# Go To Hell Eliot Spitzer, Cigarette Whiners. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 13, 2006, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238 "2006-03-13T22:26:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SomeOneMusical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@SomeOneMusical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeOneMusical)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/1 "2006-03-13T22:26:41Z")
Fuckers taking away my cigarettes! I used to order them online but now I cannot since the Eliot Spitzer is on a “make a name for myself” role. Well screw that shit, Now I am just going to get into my car and travel the 12 hours away to the Indian Reservation and buying them. Many of you non-smokers may be saying “so what” but sorry if you are a fatty, then it is not so what. You will be the next target to fill in the budget gaps left wide the fuck open do to overspending by your state elected officials. Slippery slope cliches aside, this is how it started on the smokers just a couple of loons trying to make a buck off the tobacco industry. Now you have just a couple of loons trying to make money off of the fast food industry. It’s not surprising if you know that cigarette sales are dropping, the fuckers in office are going to try to find another way to fund themselves. I always loved my time lurking here, reading how so many attack smoking but defend obesity. When both are choices one makes, that lead to health problems. Yet rather than stick together tobacco is lumped with “bad things” and obesity is linked to “not my fault”. Don’t come looking for smokers help when the next fucking twinkie someone buys doubles in price due to lawsuits. After they attack the fats maybe they can concentrate on the vehicles because you know they cause a lot of medical expense as well. > [@](#): > > Healthcare Costs. Total annual public and private health care expenditures caused by smoking: $89.0 billion > **[0072.pdf](https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/factsheets/0072.pdf)** > > 54.87 KB > [@](#): > > In the year 2000, the total annual cost of obesity in the United States was $117 billion [http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/news/testimony/obesity07162003.htm](http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/news/testimony/obesity07162003.htm) > [@](#): > > two scientific journals came out this week calling for a tax similar to the one imposed on cigarettes. [http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060312/OPINION11/603120310/1004](http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060312/OPINION11/603120310/1004) > [@](#): > > If people like Indiana Representative Charlie Brown and the World Health Organization (WHO) have their way, your next bag of chips, candy bar or soda pop may cost a lot more. > > Early in the year Brown introduced legislation in the Indiana House of Representatives that might well serve as the template for national “junk food taxes.” Brown’s bill calls for taxing junk foods at an initial rate of 11.5 percent, one of the highest rates so far suggested [http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=030806C](http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=030806C) ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/2 "2006-03-13T22:39:03Z")
Ahem. This is gonna get interesting. FTR **SomeOne** Smoking is ALWAYS a choice, being obese is not. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/3 "2006-03-13T22:43:22Z")
> [@SomeOneMusical](#): > > Fuckers taking away my cigarettes! No one is taking away your cigarettes; they just want you to pay the fucking taxes on them. If you get them from the reservation, you still have to pay the taxes. Didn’t we just do this? ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/4 "2006-03-13T22:45:55Z")
I think it’s more of a choice than a lot of people care to admit. Yeah, I know. It _isn’t_ always a matter of diet and exercise. But I don’t care to hear people who give up on those two elementary things complain about weight gain and the related health issues. They can tax my smokes. I’ll probably pay the money because I like smoking. They can tax the junkfood too, because I hardly ever buy it. If they start over-taxing my beer, however, I’ll start stocking up on torches and pitchforks for distribution. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/5 "2006-03-13T22:47:53Z")
**SomeOneMusical** , I admire your courage. Anyway, before the mauling begins, and at the risk of pandemonium being unleashed on my head, **buttonjockey308** , being obese is at some point a “choice”, inasmuch as you “choose” to eat the thing/s that make your daily calorific intake greater than your calorific outlay, in the same way that the smoker “chooses” to spark up. Both are generally driven by an uncontrollable compulsion, though I acknowledge the compulsion has different mechanisms. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/6 "2006-03-13T22:51:53Z")
> [@buttonjockey308](#): > > Ahem. This is gonna get interesting. FTR **SomeOne** Smoking is ALWAYS a choice, being obese is not. Being obese can absolutely be a choice. Unless you have a thyroid condition, if you are obese, it’s because you’re eating too much and exercising too little. Just the other day I was at a shop when one of the employees said he recognized me from high school and introduced himself. I didn’t realize it was him - because in high school he had been very fat. He had not only lost a huge amount of weight, he was also lean and muscular - he looked like a million bucks. “I’m a bodybuilder now” is what he said. Like hell it’s not a choice. ---
