It is NOT ANYONE’s “right” to decide what someone ELSE should do or not do… as long as they are not infringing on the rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” of others.

It is only with the advent of socialism and communism, however surreptitiously inserted into our midst, that there then becomes the question of just WHO is going to pay for WHAT… and THAT, my dears, IS the whole cruxt of the problem that we have in this “crony-capitalist big government state” that the “elites” have propagated for us. TRUE capitalism is what we need here. NOT the socialist, communist, statist mentality that we have been spoon fed our entire lives.

As a smoker, I just want to know one thing….Is there a special prize for collecting the whole set of pictures?….you know…like a free carton of smokes or something along those lines?….If not, you’re just waste your time…it isn’t going to make me quit smoking.
Just like an alcoholic, we will quit….when we decide that we’ve had enough…and not moment before.
They can make all of the claims that they want concerning tobbacco use and it’s health affects, However, how do they explain people like my great grandfather who smoked every day of his life ( from the age of 8) ….and died at the ripe old age of 97…from old age? Or the fact that I have beeen smoking for over 40 years and my last complete screening showed no ill effects on my health…not even a spot on my lungs? But, my mother died of cancer….and she never smoked a day in her life. I believe that we are either born with a gene that pre disposes cancer…or we are not….end of story. Unless you want to inclue the crap the the Goernment shoots into us with all of the crazy “vaccinations”….that we absolutely “must have”….you know, the ones that they now start giving us asoon as we are born…
Thank God that I was born in the 50s…..before all of this crap from Uncle Sammy.

And nobody seems to understand.. The G’ment WILL NOT downgrade.. So, when cigarettes are banned altogether, when the fag companies are forced to close their doors (poor little rich wimps) and hundreds of thousnds more find themselves on the (soon to be bankrupt) unemployment line, who do you think the g’ment will target in order to make up for those now defunct tax revenues? Look out non-smokers, your little habits are about to be challenged and tax bloated. And which one’s will those be? Get a brain! The very ones that you enjoy the most of course. I can see it now.. “Golf is hazardess to someone else’s health” (with a picture (mandated on every golf bag) of some guy with his brains leaking out caused by impact from a misguided ball) FORE!!!

Both federal and state courts have ruled that taxes must be reasonably equal. That is, governments can’t tax one thing more than another just because they don’t like some things. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Congress can’t tax one group for the benefit of another (U.S. v. Butler, 1935). That is, they can’t tax tobacco then give those taxes to non-smokers, or other groups they like bettr.

The true measure of how honest a person is, is when that person will stick by the God-given rights that our original Constitution guarantees us EVEN when it means defending something that you, yourself do not do. You may WISH people would do what YOU KNOW to be right… but then, respecting OTHERS’ rights to think THEY are right, is what America is SUPPOSED to be all about!

Our country is so full of phony, hypocritical, controlling DO-GOODERS – as well as people who have NO IDEA of just WHAT freedom really is, I fear it is going to take some REAL BAD HARD times ahead for people to WAKE UP!

The GOVERNMENT is NOT MY KEEPER! And it NEVER will be. Period.

THEY know it… and I know it… DO YOU?

I think it does violate The First Amendment.

The attack on smokers can no longer go unchallenged. …. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is the second-largest tobacco company in … After the Bloomberg tax it will take more than a commission to stop the flood of contraband into the city. …. A vicious cycle is created where states react to lower-than-expected …
http://nycclash.com/Taxes.html

Attention:
LET ABOLISHED DRIVER’S LICENSE!

Georgia Republican: Nobody Should Need A Driver’s License
Ryan J. Reilly | February 2, 2011, 8:50AM2859

Bobby Franklin

Republican Georgia state legislator Bobby Franklin thinks that driver’s licenses impose undue restrictions on the right of citizens to travel. So he’s proposed legislation to stop the state from issuing them.

“Free people have a common law and constitutional right to travel on the roads and highways that are provided by their government for that purpose,” Franklin’s legislation states. “Licensing of drivers cannot be required of free people, because taking on the restrictions of a license requires the surrender of an inalienable right.”

In an interview with CBS Atlanta News, Franklin claimed driver’s licenses are a throw back to oppressive times.

“Agents of the state demanding your papers,” he said. “We’re getting that way here.”

He said there wasn’t a reason for people to need to know who was whom on the roads, and that there’s nothing in place to stop children from driving anyways.I AGREE ONE HUNDRED PERCENT!

Oh me oh my, what will Uncle Sam do if it drives the tobacco industry out of business? Oh me oh my, what will Uncle Sam do with the thousands and thousands of people that it will put out of work by doing this; tobacco manufacturers, tobacco farmers, chemical companies (they too have a hand in this product), transportation industry, pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, research institutes, hospitals and on and on and on. Federal, State, local and city governments will then lose their ever present tax revenue that has been increased time after time (don’t forget the billions pulled in by the lawsuit fiasco years ago) while in turn has had a very negligible effect on the number of people that choose to smoke. People aren’t forced to take up the habit of smoking yet people are not forced to take up the ever deathly practice of driving an automobile, now are they. In truth there is a risk to whatever you may choose to do so what difference is there? What individuals choose to do with their lives in actuality is an independent, constitutionally based right that they may feel is best for them. Direction by an overlord government is not, in any way, what should be forced upon the people of America. Then again, it appears so many sheeple think otherwise. Common sense was at one time deeply set within the majority of the populace. Regrettably, over the past four decades, it has slipped quietly away. Don’t worry, Uncle Sam knows what’s best for us all, now doesn’t he?
A true shame. . .

