Some American smokers are supporting Terrorism

It seem now a days that the average Joe is part of the blame in supporting Terrorism, though his only crime is trying to save a buck or two on a product. So what can be done outlaw smoking nah, how about cutting taxes?


Snip;

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
By Geoff Metcalf
February 16, 2005
NewsWithViews.com


Terrorists are smuggling in the Continental United States and using the profits to attack and kill Americans.

One veteran observed, "they are shooting at our guys using bullets they bought from their cigarette smuggling enterprises…hey, fewer taxes, fewer bullets, you'd think it'd be a 'no brainer'."

I have been wading through GAO reports and assorted news stories that crystallize an empirical reality the P.C. crowd (and duplicitous Governors) have chosen to ignore. Terrorist's organizations (Al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah et al) have been actively trading in illegal cigarettes…right here in this country.
The money (and it's BIG bucks) from the illegal activity goes directly to funding bad guys killing Americans.
Link

The Washington Post wrote, "Smugglers with ties to terrorist groups are acquiring millions of dollars from illegal cigarette sales and funneling the cash to organizations such as al Qaeda and Hezbollah…"

The 'Police Chief Magazine' noted, "The trafficking of cigarettes by terrorists and their sympathizers has been going on worldwide since the mid-1990s,

The Washington Times reported, "Law-enforcement officials say higher cigarette taxes nationwide in the past 10 years have spawned a cigarette-smuggling racket that finances crime syndicates and terrorist groups."

Cigarettes themselves don't cost much at all, anywhere. It's the outrageous taxes that are being imposed on them by our legistators, that is causing an increasing number of Americans to look outside of the country to purchase their cigarettes.

Look to where the problem starts. And that is with our law makers. Lower the cigarette tax, and I'm sure that people would be more than happy to buy their cigarettes at their local smoke shop or grocery store.

[edit on 2/16/2005 by CyberKat]

too right cigarette smoking supports terrorism
www.therationalradical.com...

My cigs come from Sweden. Are they part of the Axis of Evil too? That's about as dumb as saying that smoking a joint makes you a terrorist. Some people need to grow a brain, or something. Idiots!
It is indeed the outrageous amount of taxes that has forced me to order cigs from other countries. I'll quit, or roll my own, before I buy American cigs ever again. Interestingly enough, non-American cigs don't have half the chemicals and pesticides in them. You can even tell by the taste and color of the tobaco.
In fact, if I could get away with it, there's alot of things I wouldn't pay taxes on. I only support my gov. under duress.

[edit on 16-2-2005 by Moe Foe]

Some American smokers are supporting Terrorism

This is ridiculous. If anyone buys cigarettes on the "black market" they have no way of knowing where or who that money is going to. The mafia also sells cigarettes illegally....are they also terrorists with ties to Al-Queda?

Saying smokers are supporting terrorism is absurd at best. Cigarettes in the US now cost $5+ per pack....can you blame anyone that would try to get them cheaper? Why not rename this thread "The American Government is Supporting Terrorism"....they are the ones that have about $3+ tax on each pack.....and guess where some of that "tax" money goes? Back to the tobacco companies. It's a nice little scheme to make up for the amount of people that have wised up and quit smoking (i.e. myself).

If terrorists are selling "black market" lap tops and some guy ends up with a bunch of them and then heads out on the street and sells $1500 laptops for $500.....alot of people will buy them. Does that make them terrorists supporters or bargain hunters?

If someone goes and buys a bag of pot from his dealer and that pot initially came from some Al-Queda cell and then passed through 10 hands before it reached the guy buying the $100 bag, is that pot head a terrorist supporter?

Give me a break!

well, i buy mine at Exxon down the street, i doubt they are smuggled into the country if they are sold at exxon. anyway, this is the lamest version of terrorist support i've heard yet. what we really need to do is eradicate heroin use.

Here in Maryland, our treasurer has been saying this for years. This at the same time they keep raising the cigarette tax. You can't but a pack for under $5 in theis state. Anytime a price rise or exorbatant tax is placed on any product, an illicit black market will develop. This happened with alcohol, marajuana, pharmacuticals, cigarettes, CDs and DVDs. It is a strech however to say that a smoker is a terrorist supporter. Precisely because it IS a BLACK MARKET, the law enforcement does NOT KNOW who is collecting the cash.

My thoughts exacticaly spike.

