Author Archives: scottsoapbox

Sports Barn Sprint Tri 2007

Posted on by

I forgot to add this last year so I’m going back in time to add it in at its proper place…

This race was a great success, as I was able to improve my time even though I was only able to get in minimal training due to some ill-timed minor surgery. So here are the stats:

  • Swim 10:54
  • Transition 1 was lost due to equipment failure so its contained in bike portion
  • Bike 32:19
  • Trans 1:57
  • Run 20:28
  • Total 1:05:37

This shaved two minutes off my last SB Sprint in ’04. I also beat 139 people instead of just 74. None to shabby considering my training issues.

Bill To Increase Cigar Tax 20,000%

Posted on by

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.

With the tax the country’s cheapest cigars will instantly cost as much as the nicest your local humidor has to offer (which will then cost $20 instead of $10). In essence, taking cigar smoking away from the poor and allowing only on the rich to enjoy it. I thought the Democrats were supposed to give things to the poor.

And what about the tobacco worker’s (we always seem concerned about the tobacco farmers in this country) jobs? Hav-A-Tampa alone employs 900 workers in the Tampa area and doesn’t make a bad smoke. I coincidentally enjoyed their wares just last night (research for this article of course). I believe Eric Newman, who runs the Tampa business founded by his grandfather Julius Caesar Newman and employs many people in his small cigar factory said it pretty well:

“Why don’t we just go out of business?” Newman said. “Here, you can run our company, Mr. Government.”

Now what could possess such a flagrant taxation bill? Well the poor, sick, dying children – or so they would have you believe. This tobacco tax has been dubbed to help the children, but that’s a bit of slick marketing. This bill defines children as anyone 25 years of age and under.

Let me say that again: ANYONE 25 years of age and under. So if you are a 25 year old male that makes $82,000/year with a house wife of 23 and two small children, guess which of you are eligible for this coverage? All four of you. This bill is not helping “children”, or the “poor”, or the “uninsurable”. This is an end-run to get Universal Government Health Care covering the bottom fourth of the human age range. A few more bills like this and we will have Hillary-Care without the panic inducing name.

Thankfully, for tax payers and cigar smokers Bush has said he will veto the bill. But what happens after ’08 is anyone’s guess.

Peace Prize Killer

Posted on by

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.

Ineffective Congress Criticizes Political Progress

Posted on by

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 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.

But perhaps the Democratic congress referring to the area where they have made a lot of headway: starting investigations!

According to White House spokesperson Scott Stanzel, the Democrats have launched over 300 investigations, had over 350 requests for documents and interviews and they have had over 600 oversight hearings in just about 100 days.

ASIDE: Unfortunately for the Democrats, none of these investigations have found ANYTHING. Which can lead to only one of two conclusions. 1) The Bush Administration is one of the most well run and ethical administrations ever and the Democrats should stop wasting their time investigating them. 2) The Bush administration though vile and corrupt is quite effective at hiding any and all evidence of their crimes from the inept investigations of congress. Therefore the Democrats should stop wasting their time investigating them. Either way you end up in the same place. The Dems should really get back to the business of protecting social security from privatization and making sure illegal immigrants don’t have to pay out-of-state tuition.