> > Its the point that : <br>> > <br>> > 1) Smoking isn't against the law. <br>> <br>> But littering is. Do you every throw your butts out the car window, on the street, etc? <br> <br>Littering is already a crime. So is playing music loudly at night. Should we pay for this with an extra tax on music records? <br> <br>> > 2) We theoretically live in a free society. <br>> <br>> Nah. <br>> <br>> > 3) Smoking has nothing to do with uninsured kids. <br>> <br>> Is a funding nexus necessary for legislation? <br> <br>Taxing the minority to benefit the majority. In other words, tax the people who can afford it least to pay for the people who can afford it most. The "bottom" for places in NJ & NY is 70k & 80k respectively. In other places its a family income of 62k. In short, its middle class welfare. These are not poor people the way we think of poor people. These are poor people meaning, people who make more than the median income in this country. <br> <br>> > 4) It hurts the poorest people the most. <br>> <br>> Yeah but you don't care about poor people. <br> <br>I would think the Democrats would try to have some sort of internal consistency when they claim they want to help the poor then levy taxes targeted at them. <br> <br>> > 5) Chances are this program is going to blow donkey balls anyway. (See my rants on medicare). <br>> <br>> Actually independent of federal legislators, NJ Gov. Corzine, ex-chair of Goldman-Sachs, thinks its one of the best programs out there right now as far as cost/benefit goes. <br> <br>It gives them medicaid coverage. As such, it has all the problems medicaid has. <br> <br>> (yeah i'm baiting you but it's funny when you get on these rants) <br> <br>I know you are but this is important and I honestly believe that. We take this stuff on the chin way too often.