, yeah, those damn Yankees move down here and vote for the same types that drove them away from their own territory. They also bring some weird game played on ice with a bunch of guys getting in fights or something. Annoying!
Hi to the other happy! “Prompterman,” I love it.
I got into it a few months ago on this topic with one of the texans (I dont remember which one) because his/her position was the government had a vested interest in keeping folks addicted to pay for SCHIP. I admit now, because of this article, maybe he/she had a point, however, its the still the death industry and I still dont care what happens to it.
P.S. My father died of lung cancer three years ago and while he freely chose to smoke, I freely chose to condem it for the terrible effect it had on his loved ones.
I wonder how long it will be before Congress eliminates health benefits for gays indulging in “risky” sexual behavior that causes AIDS? Same conundrum, it seems to me: change behavior by increasing Federal oversight. People know what they’re doing causes health risks, and keep doing it. Oddly enough, the government has taxed cigarettes over 100% to pay for multitudes of “free” programs to “the poor”, but doing away with cigarettes will leave “the poor” un-cared for. Woe. I see higher taxes across the board in the Age of Obama as a result of this and multitudes of other legal machinations.
Another slippery slope argument. To all of you who take this side – Yeah, maybe the government will take down the good with the bad, but maybe not, and really, who gives a flying *** about the death industry? Now you are playing the devil’s advocate and it is unbecoming to a conservative.
Anyone know how to make something like Copenhagen?
I doubt they’ll ever get around to taking snuff, but if they do, I wanna have some tobacco growing in my garden, lol.
I guess I’ll google it, or did they censor the internet yet?
Congress will have to come up with another goose to lay the golden eggs for them. Who’s next, the liquor businesses?I think John Adams said “one fool alone is a shame, two fools together form a law firm and three fools or more are a congress.” Well he sure as hell was right.
Errah, first cigarettes now Obama should focus on Coke Zero like his fellow traveler Chavez.
The left will always grab power by promoting what is politically correct and to “protect us”. As long as we agree, more liberty will be lost…in the name of health and safety. Beware of the day that we wake up and find freedom of choice gone.
All of us will.
Hmmm…..you might think about changing your screen name!
.
I agree with you about NC. Most people who move here are from the industrial areas and are far more conservative.
graysonret: No doubt. I’ve been saying that for years. We have ALL lost FAR FAR more liberty in the name of health, personal safety, and environmentalism, than any TEMPORARY losses for a small group of people in the name of the terrorism issue. It goes totally ignored.
Uncle Ted, what are you gonna do if obama bans ALCOHOL!???
Khyris, exactly.
Instead of screaming about how much it costs all of us to pay for someone else’s habits, why don’t they just stop paying for someone else’s habits??