We are ALL smokers now!

So to all those who watched as smoking went from a mild social habit to the deadliest weapon of mass destruction the world has ever seen....

To all those who believed that it was ok to deprive smokers of shelter, homes, jobs and financial rape because cigarettes were a "unique" product....

To all those who believed that if they just went along with the program and quit smoking, the bullies would finally leave them in peace....

digital.vpr.net...

“We are on the exact same path I believe where tobacco was in the 1970s and '80s,” says Sterling, who now heads a group pushing for single-payer health care. “People knew it was a public health threat, they weren’t quite aware that a tax was a policy lever used to decrease consumption.”

Same demonization of the obese as with the smokers - apparantly now the obese are responsible for 50 % of all health care costs???

“Half of Vermont’s Medicare and Medicaid expenses today are due to obesity, and the scientific literature is conclusive that excess consumption of these sugary beverages is the number one driver of obesity,” Sterling says. “So I think it’s fairly safe to say that if we can even reduce the consumption of these beverages by 10 percent, we will save the state of Vermont a significant amount of money.”

And the same Big Pharma backed Foundation providing the funds to lobbiests:

A grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will fuel the best-funded push yet for the soda tax. Combined with some other smaller grants, advocates will have nearly a quarter-million dollars to work with as they press for a 2-cent per-ounce excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.

As demonization of the obese proceeds as it did for the smokers....Big Pharma will be re-couping billions on less than useless diet aids.

So we are all smokers now - welcome to a world where "society" is comprised only of skinny people who don't smoke, don't drink and for social talk means discussing their latest training regime. The rest of us are ALL outcast!

Tired of Control Freaks

a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks

The money is running low for anti-smoking campaigners. Smokers are really tapped out. The lobbiests still need to make a living. So the same people who spear-headed anti-smoking campaigns are now spear heading anti-obesity campaigns.

Guess what folks - the bullies will never be satisfied.

This is a campaign for a national soda tax

reebeacon.com/issues/democrat-seeking-national-soda-tax/

Larry Cohen, a social justice activist and one of the leaders behind banning smoking in bars and restaurants, endorsed the bill. “Soda and sugary beverages are the new tobacco and the fight to reduce their marketing and consumption is the next great public health battle,” Cohen said. “I helped create the nation’s first multi-city no-smoking laws and advocated for years to increase the tax on tobacco.” “I see a sugar-sweetened beverage tax as just as valuable and just as groundbreaking,” he said.

Tired of Control Freaks

Yep, people need to wake up!
They will ALWAYS have someone who they're blaming, else we might start looking at THEM!

I have an example in my family and also I have heard stories about people that never smoked and avoided smoking areas (and were fanatically against smoking) dying from lung cancer...

so I smoke and don't care...

Dammit!
It's my body! My choice of what I do with it. Or put into it. Well, it used to be I guess. Now I am either taxed to death, or told it's just illegal.

What a wonderful world we live in.

So, how much longer before the Beef tax? After all, red meat causes heart attacks right?

a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks

And yet, we will have idiots who will back them up. The people who were blessed with good genes and yet blame their own shortcomings on others.

I've heard it before...

"She doesn't have diabetes! She's just overweight!"

He doesn't have sleep apnea, he just smokes to much!"

etc, etc... Those are just broad brush attacks and don't address the individuals issue.

Maybe she does eat to much, maybe he smokes to much. But where is the education to get them to stop? Taxes are not the solution at all. It's just another money pit.

That's weird? Double post.

I am all for non smoking, for the sake of national health and general good practice. It was sold to people as something 'good' for health and was pushed upon people until it became known as not good for health. I would even ban it in public places outdoors as well as the already established indoor bans.

Similarly for obesity campaigns, I think it's a good thing.

We eat clean and healthy unprocessed foods and can taste the added things in processed foods, like too much salt, sugar, fat, MSG etc. It's all terrible stuff that resulted in vast amounts of ill people, a detachment from food reality, from example from farm to table and it has given supermarkets and big food co too much power in the things people purchase, they push carbs and processed foods instead of healthier options like fruit, veg and ethically farmed meat, which has only compounded the issue.

I am also surprised at the lack of choice people in the US have with regards to food, there is a lack of labelling, which IMO is essential in making educated food choices.

Here in the UK most use the NHS, which is publically funded health care and a vast amount goes on treating obesity and smoking related diseases.

Proper campaigns to sort the issue rather than treating the symptoms is a good thing. First and foremost is the mindset of the public.

That said, I think there are better ways than taxing people for the way things are marketed to them and the lack of control governments have on food providers and the choices available to the public.

During WWII the health of the nation in the UK was far improved due to rationing, however difficult it was for many, it did the nation's health some good.

a reply to: theabsolutetruth

A education program is needed, across the world. I try to eat healthy and yet it is more expensive than buying off the shelf items.

