
Happy New Year Folks.
A place where I blog about photography, my photos, my travels, and my thoughts.
The Christmas Season is right around the corner folks. Have a great weekend.
The Start of the Xmas season. Help me ....
Enjoy your weekend infidels.
$3 a stick in federal tax. Unreal. Remember the luxury tax that flopped many years ago? And it is important to note that they had passed a sick tax like this in California which flopped. It put retailers out of business and folks bought cigars out of state and the State did not get the revenues they wanted. These wankers never learn. A bunch of goodie two-shoe pissants that feel obliged to paternalism because we are somehow too stupid to make our own decisions. So I'll smoke as I please and if they and perhaps a future dem President and dem congress pass this tax in the future, start stocking up on your sticks cause it will be effectively banned and sold on the black market. These folks should get smart and tax methane cause they got plenty of it in Washington especially on capital hill.By BETH REINHARD
breinhard@MiamiHerald.com
A cigar-store Indian and a pungent aroma greet customers at Miami's Sosa Cigars, next to the famed Versailles restaurant.
Boxes of cigars labeled Partagás, Cohiba and Padrón rise from floor to ceiling. A table for dominoes invites smokers with time to spare. Buy a humidor, bottle of wine or guayabera to complete the look of old Havana.
''Take a picture,'' quipped U.S. Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, one of three Miami Republicans who oppose legislation expanding a popular children's health-insurance program, partly because it relies on higher cigar taxes. ``They're not going to be around much longer.''
Under a plan to pump $35 billion into the so-called SCHIP program, federal taxes on cigars would soar from 5 cents to an average of $3 per cigar, an increase of about 6,000 percent. Cigarette taxes would rise 61 cents, to $1 per pack.
''Why are they picking on us?'' demanded Sergio Pereira, who owns the Don Sergio Ramar Cigars factory in Miami. ``Cuba is rum, sugar and cigars.''
In a flame-fanning tirade on Spanish-language radio last week, Díaz-Balart called the tax hike an ''attack on the Cuban-American community.'' He added: ``It would hurt an industry specifically in Miami-Dade, in South Florida, an industry that is almost entirely Hispanic: those who make cigars by hand, which is a cultural tradition. That industry will not survive.''
But put aside the Chicken-Little warnings, the appeals to ethnic pride and the romantic image of the family-run storefront. Consider that the program would extend health benefits to 10 million children on the strapping back of a deadly industry.
''Raising the price may cause some individuals to stop smoking, which would be a good thing,'' said Bill Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. ``We have a product that is designed to addict and kill, and we have to take steps to protect the public health.''
Corr is affiliated with a nonprofit that tracks tobacco industry contributions and found that members of Congress who opposed the SCHIP expansion have received ''four, five, six times as much'' money than those who supported it. Díaz-Balart, and U.S. Reps. Lincoln Díaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, have received tens of thousands of dollars from tobacco over the past decade.
''They chose cigar makers over kids and politics over children,'' said Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston. ``I think they made a grievous mistake.''
The national Democratic Party and left-leaning special interest groups have seized on SCHIP as a club to browbeat the Miami Republicans and other potentially vulnerable members of Congress. Radio ads in their districts warned them to ''to choose our kids.'' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be in South Florida next week to recruit potential challengers, including former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez.
The three Republican lawmakers have said repeatedly that they support the insurance program, but that the legislation doesn't go far enough to prioritize the poorest children, depends heavily on tax revenues from new smokers and enables 2 million children to replace their private health benefits with government subsidies.
They voted no this week, contributing to the failure of Democratic leaders to muster enough votes to override President Bush's veto.
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Man I'm old. I bought this album in 1980 .... that was 27 years ago... dang!
Since I'm in this western mood, here's one of my favorite songs by Toby Keith ... "Should've Been A Cowboy"
Where's the 1st flight to Nevada?
Very Hot Spicy Thai Chili Causes Street Closures in London
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By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 21 minutes ago
Super spicy chili sauce being cooked at a London Thai restaurant sparked road closures and evacuations after passers-by complained that the smell was burning their throats, police said Wednesday.
London Fire Brigade's chemical response team was called after reports that a strong smell was wafting from the restaurant in the heart of London's Soho district Monday afternoon, a Metropolitan police spokesman said, speaking anonymously in line with force policy.
Authorities sealed off several premises and closed roads. The Times of London described shoppers coughing and spluttering as firefighters wearing special breathing masks sought the source of the smell.
The paper said firefighters smashed down the door of the Thai Cottage restaurant and seized extra-hot bird's eye chilies which had been left dry-frying. It said they were being prepared as part of a batch of Nam Prik Pao, a spicy Thai dip.
"The smoke didn't go up into the sky because of the rain and the heavy air," The Times quoted Thai Cottage owner Sue Wasboonma as saying. "It's the hottest thing we make."
The police spokesman said no arrests were made in the case.
"As far as I'm aware it's not a criminal offense to cook very strong chili," he said.
Classic skit from Monty Python -- the Expedition to Lake Pahoe.
Arrrrrr; Chiver me timbers. Yo ho ho a pirate's life's for me.
Try (Live at Woodstock 69)
She rocked like no other woman has ever rocked. What a voice!