Category : Commentary

Working on You

August 14th 2011 Posted at Commentary, FDA News
1 Comment

Well, it was bound to happen, right? States and municipalities are running out of money and rather than cut unneeded services and bloated bureaucracy, they are turning to Internet gambling.

Yes sir, what we need in this country is more gambling and more casinos. That’s like a $5 cigar. It’s good for the country, doncha see.

You can believe there is already an outcry from those who view gambling as an evil influence. It will lead to a road of perdition.

States are saying that gambling casinos on the Internet and in bricks and mortar palaces should be allowed and they should be able to receive revenue from those who like to gamble away their money.

And, why not? It is legitimate in many states, so the argument goes. Besides, states and towns need the revenue to keep services up and running and the bureaucracy fat and happy.

Sound familiar? It should. It has the ring of hypocrisy just like lifting the budget ceiling debacle that darn near sank the nation. Instead of facing the hard realities of lean times, states would rather depend on you, the taxpayer and those in the gambling community to pull their mule out of the ditch.

Uh, see, tobacco taxes have been used up already. Pols have rifled those pocketbooks and gone to that money well once too often. Levying more taxes on tobacco and tobacco will be another failed industry, just like manufacturing in this nation. Gone, gone, gone.

Now, states are saying that they should be allowed to rake in taxes from Online gaming and to build their own casinos to bring in the hordes, most of whom can ill afford to lose the rent, house and car payments.

Do you find it odd that states and municipalities seem to have a single track mind when it comes to revenue streams: more taxes, or figuring out another way to relieve you of your hard-earned cash?

I find this totally objectionable, not because I am against a friendly game of poker, but because elected officials who stuff their pockets full of largess from the public till can think in one direction and that is find the public horse and ride it until it drops.

Instead of creating real, lasting jobs, we get another dog and pony show about raking off revenues from gambling. Something about that approach just seems absolutely rotten to me.

But, hey, I’m accustomed to these things now. I have been made a pariah in my country because I enjoy my pipe tobacco. I can no longer smoke my pipe in restaurants, public buildings, some streets and parks and soon, I expect tobacco will be outlawed permanently while the mainstream press goes along with this idiocy.

And then one day, the pols will come after another segment of society, say fattening foods. Oh, that’s right; the feds are already working on that one.

You are being told now what foods you can and can’t eat, but, hey, it is all right for large chemical companies to produce synthetic seeds so mega farms can grow unsafe and FDA-approved foods for your shopping pleasure.

So, pull up a chair at the table all you gamblers. You are about to see your federal, state and local governments at work. . . on you.

SelahPipe Icon

Cohen and the Piracy Act

March 31st 2010 Posted at Commentary, General News
1 Comment

Here is the thing about U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Memphis who wants to increase by more than 700 percent the price you pay for pipe tobacco: He regularly gets few bills passed and this year the majority of your tax money he squirreled away in  “earmarks” went for projects outside his home district.

This is according to OpenSecrets.org. You can check it out for yourselves. In fact, if I am reading the numbers correctly, of the more than $18 million he spent of your money, most of it went to New York and Washington.

Uh, does this sound odd to you: A Memphis Congressman spending your hard earned tax dollars in New York and Washington?

It does to me.

In fact, I don’t want this guy spending one dime of my tax contributions. He gets lobby money by the ton, because he votes the way the lobbyists want him to vote.

And now, he wants to park a big price hike for pipe tobacco in your back pocket, not his.

He is up for re-election, but the guy likely to give him the most trouble is an African American Democrat. Cohen’s 9th District is largely African American.

The pol who wants to take his job is former Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton, not exactly a clean guy.

Last October, The Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper, the largest in the Midsouth, claimed the former mayor had profited in a large-scale real estate scheme.

The newspaper said that newly discovered documents at City Hall “show the mayor and some business associates not only had big dreams for urban renewal, they used the mayor’s office to pursue their dream of personal profit.

“Herenton has said his involvement amounted to a private real estate transaction that had nothing to do with his duties a mayor.

“Yet, an investigation by The Commercial Appeal has found paperwork used to negotiate and close the deal that paid Herenton $91,000 was maintained at City Hall, in filing cabinets and on computers.”

Herenton and Cohen are in a fight to represent the Ninth Congressional District, a low-income area that surrounds Memphis and is more than 60 percent black. The district was redrawn and renumbered in 1973, increasing the percentage of minority voters, and for three decades it elected the state’s only black members of Congress since Reconstruction, Harold E. Ford Sr. and his son Harold E. Ford Jr.

