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by Rick
on Tue Dec 23, 2003 9:18 am |
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Hi Everyone,
I will be posting a link here later on today that explains further the subject of this post. It may (I don't recall exactly) also have an e-mail listing of your state rep's in the senate and congress (if not, I will post a link to that as well).
Anyhow, basically, the Senate unanimously passed a bill which, if signed into law would make buying cigs over the internet illegal (even from places like yesmoke). It is not law yet, but it may very well become law if none of us take a stand and let our chosen people in Washington know how we feel. ***Go to www.a1cybercigs.com and click on the icon, then click on the hyperlink to S.1177 to read the text of the proposed law.***
If you will read the bill once I post it, pay attention to how online sellers of cigs are portrayed as terrorists. I do not think that this is so, quite simply because most of the online sellers of cigs are reputable businesses and/or located on Indian soils.
I think that if we don't get involved, and this bill subsequently becomes law, it would be a cash bonanza in reality for organized crime & terrorism. How so? Well, I have some links to articles (which I will see if they are still active, and if so will post here later on as well) that says there have been break-ins of stores where nothing but cigarettes were taken. It doesn't really take Einstein to figure out that these aren't small-time petty criminals who do this (one or two small time crooks can't move 300 - 400 cartons of cigs)... and I doubt the thefts were for personal use.... should this bill become law, there'd be an uprise in crimes like these and these people would have all kinds of profits available to them:
$0 cost due to theft + $25/carton sold illegitimately = $25/carton net gain
The states think this bill is a great idea because they'd gain much needed tax revenues, however should the above scenario occur, it'd be much more likely that people would be buying cigs on the black market. I know I'd rather pay $25/carton than $40 or more/carton (if this bill passed the states would see it as a green light to jack up taxes) and follow the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy as I'm sure most would.
The bottom line is that we ALL need to get involved and let our chosen people in Washington know how we feel. Smokers becoming complacent and not letting their constituents know how they feel has become all too common lately. Please, let your constituency know how you feel and that you will be watching how they vote, so that you will know how to vote the next election cycle.
Thanks all for your help  |
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Rick
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by Tom
on Tue Dec 23, 2003 9:52 am |
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| That is a little bit scary, Rick. I know if I had to buy those cigarettes in stores, I couldn't afford to smoke. The govt screwed us young people on many levels, with the housing market, lying about the importance and value of college, etc. I'm not gonna let them screw me out of this. I took enough of their [doodee] for one lifetime. I will write to all the people on that list that RJ Renolds gave me, and I will hound them every day. For myself, I always keep a personal cigarette reserve just in case the government does something like this. |
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Tom
Smokers Rights Activist
Joined: Aug 24, 2003
Posts: 961
Location: The Kingdom of New Jersey
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by Rick
on Tue Dec 23, 2003 11:04 am |
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Yeah, no [doodee].... I need help with financial aid for college and guess what it seems like all the minorities get the financial aid, at least at my school. These are the same minorities who supposedly don't have enough money for college, but yet have enough money for expensive cars?!!? I've heard people bitching about fin. aid as they get out of/go to their expensive cars!
Sometimes I wonder why I went to college. No employer has expressed interest in me yet, and I graduate possibly as soon as next semester.
I understand about keeping a personal reserve. I have one as well, just in case. I think that the govt. will get the message as more and more crimes against stores are committed solely for cigarettes though. As I said, it's not just one or two people who usually steal for their own personal use (I'd like to meet the person who smokes 30-35 cartons a month LOL). |
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Rick
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Posts: 124
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by Rick
on Tue Dec 23, 2003 11:06 am |
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Tom, what did you go to college for? And what did you end up doing? I'm assuming you ended up doing something different than what you went to college for judging by the words on your post.
Myself, I am going for accounting. Though, I have no idea why because the job market sucks right now. Might have been better off doing construction - least that's how I feel at this point! |
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Rick
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by Tom
on Tue Dec 23, 2003 12:59 pm |
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| I went to college for business. I got an undergraduate degree in Marketing in 2001, and then went for a masters in finance. Now I work as a glorified secretary. I do some administrative and customer service stuff. I make less than when I worked as a Pizza Delivery driver, and I could smoke there. I went to college, because that was just the thing to do. Only losers went into landscaping, auto repair, restaurant work or construction. Now my friends from high school who didn't go to college have a wife and kids, and a house, and are making a hell of a lot more than me. I realize now that I'm the loser. That's just the way life goes sometimes; I can except that, I'm happy with life, but I need my cigarettes. How dare the government try to take that away from us after they lied to us all these years. Freedom is the best thing I have, and I don't know what I'd do if I lose it. |
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Tom
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Posts: 961
Location: The Kingdom of New Jersey
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by Rick
on Tue Dec 23, 2003 4:51 pm |
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Well Tom,
All I can say is that I completely understand your situation. I'm going to college for accounting and am starting to look for work.... I've even started applying for jobs that are more managerial in nature, and have very little accounting involved in the day-to-day aspects of it. Even though I enjoy accounting, and would eventually like a job in it, I've given up holding out hope for that to come along. It seems nobody wants to look at my resume, and if they do it is at the bottom of the list. Why this is, I do not know - I'm in 4 different honors organizations; two of which are in business and I'm applying for jobs that pay pretty well but the min. qualification is a high-school degree.
