American Republic Online

Stunned? You’re not the only one:

“I thought there was a typo. I thought they meant 10 cents per cigar, not $10 per cigar. I was stunned like everyone else,” Sharp said.

Currently the tobacco tax is 4.8 cents per cigar and 39 cents per pack of cigarettes (1.95 cents each). The latest bill will raise those to $1/pack for cigs and $10/cigar. The increase of 150% on cigarettes is ridiculous but the cigar tax is off the scale.

The average aficionado smokes about three cigars a week at about $3 to $5 apiece, according to the cigar association.

The tax would mean that relaxing past time would go to $13 to $15 for the exact same cigars! Of course the true tragedy is that (as always) the poorest cigar smokers will be the hardest hit. For those that can’t afford the sweet nectar of a hand rolled smoke, machine made cigars typically run between 50 cents and a dollar apiece. So a poor man’s cigar relaxation costs about as much as everyday acceleration found in a Coke. Imagine paying $11 for a 16oz bottle of Coke.

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I must say that it is heart warming how much the liberal/progressive elites really care. About peace. About life. About everybody-getting-along…

Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams apologized Thursday for saying she could kill President Bush, remarks that drew scorn from Bush loyalists…

Normally this won’t have been so bad - we all say stupid things occasionally. But she made these comments during a speech at an International Women’s Peace Conference. I wouldn’t be surprised if the apology followed closely on the heals of a visit from the Secret Service (”Bush loyalists”) who tend to take such statements rather seriously.

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Word has been leaking out that the surge in Iraq is working better than anyone - except perhaps General Petraeus - expected. The military progress has been so good that mainstream media is no longer able to keep a lid on it. But now that the first few days of shock have worn off, the Dems and the media elite have a new mantra: military progress is great, but we need political progress. (though back when elections were held and constitutions formed, the same pundits pointed to a lack of military progress)

Historical rhetoric aside, I find it pretty ironic that this Congress thinks it can school other politicians on progress. Let’s take a look at what our congress has accomplished:

• “1st 100 Hours” Promises were broken within a week (congress was going take less time off and work more)
• Of the “Six for ‘06″ bills touted by House Democrats, only one has become law. And that one, which raises the minimum wage, passed not on its own, but only because it was tacked onto the Iraq funding bill.
• The Dems have refused to follow their personally dubbed “voter mandate” to end the war in Iraq.
• Majority Leader Reid is working hard to remove has removed all mentions of earmarks from the ethic rules revision (earmarks ie personal pork was a linchpin of the “culture of corruption”)
• Achieved an all time record for lowest approval rating ever. (14% for the official poll, though Zogby now has them at 13%)

So compared to the greatest democracy on the planet, I’d say the Iraqi government is really getting into the swing of things with delays and silly political drama. A secret of democracy, though, is that it tends to distract all the “leaders” of the country with politics, which leaves them much less time for indiscriminately killing the citizenry.

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