And now if you look at the proceeds Cohen has picked up from lobby groups, it is easy to see whom he is in bed with:

He has raised more than $618,000 this year to pump up his war chest to over $1 million.

His largest contributors are

FedEx Corp at $14,600, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers at $10,000 and a slew of other unions such as the Allied Pilots Association ($5,000), the American Federation of State, City and County Municipal Employees     ($5,000), the Machinists/Aerospace Workers Union ($5,000),     National Beer Wholesalers Association ($5,000), Operating Engineers Union ($5,000), Plumbers/Pipefitters Union ($5,000), Service Employees International Union ($5,000), UNITE HERE ($5,000), United Auto Workers  ($5,000) and the United Transportation Union ($5,000).

You make up your own mind why these unions contribute so much to Cohen, especially since he is an anti-smoking candidate.

Cohen, of course, is not alone. He is just the one who sponsored HR 4439, the so-called tobacco parity tax.  The bill is in the House Committee on Ways and Means, where it has been since Jan. 13, 2010.

The best hope for pipe smokers is Cohen’s own track record. It isn’t good when it comes to getting bills passed in the House of Representatives.

Usually, he goes after the low-hanging fruit, nothing substantial and not a great deal for his constituents. He’s a lightweight in the House, but he drew a lot of attention with his proposed tobacco piracy act.

You can guess why. Tobacco legislation today is the low-hanging fruit. Cohen is in a real fight to save his seat, which as a career pol he desperately wants to do.

Otherwise, Cohen will have to go back to work as a lawyer in Memphis, which is full of good attorneys.

Flavored Tobacco Cause Undo Hardships on American Public

March 31st 2010 Posted at Commentary, Opinions
1 Comment

By Zacque Hitchcock

PSI Writer

 The United States since its conception has been dependent on tobacco.  It has been an integral part of the overall country’s economy and the relaxation of its citizens. For a period of time, tobacco was actually used as a viable form of payment in the colonies.  In addition, a majority of the founding fathers either grew or used tobacco in one form or another. Recent legislation, however, aims to limit retail and consumption of tobacco to certain types of tobacco products.   

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act provides “a cigarette or any of its component parts (including the tobacco, filter, or paper) shall not contain, as a constituent (including a smoke constituent) or additive, an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke from being sold in the United States.” 

It does not outlaw tobacco blends which only contain pure tobacco or a mentholated tobacco which do not fall under the ban.

 This ban demonstrates a violation of one’s autonomy and “Pursuit of Happiness”. Specifically it is an example infringement upon a person’s ability to make his or her own decisions regarding their well being.  

Ben Franklin’s words, “They, who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security,” personify the main argument in a few words.  As the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control act is in essence attempting to save children from the temptation of smoking.  Logic should dictate that laws which are already in place prevent persons under the age of majority from purchasing any tobacco products or related paraphernalia.  After all, as Bob Dole said, “We know smoking tobacco is not good for kids, but a lot of other things aren’t good.”

An adult smoker’s choice to smoke or not, is a decision for his/her well being.  

This is further explained in the Declaration of Independence when it states, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The Family Smoking Protection and Tobacco Control Act does not allow for the happiness of all Americans.  As there are approximately 47.1 million smokers in the United States according to the American Heart Association’s website.  While a majority of persons in the United States do not smoke, those who choose to smoke should not be limited in their choices on how they choose to consume tobacco.  The action to remove selected products comes directly from the elected representatives of the citizenry.

This action to outlaw flavored cigarettes came from the Congress rather than the FDA.   The FDA would need to argue, with scientific evidence, that flavored cigarettes are a greater health risk versus normal tobacco products.

Congress however, does not have to meet the same criteria when passing judgment on controversial issues.  The evidence found for this essay, through the National Youth Smoking Cessation Survey (NYSCS), states that 22-23% of smoker’s age 17-19 years had “used” flavored cigarettes, compared with 9-10% of smoker’s age 20-26 years and 11% of smokers age 25-39 years.  In addition flavored cigarettes are used by, at most, two out of 10 young smokers and aren’t even their usual brand, which is unflavored which was most often a Phillip Morris USA product. 

Phillip Morris USA, one of the major cigarette manufacturers in the United States was a major supporter of the Family Smoking Protection and Tobacco Control Act.  Phillip Morris does not manufacture any flavored tobacco products. 

