I like it down here in the valley by the river, its comfortable.

I recomend you avoid corn syrup. Heck I recomend planting a garden and avoiding as much food as you can that is store bought.

im going to look up your dress and get my rocks off

I thought about it and your right big business owns the politicians we both agree on that. We need campaign finance reform to help cure the government.

Pig Intestines, Downer Cows
By Terry J. Allen
Share Digg del.icio.us Reddit Newsvine Corruption and incompetence in federal bureaucracies are enough to make your blood run thin.

In February, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) admitted that it had allowed into the country tainted, reportedly untested heparin. Distributed by Illinois-based Baxter International, the blood thinner was injected into thousands of vulnerable patients and was linked to adverse effects in more than 800 people, as well as 19 deaths. Given the flawed reporting system, the actual toll is unknowable. But it was preventable.

Baxter imported much of the 35 million vials of heparin it sold last year in the United States from Changzhou SPL. The Chinese company included crude heparin squeezed from the intestines of slaughtered pigs processed in filthy kitchen factories that would make a backwoods meth lab look like an Intel clean room.

The FDA never inspected SPL or most of the 3,249 firms on its list of approved importers, and never tracked the supply chain.

Funding for inspections is down nearly 30 percent under President Bush, according to Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), chair of the appropriations panel responsible for FDA funding. At the current rate, the FDA would need more than 13 years to cover all the approved foreign firms. Meanwhile the administration panders to Big Pharma by banning the importation of high-quality, low-priced drugs manufactured in Canada.

Clearly, the current FDA head, Andrew von Eschenbach—an old friend of Bush—is doing a heck of a job.

Federal agencies—such as the FDA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)—are hobbled by ineptitude and in thrall to political and corporate interests.

FEMA, the poster child for criminal negligence, has sat for two years on hard evidence that trailers warehousing Hurricane Katrina victims were exposing residents to dangerous levels of formaldehyde, linked to cancer and lung disease.

In early 2006, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) excoriated FEMA’s leadership for failure “to understand and address the public health implications” of exposure to the toxin. A year later, the agency that brought us duct tape to counter terrorist attacks took action: It advised trailer residents simply to air out their homes. (David Paulison, author of the duct tape strategy, now heads FEMA.)

As of Feb. 1, approximately 38,297 Katrina households were still living in toxic trailers. A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study pushed FEMA to acknowledge the danger and warn residents.

Part of the problem with the federal bureaucracies is that their areas of authority can overlap, conflict or leave gaps. While no agency has authority over formaldehyde levels in private homes, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration limits exposure to 0.75 parts per million (ppm) for an eight-hour day. Katrina victims breathed up to .59 ppm for years at a time, according to the CDC, and levels were likely far higher when the trailers were new and the weather was warm.

As for the USDA, the department is slower on its feet than the downer cows dragged through its meat inspections system. An animal rights group—not USDA investigators—documented the gruesome sight of dying and diseased cows, riding forklifts to slaughter. The news prompted the February recall of 143 million pounds of beef from Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. By the time the USDA acted, much of the beef had already been served in school lunches.

In a separate incident in 2007, almost 12 weeks passed between the first illness linked to E. coli contamination and the USDA’s recall of 21.7 million pounds of Topps Meat hamburger.

Conflicts of interest, cronyism, poor leadership and dispirited staffs have compromised our federal bureaucracies. Underfunding is also a problem, but “funds alone cannot fix an agency that routinely fails at its most basic responsibilities,” said DeLauro at a February congressional hearing.

The system intended to protect the public is more tainted than backroom heparin, more toxic than FEMA trailers and more suspect than downer cows.

When Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), head of the subcommittee that oversees the FDA, requested a briefing on heparin, the FDA said it was too busy. “Maybe it’s time that we replace the leadership at the FDA,” Stupak said.

Maybe that’s not enough. Maybe Congress should exercise oversight and the new president should invest the political and financial capital necessary to revamp the structure, priorities and loyalties of the country’s failed bureaucracies.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3566/

The government did not invent high-fructose corn syrup it was big business and big business ownes the government. The only check against big business is government, unfortunalty our government has been corrupted. Lets hope Obama can make some changes.

