Tuesday, October 30, 2007

The S.T.A.K.E. Act

I mentioned here before I'd heard an ad on the radio trying to recruit guys or girls, 14 to 16, as "Tobacco Enforcement Agents". Not sure what that meant, at the time, but I heard the same ad yesterday and managed to get the phone number.

I just called that number and got a very live, and pleasant, lady on the other end.

She basically said what I expected: They want kids to try and buy cigarettes from businesses, and will pay them for doing so. Pay isn't much but, when you're a kid, money is more valuable than it would be to someone that has to pay bills.

They actually have a web site.

Sorry, but I'm not happy with this, despite the niceness of the girl I spoke with. We should also wonder just how far this will go. We've seen with drunk driving checkpoints, that police have expanded the purview of those quite a bit beyond their original intent.


Are these Tobacco Control Agent kids akin to another Hitler Youth type organization? Only time will tell, but I suspect they might well be. When kids are told it's ok to spy on other people, that often follows them through life.

17 Comments:

At 10:18 PM, Blogger Tapperass said...

Fred, WTF?

 
At 1:37 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your Hitler Youth analogy tells us you may be perilously close to losing your marbles.

 
At 8:59 AM, Blogger Pogo said...

1:37 AM, tell us the basis for your profound pronouncement. We are anxious to be enlightened by your superior intellect.

 
At 10:48 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just how would you prevent stores selling tobacco products to kids? Don't you care?

 
At 11:14 AM, Blogger Nick Bravo said...

Like something out of 1984.
When the state becomes daddy then parents become obsolete.

 
At 2:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Guess who's back...
It's little Nicky!

 
At 2:50 PM, Blogger Pogo said...

10:48 AM,Q) How do you prevent homicide?
A) It is impossible, but the gov. does not solicit contracts for murder just to arrest hit men.

The state has decided that minors must not purchase tobacco. Do I care?
Not particularly.

 
At 7:12 PM, Blogger Rose said...

Happy Halloween, Fred! And Pogo and Nick!

 
At 7:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mr. Pogo, idiocy may abound, but must you go bounding around with it?

 
At 12:10 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At 2:05 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At 5:27 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

Not sure I wanted to delete this last comment from, what I assume is either Al Baston, Jake Pickering or Dave Cobb, but I will.

I suppose it's probably not much more outlandish than some things I've said here, and might say again, but I'll delete it anyway.

Seems to me, going after tobacco sellers is mostly a left wing thing, so it wouldn't apply to accuse Republicans of it.

Still, Republicans have their fair share of the blame. I've even met a libertarian, or two, that are complicit in this.

 
At 6:49 PM, Blogger Pogo said...

Leave it to 12:10 AM to reverse the facts. About what we can expect from such a retard.

 
At 8:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It isn't tobacco sellers they are going after but stores that sell tobacco to KIDS. You know, those little people who have big people around who are supposed to protect them? They make choices with grave consequences that they aren't capable of understanding. Sort of like you and your fellow Liberetardians, Fred.

 
At 10:21 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Concur with 8:33. Sounds like a good program and a good experience for kids (who may be enticed into going into law enforcement as a side effect.)

 
At 10:42 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yep, its a good program. If someone doesn't like a law they should organize to change it. Or conduct open civil disobedience and answer for it. That's what rule of law means, and respect for that is what makes the USA a place of freedom.

But there are always folks who say freedom means being above the law. Those people are real traitors to our country. Bringing them to answer for breaking the law is an act of patriotism.

 
At 10:50 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

There's a bizarre way of looking at it.

 

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