Utah Smoothie bar owner "Taxes" liberals one dollar per drink

[TheMightyFavog]

http://gawker.com/5976106/oil+loving-smoothie-bar-owner-taxes-liberals-one-dollar-extra-per-drink

The oil-obsessed owner of a juice and smoothie bar in the Eastern Utah town of Vernal says he's trying to make a point about fiscal responsibility by charging liberal patrons a dollar a dollar extra for their drink.


"We have a fiscal problem in this country. We've got to deal with it or we don't have a country," I Love Drilling Juice & Smoothie Bar owner George Burnett told KSL. "So to kind of help make that point, just a little bit, I charge (liberals) just a little bit more."

Burnett says he makes it very clear to liberal customers that he's going to charge them an extra dollar, and that he's going to donate that dollar to conservative organizations like The Heritage Foundation.

His "liberal tax" has been criticized on Facebook as "pathetic" and "offensive," but at least one conservative customer is perfectly fine with putting a surcharge on certain political views.

[NightWatcher]

1. Conservatives drink smoothies?

I thought those were "froo froo liberal" drinks.

Wacky Utah bastard...

[Berlum]

10. They are into 'special' right wing Stanky Smoothies

[Cha]

84. rofl my first thought.

[louis-t]

2. Nice way to drive business away.

Any "liberal" that goes there ought to have his head examined.

[RomneyLies]

3. Never a wise move to disrespect half of potential customers

Pretty damned stupid, actually.

[sadbear]

6. I'd say he probably won't lose much in Utah.

[subterranean]

11. Well, in Utah it's probably less than half.

But I agree it's a dumb idea. He is basically telling liberals he doesn't want their business. And how would he know, anyway? Does he ask every customer about their political views when they order a smoothie?

[Ter]

41. Half?

This is Vernon, Utah. Half the population are not liberal by any means, it is the reddest of the red.

[Kalidurga]

4. Yeah that's a place I wouldn't go to anyway

So a boycott would be useless.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. I would walk out...

Not five bucks, nor six...for the owner. He'd get exactly zero from me. Oh and I would make sure he knows.

[GoCubsGo]

14. Exactly right.

And, how the hell would he know, anyway? Does this jackass actually believe that someone is going to come up and say, "Yeah, I'm a liberal. I give you an extra buck for your crappy smoothie!", let alone lose the business of every last liberal in town? The stupid. It burns.

[bubbayugga]

25. I think that's probably what he wants you to do.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

28. Yep... and make my own damn smoothies.

I have a blender, a juicer, and a food processor. Fuck him.

[Initech]

56. "Oh yeah? I'll form my own juice bar with blackjack and hookers!"

"On second thought forget about the juice bar!!!" - Bender

[RedCappedBandit]

70. I'd order a drink first

Then.. not pay! What a dumb nutjob.

[1StrongBlackMan]

7. So ...

He's gonna donate the $1.00 sur-tax to conservative organizations like The Heritage Foundation? Yeah, right!

First, no "liberals" will go there to be charged; and secondly, he's clearly a {word that rhymes with DICK}, so he's gonna pocket the cash.

[Cha]

85. Yeah, like a "liberal"(card carrying) would buy a

fascist smoothie for donating to spreading fascism. lol

[HooptieWagon]

8. How can he tell...ESP? nt

[warrior1]

9. how can he tell if some one is liberal

and why would liberal support his business?

[sinkingfeeling]

12. Does he put oil in his smoothies? I wouldn't want to even taste anything from there.

[Glassunion]

13. It's the same in the capitol of Vermont.

Except you actually get more for being liberal. Hell electing radical gets you even more.

[meow2u3]

78. They should charge the same price

no matter what the size. Maybe that'll teach conservos a lesson.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. I'm self-employed, and I've turned down a customer ONCE

I am willing to translate all sorts of offensive things for information purposes. If someone is researching World War II and wants to have some Japanese government propaganda translated, I'll do it. If a business wants me to translate a magazine article outlining the views of a right-wing xenophobe who happens to represent the Japanese city where they want to build a plant, I'll do it.

However, the one time I told a customer to take their business elsewhere was when a group of Americans who for some reason had gotten all enamored of a really offensive pre-war Japanese intellectual decided that they wanted to promote his ideas. I had not heard of him and knew nothing of his ideas, so I innocently started translating. Then I realized that he was a misogynist, a warmonger, and a racist, so I sent back what I had translated (telling them "no charge for this&quot and told them that I had no interest in being involved in the project.

In most cases, though, I have no idea what the political orientations of my customers are.