Most Common Source of Calories in U.S. is LOADED With Mercury!





Almost half of tested samples of commercial high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained mercury, according to a new study. Mercury was also found in nearly a third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products where HFCS is the first- or second-highest labeled ingredient.

HFCS has replaced sugar as the sweetener in many beverages and foods. A high consumer can take in about 20 teaspoons of HFCS per day. The chemical was found most commonly in HFCS-containing dairy products, dressings and condiments.

The use of mercury-contaminated caustic soda in the production of HFCS is common.


Sources:

Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy January 26, 2009

Washington Post January 26, 2009

Environmental Health January 2009, 8:2





Dr. Mercola's Comments:


In case you weren’t aware, the number one source of calories in the United States is high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The average American consumes about 12 teaspoons of it every day, though as the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) pointed out, teens and other “high consumers” may consume 80 percent more than that.

Now it turns out that this widespread sweetener is contaminated with the toxic heavy metal mercury!

The samples were found to contain levels of mercury ranging from below a detection limit of 0.005 to 0.570 micrograms mercury per gram of HFCS. And this was from samples of popular name-brand foods and beverages, including some made by Quaker, Hershey’s, Kraft and Smucker’s.

How Does Mercury Get Into Corn Syrup?

Although the makers of HFCS like to claim that it’s natural, it’s actually a highly refined product that would never exist in nature. Its manufacture involves an extensive process, one step of which is to separate corn starch from the corn kernel.

Caustic soda is used, among other things, to do this, and for decades mercury-grade caustic soda produced in industrial chlorine (chlor-alkali) plants has been used for this purpose.

Because mercury cells are used to produce some caustic soda, the caustic soda may become contaminated, and ultimately transfer that mercury contamination to the HFCS in your soda, salad dressing, soup, cereal, and so on.

Said IATP’s David Wallinga, M.D., a co-author of both studies:


“Mercury is toxic in all its forms. Given how much high fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered. We are calling for immediate changes by industry and the FDA to help stop this avoidable mercury contamination of the food supply.”


Isn’t it ironic that the Corn Refiners Association just recently spent around $30 million on an ad campaign designed to rehabilitate HFCS’s reputation as an unhealthy sweetener?

It’s going to take a lot more than a few TV commercials to explain away this latest revelation.

Why Consuming Mercury is a Bad Idea

Mercury acts as a poison to your brain and nervous system. This is especially dangerous for pregnant women and small children, whose brains are still developing. If infants or fetuses are exposed to mercury, it can cause:


• Mental retardation
• Cerebral palsy
• Deafness
• Blindness


Even in low doses mercury can interfere with a child’s development, leading to shortened attention span and learning disabilities.

In adults, mercury poisoning can be a serious risk as well, and has been linked to fertility problems, memory and vision loss, and trouble with blood pressure regulation. It can also cause extreme fatigue and neuro-muscular dysfunction, as experienced recently by Chicago actor Jeremy Piven.

Further, studies show that mercury in your central nervous system (CNS) causes psychological, neurological, and immunological problems including:


• Arrhythmias and cardiomyopathies
• Tremors
• Insomnia
• Personality changes and irritability
• Headaches

• Weakness
• Blurred vision
• Slowed mental response
• Unsteady gait


To make matters worse, mercury bonds very firmly to structures in your CNS. Unless actively removed, it has an extremely long half-life of somewhere between 15 and 30 years in the CNS! What this means is that consuming mercury-contaminated HFCS is probably cumulative, with the damage adding up over time.

Mercury is Not the Only Reason to Avoid HFCS

The fact that HFCS-sweetened food and drinks may contain mercury is enough to make me avoid them like the plague. But then again, I avoided them entirely even BEFORE this news came out and I strongly encourage you to take a similar stance.

Part of what makes HFCS such an unhealthy product is that it is metabolized to fat in your body far more rapidly than any other sugar, and, because most fructose is consumed in liquid form (soda), its negative metabolic effects are significantly magnified.

