I was really disturbed about what I read from our editor about SCHIP.
Now, I am a smoker. This whole bill is so far from the problem. It's the most idiotic and nonsense. All it does is tax more on the same people you want to help. How is a family of four, $61,000, considered poor to the ones who make far less than that? Oh, I'm sorry, you made $66,000 this year. You don't qualify. All those Saturdays you've worked to help pay the rising cost of gas and healthcare - for nothing. This is insane. A bill that looks good on paper but won't work.
I am so sick and tired of being singled out and being targeted from these people. Smoking does not cause thyroid disease, diabetes, MS, abortion (heartless murder), Prostate cancer, colon cancer, obesity, high blood pressure, heart attacks, asthma. Breathing the wrong stuff after awhile causes cancer. There have been people who died of cancer without smoking. This is what they don't tell you or want you to know. Far more people die or get injured due to drinking and driving and drugs than smoking. How many people (2.4 seconds) are injured in an alcohol-related accident? I hope W vetoes it. It's a stupid bill. Try lowering healthcare for a change. Maybe people can afford it. The government is so out of touch. Democrats and Republicans. Overspend and undercut, overspend and undercut.
Second-hand smoke? You keep believing that while your sucking on gas fumes from cars or saw dust. Grow up!
You tax a person with an addiction. It's not easy to quit. If you haven't smoked for decades, then you'll never understand. I don't drink or do drugs but I smoke. I enjoy smoking. Let me live my life and quit telling me how to. I'm sure there are a few things you do that I don't like.
This is just another way to sucker you into another tax that will not come close to cover these cost. Healthcare will continue to go up. There will always be more low-paying jobs. Don't put a band-aid on a gushing wound! Creating 1,000 jobs that pays $8 or less doesn't help the economy. It makes it worse. Who can afford to live on that? And paying way-over bloated medical bills doesn't help either. Fix it!
One thing to our wise government officials. There are a lot of smokers out there. And they do vote! This will be the first year I will vote. I'm sure many feel the same way as I do: Sick and tired of the crap.
Band-aid on a gushing wound, people. Get a life and leave mine to myself.
