Hagan votes for SCHIP expansion, which passes; co-sponsors amendment to reduce cigarette-tax increase, which does not pass.
"Less than a month into my service here in the U.S. Senate, I’m faced with a situation in which the health of millions of my state's children are at odds with a key industry in North Carolina. But Mr. President, ultimately, I have to vote on behalf of the 10 million low-income and disadvantaged children this bill helps."
Nothing up at Burr's blog about the vote. Hagan seems to have only the basic Senate webpage so far, with no blog or much of anything else.
Any word from either about perhaps removing bacon from stimulus plan. I just dont see how these guys and gals dont get that we do not want non-stimulus related pork in this very important piece. I am flabbergasted.
not really....... IDIOTS
Posted by: Mick | Jan 30, 2009 at 02:55 PM
hey..it's for the chirrun..who can argue wiffdat? say no mo'
Posted by: Beelzebubba | Jan 30, 2009 at 03:16 PM
I'd rather see Hagan vote to increase cigaratte taxes. People who smoke are stupid and addicted, even in North Carolina. There are people in this state who make their living selling heroin, Should Hagan vote to make their lives easier?
Posted by: justcorbly | Jan 30, 2009 at 06:22 PM
Smoking may be stupid, but certainly there are smart people who smoke.
Posted by: Ed Cone | Jan 30, 2009 at 06:55 PM
It has been years since I smoked anything. I don't really think I was ever stupid; but I was an idiot to be a smoker.
People who sell heroin are just unlicensed pharmacies. They make their own lives easier through chemistry.
Posted by: 4ty8er | Jan 30, 2009 at 08:02 PM
4ty8er
I can't find your phone number, e-mail me [email protected]
Posted by: RecycleBill | Jan 30, 2009 at 08:17 PM
The analogy between people who are ADDICTED to cigarettes and those who SELL heroin is poor. People who USE heroin are stupid and addicted. Why vote for anything that would make their lives any easier?
People who are homeless are generally of low intelligence and have done stupid things to get where they are. Why should I care?
Someone said in another thread today, teenagers who get knocked up and can’t afford their babies are idiots. Why make their lives easier with prenatal care, Medicaid and WIC programs?
People dependent on welfare are stupid and addicted. Why make their lives easier by adding to their numbers with accelerated redistribution of wealth?
Back to smoking, these stupid people cost us billions with their emphysema, lung cancer and heart disease. Why make their shortened lives easier with universal health care?
Where’s your compassion? You sound like a Republican. Stupid is as stupid does.
Posted by: cheripickr | Jan 30, 2009 at 08:40 PM
Ed: Yes, I'd have better phrased that to say "smoking is stupid...".
CP: My intended analogy was between heroin producers and dealers and tobacco companies, not heroin producers and dealers and smokers. Nowhere did I say that tobacco or heroin addicts should not be helped. Please don't put words in my mouth.
I was disagreeing with a Senate vote on cigarette taxes. I think raising cigarette taxes is an effective way of reducing the number of smokers and the associated health costs. We do not make a smoker's life easier by making cigarettes more affordabe. Just the opposite.
Posted by: justcorbly | Jan 31, 2009 at 07:06 AM
"I think raising cigarette taxes is an effective way of reducing the number of smokers and the associated health costs."
So you raise taxes on cigarettes to pay for SCHIP expansion and reduce the number of smokers.
Then Obama's $75M stimulus for "smoking cessation" kicks in and further reduces the number of smokers.
When there are no smokers to pay for SCHIP, how do you fund it?
Raise gas and food taxes?
Posted by: inkslinger | Jan 31, 2009 at 09:52 AM
inklinger: You are arguing in support of smoking in order to reduce the taxes needed to ensure the availability of health care. That's more than perverse.
Posted by: justcorbly | Jan 31, 2009 at 11:04 AM
No he's not. He's pointing out the inherent risk that a parasite's overfeeding might kill its host, and thus itself.
Posted by: cheripickr | Jan 31, 2009 at 11:35 AM
I have no problem with using tax funds, from any source, to prevent people from infecting my air with noxious and carcenogenic substances. Preventing tobacco addiction will create across-the-board reductions in public and private heath care spending. (I want to be clear on smoking: It should be banned in public and in any location where children are present, including private homes. We should attempt to make the cost of smoking prohibitively high by increasing the tax on tobacco and increasing insurance premiums for smokers.)
As for SCHIP, fund it the way the rest of the government is funded. I don't believe it should be tied to a single source of tax revenue. Perhaps we could transfer the money and the incentives given to the record-profit oil oligarchy to do something that's actually good for the country.
Posted by: justcorbly | Jan 31, 2009 at 11:48 AM
"People who smoke are stupid and addicted..." -- justcorbly
I just quit -- a little over two months. I can concentrate better, but I don't think I was stupid before, just addicted.
Posted by: Roch101 | Jan 31, 2009 at 01:26 PM
Domestic taxation should be used only for the purpose of raising revenue, not to engineer social policy.
Posted by: Spag | Jan 31, 2009 at 02:49 PM
I may be a little perverted (at least some of my friends tell me I am), but I can still see that funding one of our social programs with a tax on cigarettes, and at the same time throwing $75M out to get people to quit smoking is just plain stupid.
But that's how our government works.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Posted by: inkslinger | Jan 31, 2009 at 04:09 PM
An idiot is clueless and a stupid person knows that they're stupid.
That is the reason I said I was stupid; I knew better.
Spag you are not right on in this instance. The reason drug use is illegal is because it reduces productivity; China realized this which caused the revolt against Britain. (If I recall my history lessons). There will never be a way to stomp out illegal drugs; no matter how much money is thrown at the problem,(hell,the whole country of Mexico is ruled by drug cartels) so why not legalize them and treat the addicts instead of trying to stop the distribution?
At the very least; we can recoup money spent on treatment by taxing the drugs. I am for an increase in tobacco taxes. That is the reason I quit! I think there should be a larger increase in alcohol taxes, so I would cut back on my beer intake. ( I am getting a big beer gut ).
Posted by: 4ty8er | Jan 31, 2009 at 04:10 PM
er........... I meant to say in my earlier post that I was stupid but not an idiot.
"I don't ever think I was an idiot, but I was stupid to be a smoker" is what I meant to say in my earlier post.
Posted by: 4ty8er | Jan 31, 2009 at 04:16 PM
ink: down here in the trailer park we call it futtercluckery. sensing a lack of control over the behavior of objects in space, the gummint senses the need to control things it can get its little weenyskinners on. using "government" and "works" in the same phrase gets you the first "oxymoronica in action award" of 2009. Congrats from all of us here in Ed's blogatorium. you sound like you're real hard to guard. keep it up
Posted by: Beelzebubba | Jan 31, 2009 at 04:31 PM
Thanks Bubba; not all of us can speek in ebonics.
Posted by: 4ty8er | Jan 31, 2009 at 05:10 PM
I think we are finally getting within reach of some basic truths in here: determining which of us are idiots and which are merely stupid.
Posted by: cheripickr | Jan 31, 2009 at 06:19 PM
@cheripickr
You are right, because all idiots are not stupid, and all stupid people are not idiots, then who are the stupid idiots that voted for our stupid idiotic Representatives and Senators?
Posted by: 4ty8er | Jan 31, 2009 at 10:35 PM