[Great Caesars Ghost]

61. In my business, IT IS A REQUIREMENT to list their political affiliation

when they fill out the forms for my services. Yes, I can get away with it because political affiliation is not a legal class.

[LeftinOH]

16. Any liberal who sees that will walk out and not come back-

which is probably his intention. I hope his business fails.

[siligut]

19. Maybe a tourist just passing through

Not many liberals live there.

[siligut]

17. He is just doing it for show

Utah has land rights to all that shale oil, it will bring money into the state at the cost of the environment.

[Baitball Blogger]

18. Someone should build a smoothie bar next to him and teach him a lesson

on marketing and capitalism.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

20. So basically conservatives are freeloaders, and liberals are picking up the slack for them.

Is that the point he is trying to make?

[leftyohiolib]

27. most of the welfare states are red so it's something we're used to doing

[former9thward]

30. What do you mean by the "welfare" slur?

[leftyohiolib]

45. well i dont see it as a slur but i was refering to all the reds states that recv more dollars back

from the govermnt then they give to the governmnt

[former9thward]

50. You never give up trying to divide working people do you?

Red and Blue. You do know don't you that those dollars coming back are not going to residents, don't you. They are going to federally owned or controlled land or projects. What exactly is this welfare you talk about?

[leftyohiolib]

57. never give up? when did i start? but im talking about states that recv more money from the feds than

they give to the feds. parce it anyway you want but they are getting more than the give that makes them welfare states. that welfare

[former9thward]

60. The states are not getting the money.

In my state (AZ) the federal government funds national parks (federal), national forests (federal), military bases (federal), Native American reservations (federal), social security payments (federal), federal pensions and disability payments (federal), border security (federal). Now what exactly is going to the state? And which of those do you call "welfare"?

BTW CA gets $79 billion a year from the federal government to support the state budget (40% of it). Are they a "welfare" state? http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Debt-deal-could-devastate-California-budget-2352680.php

[ShadesOfBlue]

87. keep up with current events

A welfare state is one that gets more back from the Federal goverment than it gives to the Federal government (via taxes). There have been countless reports over the past year about red states being mostly welfare states while blue states being the ones to get back less than what they give. And that includes California. Governor Christie has been pointing this out for weeks as he targeted Republican congressman from red states who were against Hurrican Sandy relief DESPITE the fact that the states those congressmen represent have been getting disaster relief for decades and despite the fact that New Jersey was a state that has given more to the country than it has recieved. Period.

If you don't like the term "welfare state" that's just too bad. Take it up with the media who has coined that term instead of getting angry at posters on this forum. Frankly I love the fact that virtually every red state in the South fit into the welfare category. This is a result of perfect karma considering during the 80s and 90s Republicans from those states were leading the charge of categorizing black people as nothing but welfare recipients.

[former9thward]

89. Sorry I don't take lectures from posters who have been here a month.

If you provide links to your false assertions I will be happy to show you don't know anything about the subject. Otherwise go play somewhere else.

[quakerboy]

88. Do the numbers and answer your own question

California costs 3,913,300,000,000 per year for the federal budget.
They pay in $4,294,500,000,000 in tax revenue to the federal government.

[former9thward]

91. I have no idea where you are getting those numbers.

You are saying CA supplies $4.3 trillion in tax revenue? lol. The entire tax revenue of the U.S. is $2.7 trillion.

[quakerboy]

93. Somewhere I misread something. Try two

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_taxation_and_spending_by_state

California

Tax revenues of $313,999 million federal expendatures of $260,422 million

[LanternWaste]

47. What specifically leads you to believe it's a slur?

What specifically leads you to believe it's a slur?

[former9thward]

49. The use of "red states" and the word "welfare".

That is a slur and everyone knows it. If it wasn't he/she would not have thrown red states in with it. What is the "welfare"?

[OnionPatch]

64. They started two wars and gave out tax breaks

like crazy. They had planned to pay for this by robbing our Social Security but since that's getting nowhere, I guess they're getting desperate.

[HughBeaumont]

21. Yes, a fiscal problem YOUR PARTY CAUSED, fuckstick.

It wasn't people like ME who gave money to giant banks so they could continue to lay workers off and bonus/perk their way to greater income inequality.

It wasn't people like ME who heisted 700 billion as a fat going-away present to the banksters.

It wasn't people like ME who gave the surplus to the wealthy; who, in turn, rewarded MY unwilling generosity with the WORST 10 year job creation record since the Great Depression.

