Wow, this just sucks a whole lot. What a great thing to do during a shitty economy. What a shitty thing to do…PERIOD!

Hey, I’d gladly give up 40 stinkin’ cents a cigar to help little kids grow up healthy. I’m really a “cheapie” and limit my everyday smokes to less than $3/stick. If I smoke 8-10 cigars a week (way too much for good health!!!), I’d have to smoke about 1 less cigar a week or ante up the $3.50. Not such a bad thing.

Hey, I know I’m a f***ing liberal, but universal healthcare is a good thing!

Rah, rah Obama!!

@rewolfman, no need to justify for your viewpoint. Providing healthcare for kids, no matter what their family’s financial status, is a good thing. Selfishly I wish that they could have increased the cigarette tax more and left the cigar tax closer to where it is at. The real “punch in the guts” is the increased tax on RYO tobacco. I recently had a chat with the owner of Randy’s Cigar Box (http://randyscigarbox.com A B&M in South Attleboro, MA) and he pointed out that the RYO tax essentially doubles the price per pound, and then he gets taxed by Mass on top of that. Taxes are bitch, but on the other hand we have to find a way to pay for these programs.

@Tommy Zman, good point. It sucks to have to pay more for something during hard times. Also in my conversation with Randy (B&M owner, see previous paragraph), his reaction was that the increased tobacco taxes were essentially a tax (direct, indirect, does it matter?) on the working class. Like I said, taxes are a bitch, but what are you going to do? I know it’s not going to stop me from buying/smoking more cigars.

Mike and rewolfman, you have to be joking. It is not up to the government to provide healthcare for everyone. It is up to the PARENTS of the children to provide their children’s healthcare and their own. Why are you liberals so willing to always tax everyone else to take care of those who are unwilling to take care of their own responsibilities? Why don’t the libs just start paying their own taxes before they go raising everyone elses? I chose to not have children. It’s not my job to take care of the children that the selfish, irresponsible people think I should take care of. Let’s stop this insanity before we actually become Europe where Socialist healthcare DOESN’T work…

@david On the surface I can’t argue with what you’re saying in regards to parental responsibility. There are a couple of points in your comment that I would like to discuss though. I agree that it isn’t the government’s job to provide health care for everyone, but I do feel they have an obligation to help those who can’t help themselves. It isn’t the child’s fault that their parents can’t afford health insurance. Also to be fair, a child shouldn’t be refused state sponsored health care because their parents just meet or surpass the arbitrary line in the sand and “can afford” their own health care. Also, this isn’t liberals taxing everyone else. This is an old piece of legislation and it practically taxes everyone (including Obama unless he really did quit smoking) and one of the original sponsors of the SCHIP bill was Republican Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah.

Still, I don’t want you (or anyone) to read this comment and think I’m all for increasing these taxes or taxation in general. I know several B&M owners who absolutely pissed about this and with good reason. Taxes are a bitch, but historically they are one of the most basic funding sources for government (big or small). Do I wish we could get rid of all taxes? Yes. Do I see that happening in my lifetime? Probably not. Like I said before, what are you going to do? I don’t have any ambition to be a politician so I’m probably not the one to change this part of the system, but hey more power to you if that’s your game. You will have 100% of my support if you run for any office on the platform of funding government without taxes.

The children are recieving this health care regardless of Tobacco tax raising. This part of the bill had been refused by Bush many times, Obama passed it through. Like I keep saying “Sometimes change sucks”. Trying to put more tax on a product that they keep banning is ridiculous. Why not double the tax on Big Mac’s and the Cheesecake Factory. I believe obesity is worst for our health.

@T. Houston, yep! Thanks for pointing out that the main problem is obesity. I disagree with a ‘food’ tax as much as commercials on TV, with our tax dollars, telling children to “get up & play”? When I was a kid the last thing I wanted to do was come inside and watch TV. The last thing we need now is big government taking even more control of our lives, curtailing freedoms and further trashing our constitution. Whatever happened to personal responsibility and being accountable for our own actions? These things once mattered to a people who were once free. Has everyone forgotten the failures of communism? Perhaps we’ll have to live through it for ourselves. Just remember this: In this last Olympics, the German women’s gymnastics team had one member from Russia. It was a trade. Her services for a bed and treatment of her son’s leukemia. A bed and treatment which were denied in the still crippled Russian socialist health care system. Fellow smokers, we are targets because we are seen as liabilities. The government big enough to give you everything has the power to take everything away and we_will_be_denied_care unless we have private insurance. How in the world did this country, once the most prosperous and free, fall and become a failing socialist state?

Re: Rewolfman
Did you know that the new program to help children applies to families that make up to 85k a year and cover children to the age of 30. You libs and your ideology are going to destroy this country.

@jim
That is pretty interesting regarding the 30 year old children. Can you cite where in the legislation it says that? If so then that changes my opinion about the schip.

Mike, read the bill for yourself (you’ll be one up on most of the lawmakers who voted):

http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/documents/schip1.pdf

As far as rewolfman’s contention “rah rah Obama”…How can you seriously at this point still think you made the right choice? Universal health care is not even remotely constitutional, but seeing as how the Celebrity-in-Chief has so little regard for that basic document, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

Seriously though? “rah rah”? Just admit you made a mistake or were drunk on election day. Either is an acceptable excuse. And next time, lay off the booze and vote for an actual citizen……