Posts tagged government
Federal Gun Laws Make Me Laugh
Jan 6th
Ok so perusing through the North Carolina gun laws I came across the Federal gun laws and laughed my ass off after reading this little bit:
C. Eligible Persons
1. Federal Law Requirements
As a general rule, the following categories of persons are ineligible to receive or
possess a firearm under federal law:
…
d. The person is an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana, or any
depressant, stimulant, or narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance;
…
“By the books” if you use caffeine or tobacco you are not allowed to own a hand gun… as you are most certainly addicted to both… chemically in fact and they are both controlled substances.
The Out of Control Taxation of Tobacco
Dec 3rd
Most people aren’t even aware of why the cost of a pack of cigarettes is so high. I’ve come across numerous articles and blogs with comments from people ranting when major cigarette manufacturers raise the cost on a pack by a few cents. The problem with cigarette prices isn’t the manufacturers… in fact they’re the only ones justified to be raising costs since their costs of manufacturing are undoubtedly rising. The real problem here is taxation from both the Federal and State Governments.
Once the crack down on the tobacco industry began, taxing tobacco quickly became an easy way for politicians to gain funding for programs that would not normally pass a vote. It’s much easier to raise taxes on a product used by less than 50% of the population than it is to create new taxes on goods and services the majority of consumers use.
In January of 2009 the Obama Administration expanded the SCHIP Program adding $32.8B in funding. You can probably guess where those monies are coming from but do you also know where they’re going? A large part of this additional funding is going towards opening up this program to illegal immigrants. I’m not too sure how the US Government thinks they have the authority to tax US residents to pay for illegal immigrants but that’s the way it’s going down. This little expansion raised the Federal taxes from $0.39 to $1.01 per pack.
This doesn’t even touch on the out of control state taxes. You can find state tobacco taxes ranging anywhere from Rhode Island’s whopping $3.46 per pack to South Carolina’s minimal $0.07 per pack. Sadly, more and more states are beginning to raise their taxes and now cities are also beginning to jump on the bandwagon. NYC has long had a $1.50 per pack tax on cigarettes making it the most expensive place to buy a pack of cigarettes with a total tax amount of $5.26 ($1.01 Federal + $1.50 City + $2.75 State). Oh and let’s not forget to pay tax on that tax because everyone loves sales tax!
If you were to tell one of our founding fathers that in the future citizens of the United States would be paying taxes in excess of 1000% of the cost of goods, I’m positive they would have spent a little more time drafting a few documents to limit federal and state taxation. But how could they possibly have guessed this would happen when the majority of US citizens can’t even believe it themselves?
The Unjust Extradition of Marc Emery
Dec 2nd
I’d like to address something which hasn’t been brought to light in any articles or comments I’ve read about Marc Emery. First a bit of background:
Marc “Prince of Pot” Emery is being extradited to the US by the Canadian Government to be tried and sentenced for allegedly selling marijuana seeds to buyers in the United States over the past ten years. To the credit of Canada, their hand was forced by the US Government through various political means however it is still no excuse. Any government who is willing to extradite one of their citizens for a crime in which no one’s personal property was stolen or damaged (including one’s self) should be ashamed of themselves. Consciously making a decision to not protect a citizen from a domestic or international threat against their welfare (in this case life in prison) is a crime against humanity and it disgusts me that this deed shall go unpunished.
But most importantly the United States of America disgusts me and disappoints me to no end in this matter and here’s my rant…
What fucking grounds does the US have to force another country to extradite an individual for selling marijuana seeds to the United States when they allow Exxon, Shell Oil, and other large companies to export thousands of metric tons of chemicals used in the processing of cocaine to Columbia alone… The United States ships over 60% of the raw chemicals used in processing cocaine to South America. The vast majority of the final product is imported back into this country. This just serves as further proof that the War on Drugs is nothing but a sham. If the US Government was truly interested in putting an end to drug trafficking they would have banned the export of these chemicals long ago. Instead they chose to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars (millions?) going after a single supplier of marijuana seeds. A drug which weighs in at a big fat ZERO DEATHS every year. Where has the common sense fled to in the people holding the reins of this country? Are they so driven by greed and want for power that they are willing to steamroll anything in their path and cast judgment on citizens of foreign countries, forcing their governments to extradite them, just to “prove a point”?
Who wins in these vile actions of the United States Government? What benefit does anyone see? So you destroy the life of an entrepreneurial man, happily married, and with no arrest record other than this charge… to what end? You can not repeal the law of supply and demand. You will not slow the supply of marijuana in the United States no matter what you do. Even if you did slow the supply the only thing you would accomplish is increasing the cost of marijuana. Congratulations, you’ve just made the illegal drug trade more lucrative and probably created more growers and more distributors than ever before. The only way to end drug trafficking is by ending the demand and that will never happen.
Does anyone else think it’s backwards that we promote drinking in this country and arrest marijuana users when marijuana is by far the safer drug?
For more information and to lend some support to Marc Emery please visit http://www.NoExtradition.net/
