Roadkill Journal

Joel Connelly over at the P-I reports Governor Gregoire is asking the tribal casinos in Washington State go smoke free...

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/251428_joel09.html

She's troubled over the impacts of smoking on "the health of Native American women and youth,"...

So lets see... Washington voters pass a law which while stopping short of prohibiting smoking outright at the least marginalizes and seriously inconveniences users of a legal product.

The product is heavily taxed and the State reaps millions of dollars a year from it - not to mention the occasional multi-billion dollar settlement windfall...

Substantial numbers of smokers enjoy drinking and gambling as well. The only places they can now go to gather and legally do all three - short of the middle of a clearcut or cow pasture - is a tribal casino. But have no fear, there is now a tribal casino half an hour from even the remotest whistlestop...

So the newly afflicted smokers will likely respond by heading for the one remaining place they can enjoy themselves unmolested, and they're going to take their money with them!

And Governor Dreamland wants the casinos to "just say no"...

I dunno. The casino near my little town has a tribal cigarette factory adjacent to it...

And I have a question for our apallingly schizophrenic State government:

Since it is clear "the people" want the smokers - who apparently aren't "people" and have no rights - to get out of Dodge, when is the State government going to replace the cigarette tax with a tax on a trade "we" aren't trying to eradicate?

About the same time the casinos say no to more business, I think...