Among them are:


• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Metabolic Syndrome
• An increase in triglycerides and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels
• Liver disease


Fructose also contains no enzymes, vitamins or minerals, and it leeches micronutrients from your body. Unbound fructose, which is found in large quantities in HFCS, can interfere with your heart's use of minerals such as magnesium, copper and chromium.

Last but not least, HFCS is almost always made from genetically modified corn, which is fraught with its own well documented side effects and health concerns, such as increasing your risk of developing a food allergy to corn.

Want to Ditch HFCS?

If you’re healthy, occasional use of small amounts of corn syrup isn’t going to cause any health catastrophes. However, most people are not eating corn syrup in moderation. In 2007, Americans consumed an average of 56 pounds of HFCS each!

A large part of this was undoubtedly from soda, which, again, is the number one source of calories in the United States. So if you’re looking to cut back on HFCS, right off the bat one of the best things to do is to limit or eliminate soda and sugary drinks from your diet, and my turbo tapping technique can help you to do that.

This dangerous sweetener is also in many processed foods and fruit juices, so to avoid it completely you need to focus your diet on whole foods. If you do purchase any processed foods, make sure you read the label … and put it back on the shelf if it lists high-fructose corn syrup as an ingredient -- especially if it’s the first- or second-highest labeled ingredient.





Related Links:


How High Fructose Corn Syrup Damages Your Body

Guess Who Funds High Fructose Corn Syrup Studies?

Debate About Dangers of High-Fructose Corn Syrup
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/02/14/Most-Common-Source-of-Calories-in-US-is-LOADED-With-Mercury.aspx

For the record, here are a few of the items in the stimulus package that left the GOP so greatly offended, per BusinessWeek.com:

$30 billion for a smart power grid, advanced battery technology, and energy efficiency measures.
$20 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency over the next 10 years. Tax credits for families that purchase plug-in hybrid vehicles of up to $7,500.
$5 billion to improve the energy efficiency of more than 1 million homes.
$6.3 billion for increasing energy efficiency in federally supported housing programs.
$3 billion for the National Science Foundation for basic research in fundamental science and engineering. $1.6 billion for the Energy Dept.'s Office of Science, which funds research in such areas as climate science, biofuels, high-energy physics, nuclear physics, and fusion energy sciences . $8.5 billion for the National Institutes of Health, including expanding good jobs in biomedical research to study diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cancer, and heart disease.
$7 billion for extending broadband services to underserved communities.
$87 billion over the next two years in additional federal matching funds to help states maintain Medicaid programs.
$53.6 billion for a State Fiscal Stabilization Fund-$40.6 billion to local school districts, which can be used for preventing cutbacks, preventing layoffs, school modernization, and other purposes; $5 billion as bonus grants for meeting key performance measures; and $8 billion for public safety and other services.
Higher education tax credit increased to a maximum of $2,500, and makes it available to nearly 4 million low-income students by making it partially refundable
Increases the maximum Pell Grant by $500, for a maximum of $5,350 in 2009 and $5,550 in 2010.
$200 million added to the College Work-Study Program.
$1.1 billion for Early Head Start.
$1 billion for Head Start.
$2 billion for the Child Care Development Block Grant to provide child care services to an additional 300,000 children in low-income families while their parents go to work.
$13 billion for Title I grants to help disadvantaged kids reach high academic standards.
$12.2 billion for special education grants.
$29 billion for modernizing roads and bridges. $18 billion for clean water, flood control, and environmental restoration investments.
$5 billion for improvements in Defense Dept. facilities.
Child tax credit expanded to allow families to begin qualifying for the child tax credit with every dollar earned over $3,000.
Earned Income Tax Credit expanded by providing tax relief to families with three or more children and increasing marriage penalty relief.
New, partially refundable $2,500 tax credit for families. Temporarily suspends taxation of some unemployment benefits. Tax credits for hiring recently discharged unemployed veterans and youth that have been out of work and out of school for the six months prior to hire. New bond-financing program for school construction, rehabilitation, and repair.
Increases unemployment benefits for 20 million jobless workers by $25 per week.
Increases food stamp benefits by 13%.
$100 million for Emergency Food & Shelter to help local community organizations provide food and shelter; $100 million for formula grants to states for elderly nutrition services including Meals on Wheels; and $150 million for the Emergency Food Assistance Program to purchase commodities for food banks to refill emptying shelves.
$4 billion for job training including formula grants for adult job training, dislocated worker job training, and youth services (including funding for summer jobs for young people).
$500 million for Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants to help persons with disabilities.
$500 million to match unemployed individuals to job openings.
$120 million to provide community service jobs to an additional 24,000 low-income older Americans.
Payment of $250 to Social Security beneficiaries, as well as veterans receiving disability compensation and pension benefits from the Veterans Affairs.
There are a few distinct reasons the GOP has decided to get in the way of everything proposed by the Obama administration and the Congressional Democratic majority. They need to appear to be relevant after back-to-back electoral pastings in 2006 and 2008. Because they are better at playing the media game than the Democrats, they can telegraph whatever remaining strengths they have far more effectively.

