Posted on 10/23/2002 12:48:18 AM PDT by kattracks
Edited on 05/26/2004 5:09:45 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
October 23, 2002 -- Mayor Bloomberg yesterday lit into bodega owners who griped on the steps of City Hall that their businesses will soon go up in smoke because of a dramatic drop in cigarette sales.
Bloomberg vigorously defended the higher cigarette tax - which bodega owners said was killing their business - insisting it would stop young people from smoking.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Yup,no doubt about him being a "Bush Republican".
I can hear all the self-appointed do-gooders applauding this comment and setting themselves up as the moral judges of us poor misguided smokers. The only problem with this "tax them for recouping health care costs and funding anti-smoking ads" is:
Smokers (who don't quit) will generate more taxes than anticipated, and the politicians will divert the "windfall" excesses to other areas of the budget to meet shortfalls. (This comment based on personal experience/observation here in AZ!) If they do succeed in reducing smoking, then they face the choice of what to attack next...BIG FAT or DEMON RUM? Make no mistake about this...they need the consumer to fund their grand schemes and if tobacco dries up as a source of punitive taxes...they will find something else to go after!
Tax hike on smokes is burning bodegas
The above was posted on 25 September 2002. Things has gotten worse. Does BloomingIdiot care? 'Ell NO!
I hate to be ignorant, but can someone enlighten me on:
Bodega Owners Association??
What does Bodga mean? This is a new word for me.
Let's call Bloomberg's plot what it really is - The SMOKER-Free City Act.
Many nonsmokers, different from the anti-smokers, are behind us because they recognize these extremist measures for what they really are - An attack on freedom by our own government and where it could lead next.
Anti-smokers are waging a civil war against their fellow citizens. The anti-smoker crusaders publicly spew their hate of an industry to disguise what has turned into their attack on fellow folk.
We are NOT the tobacco industry. We are 30% of NYC residents. This is persecution by government against a segment of society freely choosing to engage in legal behavior and the bar and restaurant owners who want to serve us.
This political action has nothing to do with protecting the health of others. Dismissing high-tech ventilation as a solution and banning smoking outdoors in a vehicle exhaust filled city proves it's about getting rid of the smokers, not the smoke.
Further proof is the most recent news that Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester Counties have met with our city leaders to implement a wide-spread ban.
Our elected officials have colluded against one third of the people. To protect others?? NO! So that smokers will not have any refuge and will stop smoking out of frustration. This is evidenced by Nassau County Legislator Corbin's statement:
"If you're downstate you're not going to be able to smoke anywhere but in your closet. If we stop the places in which you can smoke, the smokers may not find it appealing to smoke."
How dare they use their power to impose their personal biases on others and legislate behavior that is legal.
Our founding fathers assured us we will never get this kind of brutal coercive government. Their vision is under siege. Abuse of power is threatening ALL of us.
When the anti-smokers ask where in the Constitution it says we have the "right" to smoke, ask them where the rights they're claiming are enumerated. They're not. They insist the Constitution was written in their favor. It's not.
ALL the people have the right to pursue happiness and that's about as much as they can claim ownership to when referring to the Constitution, as do we.
The anti-smokers call us selfish. WE are not the ones asking that the entire city accommodate ONLY us. They want it 100% their way when there is room for compromise. Who are the selfish ones?
The anti-smokers use the adage "your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins." Saying that, in their defense to end smoking in bars, is like saying that to end fighting in a boxing ring. Stay out of places where you know "fists are being swung" and you won't get hit. Any child understands that.
The owners and the owners only, of PRIVATE establishments, must be allowed to decide for themselves how best to serve their customers - whether to allow or ban smoking. And employees and customers can use common sense in whether to enter one or the other.
To turn a phrase: The right to be intolerant ends where our civil liberties begin.
That includes junk science about smoke from my cigarette and exploiting workers and individuals who haven't asked for help to promote their self-righteous, sanctimonious and puritanical cleansing of smokers from this great city.
We must resist the extremists.
Thomas Jefferson said this: "All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that the will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression."
Millions who have wanted to, have stopped smoking without government intrusion. Millions more freely choose to continue. The choice to use a legal product is normal. Tyranny in America is the aberration.
This is civil war.
Bloomberg must still be smoking dope if he thinks anyone buys his nonsense that hiking the cigarette tax is a public health measure.
The theory that people, especially "the children", stop smoking because of price increases has been discredited for quite some time. When California raised taxes a few years ago its smoking rate supposedly went down. For reasons never explained by anti-tobacco, but obvious to even a casual observer of human nature, the smoking rates in neighboring -- and low tax -- Nevada miraculously rose at just the same time.
No one will quit in New York City but many will buy out of state or off the internet.
Even the bozos running New York don't believe people will quit. They estimate the new tax will bring in $111-million in the coming fiscal year. For the next fiscal year they estimate the tax will enrich the city coffers by $116-million. If masses of people are going to quit, as the mayor pretends, why would the taxes collected continue to grow?
My next "Quote of the week" in my newsletter.
Super saying, Joe. That's a good one.
A MINOR economic issue??????? What ails this dude? Losing 30-40% of your business is not a MINOR issue. I thought this guy was some sort of wunderkind of the business world - it's obvious I've got him confused with someone else.
"And if cigarette purchases in bodegas are down because consumption is down, that's fantastic."
I don't blame the owners Association for claiming discrimination, the bodegas are primarily Hispanic owned mom & pop corner convenience stores.
On July 1, the city tax on cigarettes skyrocketed from 8 cents a pack to $1.50. The Post reported last week that cigarette sales had dropped from nearly 30 million packs in June to only 10.5 million in September.
If Mayor Bloominidiot thinks sales are down because consumption is down - he needs to go back to Economics 101. good grief - Delaware is less than 3 hours away and our cigarette sales are up nearly 60%. Sales on the New York state Indian Reservations are up. Even in Westchester county, just north of the city sales are up.
How in heaven's name did this turkey ever make it in the business world??????
SheLion - having grown up in Brooklyn this is such a comon word that I sometimes forget that others might not understand it.
A Bodega is the equivalent of the corner deli, but primarily they are owned by those of the hispanic culture. I believe it is a Spanish word, but because I have used it most of my life, I consider it to be just a word.
I've used the word here in Delaware and have gotten funny looks, but get total comprehension when in one of the more hispanically populated areas of the state.
Hope that helps.
It sure does help, Gabz. Thanks so much. I didn't want to just sit here wondering what the heck a Bodegus was. heh!
I hear Arizona is under attack by the antis. Anybody organizing a counterattack?
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