thank you barack. obama signs anti-smoking bill

[gtc08]

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama cited his own long struggle to quit the cigarettes he got hooked on as a teenager as he signed the nation's strongest-ever anti-smoking bill Monday and praised it for providing critically needed protections for kids.
"The decades-long effort to protect our children from the harmful effects of tobacco has emerged victorious," Obama said at a signing ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.
The bill marks the latest legislative victory for Obama's first five months. Among his other successes: a $787 billion economic stimulus bill, legislation to expand a state program providing children's health insurance and a bill making it easier for workers to sue for pay discrimination.
The president has frequently spoken, in the White House and on the campaign trail, of his own struggles to quit smoking. He brought it up during Monday's ceremony while criticizing the tobacco industry for marketing its products to young people.
Obama said almost 90 percent of people who smoke began at age 18 or younger, snared in a dangerous and hard-to-kick habit.
"I know _ I was one of these teenagers," Obama said. "So I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it's been with you for a long time."
Before dozens of invited guests, including children from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, the president signed legislation giving the [COLOR=#038258! important][COLOR=#038258! important]Food [COLOR=#038258! important]and [/COLOR][COLOR=#038258! important]Drug [/COLOR][COLOR=#038258! important]Administration[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] unprecedented authority to regulate tobacco.
Obama accused the tobacco industry of targeting young people, exposing them to a "constant and insidious barrage of advertising where they live, where they learn and where they play. Most insidiously, they are offered products with flavorings that mask the taste of tobacco and make it even more tempting."

 

[rolltide]

Obama accused the tobacco industry of targeting young people, exposing them to a "constant and insidious barrage of advertising where they live, where they learn and where they play. "

yeah, it's just brutal. I can't watch an episode of LOST without 5 commericals telling me how tasty Camel unfiltereds are.
!~~~!
Then, I take the dog to the park and there's a massive sign saying "This park has been built and funded by Marlboro".
!~~~!
I just stopped watching baseball because the 7th inning stretch is brought to me by Newport Lights!
!~~~!
Don't even get me started with NASCAR...week after week you've got the Kool 500, Winston 250, and all to win the RJ Reynolds Cup!
!~~~!
thank god the government is here to protect me from myself. I don't know how I could ever live without them.
^<<^

(BTW, let it not be lost on us that the same guy who discusses lack of personal freedom created this thread, yet does not understand how this is exactly the opposite of what he should be hoping for if he/she truly cared about personal freedoms)

 

[steaktartar]

good job obama...already getting the preventive part of health care reform rolling

 

[Mistermj]

It's widely known Obama never quit...what about the children?

 

[rolltide]

also, instead of thanking BHO, thank Philip Morris since they wrote the bill to ensure their dominance in the market

 

[tiznow]

also, instead of thanking BHO, thank Philip Morris since they wrote the bill to ensure their dominance in the market

yet another example of commufascism

@)

but....but...but....we helping the kids.....sounds so nice and fluffy....ahhhh....i feel so good....

 

[tiznow]

good job obama...already getting the preventive part of health care reform rolling

what's next we ban fast food? :lol:

maybe government should say ronald mcdonald attracting kids to become flat slobs should be banned next

:lol:

 

[steaktartar]

what's next we ban fast food? :lol:

maybe government should say ronald mcdonald attracting kids to become flat slobs should be banned next

:lol:

twas a jab at a few in here.......tongue-in-cheek

 

[Willie99]

So many inconsistencies to discuss, so little time

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama signed legislation Wednesday to more than double the federal cigarette to pay for an expansion of health insurance for poor children.

Tobacco companies hurt by declining smoking rates expect the 62-cent increase -- to $1.01 per pack -- to further cut cigarette sales after it takes effect April 1.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Federal & state governments collected over 20 billion tax dollars from the sale of cigarettes

 

[Willie99]

Now, for the inconsistencies

1) does anyone think that only people that make over $ 250,000 smoke? of course not. Obama raised one of the most regressive taxes we have on the books. He increased taxes on the poorest Americans.

2) Obama promised to fund childrens' health care with cigarette money. What happens if sales actually decrease?

3) Federal and state governments collected 20 billion in revenues in 2007 off of cigarettes, and they plan to collect substantially more in 2009 with many large cigarette tax increases. What do you think happens to their budgets when sales decrease?

What a game of political bullshit. At best, their budget deficit is going to be significantly worse than they told us because they knowingly lied about revenues when they put their budget together. At worst, it's all a game of charades anyway.

A little bit here, a little bit there and spin mix spin chew spin and baddabing, paraplegics can walk

<<

 

[Willie99]

on a side bar, can anyone tell me what part of the constitution authorizes this type of federal law?

just wondering

 

[tiznow]

Now, for the inconsistencies

1) does anyone think that only people that make over $ 250,000 smoke? of course not. Obama raised one of the most regressive taxes we have on the books. He increased taxes on the poorest Americans.

2) Obama promised to fund childrens' health care with cigarette money. What happens if sales actually decrease?

3) Federal and state governments collected 20 billion in revenues in 2007 off of cigarettes, and they plan to collect substantially more in 2009 with many large cigarette tax increases. What do you think happens to their budgets when sales decrease?

What a game of political bullshit. At best, their budget deficit is going to be significantly worse than they told us because they knowingly lied about revenues when they put their budget together. At worst, it's all a game of charades anyway.

