Ever get this feeling of late? LOL...
It just drives me crazy to see adults having to go outside to light a cigarette. Although I am not a smoker, we continue to treat smokers as second class citizens.
The most bothersome thing of all is that all this money that was going to be collected by the States from the cigarette companies never went where it was intended. The trial lawyers got their fill, as did the States. Extortion at the highest level.
My father used to smoke a pipe, and I loved the smell. It meant that dad was home in the evening. There was such a comfort to those of us in the family. (Dad died several years ago, but it wasn't tobacco related...) Unfortunately now the stigma is there for all smokers, that they are considered not worthy to smoke in most establishments.
I like the fact that Peter Jackson had the hobbits, and Aragorn smoking pipes in the LOTR movies. Didn't hear much from the PC crowd about that. Thank Goodness!
The most bothersome thing of all is that all this money that was going to be collected by the States from the cigarette companies never went where it was intended. The trial lawyers got their fill, as did the States. Extortion at the highest level.Oh boy! I must make you see the light here! The Tobacco Settlement money is NOT being paid for by Big Tobacco and NOT the state governments. That money is paid solely by smokers in the state that pay taxes on cigarettes!
Why do you think they keep bumping the cigarette tax? To bleed more money out of us!
And when the smokers get smart and order offline or roll their own, they are not paying into the state coffers anymore. So.......what does the state do? They raise taxes on cigarettes to make up for the loss. Then, they also use this money to control, restrict and ban the smokers! Yet, their paychecks are being paid for by the MSA money, which is paid for by smokers who pay taxes on cigarettes!
Its like this:
