Comments on: Spano has lobbying contract with tobacco company http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/ Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:58:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.2.5 By: ed http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30731 ed Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:48:58 +0000 http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30731 And the Indian tribes pop some DP, light up some Havana rollers, and chuckle through it all. Good for them. The state has no stomach for fighting indians. They've figured out that it's much easier and safer to mug Joe Blows like us who have let this hypocrisy and theft continue decade after decade after decade with little more than a shrug and a shake of the head. And the Indian tribes pop some DP, light up some Havana rollers, and chuckle through it all. Good for them. The state has no stomach for fighting indians. They’ve figured out that it’s much easier and safer to mug Joe Blows like us who have let this hypocrisy and theft continue decade after decade after decade with little more than a shrug and a shake of the head.

]]> By: Wahoo http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30724 Wahoo Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:00:42 +0000 http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30724 Lou is making the slippery slope argument. It's a true argument. Very valid. The nannies like Bloomberg and his buddies in Albany and the Westchester Legislature want to contol everyone's lives. There are already attempts being made to tax junk food. Trans fats bans, and even levels of trans fats, are being ordered to be printed on menus. Liquor is taxed high. Bicyle helmets are law in many places. Cigarettes are taxed very high. Now Maine is thinking about making it illegal for someone to smoke if kids are in a car. Didn't Rockland try that too? It sounds unconstitutional. This started with smoking sections in restaurants. Then it was smoking only in the bar areas. Now, no smoking in bars. It never stops. It happens to be cigarettes this time, but it is a lot more than that overall. It is crazy. It is out of control. And it is amazing that these same liberals are very liberal when it comes to what THEY want, including partial-birth abortion, but are very controlling when it comes to others' freedoms. The hypocrisy is obvious. The cigarette taxes will just create more of a black market. Smokers will get around those increases one way or another. But crime will rise as bootlegging increases. Lou is making the slippery slope argument. It’s a true argument. Very valid.

The nannies like Bloomberg and his buddies in Albany and the Westchester Legislature want to contol everyone’s lives. There are already attempts being made to tax junk food. Trans fats bans, and even levels of trans fats, are being ordered to be printed on menus.

Liquor is taxed high. Bicyle helmets are law in many places. Cigarettes are taxed very high. Now Maine is thinking about making it illegal for someone to smoke if kids are in a car. Didn’t Rockland try that too? It sounds unconstitutional.

This started with smoking sections in restaurants. Then it was smoking only in the bar areas. Now, no smoking in bars. It never stops. It happens to be cigarettes this time, but it is a lot more than that overall.

It is crazy. It is out of control. And it is amazing that these same liberals are very liberal when it comes to what THEY want, including partial-birth abortion, but are very controlling when it comes to others’ freedoms. The hypocrisy is obvious.

The cigarette taxes will just create more of a black market. Smokers will get around those increases one way or another. But crime will rise as bootlegging increases.

]]> By: LOU http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30720 LOU Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:06:49 +0000 http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30720 HEY WHAT THEY ARE TRYING TO DO TO SMOKERS IS CRAZY! I'M NOT A SMOKER BUT IFF I WAS I WOULD BE MAD. THEY ARE SINGALING OUT ONE GROUP AND MAKING THEM PAY. TAX THE LIQUOR - THAT'S BAD FOR YOU - START TAXING CANDY - THAT NOT GREAT FOR YOU. PUT A BIGGER TAX ON FAST FOOD. MAYBE PEOPLE WILL STOP EATING IT. AFTER ALL IT'S BAD FOR YOU RIGHT? THIS IS SO STUPID! HEY WHAT THEY ARE TRYING TO DO TO SMOKERS IS CRAZY! I’M NOT A SMOKER BUT IFF I WAS I WOULD BE MAD. THEY ARE SINGALING OUT ONE GROUP AND MAKING THEM PAY. TAX THE LIQUOR – THAT’S BAD FOR YOU – START TAXING CANDY – THAT NOT GREAT FOR YOU. PUT A BIGGER TAX ON FAST FOOD. MAYBE PEOPLE WILL STOP EATING IT. AFTER ALL IT’S BAD FOR YOU RIGHT? THIS IS SO STUPID!

]]> By: Tim Hays http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30709 Tim Hays Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:28:35 +0000 http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30709 Nothing at all wrong with Nick's business, and lobbying is a fair game. It's a free country. The nanny state wants to abolish smoking. I remember when Luther Terry was Surgeon General, under LBJ, and announced in 1965 that-- surprise!!-- cigs were possibly harmful to us. LBJ immediately stopped smoking (he did two packs a day of Winstons)-- and for the next three years he told his chief aide, Joseph Califano, that he couldn't wait to leave the Oval Office and return to Austin and start smoking again. (Califano did three packs a day, working for LBJ. Go figure, lol.) Nick: I need a carton of Benson & Hedges Menthols. Hope you're working for Philip Morris. ;> (Sources: Califano, "The Triumph and Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson," S&S, 1991; my memory) Nothing at all wrong with Nick’s business, and lobbying is a fair game. It’s a free country. The nanny state wants to abolish smoking.

