I have few personal boycotts. Sean Penn movies mostly... but this weekend I am going to add to the list.
This Saturday the musical guest on Saturday Night Live is Chris Brown. Chris Brown the guy who sent his girlfriend Rihanna to the hospital with black eyes he beat her so bad... you can still see the pictures of her bruised face online.
In 1990 Andrew Dice Clay was supposed to host SNL and cast member Nora Dunn and musical guest Sinead O'Connor boycotted the show because of Dice's language against women. As far as I know- Dice never was arrested or accused of hitting anyone. Still, people boycotted.
Yet here we are 21 years later with a legitimate abuser.. and I don't see any outcry. He sent his girlfriend to the hospital he beat her so bad... no outcry. What if Mel Gibson were to host next week? Would he get a pass?? Where is NOW??? Where is Maureen Dowd??
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Make smoking illegal
Mayor Bloomberg is a champion of the nanny state's duty to care for its people. The government has your best interest at heart and knows better. It started with those pesky crimes like sitting on milk crates. Then car idling. Transfats. Salt. Smoking has always been on the radar screen as the most egregiously unhealthy activity and once he got rid of smoking section for total smoking bans, one would think he would stop.
But no. He need to levy stiff taxes against smokers with $2 and now almost $4 taxes per pack (wasn't the increased tax revenue to go to education or children's healthcare or something?) Estimates run in the $20's of millions in lost tax revenue due to a thriving black market. But that wasn't enough for Mayor Mike.
New York City Council with Mike's enthusiastic support has determined you can't smoke in certain outdoors sections like... the outdoors. And this is good... because smoking is bad. So bad we need to tax and deter and punish and inconvenience smokers into submission. (you reading this Obama?) Congrats, New York. Your 8 million children are safe. Will you wipe their chins and feed them their bottle next?
I suggest being truly radical. If we are going to care for the health of the citizenry... if we really want to protect them... we will just make smoking illegal. Drugs are illegal. Why not smoking?
Just ask the smoking Nazis about the "dangers of second hand smoke". Scientific evidence shows that anyone breathing within 1000 feet of a smoker will die instantly. Each year millions of people die from second hand smoke... just ask the Nazis.
So why not just make it illegal- completely and utterly illegal? Is it because thousands of people are employed in the tobacco industry? Is it because we export billions in cigarette sales around the world and need the money? Is it because New York needs the tax revenue? What could be more noble than just eliminating the entire industry once and for all?
We stopped slavery. We prohibit prostitution. Mayor Mike- if smoking is so dangerous and deadly- just make it completely illegal. It's the right thing to do for your people. It will be a moral victory and make New York a leader in world health. It will be your victory- Mayor Mike- the healthiest mayor in America. No, in the world. What a victory!
And we'll celebrate that victory with fine Cuban cigars. We can still smoke cigars, right?
But no. He need to levy stiff taxes against smokers with $2 and now almost $4 taxes per pack (wasn't the increased tax revenue to go to education or children's healthcare or something?) Estimates run in the $20's of millions in lost tax revenue due to a thriving black market. But that wasn't enough for Mayor Mike.
New York City Council with Mike's enthusiastic support has determined you can't smoke in certain outdoors sections like... the outdoors. And this is good... because smoking is bad. So bad we need to tax and deter and punish and inconvenience smokers into submission. (you reading this Obama?) Congrats, New York. Your 8 million children are safe. Will you wipe their chins and feed them their bottle next?
I suggest being truly radical. If we are going to care for the health of the citizenry... if we really want to protect them... we will just make smoking illegal. Drugs are illegal. Why not smoking?
Just ask the smoking Nazis about the "dangers of second hand smoke". Scientific evidence shows that anyone breathing within 1000 feet of a smoker will die instantly. Each year millions of people die from second hand smoke... just ask the Nazis.
So why not just make it illegal- completely and utterly illegal? Is it because thousands of people are employed in the tobacco industry? Is it because we export billions in cigarette sales around the world and need the money? Is it because New York needs the tax revenue? What could be more noble than just eliminating the entire industry once and for all?
