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Smoking should be taxed along with Maccas and KFC Labor's diversionary tactic worked rather well.
A day after announcing the 'postponement' of the climate change and ETS debate for three years, Rudd rolled out a cigarette packaging advertising ban, as well as adding another $2 to a packet.
Many doubt a change to plain packaging, which is being contested by cigarette manufacturers, will make much difference to a smoker who wants a fix.
Now I'm a confirmed anti-smoker, and would rather be seen in public with Councillor Alan Blake than have a puff on a cigi, but let's put this in proportion.
Whilst most intelligent life forms know that smoking is an easy and safe route to early cancer - 15,000 Australians die of smoking-related diseases every year - so is eating. Or rather eating the crap high fat foods like fries and burgers as the main meal substitute every other day.
I look forward to the banning of advertisements from those fast foods joints to stop making them so appealing to the vulnerable and weak in suburbia. Macdonalds is famous for pumping out kiddy toys to collect with every bag of grease they sell for a kid's birthday party at their "restaurants." Triple the price of a burger or fries to $10 and see if that will stop them clogging up their arteries and our hospital system.
Just yesterday I was having a double strength latte with a friend at a cafe and we spotting an extremely obese man in the nearby bakery buying up the remaining stock of meat pies. You have to ask yourself, when is enough enough.
at Thursday, May 06, 2010 Posted by Michael P Moore 
Similar to this among the issues the Rudd Guvmint squibbed on in the pathetic response to the Henry "root and branch" tax review released this week was reform of alcohol taxation.

Wine maintains it's priveleged status as long as you buy it in big silver bags which unlike any other form of alcohol are taxed ata few cents per standard drink against high rates for other alcohol and quality wine.

Most of the blame here is actually with previous Liberal pandering to grape growers to encourage production of low grade wine cheaper than water in a now stuffed industry effectively supported by taxpayers while we tax our most productive mining sector more. Have you wonderd why there are silver bag restrictions in Cairns?

That's no excuse for the current failure of responsibility on policy by the current Guvmint. Ciggies bad! Alcopops bad! Silver pillows? Suck it down mate!!

Thu May 06, 02:33:00 pm 
I hate to be wowser, Mike, but double strength latte caffeine hits cannot be healthy either. Everything in moderation, I say ... except smoking and junk food, which, as you correctly indicate, are a fast lane to the graveyard.

Thu May 06, 04:45:00 pm Rofer said...

Depends on what you are smoking Tony. Medicinal purposes only of course.

Thu May 06, 06:30:00 pm stinhambo said...

I ate 2 McDonalds the other day. I haven't had junk food for a while and felt like indulging.

Why should I be penalised for others crap discipline?

Just let the hospitals charge for fixing clogged arteries and smoking related illnesses (unless it is a symptom such as polycystic ovaries or thyroid problems).

Thu May 06, 07:23:00 pm