YOUR COMMENTS

To Tom in Dover-Foxcroft, Me, The states couldn't survive without the revenue tobacco brings in. You want tobacco outlawed claiming it causes death and disease? What about alcohol? How many people die each year from drinking? Why not outlaw alcohol then? More revenue would be lost by the states. What will the states do when they lose the revenue tobacco brings in due to their raising the taxes constantly? What will they tax next? Air maybe? Isn't this America? Aren't we supposed to be allowed to make our own choices, or is that something of the past?
- Hope, Concord

Why wasn't the article that this editorial references under the "crime" section? Is extortion legal now?
- j, manchester

To tom in dover Have you noticed how many people have died in car crashes this year. maybe we should outlaw CARS
- bert, raymond nh

What's the state going to do when tobacco sales drop to the point where the tax revenues they produce aren't enough to filll the governor's gas tank? Continuously increasing taxes on tobacco will eventually kill tobacco sales and the state will have bitten the hand that feeds it.
- Brian, Farmington

Just wait folks, the food taxes are next. Twinkies and Ho Ho's are bad so therefore taxed. Beef is fatty, taxed. Pork is salty, taxed. How about we all take personal responsibility from now on. If I'm fat it's my fault, not Little Debbie's. If I rot my teeth I won't blame Bazooka Joe. If I get cancer like the Marlboro man, I made the choice to smoke. We are a nation of wimpy, whiny, self absorbed crybabies and I say enough is enough.
- Joe, Manchester

Outlaw tobacco. It is the cause of death and disease and is one of, if not the most, addictive drugs on the planet. It is a social and health nightmare. Put it at the top of the list in the war on drugs and let's start locking people up who buy, sell, or use it. That will put an end to all the controversy.
- Tom, Dover-Foxcroft, Me.

"for the children" is the states' answer to the Federal givernment's "national security" - it should never be questioned. I have a mental picture of the entire AG's staff sitting around a conference table with a 30-pack on a Friday afternoon to come up with that charge. Give them an "A" for creativity.
- Lou, Jaffrey

It's too bad most people would lack the will-power to go a few days without buying cigarettes, but if there was a mass movement where no one bought cigarettes for the course of 3-5 days...that'd send a clear message. Stop attacking just smokers and find your revenue elsewhere. How about an alcohol tax? That stuff does way more damage in the short term than cigarettes do. It was proven over the weekend with the drunk driving accident that claimed the life of a 24-year old Manchester resident. I'm so sick of the war on tobacco. Find a new war.
- Bill, Manchester

Maybe the Atty Gen is taking a career advancement clue from his predecessor, and planning a run for office as he works his job. "I saved kids," would play well.

That said, we need to note this paper comes up with ridiculous justifications to help create new tobacco addicts any time it can. Blind to the damage, stuck in 1950's thinking, that's the UL!
- Gerald, Manchester

I've always wondered why it's against the law for anyone under the age of 18 to buy cigarettes but not against the law for them to smoke the cigarettes they're not allowed to buy. Why don't the same rules apply to alchohol?
- Doug, Gilford

PS to John of Manchester: The Union-Leader article on barber versus planners--actually in Epping--is at:

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=In+Epping%2c+barber+wins+battle+over+pole&articleId=4ca6acbe-3616-419d-b76b-91b6a3b197c0

It's at the upper left of my rendition of unionleader.com. (Editors--Does the web site present us different regional news based on our locations?)


*** Editor's note. Not yet. ***
- Spike, Brentwood NH

The strawman argument. Is that the best the AG can muster?

If this guy REALLY wanted to protect kids from cigarettes, he would be moving to ban them outright.
- DM, Hampton

I'm fine with "sin taxes" on just about everything naughty, keep things legal but say "it's a vice, it's a negative in the community, so we'll tax it." It makes it slightly less desirable, we get a little revenue, but people still have access to it, whether it's tobacco, or marijuana, or gambling. Also... if it's a roll your own tobacco shop than does the pipe excuse still apply? or is the pipe tobacco labeled seperately?
- J Paige, Manchester

"Few would begrudge the state for making sure businesses are paying their fair share of taxes." Made me laugh so hard milk came out my nose. In this paper business should pay no taxes but be given handouts, no bid contracts, and tax breaks because they are so bad at it that they can't stay afloat any other way. What happened to the business of America - no not government handouts for conservatives but - business?
- Robert, Deerfield

The sprawling victimless-crime apparatus (including ad campaigns, safety-and-prevention crusades, the war against smokers, and "cultural heritage" spending) make absurd the claim that we are in a budget crisis that can only be solved by new taxes.
- Spike, Brentwood NH

I agree with the Union Leader on this one. I think people are overlooking the big picture here. Federal, State and local government has become far to intrusive in our everyday lives. Personal freedom has taken a hit over the years, not by one big smash over the head but a little at a time using tactics like "it's for the children".
- Todd, Manchester

And if we get too cold they'll tax the heat.

The Beatles taxman song is forty years old and going strong. The only way the democrat party could truly claim CHANGE is in the air is if they did not view the citizens as their own personal piggybank for every hair brained scheme to grow government and control our lives.

Now all we need is a party willing to protect our liberty and freedom from our own tyrants.
- Deb, Derry

Jack...do you have a link or any way to get to that article? Anybody else know the details of that?
- John, Manchester

Well stated article. I agree completely. It is the old "I am just doing my job" mentality. Too many wimpy people. Did everyone read the article about the barber's pole in Exeter? It is discomforting that the town planner can just wave his magic wand and voila, the pole exists. The politics in New England is out of control.
- Jack, Manchester