They need Obama to fail on all fronts if they are to have a prayer at recovering lost ground at the polls in 2010. Finally, they only have representation in states where Bush remains popular and the GOP cant on government remains holy writ, so if they want to keep those few remaining seats, they have to play in the hard-right part of the pool. This is not a group of people Obama should expect anything from beyond what has already been demonstrably in evidence. Hoping for something different is a foolish pipe dream.

President Obama can work with the Democratic Congressional majorities to pass future legislation, perhaps making sure to get one GOP vote in the Senate to thwart a filibuster. If no such vote is forthcoming, he can dump any quixotic quest for one or any GOP votes and dare the GOP to filibuster widely popular bills. He's not going to get GOP support for anything, so why bother trying? Let them keep it up and lose every time, and let them try to stand on that record for the 2010 midterms.

President Obama needs to do the work the people overwhelmingly elected him to do, and if the GOP does not want to be a part of that work, so be it. In the long run, a string of Democrat-only legislative victories will have a dynamic effect on the obstructionist tendencies of the GOP. Sooner or later, they'll come running in whole or in part to Obama's side of the aisle, if only to save themselves. Until then, dump them.
_______



About author
William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of two books: War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know and The Greatest Sedition Is Silence. His newest book, House of Ill Repute: Reflections on War, Lies, and America's Ravaged Reputation, will be available this winter from PoliPointPress.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/20314

There are a few distinct reasons the GOP has decided to get in the way of everything proposed by the Obama administration and the Congressional Democratic majority. They need to appear to be relevant after back-to-back electoral pastings in 2006 and 2008. Because they are better at playing the media game than the Democrats, they can telegraph whatever remaining strengths they have far more effectively.

They need Obama to fail on all fronts if they are to have a prayer at recovering lost ground at the polls in 2010. Finally, they only have representation in states where Bush remains popular and the GOP cant on government remains holy writ, so if they want to keep those few remaining seats, they have to play in the hard-right part of the pool. This is not a group of people Obama should expect anything from beyond what has already been demonstrably in evidence. Hoping for something different is a foolish pipe dream.

President Obama can work with the Democratic Congressional majorities to pass future legislation, perhaps making sure to get one GOP vote in the Senate to thwart a filibuster. If no such vote is forthcoming, he can dump any quixotic quest for one or any GOP votes and dare the GOP to filibuster widely popular bills. He's not going to get GOP support for anything, so why bother trying? Let them keep it up and lose every time, and let them try to stand on that record for the 2010 midterms.