Prohibition, and tax on any subtance only helps the illegal trafficers, smugglers, and producers(in the case of illegal substances). If you ask any large pot grower or meth producer they would tell you that legallizing the drug is the worse thing that could happen to them. Prohibition only ensures that demand is high and prices are higher.
We've tried making it illegal, and it doesn't work, we've tried makeing it even more illegal (higher min sentencing) it doesn't work. We've tried demonizing it, and it only makes it more enticing. How about accepting addiction as a weakness of humanity and treating it instead of filling prisons, or bleeding addicts dry.
Oh wait what would we do without the cheap prison labor and the billions in tax revinue, nevermind me I'm just slightly left of center.

How about accepting addiction as a weakness of humanity and treating it instead of filling prisons, or bleeding addicts dry.

Great point...addiction is a disease. But most still feel that is a crock of bs. It's not. Putting them in prison doesn't rehabilitate them or help them in any way. There are people in prison doing less time for murder than for possession of drugs....

These STAND people are really getting on my nerves!! I have never smoked in my life yet I know our country wouldn't be what it is if it wasn't for the selling of tobacco. I know it's bad for the smokers health but what about beer we see all these smokers are evil commercials but then there's a beer commercial where the makers are made out to sound like american heros?what gives? Plus I could be wrong about this but has there been actual proof found that second hand smoke was the cause of any death? Or do they just tell you the numbers of people who died of canser that could have been due to there exposure of tobacco smoke?

Plus I could be wrong about this but has there been actual proof found that second hand smoke was the cause of any death? Or do they just tell you the numbers of people who died of canser that could have been due to there exposure of tobacco smoke?

Whatever the case, second hand smoke certainly is worse than no second hand smoke. Just like having my car running in the garage with the door shut is probably not in my best interest if I'm also in the garage at the time.

regardless don't say something is killing people when you don't know for sure. I have lived in a family full of smokers my whole life been sitting in a room full of smoke sence birth I don't have lung problems I'm as heathy as they come. My mom has smoked sence she was a little girl, in my 23 years I have only seen her sick about 4 times

[edit on 17-2-2005 by Kramthenothing]

regardless don't say something is killing people when you don't know for sure. I have lived in a family full of smokers my whole life been sitting in a room full of smoke sence birth I don't have lung problems I'm as heathy as they come. My mom has smoked sence she was a little girl, in my 23 years I have only seen her sick about 4 times

Some people have different constitutions than others. George Burns smoked cigars his whole life and lived to be 100. Another person could smoke cigars everyday and develop lung cancer in their 40's. My mother recently died and she was a smoker. We cleaned her house and the whole house was covered with nicotine residue: the walls, pictures, furniture, mirrors, etc. etc - I'm talking thick sticky brownish yellow goo (even in rooms she never smoked in)....That stuff is in the air pal and it gets in your lungs if you hang around that environment. If you think that isn't unhealthy, then you aren't very smart.

Doing anything wrong is, at all times, a terrorist act supportive of terrorists!

Behave and do as you are told!

Well, instead of lowering the taxes, why not just quit? God forbid that, huh?

Doing anything wrong is, at all times, a terrorist act supportive of terrorists!

Funny...I suppose the poster of this thread would believe that if I got in a cab and it was driven by someone from the Middle East (how unusual would that be), then I would be supporting terrorism somehow. Maybe we should all live in caves or under rocks!

[edit on 18-2-2005 by Zabilgy]

So I suppose gassing up also supports terrorism? Well, that's why I avoid service stations which use Saudi oil...

Originally posted by Zabilgy

Doing anything wrong is, at all times, a terrorist act supportive of terrorists!

Funny...I suppopse the poster of this thread would believe that if I got in a cab and it was driven by someone from the Middle East (how unusual would that be), then I would be supporting terrorism somehow. Maybe we should all live in caves or under rocks!

I think he was being sarcastic.

Originally posted by Gazrok
So I suppose gassing up also supports terrorism? Well, that's why I avoid service stations which use Saudi oil...

Umm how could you possibly do that?

quote: Originally posted by Zabilgy

quote:
Doing anything wrong is, at all times, a terrorist act supportive of terrorists!


Funny...I suppose the poster of this thread would believe that if I got in a cab and it was driven by someone from the Middle East (how unusual would that be), then I would be supporting terrorism somehow. Maybe we should all live in caves or under rocks!

I think he was being sarcastic.

I know that poster was being sarcastic as was I. I was addressing my post to the Originator of the whole "thread."