I remember when Luther Terry was Surgeon General, under LBJ, and announced in 1965 that—surprise!!—cigs were possibly harmful to us. LBJ immediately stopped smoking (he did two packs a day of Winstons)—and for the next three years he told his chief aide, Joseph Califano, that he couldn’t wait to leave the Oval Office and return to Austin and start smoking again. (Califano did three packs a day, working for LBJ. Go figure, lol.)

Nick: I need a carton of Benson & Hedges Menthols. Hope you’re working for Philip Morris.

;>

(Sources: Califano, “The Triumph and Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson,” S&S, 1991; my memory)

]]> By: ed http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30698 ed Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:04:11 +0000 http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30698 Diogenes has one. He's still searching. It's all Greek to me. Diogenes has one. He’s still searching. It’s all Greek to me.

]]> By: NoKoolAidThanks http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30696 NoKoolAidThanks Fri, 04 Apr 2008 04:46:28 +0000 http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30696 Anybody got a light? Anybody got a light?

]]> By: ed http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30667 ed Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:52:15 +0000 http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30667 As Ed McMahon used to say to Carson, "You are correct, sir." We have no dearth of sanctimonious baby-sitters in our midst. Every day that our national and local legislators meet, another small chunk of our nation's freedom is erased. Sadly, we are surrounded by people who have been educated beyond their intelligence. God, in his wisdom, gave us only ten commandments. These "officials" have added volumes, and they have forgotten that one of the simple ten is "Thou Shalt Not Steal." As Ed McMahon used to say to Carson, “You are correct, sir.” We have no dearth of sanctimonious baby-sitters in our midst. Every day that our national and local legislators meet, another small chunk of our nation’s freedom is erased. Sadly, we are surrounded by people who have been educated beyond their intelligence. God, in his wisdom, gave us only ten commandments. These “officials” have added volumes, and they have forgotten that one of the simple ten is “Thou Shalt Not Steal.”

]]> By: Anonymous http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30661 Anonymous Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:28:14 +0000 http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30661 Spano is ridiculous but is right about the law. I hate smoking but smokers (and tobacco companies) have been unfairly targeted by politicians. Basically, it is a bully targeting a wimp. A politician who can't find a worthy cause to tax or doesn't want to, can always pick on "big tobacco". What's next? We start taxing junk food at obscene rates to limit obesity. I personally would like obese people to have to get two seats on an air plane but that is considered inhumane. Guess what, so is taxing a product like crazy that people are addicted to. Spano is ridiculous but is right about the law. I hate smoking but smokers (and tobacco companies) have been unfairly targeted by politicians. Basically, it is a bully targeting a wimp. A politician who can’t find a worthy cause to tax or doesn’t want to, can always pick on “big tobacco”. What’s next? We start taxing junk food at obscene rates to limit obesity. I personally would like obese people to have to get two seats on an air plane but that is considered inhumane. Guess what, so is taxing a product like crazy that people are addicted to.

]]> By: Paul Revere http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30624 Paul Revere Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:45:10 +0000 http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30624 Based on that law, Nick Spano will have to be as mute as a cigar store Indian for the immediate future. That could be a blessing. But is Nick trying to circumvent the law? Based on that law, Nick Spano will have to be as mute as a cigar store Indian for the immediate future. That could be a blessing. But is Nick trying to circumvent the law?

]]> By: Biff Pocaroba http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30623 Biff Pocaroba Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:20:49 +0000 http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30623 Who is Nick going to lobby? He's not allowed to lobby the Legislature until January 2009, at least according to Public Officers Law section 73(8)(a)(iii), which reads: No person who has served as a member of the legislature shall within a period of two years after the termination of such service receive compensation for any services on behalf of any person, firm, corporation or association to promote or oppose, directly or indirectly, the passage of bills or resolutions by either house of the legislature. Who is Nick going to lobby? He’s not allowed to lobby the Legislature until January 2009, at least according to Public Officers Law section 73(8)(a)(iii), which reads:

No person who has served as a member of the legislature shall within a period of two years after the termination of such service receive compensation for any services on behalf of any person, firm, corporation or association to promote or oppose, directly or indirectly, the passage of bills or resolutions by either house of the legislature.

]]> By: Lester http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30622 Lester Wed, 02 Apr 2008 22:57:50 +0000 http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2008/04/02/spano-has-lobbying-contract-with-tobacco-company/#comment-30622 Well, here's someone who's not planning on running for office anytime soon. Well, here’s someone who’s not planning on running for office anytime soon.

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