From Right Field

ir cause, the have refused to publish it. I think all of those people that demonize Big Tobacco owe them an apology.

On a related link, New York City is considering a ban on smoking in all bars and restaurants. “Oh, well it’s about time,” I hear anti-smoking Nazis say. Let me guess; you are all tired of smokers polluting your air and stinking up your clothes. Well, guess what. Non-smokers do not have to frequent bars and restaurants where smoking is allowed. I mean if I don’t want Mexican food tonight, I won’t go to Cafe Ole.

But the problem is deeper than this. Let us assume that the anti-smoking Nazis are right. This means we believe smoking is responsible for thousands of deaths, cancer, and the corruption of youth. If tobacco is that bad, than why is it still LEGAL?

I’ll tell you why government would rather demonize this industry than make it illegal. It’s all about the tax money. It sure was nice to have Big Tobacco to kick around and rob when government wanted more money. Both state and federal governments depend heavily on the tax revenues collected from tobacco sales. The government lies to you. They don’t want you to quit smoking. To quote their own commercial, they really do want you to “buy a pack today.”

If anti-smoking Nazis really cared about your health, they would just make tobacco illegal and be done with it. Instead, they bully and kick around a legal industry that is making an honest dollar.

Lots of things are bad for us that are legal products that the government doesn’t destroy. Alcohol will probably be next. After that, these health nuts wishing to impose their morals on everybody will try to shut down fast food. Hey, look at the fat content in fast food. Fat causes blockage in the arteries, which causes heart attacks. Heart attacks kill millions of people every year. Are these anti-smoking nuts going to sue fast food under the lie of recovering health costs? They probably will. The sad part is they will find some knuckle-headed jury to let them get away with it.

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Jerel Thomas is the most responded-to columnist at the Arbiter. To add your two cents, send all hate mail and love letters to editor@arbitermail.com

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Jerel Thomas

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