I think it's time to think about puting a supplement of niacin (vitamin B3) in the water supply. See link.

I didn't vote for him either, --elitist-- and in it for self-fulfillment of personal dream doesn't run a country. He's going to be a one term president.

8 dollars of a pack of cigarettes is nothing in Australia. Same with the price of videogames and petrol. Probably are others but I haven't of them. You americans are always complaining over nothing.

And by not raising taxes on the under 250 000 is more likely to be construed as not raising income tax on them. So its debatable whether it is truly a broken promise.

The health nazis [they are referred to as nazis because Hitler banned smoking] also have no compassion for the elderly who started smoking long before the Surgeon General's report.

About five years ago I spoke to a lady in Iowa whose uncle was in a nursing home there. He was an 82 year old World War II Veteran and had to go outside in all kinds of cold and inclement weather in order to have a cigarette. She worried that he would freeze to death.

I wonder what this man thought as he sat outside in freezing weather - did he remember the hell he had gone through when he fought the Battle of the Bulge in sub-zero weather. Did he ever dream his country would turn on him this way.

This whole concept of non-tolerance for smokers began with the bogus second-hand smoke studies. It started in the early 1990's and was headed by those in Pharma & the Medical Community who saw a way to make billions from stop-smoking devices. So it was all about money - not about health.

The substitute for tobacco turned out to be worse than the actual smoking. People quit smoking and started on the antidepressants like Zyban [Wellbutrin] and Chantix. Now everyone is fat and not-so-happy.

Yes, smoking had improved the health of those who are intense, high-strung, interesting-type people.

Another good thing to say about smoking is that people didn't commit suicide or kill someone else because they had just finished smoking a cigarette. They certainly killed themselves & others when they injested antidepressants and other psychotropics, such as the atypical antipsychotics which are half antidepressant. See www.SSRIstories.com

Another issue that goes unmentioned is that the life span of a smoker is 71.9 years but the life span of a person drugged to the hilt for so-called mental illness is 57.3 years.

For those who don't think it is a serious issue about the elderly and smoking, here is a sad story from Canada.
----------------------
Paragraphs 3 through 5 read: "Members of Collen's family say they have been told he went into the care home's courtyard around 1 a.m. to have a cigarette. The temperature was around –20 C the night of Collen's death, with a wind chill of –31."

"Collen's sister-in-law, Ann Collen, told CBC News that Barry Collen had a medical condition that made him unsteady on his feet."

"'What I was told was that he slipped and fell and banged his head, and he froze to death,' she said. 'And then the coroner's office phoned me and they said that he died of hypothermia. That's all they said.'"

Paragraph 7 reads: "'It's hard to speak about him,' Collen said, breaking into tears. 'Never had a harsh word against anybody ­ he was a kind, gentle soul.'"

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2008/01/11/collen.html

Health officials probe man's death at care home

Body was found frozen after 3½ hours outdoors

Last Updated: Friday, January 11, 2008 | 5:03 PM CT

CBC News

I should have sat on my hands but didn't so will now work with what we've "got" or move to ?.

Obama is a smooth talking lawyer/politician. If there isn't another image of a self-interested liar that is more poignant than that I wouldn't be surprised. Many were fooled and are now still insisting on holding onto vague hopes based on false premises (that our free enterprise, capitalistic society is bad and doesn't give people opportunities). America has always drawn in the hungry and poor but I think now they might stay where there are less taxes and government intrusion in everyday life.

Just stop smoking.

I'm not sure I want a president who's in touch with the "guns and God" side of this country. You can call him insensitive for saying it and it wasn't the smartest move politically but he's right about the gun-toting fundies. It's a classic case of false consciouness. Frankly those people terrify me because most of them would probably want to put me in gay re-education camps and I'm happy to have a president who doesn't rush to pander to them like Bush and McCain and Palin did.

I hate to say this is exactly what I expected from the most liberal leftist member of the senate.

If you haven't noticed Washington State sales tax is now at 10% and you can add that to your buck+ a pack cigerette tax; fees (nice word and cover for more taxes on top of the old taxes) for everything from camping, education, gas, heating, utilities, and almost anything associated with pleasure or personal choice are going through the roof in almost every state across America.

While our government seems to think bailing out bad and failed corporations and businesses to the tune of trillions of dollars in newly created funds makes rational sense. Out of control tax and spend policies have never been a very good method or model in a democracy. Since that all that debt just gets passed on to the generations that inherit this one.

As in everyday life for the average Joe American; if you go out on a spending binge and don't have the money to pay the piper at the end of the day; you'll find yourself in a fairly obvious futile and failed predicament.

Though now we have a police (United Nations controlled and influenced) verses a threat sovereignty based independent foreign policy in place; I fear the war for freedom will be coming home to bite us each in the behind as we all are just going to have to sit on our hands and take it while making our way down the path toward poverty, a markedly reduced life style, and plummeting global status.