**Author:** ![George\_Kaplin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3e96dc/32.png) [@George\_Kaplin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/George_Kaplin)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/7 "2006-03-13T22:51:55Z")
> [@buttonjockey308](#): > > Ahem. This is gonna get interesting. FTR SomeOne Smoking is ALWAYS a choice, being obese is not. 99% of the time, obesity _is_ a choice. ---
**Author:** ![SomeOneMusical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@SomeOneMusical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeOneMusical)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/8 "2006-03-13T22:57:56Z")
> [@](#): > > FRANK No one is taking away your cigarettes; they just want you to pay the fucking taxes on them. If you get them from the reservation, you still have to pay the taxes. > > Didn’t we just do this? I might have missed it. Pay unfair fucking taxes on them. Whether you agree or not, if they are that bad make them fucking illegal. Don’t use them to fix your fucking roads with. > [@](#): > > buttonjockey308 > Ahem. This is gonna get interesting. FTR SomeOne Smoking is ALWAYS a choice, being obese is not. I am a firm believer that calories in/calories out matter. No one on a deserted island with just water and minimal food will gain weight. > [@](#): > > Hung Mung I think it’s more of a choice than a lot of people care to admit. Yeah, I know. It isn’t always a matter of diet and exercise. But I don’t care to hear people who give up on those two elementary things complain about weight gain and the related health issues. > > They can tax my smokes. I’ll probably pay the money because I like smoking. They can tax the junkfood too, because I hardly ever buy it. > > If they start over-taxing my beer, however, I’ll start stocking up on torches and pitchforks for distribution. You don’t think beer will have to come next? Something will have to replace the fat foods when they stop selling so well. > [@](#): > > jjimm SomeOneMusical, I admire your courage. > > Anyway, before the mauling begins, and at the risk of pandemonium being unleashed on my head, buttonjockey308, being obese is at some point a “choice”, inasmuch as you “choose” to eat the thing/s that make your daily calorific intake greater than your calorific outlay, in the same way that the smoker “chooses” to spark up. Both are generally driven by an uncontrollable compulsion, though I acknowledge the compulsion has different mechanisms. I am not trying to have courage, it just pisses me off when smokers are lumped as unhealthy fuckers and obesity gets a free ride because of some politically correct bullshit. I wouldn’t be on about fatness at all if I haven’t see with my own two fucking eyes numerous times a hugely overweight person walks by me while I am outside smoking like **I** am the only one with a fucking problem. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/9 "2006-03-13T22:57:57Z")
> [@SomeOneMusical](#): > > [http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/news/testimony/obesity07162003.htm...two](http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/news/testimony/obesity07162003.htm...two) scientific journals came out this week calling for a tax similar to the one imposed on cigarettes. Not sure where your “quote” is coming from - in the link you supplied I don’t see the Surgeon General calling for fatty/high calorie food taxes. Instead, he says: \*"Some people want to blame the food industry for our growing waistlines. The reality is that restaurants, including many fast food restaurants, now offer low-fat, healthy choices. For the meals we eat at home, and the meals we eat out, it’s still our decision what we eat, where we eat, and how much we eat."\* And while eating too much and exercising too little do increase our overall health care bill, I have yet to eat out at a restaurant and be forced to inhale someone else’s fat and have an increased risk of cancer and heart disease because of it. While you’re doing marathon drives to teach Eliot Spitzer a lesson, why not come out to Ohio? We have **Smokes For Less** outlets _and_ drive-through liquor stores. It’s a dream come true for legal addiction. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SomeOneMusical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@SomeOneMusical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeOneMusical)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/10 "2006-03-13T23:00:50Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Not sure where your “quote” is coming from - in the link you supplied I don’t see the Surgeon General calling for fatty/high calorie food taxes. Instead, he says: Wrong quote for the link the one above is the correct one. Many articles on google will show that recently it was announced that some scientists called soda pop the next cigarettes. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/11 "2006-03-13T23:04:40Z")
