It is past time to get real here and say it like it is. There is no way that one group should pay more taxes than another by whatever route. Our Constitution clearly states this. The Conservative talking heads need to stand up and grow some. It is appalling to watch and listen as main issues are evaded or skirted around.

We are a free people but not for long if we do not vote in people who will take a stand and who truly will uphold our Constitution. Everyone from the Supremes on down in government need to be ousted and we must start over. This is a nest with too many tentacles and too few testicles. By the way, there are cigarettes that have no additives and they are difficult to come by. This is a good time for companies to start pushing these. When I say difficult, I mean one (in my experience) can only come by them at tobacco stores.

keepthefaith

Now, if you want to tax people that DON’T smoke to pay for extra health care for people that DO, THAT I have a problem with.”

Brian, dear, we don’t want to tax anyone for his or her lifestyle. We certainly do not want to tax anyone to pay for the health care of others or even for ourselves. We’re adults and like being responsible for our own behavior. We want the rest to do likewise.

Have you ever heard of “lies, damned lies, and statistics?” Logic is a useful practice, too. The syllogism is flawed, and the easy, “obvious” conclusion that smoking kills millions of people a year (dead people don’t have health expenses) simply cannot be substantiated. That still isn’t the issue. The REAL issue is that the government is not supposed to be in the health insurance business. Another is that slaves are told what to do and furnished such medical care as ol’ massa chooses to provide.

Given my choice I would go back to the original Constitution and start over with the most rigid interpretation. I’m willing to hand over my legislated “right” to vote any time we go back to a system where only property owners (I am one, of course) can vote and the only taxes are tariffs and import duties.

Thanks again for writing.

LBT

Purrrrr.

Dear Brian: Thank you VERY much for putting the purported case so succinctly and politely.

1. The government has no business paying anyone’s medical expenses.

2. No matter what C. Everett Koops said and the ranting hysteria of the MSM and the AMA, smoking really is not the cause of all disease and a certain death. Mostly it smells bad.

3. Not only do I not want Medicare (the price of refusing it is forfeiting my entire SS check), but my ONLY medical problem is a low thyroid, and not even the Nicotine Nazis claim that smoking is the cause.

4. I have smoked since I started college in 1959. My children are in superb health despite having been reared in a smoking environment. The wonderful man in my life has a similar history.

5. The taxes are not spent to care for emphysema victims; they are put into the general fund and squandered on the usually bizarre programs big government runs.

The real issue is that most of what the government does is not in our best interests and not within Constitutional bounds. When my husband died I was offered the splendid opportunity to replace the health care plan he had (well, with a far worse one, actually) for almost $850/month! Since Andrew was 19 and in superb health and I only go to the doctor once a year usually for a check up and to get my Rx for Armour Thyroid reissued I could see no reason to spend over ten thousand dollars a year on bad insurance. I chose no coverage. True, eventually Andrew broke his hand skateboarding and it cost $12,500, but I was still fifty per cent. up by having had no coverage.

I suppose one of these years I ought to buy a catastrophic care policy, but since Medicare and Tri-Care (which I certainly earned) do not cover either dental or glasses, I am certainly not impoverishing anyone with my presumably reckless life style.

The issue for me isn’t just taxes; primarily it is intrusion into my life. I am not a child and I do not wish to be a chattel of the government.

The issue here for most is the shortsightedness of regulating another industry out of business. The economic effects will be severe.

Again, thank you for your calm comment and for asking a question many are concerned over. I think we would have much better society if we returned to the old ways and solved our own problems and paid our own expenses instead of thinking that government handouts are “free” money. Filtering funds through bureaucracy and regulation is very costly. Far more money goes to Washington than comes back to Texas, for just one example. There are 49 others, and no state ever got back more than the citizens spent. Worse, the money collected is not spent on things taxpayers would choose ourselves.