This is not our own parents or even close to their parents America anymore. We are just one piece in a huge global puzzle filled with greed and globalization in mind. The American Dream maybe just as threatened as our shrinking and less influential dollar; and just possibly as dead as the pictures of past dead presidents plastered across them.

Is this a simplified pessimistic view? Some may think so; yet others will see a bit of truth and reality whether they are still walking around in the delusion state that big brother government is looking out for them, or see instead a poorly representative government looking out for themselves and their own selfish special interest.

While I agree that the increase in the cigarette tax is infuriating, I disagree with blaming Obama. For starters, he is a smoker, so it's not like he's oblivious to the frustration. While I fully acknowledge he hasn't been in federal politics long, I also think it's pretty irrelevant. No decision is made solely by the president because no single person could know all the information necessary for all the topics he deals with. That's why there's a million different advisors. And as much as the cigarette tax makes my blood boil, it's one of the few areas the government can increase revenue in these uniquely tumultuous times without raising a stink. Nobody's going to go defend us smokers, and Congress is happy to take lobbying funds from the tobacco companies and smile while saying "sorry, my hands are tied". It sucks, but I also know it's a tax I don't have to pay. I don't deny that smoking is one of the few refuges many of us have, and that we get shafted like lepers, and that the science is debatable. But it is optional and they're having enough trouble getting middle class tax cuts past the obstructionist GOP. Speaking of which, I agree that the bank bailouts is a load of %*#, but it wasn't his idea, he's continuing with what was done, and capital injections theoretically made sense. The issue isn't that they tried to stabilize the banks, the issue is that the people who got the money are greedy beyond belief. We also don't have a lot of precedent for dealing with anything similar to this, so you gotta cut the gov't some slack on figuring it out while being screamed at from all sides.

I second the above comment that Obama's guns n' God quote was insensitive, but at least he doesn't pander to the nutters. It doesn't make him an elitist, and at least he's not delusional and thinks God tells him to smite people (see GWB re: Saddam).

I think he's a good person who used his charisma and speaking abilities to win what is essentially a popularity contest in this media/entertainment/infotainment-saturated country. I think he is an overall net gain for the nation, and I don't think there's anyone who could handle the current situation "well", so so long as he doesn't muck it up, I'll sleep better at night.

Yikes... these commenting threads were contentious enough with just talking about psych meds. Now it's a political blog too?

In an attempt to tie the political to the psych meds, a recent article in WaPo discussing how busy things were on K Street - everyone lining up to get some stimulus money, Billy Tauzin, head of phRMA, was quoted at the end of the story saying: "We're just busy making HONEY"...

Maybe that's why all those bees are dying.....

Defending Obama because he is a smoker is ridiculous. If it was about affording cigs then all must consider he doesn't have to worry about income for the rest of his life.

Mental health and politics is not removed from the other, pharma lobbies congress on a regular basis, in all reality pharma runs this country, has a plan and took action to succeed. Obama did the same thing. Spent a lot of money for a well-ran marketing scheme (campaign)and he is sitting in the Oval office as a result.

It's all self-centered, and basing his campaign on the word hope reeled in vulnerable idiots who claim to be able to think.

I smoke on average two cigarettes a week. I am diagnosed BP 1, rapid cycling and schizoaffective.

The only thing that works for schizoaffective is a cigarette. Drugs don't work for this and make me deathly ill.

When I am in the throws of schizoaffective I can smoke a pack a day. Then months on nothing.

While I agree something has to be done to kick the world's economy in the butt and get it moving along, do they really have to tax this so high? Philip is right. This is a huge tax on those of us who smoke for mental reasons.

And ya all know that postage stamps are going up in price too, very soon.

Oh a pack of cigs are $9 in NYC.

They're moving money around, which is how government is funded. So, we have yummy tax cuts under ARRA totaling $237 billion for individual Americans:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009#Tax_relief_for_individuals

Which means I'll be taking $ from my tax cut pot and putting it in my sin-tax pot and expect it'll all come out in the wash.

Meanwhile Obama's first piece of legislation, any naysayers want to argue with that one? Don't tell me you have no clue, for I would be shocked.

It should be said that the heat he is taking from within his own party concerns the emerging turnabout on what the wingnuts refer to as "Eye-Rack" and the issue that won him the primary over HRC. War bothers us. The war should probably make an appearance in this thread.

On the other hand, lifting the ban on stem-cell research, 4 million kids added to S-Chip, banning torture, a strengthened EPA, green light for funding foreign aid groups that provide abortions, pro-labor federal contracts, and adorable negroid children playing on the white house lawn, it's quite the change, and gives some folks hope. Damned if I know.

You are one of the few males who chose not to vote for McCain due to his running mate.