Does the CO2 in soda pop contribute to global warming, then? ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/12 "2006-03-13T23:04:56Z")
> [@Argent Towers](#): > > Being obese can absolutely be a choice. Unless you have a thyroid condition… Given the extreme hot button nature of this issue, I do feel like I need to add a disclaimer to the question that I am about to ask. So, going in, can anyone that feels like answering this keep in mind that I am just looking for information? Simply stated, I don’t “get” how your weight can ever be anything but a calorie input/output issue. Is it the case that you can have a glandular condition that means that you burn calories so slowly that even if you eat the bear minimum amount of food to get the vitamins and minerals that you need you still gain weight? Is that the deal? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/13 "2006-03-13T23:06:48Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I have yet to eat out at a restaurant and be forced to inhale someone else’s fat and have an increased risk of cancer and heart disease because of it. And we have a winner. Being around overweight people doesn’t give me trouble breathing. I feel bad for smokers who have to stand outside in the cold, I really do. But not as bad as I feel after inhaling smoke. Sorry, **SomeOneMusical**. I don’t like the government getting involved in music, entertainment, or many other things. If I didn’t consider breathing so important, I’d probably agree with you. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/14 "2006-03-13T23:08:58Z")
Go figure. I can’t think of any tax _fairer_ than taxation of cigarettes. Demand for cigarettes are relatively inelastic with respect to price, so taxing the hell out of them creates very little deadweight loss. Fairness and utility all around. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/15 "2006-03-13T23:10:02Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Didn’t we just do this? We discussed the legitimacy of sin taxes [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=357167), and this very issue [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=361824). > [@SomeOneMusical](#): > > “…it just pisses me off when smokers are lumped as unhealthy fuckers and obesity gets a free ride because of some politically correct bullshit.” I happen to agree with the concern over “sin taxes” (and stated so in the first link), but it is painful to find myself allied with someone who uses this as an argument. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/16 "2006-03-13T23:10:38Z")
**Marley23** , you have a good point, but is that the reason the tax exists? Anyway, we pay £5 a pack here - that’s $8.65 at today’s rates. And we’re on an island so we can’t drive anywhere to buy 'em cheap. How d’ya like them apples? ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/17 "2006-03-13T23:14:37Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > And while eating too much and exercising too little do increase our overall health care bill, I have yet to eat out at a restaurant and be forced to inhale someone else’s fat and have an increased risk of cancer and heart disease because of it. Excuse me do you have cites for this assertion? I have a couple [to the](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000707.html) [contrary.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000602.html) ---
**Author:** ![SomeOneMusical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@SomeOneMusical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeOneMusical)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/18 "2006-03-13T23:15:04Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > And we have a winner. Being around overweight people doesn’t give me trouble breathing. I feel bad for smokers who have to stand outside in the cold, I really do. But not as bad as I feel after inhaling smoke. Sorry, **SomeOneMusical**. I don’t like the government getting involved in music, entertainment, or many other things. If I didn’t consider breathing so important, I’d probably agree with you. They are not taxing cigarettes to protect you from second hand smoke, they are taxing them to make up for shortfalls created because they are inept money handlers. They can do what they do for anything else they deem bad for us, ban them. They don’t because they want the fucking money. The day enough people stop smoking to make it profitible for them to tax, is the day they ban it. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/19 "2006-03-13T23:16:04Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > **Marley23** , you have a good point, but is that the reason the tax exists? > > Anyway, we pay £5 a pack here - that’s $8.65 at today’s rates. And we’re on an island so we can’t drive anywhere to buy 'em cheap. How d’ya like them apples? What you need are some Indians. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238/20 "2006-03-13T23:24:21Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > What you need are some Indians. We’ve got quite a few here, and they have cheap cigarettes too. Problem is they’re bidis. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/go-to-hell-eliot-spitzer-cigarette-whiners/348238.md?page=2)