President Obama needs to do the work the people overwhelmingly elected him to do, and if the GOP does not want to be a part of that work, so be it. In the long run, a string of Democrat-only legislative victories will have a dynamic effect on the obstructionist tendencies of the GOP. Sooner or later, they'll come running in whole or in part to Obama's side of the aisle, if only to save themselves. Until then, dump them.
_______

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/20314

For the record, here are a few of the items in the stimulus package that left the GOP so greatly offended, per BusinessWeek.com:

$30 billion for a smart power grid, advanced battery technology, and energy efficiency measures.
$20 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency over the next 10 years. Tax credits for families that purchase plug-in hybrid vehicles of up to $7,500.
$5 billion to improve the energy efficiency of more than 1 million homes.
$6.3 billion for increasing energy efficiency in federally supported housing programs.
$3 billion for the National Science Foundation for basic research in fundamental science and engineering. $1.6 billion for the Energy Dept.'s Office of Science, which funds research in such areas as climate science, biofuels, high-energy physics, nuclear physics, and fusion energy sciences . $8.5 billion for the National Institutes of Health, including expanding good jobs in biomedical research to study diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cancer, and heart disease.
$7 billion for extending broadband services to underserved communities.
$87 billion over the next two years in additional federal matching funds to help states maintain Medicaid programs.
$53.6 billion for a State Fiscal Stabilization Fund-$40.6 billion to local school districts, which can be used for preventing cutbacks, preventing layoffs, school modernization, and other purposes; $5 billion as bonus grants for meeting key performance measures; and $8 billion for public safety and other services.
Higher education tax credit increased to a maximum of $2,500, and makes it available to nearly 4 million low-income students by making it partially refundable
Increases the maximum Pell Grant by $500, for a maximum of $5,350 in 2009 and $5,550 in 2010.
$200 million added to the College Work-Study Program.
$1.1 billion for Early Head Start.
$1 billion for Head Start.
$2 billion for the Child Care Development Block Grant to provide child care services to an additional 300,000 children in low-income families while their parents go to work.
$13 billion for Title I grants to help disadvantaged kids reach high academic standards.
$12.2 billion for special education grants.
$29 billion for modernizing roads and bridges. $18 billion for clean water, flood control, and environmental restoration investments.
$5 billion for improvements in Defense Dept. facilities.
Child tax credit expanded to allow families to begin qualifying for the child tax credit with every dollar earned over $3,000.
Earned Income Tax Credit expanded by providing tax relief to families with three or more children and increasing marriage penalty relief.
New, partially refundable $2,500 tax credit for families. Temporarily suspends taxation of some unemployment benefits. Tax credits for hiring recently discharged unemployed veterans and youth that have been out of work and out of school for the six months prior to hire. New bond-financing program for school construction, rehabilitation, and repair.
Increases unemployment benefits for 20 million jobless workers by $25 per week.
Increases food stamp benefits by 13%.
$100 million for Emergency Food & Shelter to help local community organizations provide food and shelter; $100 million for formula grants to states for elderly nutrition services including Meals on Wheels; and $150 million for the Emergency Food Assistance Program to purchase commodities for food banks to refill emptying shelves.
$4 billion for job training including formula grants for adult job training, dislocated worker job training, and youth services (including funding for summer jobs for young people).
$500 million for Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants to help persons with disabilities.
$500 million to match unemployed individuals to job openings.
$120 million to provide community service jobs to an additional 24,000 low-income older Americans.
Payment of $250 to Social Security beneficiaries, as well as veterans receiving disability compensation and pension benefits from the Veterans Affairs.
There are a few distinct reasons the GOP has decided to get in the way of everything proposed by the Obama administration and the Congressional Democratic majority. They need to appear to be relevant after back-to-back electoral pastings in 2006 and 2008. Because they are better at playing the media game than the Democrats, they can telegraph whatever remaining strengths they have far more effectively.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/20314

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08e9k-c91E8&feature=related

Im sure y ou saw the film if not you will enjoy it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY5v9tt62IY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htSXKYs8sQM&feature=related

relax darlin' stop all that darn rock climbing and come sit down by the slate bottemed river

I like it down here in the valley. The soil is good for a garden the river is cool for swimming

Steve Benen of The washington Monthly sums it best "BIGGEST. TAX CUT. EVER.... A few weeks ago, when the House approved the economic stimulus bill without any Republican votes, David Weigel noted that he literally couldn't remember "a time when the entire Republican conference in either house voted against tax cuts."

That's true, but let's go a little further. The compromise plan announced last night includes $282 billion in tax cuts over two years. With that in mind, Steven Waldman argues, persuasively, that when the vast majority of congressional Republicans oppose the package, they'll be voting against the biggest tax cut "in history."