;)

Americans just don't get it. They are so afraid of socialism, anything other than unrestricted free market capitalism, and they run for cover. Why can't Americans see that despite the higher taxes in virtually all other industrialized nations, we all enjoy universal healthcare? This access can't be underestimated. No, it's not perfect in Canada, but it's a hell of a lot better than what the average American receives. And then the average American pays through the nose for the shitty healthcare they actually access.

I have bipolar and I've been in the "system" for 4 years now. Since diagnosis and entrance into the system, I've received the following, free of any charge:

-weekly appts with a psychiatrist
-weekly appts with an occupational therapist
-participation in an 8-week mindfulness course
-appts with psychologists
-appts with social workers
-weekly appts with GP Psychotherapists
-participation in an 8-week outpatient day treatment program for people with mood disorders
-28-day inpatient program for people with mood disorders in an open and free access setting; access to group therapy, individual therapy, recreational therapy, occupational therapy, music therapy, art therapy, deep breathing techniques,

Who in America today can say they have free and open access to such treatment programs for persons with mood disorders.

If America is supposed to be the best and leading nation in the developed world, why is it that so many still live in poverty and do not have basic access to healthcare in the way I describe above?

I pay $20 per month for my meds, which include lithium, seroquel, and a thyroid medication. How many Americans need free access to the proper medication, mental or physical, and can't get it?

And you say free and unrestricted capitalism is the way to go?

Give it up. And listen to Obama. He may come off as an elitist, but what you don't realize is that he's much closer to policies in many other developed nations that on average boast a higher standard of living than the average American. And for that you should cheer. Yes, America needs a change. America needs a massive wake-up call and Americans need to understand that there's close to 200 other nations on this big ball of earth and many have ideas that can positively evoke the change you're hoping for in America. John McCain could never hand you that. Obama, perhaps.

-A lone Canadian watching with interest as the American empire collapses.

Philip Dawdy responds: enjoy the show. we are in for a bumpy ride, but we ain't gonna collapse.

Quotes:

"Americans just don't get it. They are so afraid of socialism, anything other than unrestricted free market capitalism, and they run for cover."

"-A lone Canadian watching with interest as the American empire collapses."

Maybe we need to invade Canada and steal all their natural resources. This should reboot our economy, put on those snow birds on more medications for delusional thoughts, and put all those socialist to work {Laughing} I mean how hard could it be in reality, once were past their hockey stick defence, it's on to Ottawa and pay dirt. {LMAO}

I agree. We ain't collapsin'. Just beginning to stop (because we can't afford it)trying to be the KING OF THE WORLD (in our own and others' minds).

Can you imagine W at the G-20 vs. Barack? He probably would have manhandled Andrea Merkel again. Obama actually said we can't afford to "bankroll" everybody else anymore and that other countries needed to be steppin up to the plate.

Taking the U.S. down a peg or three is in our own self-interest for survival

As to our healthcare "system" - the time has come to pound Congress to ditch the for-profit health insurance industry...or at least, to begin a parallel new system similar to Medicare.... NOW is the time. The pols will be off for two weeks starting today. Make a note to contact yours.

When Obama said he wouldn't raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 per year, I took it to mean he wouldn't raise income taxes. That seemed to be the implication, anyways. The current situation is so fraught with problems, I don't think any president could avoid having some difficulties and displeasing a lot of people. I think Obama has done a lot more good than bad so far, though, and we could've gotten someone much worse as a leader (we did have someone much worse for the previous eight years - that's what we're just beginning to make up for now).

I don't think we're ever going to get universal health care. Here's what I'm seeing, starting with Massachusetts and Medicare Plan D: massive subsidy of the insurance industry via forced purchase of "affordable" mandated insurance. The coerced purchaser doesn't get to decide what's affordable, of course.

The only difference I'm seeing between the Dems and Repubbies is the Dems may take more time pulling it off. On the other hand, there's no way the new admin can possibly have had enough time to devote to health care yet, so maybe...

I'm not optimistic. But, as I've said before, I'm a Gloomy Celt.
Sherry

I didn`t vote for obamma but since he won I have been waiting to see what he would do for the people.I was starting to think that maybe I was wrong about him and that he might just end up doing what he said he would do. Now this!!!! Boy what a disaster. So what am I suppose to say, now.That we told you so? What difference would it make? My thoughts of the american way just went down the tube.This lieing piece of shit,just broke his first pledge to the american public.
.WELL. You democrats put his ass in, lets see you take him out.Next comes all the excuses why he had to pass these taxes.and then will continue down hill.Whos fault is this that we suffer.
OURS!!! why ? because,We, the assholes of america let a lousy 400 and some politions,who work for US in the government, get away with this.We voted for these jerks.Where in the constitution does it say that we hired them and we could fire them.Someone out there knows how so lets get started and clean house.

Obama lied! My retirement income is the same as it was last year, but my taxes went up! This is BS!