Nothing has quite the persistence...

Of a wrongheaded notion.  I refer you to CA SB622, which is taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages.  Apparently, it's moving forward - there's the response I got to a form mailing to State Senator Jim Beall (CA-15):

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Mr. Kelley,

Thank you for contacting me regarding your opposition to Senate Bill 622, Taxation: Sweetened Beverage Tax: Children's Health Promotion Fund.  I want to take this opportunity to apprise you of the latest action taken by the California State Senate.

I supported Senate Bill 622 when it came before me in the Senate Government and Finance Committee. SB 622 did receive enough votes to pass out of this Committee and is currently pending before the Senate Health Committee, of which I am also a member.

While we may not agree on SB 622, I appreciate your input and hope you will keep me informed of your views on this and other legislative issues of concern to you.

If you are looking for information including the text of bills, analyses of legislation, or my voting history, I encourage you to explore the Legislative Counsel's website at www.leginfo.ca.gov.  This site is extremely helpful and is available free of charge.

To receive updates on bills throughout this session and sign up for my monthly newsletter visit: www.senate.ca.gov/beall

Best regards,

Jim Beall
Senator, District 15

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  Oy.  And just how is this tax (eve if it's only currently set to one cent per fluid ounce - but it's not like THAT is set in stone...) supposed to help to "change behaviour" or "promote health?"  I've got other ideas:

- Stop using "high fructose corn syrup" as a sweetener - it causes more trouble than cane sugar.  Go back to sugar - I happily pay a bit extra for Pepsi Throwback because IT TASTES BETTER (and it reminds me of some of the more pleasant times in my childhood.)

- Stop using aspartame as an artificial sweetener for diet drinks.  First-stage metabolite of aspartame?  Formaldehyde.  Remember getting pickled frogs to dissect in HS bio, if you're old enough?  Yeah - they were pickled in formaldehyde.  Dead people have their blood replaced with formaldehyde ("embalming fluid") so they still look good for open-casket a couple of DAYS later (yeah, they're also kept in a fridge - but that won't preserve any sort of look.)  You expect me to believe that drinking something that turns into FORMALDEHYDE is healthier for me?  At least sugar/HFCS can be burned off by activity - if someone slips me a diet drink, the pain in my head (acute rapid-onset formaldehyde poisoning) makes me not want to do ANYTHING.  Especially if it's daylight outside - makes me photophobic (instead of simply nocturnal.)  Last time someone slipped me a diet soda, I ended up in our spare room with all the lights turned off, wibbling to myself for about three hours.  From TWO OUNCES.

Yeah.  I wanna drink diet drinks.  I just don't know if I want to do it BEFORE or AFTER I loan my head out as an anvil to a large, energetic blacksmith for a 14-hour day...

- Taxes haven't changed behaviours.  People still smoke, no?  I quit when Luckies hit two bucks a pack out here - smokes in general are up around five, and they still move.  Yeah.  THAT worked.

- Prohibition don't work worth a shit either - haven't we learned the lesson of Amendment XVIII and Amendment XXI?  All that did was firmly entrench the underground criminal economy and stick us with NFA34 and (eventually) BATF - had to give all those "revenooers" something to do - couldn't just make 'em go do something productive for a living, right?  So, even if a prohibition gets lifted, we're still likely to be worse off than we were before.

- Some of us actually drink cola drinks to self-medicate.  Making the amount of coffee I'd need daily is a pain (although I do supplement my Pepsi with strong coffee.)  Why?  I've had a headache for the last six years (Post-Traumatic Headache of Unknown Etiology,) and it makes the migraine I had back about 1994 look like a mild irritant.  My neurologist told me that she was trying migraine meds on me because PTHAs respond in similar ways to migraine HAs.  Mine?  It responds to caffeine (normally) and nicotine (when it gets bad - but I have a cigar, so that may be a psychosomatic effect.  When I have a good cigar, I tend to relax.)  The amount of caffeine I need to keep my headache under control probably approaches LD50 on most days - drinking enough diet cola for that will make me dig my brain out with a spoon (it takes far less formaldehyde to make my head hurt WORSE than caffeine to make it hurt LESS.)

My response to Senator Beall will take a couple of days, I need to formulate a reply.  Any suggestions?