It wasn't people like ME who charged two long-standing occupations OF CHOICE on this nation's credit card for really no fucking reason at all.

It wasn't people like ME who signed off on corporate pork to assholes like Chuckles and Davy Koch.

It's not people like ME who allocate 51% of the nation's yearly discretionary budget to the military when we already have one that can blow up the world 256 times over.

It wasn't people like ME that put an unqualified dry drunk failure into the highest office of the land, nor was it people like me who put his rubberstamp Congress in for six years so he could proceed to cause much of your "fiscal problem", GEORGE.

You want to charge ME extra, George? FUCK YOU. Where's MY money? I didn't ring up this bill, YOU DID. YOU VOTED FOR THAT FUCKER FUHRER TWICE AND HE STOLE YOUR SHIT AND EVERYONE ELSES!!! WAY TO GO DUMBASS!! WHERE'S MY MONEY, YOU WING-DING ASSMASTER?? WHERE IS IT?????

[TeamPooka]

29. I like you

[DogPawsBiscuitsNGrav]

33. Yep. someone should be charging him an extra two bucks a drink for his party stealing the

savings account and breaking the country.

[leftyohiolib]

34. YEA- what he said

[TheCowsCameHome]

22. I'd gladly pay it

and then I was done, piss it out under the table before I left.

That'd be worth the extra buck.

[Lex]

23. There are liberals in Dumbfukville, Utah?

I doubt it.

[n2doc]

24. I hope his tap water catches on fire

Would be justice.

[RKP5637]

54. K&R !!!

[liberalmuse]

26. This is all they have.

And it's pretty pathetic. When I lived in Utah, Vernal was pretty much a running joke. Not the brightest tools in the shed, there.

[okaawhatever]

31. F that. Let's fight fear & bigotry in a capitalist way. Smoothies the official drink of gays!

Smoothies the official drink of pro-lifers (complete with billboards). Buy a smoothie if you support the Sierra Club. Put a sign as close to the biz as possible. Honk if you love smoothies and women't rights!
For every smoothie purchased at this location $5 will be donated to the progressive congressional re-election campaign. You don't have to ask, we're counting the # of people walking in the door, so a vote for smoothie is a vote for Progressives!

2 can play your game beeaattcchhh

[Warren DeMontague]

32. Like $5 -as opposed to $6- for a fucking Smoothie is supposed to be a great deal? In Utah?

Someone should give his customers the Ayn Rand self-sufficiency lecture, and explain to them that for the price of a cheap blender and some frozen berries, they can start making their own damn smoothies.

[Flashmann]

35. This Mr.Smoothie reminds me of Jr.High classmate

He was the only kid in the eighth grade with a drivers license,due to his being held back a grade.....TWICE...He went on,after leaving High School,to work in his Dad's plumbing business,(no his name isn't Joe),which he promptly took over,after his fathers passing,and ran into the ground....

Along the way,there was something he wished to do with the physical property his business sat on,out of city limits...Whatever it was,escapes me now,being 40+ years ago,other than it would violate county code...His solution,reasonably enough,was to get himself seated on the County Board,and work to change that code.....The reason ended with that notion...

His entire campaign was spouting off,loudly,on an issue that the changing of would have benefited him and just a small handful of others....He was,as I recall,pretty much laughed out of the election....

My point,for whatever it's worth,is that I believe that most,if not all sizable school systems produce one of these "8th grade drivers".....I think Mr.Smoothie is Vernals.....

[Kurska]

36. Jokes on him, he lives in eastern Utah n/t

[WinkyDink]

37. Does one present one's IQ results?

[RKP5637]

55. Doesn't matter, none of them could read it!

[Duer 157099]

38. All this is to ingratiate himself to his current customers

He doesn't have liberal customers so he doesn't risk losing them, but he does get his stupid conservative customers to think it is awesome and recommend the business to their buddies.

Basically he's pulling a fast one on his loyal customers, typical repub shit. Very typical.

[deutsey]

40. Yep, you can't have "conservative" without the "con", after all n/t

[EC]

39. Right.....

so libs actually go to this bar?

[Duer 157099]

44. Of course they don't. If he actually risked losing money, he wouldn't be doing this.

Greed is, above all, their primary motivation.

[Rex]

42. So what.

I really don't care if some Repuke idiot has no bearing on recent history. I hope he goes out of business and has to live in a dumpster.

[demwing]

43. We should all put a $1 Utah "Tax" on Internet porn

All those young LDS missionaries are overloading servers and hogging up bandwidth, while at the same time presenting themselves as morally superior.

