Tobacco Pockets or Your Pockets

Let's Take Jack and Dianne.

Two American kids growing up in Oregon, having been educated by public schools and told to vote Lefty.

The Government has come through for Jack & Diane. Jack makes $15,600 a year working 40-hours per week, fifty weeks per year. That's up $600.00 a year from last year's minimum wage of $7.50 per hour. Now, at $7.80 per hour, Jack and Dianne are sitting pretty!

Man, Six Hundred Bucks!

And it came just in the Nick of Time! Your taxes are going up, sucker!

Well, tobacco sucker. That's right, Jack and Dianne smoke. They know they shouldn't. You know they shouldn't. You shouldn't. But you do.

But Jack and Dianne do smoke, and even though they keep it away from the kids, they still end up spending $8.00 a day on tobacco. And they're not asking for much. Family of four, $15,600 a year. They get food stamps. Dianne and little Jackie are WIC recipients. For most basic medical needs it's the County Health office. A good night for Jack and Dianne are a couple of friends and some X-Box. Not that different from my life. Or, as a middle-school teacher I spoke with last Saturday, the world needs busboys, too.

So, not the "Go West, Young Man" kinda story. But Oregonian enough. And, frankly, Jack and Dianne are doing okay. They don't need help from Mom and Dad. They're getting by.

Not for long. The Lefties in the Oregon Legislature want to help them. How? By increasing the cost of their ciggies by $1.68 a day. More, if there's beer involved. (See, you have a beer, you gotta smoke. Vicious cycle.)

So, let's see. $1.68. Three hundred and sixty-five days a year.

$613.20.

It's like the state took the amount of the Minimum Wage, figured out the increase in earnings going to this poor family, and decided to confiscate it. To help this family.

But not really, because the Governor's "Kids Healthy Stuff" campaign will provide medical care for families earning up to $70-thousand dollars a year.

And to convince you that opposing this is wrong, the Lefties are having a Field Day on Monday.

If you oppose the Governor you're in the Pocket of Big Tobacco!

"This coalition has come together because we believe Oregon children should be at the front of the line when it comes to the state's priorities," says Maribeth Healey, Executive Director of Oregonians for Health Security. "The only opposition to the Healthy Kids Plan comes from Big Tobacco, which means the vote on Healthy Kids is clearly going to show whose side each lawmaker is on."

See? If you say--"ahem, bsht"--you're in the Pocket of Big Tobacco. Doesn't matter what Jack & Dianne had wanted to do with their additional dough. The State wants to help people that make Four-and-a-Half Times what J & D make to help the poor get health care!

And look at the Coalition. (Notice how Lefties love coalitions!)

"Organizations supporting the Healthy Kids Plan include: AAUW of Oregon, AFSCME Council 75, American Cancer Society, American Federation of Teachers-Oregon, American Heart Association, American Lung Association of Oregon, Children First for Oregon, Oregon AFL-CIO, Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, Oregon Bus Project, Oregon Business Association, Oregon Education Association, Oregonians for Health Security, Oregon Health Action Campaign, Oregon Medical Association, Oregon Nurses Association, Oregon Pediatric Society, Oregon State Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG), Our Oregon, SEIU Local 49, SEIU Local 503, Stand for Children, and the Tobacco – Free Coalition of Oregon."

I missed seeing the Poor People's Council. I don't see any migrant worker groups. What I see is a bunch of wealthy Lefties trying to peddle their trash on the streets of the Capital.

But if you oppose it? Maybe you can do the math. The Governor has bedmates. But, that's too creepy to think about.

Can this stupid tax on stupid behaviour be stopped? The Gov's "Healthy Kids" tax plan has already passed in the House Health Care and Revenue Committee. The only way to stop it is by stopping the Joint Ways and Means Committee. Write these guys and tell them to "kill the bill".

And make sure they know they're in the Pocket of the Little Guys.