What about the adults?

In the 80's, you used to see a lot of bumper stickers that said things like "Save the Baby Humans" as a jokey substitute for the "Save the Baby Seals" or "Save the Whales" stickers that were popular with tree huggers of the time. Now I want something that says "What about the adults". I'm so fucking sick of "What about the children". Everything the U.S. gets behind now is "for the children". What a bunch of bullshit. What a cheap ploy to take away all our liberties and violate our rights granted by the constitution. (what an ultra-maroon)

Why don't people see it? What rock are they living under?

OK, I think my tobacco rant is due for airing because the way the country is dealing with that is a fine example about what's broken in our government and/or culture.

First of all, what the Hell happenned in Florida? The jury seems to think that these smokers deserve a pile of money from the tobacco companies. Hello? There's a warning on the pack. It says, in a nutshell, 'these things might kill you'. As far as I'm concerned, the industry is covered by that. Smoking is legal. Cigarettes are legal. These folks made a bad choice and got sick from it, but they made an informed decision. They should not be compensated for this mistake. Up until the 60's, you could sell cigarettes without a warning too, and now people who started or continued smoking IN THE FACE OF THAT WARNING are now entitled to compensation because they got sick and/or died?

If I die of a heart attack, can I sue McDonald's? I supsect not, but just *imagine* the precedent that's being set by this. Food like that served by McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's is proven to cause heart disease...and yet you can sell it without a warning. What happens when someone who ate McDonald's for lunch every day dies of a heart attack and their family decides to sue? If this tobacco case is representative, they stand to be compensated for the irresponsible behavior of their relative. How is this fair to anyone?

I'm going to wrap this up here, but my next entry will be about that Massachusetts case.