However, they are a well-known producer of mentholated tobacco products, which are not outlawed by this ban.  Studies have shown that smoking mentholated cigarettes are a harder product to quit when compared to normal un-mentholated tobacco products according to medicalnewstoday.com. This evidence would suggest that this ban is motivated more by opinion in its current incarnation rather than facts.

The rebuttal for the argument in support of the ban comes in two forms, the tax revenue for tobacco sales and the lawsuits against tobacco companies of the late 1990s. The tax revenue covers a majority of the costs for the extension of the State Children Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).  This provides federal funding to match an individual state’s funding to provide insurance to those children whose parents have a modest income, which would be too high to qualify for Medicaid.  This program’s extension cost the average cigarette smoker an additional $.62 per pack of cigarettes according to the SCHIP-info.org website. 

The lawsuits as of Nov. 23, 1998, show that 46 states settled their lawsuits against the nation’s major tobacco companies to recover tobacco-related health care costs, and joined four states — Mississippi, Texas, Florida and Minnesota — that had reached earlier, individual settlements. 

The majority of this money from the settlements was supposed to help the states pay for health care, notably SCHIP, and anti-smoking campaigns. Instead, much of it — even payments that aren’t due for 20 years — has already been spent on politically popular tax breaks complicated borrowing schemes initiated by Wall Street investment banks as shown in an article from MSNBC’s red tape series. 

The investors convinced 25 of these states to borrow against the future payments. Overall intended settlement money only allows for 3% of the total funding for smoking cessation or smoking education. 

What is worse, the average health care costs of a smoker on Medicaid are approximately an additional $500 million annually, if the state has a population near that of Ohio.  Overall, a majority of this money goes to funding state based health care where moving more of it to smoking cessation would lessen the burden that health care plays in a state budget.

Due to the economic and social ramifications of a ban on flavored cigarettes, it is easy to see the outright ban should not occur, as it is a violation of an individual’s autonomy.  As cigarette smoking poses a significant health risk to all who partake of the substance regulation should occur, but as the previous evidence suggests the focus of the current ban may be misplaced.  It is with that in mind one should heed the words of the founding father, Ben Franklin, “They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security.” 

Essentially citizens of the United States receive only temporary security with the recent ban on flavored cigarette tobaccos as the increase in tax revenues, which fund programs for the good of the majority.Pipe Icon

Tobacco Piracy Tax Act

March 6th 2010 Posted at Breaking News, Commentary, General News
3 Comments

It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress- Mark Twain

I just finished reading the latest issue of Pipes & Tobacco Magazine, one of my favorite publications. This edition had only a mention of the so-called “Tobacco Tax Parity Act,” or House Resolution (HR) 4439, introduced by career politician Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis, TN.

First, I would like to correct the nomenclature of the bill. Instead of a “tax parity”, it is more a “tax piracy act.”

Political office abusers, such as Cohen, are simply trying to fund other budget-busting projects by levying taxes on what is perceived by the general public as a health hazard.

Never mind that alcohol, automobiles (Toyota comes to mind immediately), guns (before you send me a nasty email, I love guns, hunted all my life and was a sometimes good duck hunter), the atmosphere in certain cities can be and are hazardous to one’s health. You don’t see the kind of reaction that tobacco receives, which is a constant taxing of those who use the products they enjoy.

This is simply a pirating of our basic civil rights, our right to choose, our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and is a mean-spirited method of plugging holes in public budgets that have been overdrawn for years by financial free-spenders in Congress and local public bodies.

Cohen is just the latest iteration of this political phenomenon. He is in a tough re-election race in his home-district in Memphis, which is primarily a black population, and is willing to cut any sort of deal with any group to keep his job.

Slam-dunking tobacco is good politics and good for contributions from a variety of anti-tobacco sources. Cohen is going up against Willie Herenton, another career politician, who is the first African American elected Mayor of Memphis. Herenton was the superintendent of Memphis City Schools for 12 years.

He resigned from his position as superintendent amidst public accusations of an affair he was having with one of his employees.

These days, some career pols experience troubles with their former peccadilloes. Can anyone say John Edwards, or Mark Sanford?

The Tobacco Piracy Tax Act comes at a time when every politician worth old campaign promises is saying that the Great Recession is over and we can all get back to work.

I just read a news story the other day that said many of those middle class jobs we once had are gone forever. Don’t count on their return, or even a job if you happen to be breaking 60 and have just lost a job. The message I read is, “Goodbye, good luck, and don’t let the door hit you in the derriere.”