We stopped slavery. We prohibit prostitution. Mayor Mike- if smoking is so dangerous and deadly- just make it completely illegal. It's the right thing to do for your people. It will be a moral victory and make New York a leader in world health. It will be your victory- Mayor Mike- the healthiest mayor in America. No, in the world. What a victory!
And we'll celebrate that victory with fine Cuban cigars. We can still smoke cigars, right?
We did trains already
Today President Obama announced his plan to spend $53 billion on high speed rail. Nate Taggart he is not.
As luck would have it, whenever the folly of the administration needs further emphasis Joe Biden is not far behind. His being an Amtrak alumnus someone makes him an expert in the railroad industry. Just ask him. He will tell you about logging some 7,900+ trips between Wilmington, Delaware and Union State on Acela Express as if sitting in business class reading Highlights Magazine somehow imparted industry knowledge.
What if we don't spend this fortune on railroad? "If we do not, you tell me how America is going to be able to lead the world in the 21st century," asks the Veep. Leadership- especially leadership in the future- is somehow intimately tied to railroads. At least in this Administration's mind.
China plans to spend $500 billion on their railroads in the next 5 years. And you see, that is 10x more than we plan to spend. Which means China's railroads must be 10x something more than us- faster, better, healthier- I don't know. But neither does Obama nor Biden (who in my mind is wearing a blue and white train conductor's hat). So to stay competitive with China, we have to spend more money, too.
I think Biden fails to realize that China is, basically, a third world country with some big cities. The vast majority of China is illiterate and has no running water and electricity. China has no infrastructure- in fact the last infrastructure project in China was the Great Wall. They are building from scratch.
We did trains already. We did trains over 100 years ago- ask the Vanderbilts. Shouldn't Anderson Cooper- when not getting beaten up in Cairo- ask the Veep "Didn't my great grandfather do this already?" We can't compare what China needs to do to be civilized and what America did in the days of Cowboys and Indians. It's silly.
If Joe Biden is so concerned about China spending billions of dollars on it's interiors, maybe he should stop giving them more money. Borrowing $53 billion on trains no one wants to use is typical of this Administration's cluelessness. Maybe next we can borrow $50 billion from China to improve typewriters.
Funny- light bulbs are an old technology America invented and exported, too. And yet now we are forced to buy them from China thanks to this same liberal philosophy. Trains, light bulbs... what's next?
As luck would have it, whenever the folly of the administration needs further emphasis Joe Biden is not far behind. His being an Amtrak alumnus someone makes him an expert in the railroad industry. Just ask him. He will tell you about logging some 7,900+ trips between Wilmington, Delaware and Union State on Acela Express as if sitting in business class reading Highlights Magazine somehow imparted industry knowledge.
What if we don't spend this fortune on railroad? "If we do not, you tell me how America is going to be able to lead the world in the 21st century," asks the Veep. Leadership- especially leadership in the future- is somehow intimately tied to railroads. At least in this Administration's mind.
China plans to spend $500 billion on their railroads in the next 5 years. And you see, that is 10x more than we plan to spend. Which means China's railroads must be 10x something more than us- faster, better, healthier- I don't know. But neither does Obama nor Biden (who in my mind is wearing a blue and white train conductor's hat). So to stay competitive with China, we have to spend more money, too.
I think Biden fails to realize that China is, basically, a third world country with some big cities. The vast majority of China is illiterate and has no running water and electricity. China has no infrastructure- in fact the last infrastructure project in China was the Great Wall. They are building from scratch.
We did trains already. We did trains over 100 years ago- ask the Vanderbilts. Shouldn't Anderson Cooper- when not getting beaten up in Cairo- ask the Veep "Didn't my great grandfather do this already?" We can't compare what China needs to do to be civilized and what America did in the days of Cowboys and Indians. It's silly.
If Joe Biden is so concerned about China spending billions of dollars on it's interiors, maybe he should stop giving them more money. Borrowing $53 billion on trains no one wants to use is typical of this Administration's cluelessness. Maybe next we can borrow $50 billion from China to improve typewriters.
Funny- light bulbs are an old technology America invented and exported, too. And yet now we are forced to buy them from China thanks to this same liberal philosophy. Trains, light bulbs... what's next?
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