I'm tired of slow porn, served with a side of guilt, damnit! Tax The Morality Wankers!

[LanternWaste]

46. Calling a 'price increase' a 'tax 'is rather disingenuous.

Calling a 'price increase' a 'tax 'is rather disingenuous of him. But I understand that many people need to redefine words to make the real world simpler and easier to pretend to understand.

[Hugabear]

48. What if you announce you're a liberal AFTER you pay?

What's he going to do, call the police and demand you pay him the extra $1

[JoePhilly]

52. That sounds awesome ... but don't tell him the first time ... tell him after a year of daily visits.

Assuming you like smoothies ... and his crap-hole is the closest place to get one.

[liberal N proud]

51. I don't like their smoothies anyway

Or at least if I am ever in the town, you can count on it that I will never find out.

What a dumb ass business decision.

Of course it will the the Democrats fault when the business fails.

[RKP5637]

53. Like who wants to drink outta his toilet hole place anyway! n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

58. I wouldn't spend any money at his shop

[MrScorpio]

59. Reason #347 of why I'm glad that I'm not living in Utah nt

[Raine]

62. I would tell him I was a "CONservative" get the drink for a dollar less than laugh in his face and

tell him I was donating it to Move On or some group like that. Two can play that game, duh.

[surrealAmerican]

63. Let me guess ...

... nobody's actually paid that extra dollar because local liberals avoid the place, and liberal out-of-towners take one look at the sign and leave the place.

[baldguy]

65. Who knows contract law? Isn't this illegal?

If a business advertises their product to the public, it has offer the same product at the same price at the same time to everybody. It would be the same if he tried to charge Catholics or African Americans more.

[unapatriciated]

74. I thought the same and wish someone would challenge his little publicity stunt.

As someone up-thread stated the town probably doesn't have a D within the city limits. Living in the South I see all kinds of signs in bars and restaurants stating liberals, hippies, tree huggers etc will not be served. When I inquire about such signs I'm told it is just a joke. I have canceled my order many times and left. The joke is on them because my liberal dollars are not in their pocket.

[madinmaryland]

66. I betcha he loves Frothy Santorums!

[dembotoz]

68. now that is funny--was going to post something else but damn that if funny

[sad-cafe]

67. if I lived there, I know one place I would NOT patronize

what a jerk move.

[TeamPooka]

69. The only thing harder than being a liberal in Utah is being the fruit smoothie guy in Utah.... :)

[Last Stand]

71. I'd send liberal friends in all day long

and one after another have them buy the drink and dump it on the floor.

Every. Single. Time.

"Yup, that's worth a buck."

[siligut]

72. Ed Shultz just had a little segment on him

The guy looks like a young Orin Hatch or Harry Reid and he is soft spoken as well.

[keithmkr59255us]

73. Some people just love pissing off others, eh?

I'll be sure to NOT step a foot inside that bigot's smoothie bar. Besides, I can make a good smoothie by himself at home. I give it about 3 months before that dude's place goes out of business, due to alienating a large number of potential customers.

[GrantDem]

75. Like most wingnuts they are easily fooled

One could just walk in and say they are a conservative. This petty juvenile mindset perfectly defines these wackos.

[jmowreader]

76. Those must be some awesome smoothies to be worth five bucks

On edit: isn't this a bit like the barbecue joint owner in South Carolina who, after desegregation was the law of the land, posted a sign informing any African-Americans stupid enough to eat in his store that the owner planned to donate the money he made from them to the KKK?

[matt819]

79. Okay, it's Utah, but there have to be some liberals there

And they can vote with their feet and buy smoothies elsewhere. This is kind of a no-brainer.

It sure would be interesting to know how liberals tip vs conservatives.

[Cha]

80. Stupid POS. That "fiscal" Problem was caused by their

boys bush and cheney. What a dumbfuck. And, anyone who goes to a stupid brainwashed smoothie bar.

[bluestate10]

81. Anyone that pays that surcharge is a damned fool. nt

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

82. I hope a flash mob shows up in white hoods and sheets

He'll likely hand out drinks for free.

[Generic Other]

83. Report them to the state and local authorities

They can not legally charge and collect more than the legal sales tax in the area where the store is.

[lonestarnot]

86. Sounds like someone with standing could make a case for discrimination, but I'm no lawyer.

[cynatnite]

90. What is he doing with the extra "liberal" money? n/t

[stultusporcos]

92. More people need to do this, it makes it much easier to decide where not to spend my money

I will not knowningly spend money in a conservative owned business.

[geomon666]

94. Completely agree n/t