He goes on to say...

" such, GOP lawmakers are going to reject one of the largest, if not the largest, tax cut ever proposed by a president -- which just so happens to be targeted at the working and middle class families Obama vowed to look out for.

When the economy recovers, I suspect many on the right will argue, "Obama's policy only worked because he passed a quarter-trillion dollars in tax breaks." That will surely make them feel better. But how will those same conservatives respond when it's noted that Republicans stood up to oppose one of the biggest tax-cut plans in American history?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016863.php

With the republicans voteing against the largest middle class tax decrease in history its like my birthday and christmas all rolled into one. After all these are the same republicans who voted for tax decreases for the billionares and corperations who shipped jobs over seas. Thank you republicans for at last showeing your true colors. Your for tax decreases only when the rich benefit at the expense of the middle class. Thank you Mr Obama for fullfilling your pledge to give tax decreases to 95% of america

The passage of the jobs bill represents a great victory for President Obama, a huge triumph for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and a tremendous moment for the smart Republican senators, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine. It is a crushing blow for the do-nothing, obstructionist, recession Republicans who are betting against America.

A popular president with support in the nation that has risen again to the high 60s to mid 70s in popularity asked for a jobs bill by Presidents Day, and gets it. The recession Republicans, tarred by landslide losses in 2006 and 2008 because of their diehard support for George W. Bush, sink further into the political hole. When America recovers, Obama wins; Harry Reid wins; the Speaker wins; Sens. Snowe, Specter and Collins win; and the recession Republicans lose. They are betting the ranch that America fails, because they know if the program succeeds, if America succeeds, they are left out on the limb of that old black magic of recession Republic economics.

These guys have gone so far right, they can't see Main Street with a microscope. They are so politically maladroit, the best they can serve up for a nation that is hungry for solutions is a stone-cold dish of Bush doggie bags.

They tried to cut the jobs bill in half. They tried to take spending for jobs out of a program to create jobs. They opposed fuel-efficient cars for the federal fleet, weatherizing buildings in the cold winter and building schools for the kids while they supported that old black magic of tax cuts for the wealthy and repeated, ad nauseam, the sad platitudes of Herbert Hoover and the defeated policies of John McCain in 2008.

The three Republican senators standing almost alone in the region of the nation where most Republicans are no longer welcome are called traitors and Benedict Arnolds.

The recession party gloats when Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire declines to serve in the Cabinet, though he will not run again and will very probably be succeeded by yet another Democrat in yet another state where the recession Republicans are no longer welcome in Senate seats or the governor's mansion.

The death march of the recession Republicans continues. It is their curse, their failure of economics, the curse that led them to minority status for a generation after Hoover, the curse that led to their latest disaster in 2008, after their disaster in 2006.

The recession Republicans are hoping the president fails, and betting the ranch that America fails, which is a very bad bet indeed.

_______



About author
Brent Budowsky served as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, responsible for commerce and intelligence matters, including one of the core drafters of the CIA Identities Law. Served as Legislative Director to Congressman Bill Alexander, then Chief Deputy Whip, House of Representatives. Currently a member of the International Advisory Council of the Intelligence Summit. Left goverment in 1990 for marketing and public affairs business including major corporate entertainment and talent management. He can be reached at brentbbi@webtv.net.
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/20308

The Most Regressive Tax of All


When you see a homeless veteran rolling a cigarette to help cope with the constant stress of living on the streets and ward off the hunger pangs a bit, do you become angry that they are smoking or do you give them some money for food or tobacco? Either way, after April 1st, you might be well advised to cross the street and avoid them altogether, as they will not be able to afford to buy rolling tobacco any more and studies have shown that smokers who are deprived of tobacco are apt to become irritable or even violent.

The Democratic Congress has just passed a two thousand one hundred and fifty-nine percent (2,159%) tax increase on rolling tobacco, President Obama signed it into law, and it becomes effective on April 1st, increasing the cost of an ounce of rolling tobacco well beyond the reach of most homeless and low-income people. Many of the companies that sell rolling tobacco will be going out of business on April 1st. You might think that this is a good thing because you've been told that smoking is bad for the health, and I'll speak to that in a moment, but first let's look at the tax.