So, at a time when many, many people are having a hard time keeping the home budget on two feet, Cohen and his ilk want to tax pipe tobacco to an outrageous extent, some 775 percent to be precise, from $2.83 to almost $25 per pound to make it on par with roll your own cigarette taxes. The RYO boys pulled a fast one, repackaged their tobacco in tins to pass it off as pipe tobacco in order to skirt the exchorbitant federal tax on RYO. This put pipe tobacco in the sights of such gunslingers as Cohen who will curry favor with any group as long as he can get campaign contributions and stir up an issue for votes.

This Cohen piracy tax proposal will put many tobacco manufacturers out of business, lop off many jobs, cause the unemployment rolls to go up, increase unemployment benefits and add to the jobless rate that is currently right at 10 percent across the nation.

Yeah, this makes sense.

And, while we are at it, why not follow Cohen and his kind on how they vote for the upcoming health care issue, if it ever comes to a vote. If he is so all-fired concerned about our health, then he won’t mind our keeping track of his voting record on health care.

Contact your Congressman about the Tobacco Piracy Tax Act, and let them know where you stand, that you are tired of tobacco products being taxed out of existence to fund some idiotic and costly project that benefits the few.

And if you can get his or her attention, pry them loose from lobbyists money-raising bashes for re-election efforts, get them to take time away from travel junkets to foreign lands at taxpayer expense, ask them to think about doing the job they were sent to Washington to do. We call it the people’s business.

Part of that job is not to tax people who can ill afford to be taxed over a staple such as tobacco, once a prominent cash crop for hard-working farmers, who used their tobacco allotments to ensure their children had shoes for school.

Tell them that we love our tobacco and we intend to continue using tobacco in the form we choose, despite the underhanded and crooked means that Congress is trying to smash the tobacco market with the help of faulty science and screaming meme anti-smoking wackos.

Friends, it is time to stop the Tobacco Piracy Tax Act.

Altitude Sickness, Or What?

February 24th 2010 Posted at Commentary, Opinions
3 Comments

Well, I am visiting Colorado, and it has been interesting to see what goes on here in the way of health. I mean, like everyone here in Boulder seems to be a health nut. They all look like little pieces of gristle to me.

And, they all want to make this fat boy skinny. It ain’t going to happen. I like being on the lovable hefty side and enjoy my pipes and tobacco, which I have done for the past 40-plus years. The belly comes with me, see.

My point is this: I an beginning to recognize a trend here. Maybe I am the last one on the planet to notice, but we are in the midst of a rising Nanny State.

I plan to write more on this in the future, but here is what has gotten my attention. The other day in one of the nation’s best newspapers, the New York Times–my apologies to those of you who think otherwise and find it too liberal for your tastes; but the NYT is the best there is today, along with the Washington Post–and there was a piece about  how much salt we consume.

Now, the antis and the health freakies are saying we eat too much salt. There’s another side that says we are eating just the right amount, not to worry. The antis hate any kind of food that has salt. They would have us eat twigs and weeds, like many of the folks seem to do out here.

I hail from the South. I have seen work clothes after a day’s labor have so much salt residue that you could start a salt factory with them.

We grow up eating ham that is half salt. Sausage and biscuits with red-eye gravy, yeah, and eggs and bacon along with buttermilk. Every day, seven days a week. It’s enough to clog every artery in your body, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. You won’t find too many Nanny boys in the South.

Now the antis are after our salt intake. Imagine that? Next they’ll come after our dogs, and then the shooting will begin.

So, I asked a friend out here in this cold, cold state about their healthful living. You have to be fit to live here, and they are, I suppose, until they get run over while riding their bikes, ski into trees, or drop off one of the mountains they climb.

But, that doesn’t count. See, they like doing those things out here. Risky, yes, but they enjoy riding something they call a bicycle, running in the snow, climbing 14,000-foot mountains, skiing down the sides of steep slopes, smoking the hills like white rockets. They live here to enjoy that sort of lifestyle.

Is anyone getting my drift?

It’s okay to suffer a traumatic head injury from a fall or getting your skinny buns warped into a pretzel around your skinny bike. That’s fine. Part of the statistical side of living a life in Colorado style.

But let me want to enjoy my pipe and tobacco? Oh, no, you can’t do that. It’s bad for you. Let’s raise the excise taxes on your enjoyment, but not mine, right?

I jest, but I trust you my point. 

And you will have to excuse me. I’ve either had too much salt, or it could be that I am coming down with altitude sickness from being out here.

More on the Nanny State later.

Selah

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