Iowa's senators may have a busy week cleaning out their inboxes. Urbandale Republican Brad Zaun told me he received 143 emails in four hours time about the smoking ban (well, the smoking "almost" ban, if you don't count the casinos, tobacco shops, hotels, motels, private clubs...o.k., I'm tired of typing, so I'll just say..."etc.")
A house lawmaker shared a few of the juicier emails from the inbox...
Common sense and NO BS!! Smoking Ban Logic? There is no logic to the smoking ban being proposed. I am a non-smoker and I really don't care if other people smoke. That's their choice. If I don't want to be exposed to smoke, I just don't go where people are smoking. It is, after all, a LEGAL ACTIVITY. However, it seems a majority of you want to put unreal restrictions on this legal activity, because "it's unsafe",,,"it's harmful".
What you are trying to do is tell everybody that because smoking is so harmful and dangerous, we're going to make it legal to sell it and buy it,,,,,,YOU JUST CAN'T USE IT! Oh wait! You can use it yourself, you just can't use it around other people! Oh wait! You can use it around other people,,in casinos,,,but nowhere else---NOT EVEN ON A FARM!
If it is so damned dangerous, then outlaw it all together and quit playing these games! Oh wait,,,you can't do that, because it's only dangerous enough to some people. For the other people, we have to let them at least buy it, because we need the tax revenue to keep the state running. What would happen if we outlawed it and couldn't get any tax money from it?
Because it's such a dangerous product, we're gonna tax the living daylights out of everybody that buys it,,,,so we can spend the money to educate them on how bad it is,,,,so they don't buy it or,,,use it. (I guess they still need to buy it, cuz we need the taxes!) You guys are making my head hurt! Develop some principles and take a stand on an issue. Quit trying to play both sides. If it's dangerous, get rid of it! If it's safe enough to benefit from the taxes on it, don't choke a legal activity to death by restricting every aspect of it.
With this kind of logic, you might as well legalize marijuana too. "Hey, it's okay to sell it and it's okay to buy it,,,YOU JUST CAN'T USE IT! You can't smoke it anywhere anyway, cuz other people might be around and it's dangerous for them. But the good news is, we're gonna get a whole lot more tax revenue from it....so we can tell you how bad it is for you."
It's no wonder people don't trust politicians!
NO GAMING EXCEPTION!!! UNFAIR - UNJUST - PROTECTIONISM -At least Illinois legislatures had the backbone to including gaming, instead of acting as patsies!All your doing is continuing to let the casino industry consolidate Iowa's money (and their control over legislation and inflated propaganda). Frontlines' Easy Money website --- the unwholesome relationship between gambling and government; -- the last thing our representatives want is an informed electorate; -- the unholy union of politicians and gambling industry folk that is subverting the democratic process.You must certainly know that the gaming industry has EVERY state on 5 & 10 & 20 year agendas, and they celebrate every time a legislature succumbs to their whim. Keep saying this to yourself, I'm not a pet on a leash, I'm not a pet on a leash, I'm not....
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2 comments:
Went in to leave my two cents worth but Dave hit the nail on the head, word for word! Kudos to you for reading my mind. And to the single minded people of Iowa, when all the smokers decide to quit, I hope your ready to open your wallets and dig deep to cover those missing tax dollars.
First, yes I am a smoker; I try to use some good sense of when and where. Maybe I should support banning the practice so the legislators can concentrate on higher taxation and limitation on those who use alcohol. When I was nine years old, I was struck by a car driven by a drunk driver at 10:00 A.M. I spent 6 months recovering from a badly broken leg; missing all the things that a 9-year old enjoys. I am more afraid of a drunk driver coming at me on the roadways than someone smoking a cigarette. The legislator said that 440 people die of smoke-related diseases. How many have died from drunk driving practices? So, lets be fair; go after all the bad habits. Maybe we could tax yarn and knitting needles next; that's a big industry that promotes rheumatism. Or maybe get tough with those using alcohol or might some of the legislators miss their after-dinner drink? I am not this nasty in real life, I assure you.
JoAnn Terrones
Centerville, IA
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