Yo Momma

If you remember, the first time I mentioned my cute little pet name for Obama, I said that it was a stupid thing to do, but it made me feel better at the time. The point I was trying to make was that name calling is an act of frustration.Well, it can also be an act of provocation but, in this case, neither Obama nor any of his supporters were likely to hear of it, so I wasn't tying to provoke anyone. I was just, as they say, venting, which is what I think you guys and others have been doing with all your cute little nicknames for Trump. You don't like him, you didn't vote for him, but he's the president now, and there is nothing much that you can do about it. When he runs for a second term, you still won't vote for him, but he might win anyway. I suspect that makes you feel similar to the way I felt about Obama's presidency, and you are reacting in kind. Am I wrong?

I didn't dislike Obama because he was Black, there was nothing I liked about him, but his Blackness was an easy target, so I took my (cheap) shot. Now Old Dog tells me there is a difference between being Black and being African American. I didn't know that. The last time I had any dealings with colored people, we were still calling them Negroes. Maybe those guys don't even say "yo mamma" anymore, which would explain why Uncle Ken's first response to my story was "WTF?"

I hadn't heard of those shops that made cigarettes for you. Our local smoke shop sells all kinds of cigarettes and cigars off the shelf. They also sell tobacco by the pound, paper tubes to stuff the tobacco into, and the machines that stuff the tobacco into the tubes. There are several different models, most of them hand operated. After trying a few of them, I ended up buying the top-of-the line electric model. It costs over a hundred dollars, but you make that back on the first few cartons you produce, and the machine lasts for years. After paying for the machine, it costs me about 15 bucks to make a carton of cigarettes and, last I heard, a carton of store bought ones cost 50 or 60 dollars.

Michigan already had one of the highest cigarette taxes in the nation, but any tax they might have had on bulk tobacco was insignificant. Obama's bill increased the cigarette tax and also levied a tax on tobacco that almost doubled the price. A one pound bag went from $20 to almost $40. A few months later, some enterprising entrepreneur noticed that the tax increase was only on cigarette tobacco, not pipe tobacco. With the help of the nice lady at the smoke shop, I found a brand of "pipe tobacco" that I liked, and it sold for 20 bucks a pound. Now I know the difference between cigarette tobacco and pipe tobacco because I used to smoke a pipe, and I don't know how they can get away with calling this stuff pipe tobacco, but I'm glad that they can.

I guess the reason this tobacco tax bothered me so much was that it occurred early in Obama's presidency, a time that is commonly called the "honeymoon period". The other stuff that happened later was par for the course, but this one came as a surprise. Looking back on it, I shouldn't have been surprised. After all, that is what people do to each other on their honeymoon.