The tax increase on rolling tobacco was imposed in order to fund SCHIP which supposedly provides more health care for children. Actually, of course, most of the money will go to the health care industry and the big pharmaceutical companies, who will immediately begin prescribing dangerous and unnecessary drugs to children who weren't previously covered by any health plan. If the Democrats and Obama had really wanted to provide health care, they would have passed a single-payer health plan like Canada's, but that would anger the insurance companies so it is off the table.

Another place they could have gotten the same amount of money would have been by placing a one percent (1%) or even a half of one percent (0.5%) tax increase on the luxury yachts and private jet planes that are purchased by multi-millionaire corporate executives with taxpayer bailout money, but that would anger the wealthy elite so that too is off the table. They could have gotten a much larger amount by decreasing the military budget by a tiny fraction of one percent, perhaps as little as a hundredth of one percent (0.01%), but both the Democratic Congress and the Obama administration are committed to pursuing the Bush/Cheney wars of aggression based on lies, so that's off the table also. They certainly aren't going to increase taxes on the wealthy, and they know how angry the diminishing middle class is already, so the only people they could tax are the poorest of the poor and that is exactly what they have done. Doesn't it seem strange to anyone that Congress doesn't dare increase taxes on the rich by a fraction of a percent, but increases taxes on the poor by over 2,000 percent without a second thought?

But those who think there is a health benefit to not smoking may be surprised to learn that not all scientists agree. There is some dissent, for example, about the matter of second hand smoke. But there is an even bigger story that was apparently suppressed in the U.S. to the extent that I can't find any references to it and would greatly appreciate it if anyone with access to Swiss medical references would try to find it. Back in 1972 there was a joint Swiss-American study on carcinogenic hydrocarbon particulates. The scientists chose a Swiss town in the Alps that was built around the top of a mountain. Half of the town was on one side of the mountain top and half the town on the other side. One side of the town was developed and had a highway, many paved streets, and lots of automobiles. The other side of town, shielded behind the mountain top, was mostly rural farmland and had only a few cars and tractors. In those days all the men in town smoked cigarettes but none of the women admitted to smoking. If women did smoke, they did so secretly and infrequently and weren't about to admit it. Naturally, the scientists found carcinogenic hydrocarbon particulate matter in the range of about five parts per million on the roadless side of town, but about five hundred parts per million on side of town with lots of cars. What was really interesting was that they also found ten times higher cancer rates among both males and females, for all types of cancer, on the side of town with cars.

Unless or until I can find the reference, which was published in a respected medical journal, this study will just have to be viewed as anecdotal evidence, so I'd like to add some more. As a senior citizen, I've noted cases of people who have been smoking all their lives and do not have lung cancer, while there have been cases of young people who have never smoked dying of lung cancer. I believe that the real culprit is automobile emissions and also the microscopic particles from rubber tires and metal brakes that go into our air and are inhaled into our lungs. But the automobile industry is much more powerful than the tobacco lobby so it was easier for the government to crack down on tobacco.

As a low income senior citizen, I've been rolling my own cigarettes for decades. I have a rolling machine and I order pounds of additive-free tobacco by mail along with filtered paper tubes. Since the company that supplied my tobacco will be going out of business on April 1st, I just ordered enough tobacco to last me a year. I'll clear all the food out of my refrigerator's freezer section and keep tobacco in there instead. I can always trade tobacco for food, if necessary, but I can't trade food for tobacco. After that tobacco is used up, I'll have to buy generic packs of cigarettes, which will cost me at least five times as much as it costs me to roll a pack of cigarettes now, and I'll probably never be able to afford additive-free tobacco again, so I'll be paying for chemical poisons I really don't want. Those chemicals are added to cigarette tobacco to alter the taste and to make the tobacco burn more quickly.

This is probably the most regressive tax in United States history and I believe that makes the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress the most regressive government in U.S. history.

_______

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/20286