I gave up smoking and have tried to live a better lifestyle, but everything "organic" is outrageously expensive these days. I've even see "organic" cigarettes and they are more expensive than your average smoke by at least a dollar.

People like to talk about conspiracy, and I do see one here as well. But it is a convulated web that pretty much encompasses everything.

In the U.K you can get FREE help to stop smoking with patches / or tablets and a health Adviser to give support .

And Obese folk can get Gastric bands fitted

so no excuse for being a fatty that smells like a ashtray

Pretty ironic when one sixth of our population doesn't have enough food to eat.

The New Face of Hunger

See also:

Hunger in America: 2014 United States Hunger and Poverty Facts

a reply to: TDawgRex

I guess it depends on the choices. For me it isn't more expensive, I can easily make healthy soups and meals for less than any shelf bought ready made version.

A few basics covers most things, some cooking /baking skills, there are plenty of recipes online for the novice.

Oats, almond / non gm soya milk, organic flour, veg, fruit, organic or ethically sourced meat / fish, pasta, rice, potatoes, olive oil, herbs and spices can make all sorts of delicious healthy meals.

Some self control and it's easy. For example, oats for breakfast, soup for lunch, meat/fish/veg based evening meal, fruit for snacks.

It works for us and feels so much better than processed and snack type eating.

Education certainly is needed, at schools here there is some but most school meals contain a stodgy pudding instead of healthy fruit being the only option.

Often I have seen people feeding toddlers in pushchairs, coca cola and sweets instead of water and fruit. Parents and the general public need educating on these things and stores should look at rearranging their products for health instead of profit.

A education program is needed, across the world. I try to eat healthy and yet it is more expensive than buying off the shelf items.

I could care less if people smoke or eat to much. They do it for a reason and that reason is none of my business.

People have been smoking one thing or another on this land longer than we had toilet paper.

Pop on the other hand knocked out 6 teeth before I turned 30. That stuff is evil. OUUT!!!

They came after the smokers, and I didn't say anything, because I wasn't a smoker.
They came after the obese people, and i didn't say anything, because I wasn't obese.
They came after...

Next!

a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks

I grow my own. It cost $5 for about 5000 seeds five years ago. Grows like a weed, so careful where you plant it as each plant produces about 10000 seed and new plants are forever popping up.
So I have been smoking free for the last five years. Once harvested I am smoking it in 7 days. Spay a bit of rum on it to make it go down smoother or you can smoke it raw if your a hard man. No chemical, no tax.

originally posted by: douglas5
In the U.K you can get FREE help to stop smoking with patches / or tablets and a health Adviser to give support .

And Obese folk can get Gastric bands fitted

so no excuse for being a fatty that smells like a ashtray

Except it's not free. Everyone is taxed through the nose to pay for it. So if you aren't a obese and never smoked a day in your life? Guess what? You still get taxed as if you do.

a reply to: theabsolutetruth

originally posted by: theabsolutetruth
Oats, almond / non gm soya milk, organic flour, veg, fruit, organic or ethically sourced meat / fish, pasta, rice, potatoes, olive oil can make all sorts of delicious healthy meals.

Some self control and it's easy.

I really don't mean any disrespect, but what planet do you live on?

I am fortunately a person of sufficient means, so many of the choices you describe I am easily able to accomplish. But there is no way you can convince me that those are cheaper than the poorer alternatives.

Moreover, such healthier alternatives aren't really all that available in the stores where a large portion of our population shops. I've been into Walmart recently out of curiosity and it is nearly impossible to buy organic or reasonable quality food there. Most large chain grocery stores are the same.

Just sayin'

See, here's the thing - It's my life and none of anyone else's business how I choose to live it. I could smoke or eat crap for all the business of yours it is. We are supposed to have personal liberty here and take responsibility for ourselves and our choices, good or bad.

It's none of my business what you choose to do with yourself, and it's certainly none of your business to come walking in and try to tell me that you know better how I should live my life and attempt to compel me to do so. Who died and made you god?

originally posted by: ketsuko
See, here's the thing - It's my life and none of anyone else's business how I choose to live it. I could smoke or eat crap for all the business of yours it is. We are supposed to have personal liberty here and take responsibility for ourselves and our choices, good or bad.

It's none of my business what you choose to do with yourself, and it's certainly none of your business to come walking in and try to tell me that you know better how I should live my life and attempt to compel me to do so. Who died and made you god?

Funny how that works isn't it?

When we are young, we strive to become adults so that we can go to bed whenever we feel like it, eat whatever we want to eat when we feel like it, and then not only do we find out other people don't want us to have these freedoms, but we also become what we hated so much about adults telling us what to do when we were children.........