I believe partly the current job market is due to the state of the economy, however, the states should do the sensible logical thing: rather than outlaw online sales, they should maintain a reasonable sales tax/excise tax on cigs. Isn't it better to make some money than to lose money (surely they'd make none if the proposed senate bill goes into law and makes it far more profitable for organized crime to be selling cigs out of the back of a van). |
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Rick
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by Rick
on Tue Dec 23, 2003 4:53 pm |
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| Wanted to add to my last post: I know why I'm having a hard time finding a job - I live in Louisana, and the jobs that involve [beeyotch] work (construction, plumbing, landscaping, etc) are more plentiful than office jobs. I hope that your situation improves and that you find employment doing what you went to college to do. |
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Rick
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by Jay
on Sat Dec 27, 2003 3:34 pm |
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Well, when you apply for a job anywhere, I hope you realize you're competing against thousands of other applicants for one position (or even with a businness looking for multiple workers at a position, they usually pick the ones with the most experience). Just because you got a BA doesn't mean you'll be hired with the snap of some fingers. I learned that years ago. The applicant's experience counts the most, not his/her education. Hell, I got a BA in English, and although I have the talent to be a sports journalist based on my gifted writing (not based on the writings on here of course), there are several other unemployed journalists who have more experience as journalists. Most employers would rather hire an accountant or a journalist (with, for the sake of example, 5 years experience for both) than an accountant or a journalist who both graduated from college.
That's a fact of life. Having a degree increases your chances of getting hired, but in an era with millions of unemployed people, you're living in dreamland if you think a BA and even a Masters is enough to get you hired. If you have a good employment resume to back you up, that'll help you a lot in getting hired. Don't you think I'm pi$$ed at being turned down for FT positions for the only job I have actual experience in (cashiering)?
It's easier for me to get a PT job, because at places like ballparks, they NEED cashiers (regardless of the applicant's background) and they would be in cashier shortage if they simply hired the applicants with the most experience at cashiering.
Employers with FT positions can get away with that; they don't want to hire someone who just graduated from college and teach them about cashiering/other accounting topics, etc. They want FT workers with actual experience in the profession, because those people don't have to be trained like a college grad.
I'm sure me being black is another factor why I'm turned down. Although they say they don't discriminate against applicants' races, prejudice against minorities still exist in the job market. I even hear some employers pay their white workers more than their minority workers!
I don't have a problem with minority students getting most of the financial aid. If you come from a hi-income family (unlike the majority of minority students), chances are the only financial aid you'll get are loans, not grants. Minority students with cars are usually the ones who are there to play a sport, and they have an athletic scholarship. They get a free education, and free room/board for being on a sports team. Go figure. |
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Jay
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Joined: Jun 10, 2003
Posts: 496
Location: Chicago
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by JAyL
on Thu Feb 19, 2004 11:22 pm |
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The reason why you people don't have good jobs, is because you keep fukin' wining that "Nobody is giving me a job" You have to work hard and be the best at what you do.
Besides accounting and marketing are bullshit degrees.
Fukin' ignorant bastards. |
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JAyL
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by Tom
on Fri Feb 20, 2004 6:14 am |
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Listen A$$wipe,
I work 7 days all day. I work my a$$ off. I do my 9-5 BS job, then I work on weekends to double that sallary. Then I go out and get laid some nights. That's just life. I don't regret anything I have done. That was all part of my life experience. I agree with you that marketing and finance degrees are bs degrees. I would even take that a step further and say that all college degrees are bs, because the market doesn't need college educated people right now, except in medical. Time will tell if that will change. What the hell is wrong with you anyway. You're replying to a topic that was last discussed on Dec 27th?????????? Why? That's old, don't you think we solved that problem by now? I guess you're the ignorant ba$tard now; YOU'RE the one that thinks we just sit around and wine about the same $hit all the time. That was 2 months ago, loser. I'm not mad. I understand that it took you 2 months to think that up; I have to understand that not everyone in this country is bright. There are other smoking issues at hand now. |
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Tom
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Posts: 961
Location: The Kingdom of New Jersey
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