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October 29, 2009
Where's Colonel Custer When the Government Needs Him?
Posted by Van Helsing at October 29, 2009 8:49 AM
The intolerable greed of Big Government is finally starting to elicit resistance. In New York, the natives are getting restless:
State Police have speculated that any government effort to block the flow of tax-free cigarettes onto New York's Indian reservations will lead to violence and could possibly escalate into a "military problem," an adviser to Gov. David Paterson said Tuesday.
The governor's chief legal counsel, Peter Kiernan, told a state senate committee that a police "threat assessment" predicted that tribes based in western New York would fiercely resist any attempt to interfere with their multimillion dollar cigarette business.
The cost of enforcing order, he said, could run as much as $2 million per day - a figure based on the state's experiences when it tried to impose cigarette taxes on the reservations in 1992 and 1997.
Both of those efforts ended after members of the Seneca tribe blockaded state highways, set fires and in some cases brawled with troopers.
There is already a law in New York that only members of a tribe can buy tax-free cigarettes, but it hasn't been enforced for fear of rebellion. As a result, Indians make big money selling cigarettes for what they are actually worth. Now state bureaucrats are insisting on their grotesquely greedy cut, treaties exempting Indian reservations from state taxes be damned.
Wonders Sally Snow, chairwoman of the Seneca Free Trade Association:
It's just taking our land all over again. How much do they want from us?
The answer: every bit they can get.
On a tip from Wiggins.
Comments
This is in my backyard. We have the Mohawks. I have friends who are state troopers and they are terrified of driving through Indian country. Nobody wants to do any kind of revenuing up there.
If you drive through the rez, you can see signs saying "Patterson: This is not New York State land. This is Mohawk land." Pataki couldn't do anything about it. The hapless blind man won't be able to either.
Posted by: Karin at October 29, 2009 8:57 AM
How stupid are these bureaucrats? If the shut the Indians down, the Mob is going to take over.
What did they actually expect? New Yorkers to fork over $10 per pack to Big Brother and his busybody bureaucrats?
I don't smoke, but I am going to root for whoever undercuts punitive lifestyle taxes, which are fundamentally out of line with notions of personal liberty. Government has no business engaging in this sort of social engineering. A society is no free if the government has the ability to punitively tax everything it doesn't like.
The moonbats will whine that smokers are costing the nanny state money, and that needs to be recouped. I agree. The cost of someone's smoking is their own problem. For that reason, I propose that smokers, drinkers, the obese, the sedentary, and anyone else engaging in a potentially unhealthy lifestyle will retain the freedom to do so, provided they act like an adult and accept the financial consequences of their own actions, rather than burdening their neighbor.
Posted by: Anonymous Countermoonbat at October 29, 2009 9:02 AM
I wonder how long it will be before it's not just the Indian Nations the revenooers are afraid of.
Posted by: Mr Evilwrench at October 29, 2009 1:42 PM
I like that the Indians scare the goverment but I can't help but think that hey, why should they be any different from the rest of us poor slobs bleeding money to support the bureacrats? Why should THEY get a free pass? Screw that!
Posted by: Contrarian_Libertarian at October 29, 2009 3:09 PM
Say what you want about capitalism, I don't think it should be legal to sell highly probable slow, debilitating, and addictive death to someone else.
Posted by: hey you guys at October 29, 2009 8:37 PM
How very Red of you, HYG. Now you see why everyone hates you and your mother dresses you funny.
Speaking of which, did she find the fiver I left on her nightstand?
Posted by: SK at October 29, 2009 8:57 PM
Yeah, she said you weren't good enough be my new daddy. Still on for Tuesday? Don't forget the death sticks!
Posted by: hey you guys at October 29, 2009 10:02 PM
The natives to this land have been screwed over for many many years. I might be inclined to believe that they aren't going to take our lying theiving governments crap anymore. I believe we should take a good look at the example they are setting. I also believe they would be good allies if we could help give them back what was taken from them and soon to be taken from us as well if we don't stand up and fight damned hard for it.
Posted by: JoeShmoe at October 30, 2009 7:25 AM
"JoeShmoe at October 30, 2009 7:25 AM"
How about THEY give back what the land stole from OTHER indians?
BTW, I could make a very compeling case AGAINST the idea that tobacco causes cancer if I wanted to.
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