One last comment: smoking has therapeutic benefits! Here is a very simple one: tobacco smoke destroys mold and mildew which are perhaps the most virulent allergins known. I can’t walk into our local Best Buy without beginning to cough and choke immediately.

After our smoke has kept down those hazards to our health here we filter it through a series of Ionic Breezes to restore air quality. Our homes are aired daily, so we aren’t ever going to have to deal with “sick building” syndrome. More important than who is right and who is wrong the main issue is our right to the “pursuit of happiness” without let or hindrance by the government.

I am very glad that you are not, presumably, a smoker, because increasingly smoking hinders our ability to go about our daily lives peacefully. You would not like being denied the right to use public transportation or the ability to enjoy a simple restaurant meal.

Other than the issues of taxation without representation and the Nanny State, the issue of what government may choose to attack or tax next has relevence for most of us. They can tax coffee to the moon for all I care because I can’t abide the stuff, but a lot of you would be very upset by fifty dollar a pound coffee.

Cordially,

LBT

Linda Brady Traynham

The dangers of smoking are real but greatly exaggerated like so many other issues today. There are many factors affecting one’s health, genetics probably being the most determinate. Any reasonable individual can make a decision to smoke or quit based on how it is affecting them.

“Dear Gary and Linda:

By Gods, you really know how to start a revolution…

Didn’t we go through this thing a bit over 230 years ago with a shipload of tea? Must we do it again for tobacco, coffee, red meat, butter, chocolate? For the Gods’ sake, must we turn the Weapons of Mass Destruction (provided by Iraq, Inc., of course) on our own Duly Elected Government?

I believe that it’s our God-Given Right to choose our own type of death, be it by tobacco, alcohol, sugar, fornication, or Oreo cookie. Anybody wants to regulate my right to smoke can whip their .44 Magnum in my face. Oops! I forgot. Those pansy-waisted creampuffs don’t believe in the Second Amendment, are unarmed, believe in euthanasia, and enjoy the benefits of the Hive-mentality. It would be cruel to stomp on that nest of cockroaches, wouldn’t it?

Well, all I know is the following: If the Mogambo Guru runs for President, I’M VOTING FOR HIM. And Linda? You need a carton of bootleg smokes, let me know. I’ll get them to you and Gods Bless!

Much Love,
Frankie Diaz

P.S. Should you wish to publish, you may use the full name. Let the boogers come after me!”

Dear Frankie:

The main reason this isn’t going to start “I think I’m in love!” is that you deserve better than to be fourth in line. I have a strict seniority system (which is really very comforting to those I love because it means no one can ever take your place. I love new people TOO, not “better.” You might have to wait your turn to get my attention but…how did I get over here?!)

What a terrific letter, thank you!

I’ll vote for my adored Mogambo any time and I could think wistfully about puttin’ on our cockroach-stompin’ boots. We’ve got th’ big four-engine jobs that live in a big pine tree and from time to time one wanders in.

It’s one thing to hit us with their dumb political “correctness” stuff, but when they start messin’ with our smokes and our hooch enough is more than enough. Instead of throwing the tobacco in the harbor maybe some blithe spirits will toss liberals in the Chesapeake where the cold water will awaken them to some semblance of reality. Oh, Lawks, I probably just threatened Congress and will end up in jail. Have the revived the Alien and Sedition act yet?

Gary, if Frankie wants my e-mail address please give it to him. I would really like to see more of what he writes.

Frankie, again my thanks, and if you come by a dry van box load of Salem Light 100s (which I have given up for a vile substitute because of price) you’ll have more than the price of admission for sanctuary at Mildew Manor if we have to circle the wagons! We’ve got th’ cows and the grand old cars, you bring th’ smokes, and we’ll find someone who can make a reasonable facsimile of Tullamore Dew and have our own superannuated Beatnik colony while the rest of the world goes mad.

You made my day. Hugs, Linda

Now, if you want to tax people that DON’T smoke to pay for extra health care for people that DO, THAT I have a problem with.