[mrnoodle]

I don't deny that smoking is bad for you. I just object to the government encroaching more and more into people's personal business. I have a God-given right to be as healthy or unhealthy as I choose, regardless of what the state thinks of it. If I choose to buy cigarettes, the company that provides them is not responsible for my choice. Someone was talking about the "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's" line -- my lungs ain't Caesar's. Nor are my cigarettes, although the government gets a healthy cut of that sale, too. All the people who are supposedly against the government codifying morality should be up in arms over this stuff, frankly.Should an ax come with a cautionary warning and pics of Lizzy Borden's crime scene? Should mayonnaise come with a picture of some guy who died because he was too obese for his heart to keep running?

Tobacco is on the shit list because politicians have found a way to use the brouhaha to their advantage, plain and simple (see: drug war, prohibition).