I don’t have a problem with the gruesome pictures. I won’t ever be buying a pack and I personally have a bigger problem with the second hand smoke forced on non-smokers by smokers in public places. A post earlier mentioned education not mandate. I am a strong proponent of education and think that these pics are no different than the movies they show kids in driver’s ed which are also pretty gruesome. That the actions of our government are hypocritical should be no surprise to anyone. And I agree 45, I didn’t know that companies had 1st Amendment rights either.

I didn’t know that companies had 1st Amendment rights. I was always under the impression that only people had that.

The First Amendment, in relevant part, reads: “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” And that surely applies to federal bureaus as well as Congress. In my opinion, requiring tobacco companies to write and picture certain things on tobacco packages is a classic violation of the First Amendment.
Warning us about the detrimental effects of smoking is certainly within federal bureaucratic authority, but requiring tobacco companies to assist them in that effort is not. Most Americans know that smoking is an unhealthy habit, but forcing us to live a better life, from the federal perspective, is not within the powers of the federal government.

To be honest, I’ve never read a warning label in my life and can understand the tobacco companies’ complaint in that the new regulations would interfere with the branding of their product.

Whenever politicians and their near kin, the regulators, want to appear to be worth what they’re being paid, they come out with some loony new rule that’s ineffective, costly, and annoying.

I like the warnings on the cigarette packs in Canada. Humorous but to the point.

Its funny how the government is keen on environmental protection but wont cut smoking all together. Would that be because smoking is a major source of tax revenue? …kind of like fossil fuels

I am a non-smoker. But I am infuriated over how this nanny government persecutes people who choose to buy and use a legal product. They have been taxed to the eyeballs and local governments have stolen this money (which was supposed to be dedicated to encourage non-smoking) and add it to their bloated tax base. This is stealing folks.
Now, those good folks in the government (who have managed to bankrupt this country) are squeezing the cigarette companies even more.
Why doesn’t our oh-so-concerned government purchase these cigarette companies and buy out the stockholders and then shut the doors? Too honest? Too legitimate? Or, is it because these paragons of freedom and political correctness, know that they would be creating an underground smoking culture akin to prohibition and enrich those outside the law who would quickly organize a distribution network. This would be a fiasco rivaling the current, laughable ‘war on drugs’!

I believe it is an encroachment on anybody when the government imposes an undue hardship in violation of the 1st amendment. It they can do it one time they will do it again and again until you have no rights. The constitution is for everybody and we should stand up and preserve those rights so our children can have the same rights to pursue their dreams that our forefathers intended.

WOW ! The FDA is forcing pictures on cigarette packs/cartons like the one shown in the post ? That’s awesome !! It looks like that guy is smoking thru a hole in his neck !! Hey Marcy, good post ! Do you know where one can see a preview of the pictures ? What’s the hyperlink ?

I think Uncle Sam is getting a little bit stingy. All these years he supported the tobacco industry. But now with socialized healthcare Uncle Sam doesn’t want to get stuck with the bill. What I’m referring to is them large medical bill to treat cancer caused by them cigarettes !!!

You can’t get away from all that second hand smoke, no matter where you go ! Them smokers are everywhere ! I remember back in the 1990′s, when people here in CT still smoked in the office. MOST OF THE BOSSES SMOKED !!! Say goodbye to your job if you complain !!!

Then Human Resources had a “vote” on whether we should get rid of smoking in the building ! That took alot of guts !! Those Human Resource people put their job on the line – most of the Execs smoked in their offices !!!

The majority of employees voted for a smoke free building …
So they built a little “gazebo” outside the building with benches and a roof so the smokers could smoke. Worked out OK !!

If the tobacco folks are truly concerned about their ‘image’ or being victimized by Uncle Scam or various groups of shysters, they should at least have the integrity to remove all of the chemical nightmares that are in their cigarettes. There is a nasty, incestuous relationship going on between Uncle Scam and America’s tobacco giants, and Americans are caught in the middle.
If you look around, there are manufacturers who sell cigarettes that don’t have all the suicidal ingredients found in American cigarettes.
Uncle Scam relies on Americans getting hooked and staying hooked. Otherwise, all that EASY revenue will disappear and some folks in Congress and tobacco-growing states will be “deprived.”
Uncle Scam is not our friend. As for the tobacco bunch, they’re in a league of their own, and neither are they our friends. Where do you think someone dreamed up the idea of ‘with friends like these . . .’ [?]. One herd wants us dependent and poor, and the other wants us sick and under the thumb of medical hacks who refuse to tell it like it is to those who suffer or help them break the damned habit.