A little bit here, a little bit there and spin mix spin chew spin and baddabing, paraplegics can walk

<<

yeah the circle just goes round and round

welfare checks and such a cut just ends up going right back to the government in the form of cig and alcohol taxes and big tobacco and alcohol gets a cut too

its all sustainable don't worry willie :drink:!~~~!:grandmais:smoker2::smoking:

 

[rolltide]

yeah the circle just goes round and round

welfare checks and such a cut just ends up going right back to the government in the form of cig and alcohol taxes

how the hell did you forget about scratch-offs?
@)

 

[tiznow]

how the hell did you forget about scratch-offs?
@)

yeah my bad

next up heavy taxation on fast food, junk food, and soda

:lol:

 

[ProPokerPlayer]

Not 1 thing anywhere in this bill that will decrease smoking or increase revenue....nothing!!!!! The only thing it did was take over control of the tobacco companies, any wrong move and Lefty seats his own CEO.....Stupid mf'rs think these people give a flying fuck about smoking....

Buy the way you helen kellers......ALL those banks that just had to be bailed out on that friday or we were broke on monday...remember that? no it wasnt under Bush so stop with the google.....Well you wont remember that 1 of the biggest firms decided not to take the bailout and ...shock of shocks it wasnt forced on them either like the others didnt want it...
Well that firm was Goldman Sachs. You may have heard of them i believe their entire board is seated inside the White House.....They did however recieve BILLIONS from AIG in THAT bailout but since they got it from AIG and not from the govt directly they dont have any rules like the others did...
So all those others doing fine now? loaning money left and right???????? HELL NO!!!!!!! THEY ARE STILL DAMN NEAR BROKE......But how are Leftys buddys at Goldman Sachs doing??????

after a spectacular first half of the year, sparking concern that the Staff at Goldman Sachs staff can look forward to the biggest bonus payouts in the firm's 140-year history big investment banks which survived the credit crunch will derail financial regulation reforms.

A lack of competition and a surge in revenues from trading foreign currency, bonds and fixed-income products has sent profits at Goldman Sachs soaring, according to insiders at the firm.

Staff in London were briefed last week on the banking and securities company's prospects and told they could look forward to bumper bonuses if, as predicted, it completed its most profitable year ever. Figures next month detailing the firm's second-quarter earnings are expected to show a further jump in profits. Warren Buffett, who bought $5bn of the company's shares in January, has already made a $1bn gain on his investment.
Goldman is expected to be the biggest winner in the race for revenues that, in 2006, reached £186bn across the entire industry. While this figure is expected to fall to £160bn in 2009, it will be split among a smaller number of firms.

Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank are among the European firms expected to register bumper profits, along with US banks JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley following the near collapse and government rescue of major trading houses including Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland.

In April, Goldman said it would set aside half of its £1.2bn first-quarter profit to reward staff, much of it in bonuses. It is believed to have paid 973 bankers $1m or more last year, while this year's payouts are on track to be the highest for most of the bank's 28,000 staff, including about 5,400 in London.

Critics of the bonus culture in the City said the dominance of a few risk-taking investment banks is undermining the efforts of regulators to stabilise the financial system.

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman, said: "The investment banks more than any other institutions created the culture of excessive leverage, excessive risk and excessive bonuses that led to the downfall of the financial system. Now they are cashing in and the same bonus culture has returned. The result must be that we are being pushed to the edge of another crash."

Goldman Sachs said it reviewed its bonus scheme last year and switched from a system of guaranteed rewards that were paid over three years to variable payments that tied staff to the firm. It told employees last year that profit-related bonuses would be delayed by 12 months.

Until the release of its first quarter profits in April, it seemed inconceivable that a firm owing the US government $10bn would be looking to break all-time records in 2009.

David Williams, an investment banking analyst at Fox Pitt Kelton, said: "This year is shaping up to be the best year ever for investment banks, or at least those that have emerged relatively unscathed from the credit crisis."These banks are intermediaries in the bond markets where governments and companies are raising billions of pounds of new money. There is also a lack of competition that means they can charge huge sums for doing business."Last week, the firm predicted that President Barack Obama's government could issue $3.25tn of debt before September, almost four times last year's sum. Goldman, a prime broker of US government bonds, is expected to make hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from selling and dealing in the bonds.

Goldman Sach is sitting in the White House AS WE SPEAK stuffing YOUR MONEY into every pocket they can find to put it in and you think they give a damn about smoking.....FOOLS!!!!!!!!

 

[barman]

If you even believe 1/10th of the blather you just posted PPP, seems like the smartest thing you could do is get your money into the Goldman Sachs bank...(lol)

 

[barman]

Goldman Sach is sitting in the White House AS WE SPEAK !!!!!!!

heh...I believe that you might even believe that

Tell us...what room in the White House are all the Goldman Sachs management residing in as they wait for the suitcases of Our Money to arrive by courier so they can then Stuff Their Pockets?

 

[steaktartar]

heh...I believe that you might even believe that

Tell us...what room in the White House are all the Goldman Sachs management residing in as they wait for the suitcases of Our Money to arrive by courier so they can then Stuff Their Pockets?

i am still in shock in the other thread that PPP would back a white peanut farmer over a black man for president

 

[barman]

i am still in shock in the other thread that PPP would back a white peanut farmer over a black man for president

Actually he said he would back the relatively uneducated bumpkin brother of that white peanut farmer

He's got it Bad, brother

 

[james1961]

what's next we ban fast food? :lol:

maybe government should say ronald mcdonald attracting kids to become flat slobs should be banned next

:lol:

How about the toy companies who ship the toys to the fast food places to get the kids to eat those happy meals, can't they be liable too. I can't wait
to see someone bring a lawsuit on Big Toy.!~~~!