Please know......anything you say here.....WILL NOT BE USED AGAINST YOU IN ANY CONTEXT, WAY, SHAPE OR FORM!

That was for jenna....in case you wondered! LOL!

Booger.....^5!

Belial....LMFAO! It sounded more like a Dennis Leary rant......and just as funny! TY hun!

Jenna......I don't totally disagree with everything you've said. You make some good points....in that....Yes...I chose to smoke and so therefore I shouldn't expect others (especially non-smokers) to pay for it. I don't think it's fair that I should pay for schooling children I don't have....but I do pay for it....in taxable income! This isn't a perfect world. If it were....you would take full responsibility for you and yours...and I would for me and mine....and insurance and taxes wouldn't be necessary for anyone to contribute to and collect from.

If all the money collected from "sin tax" went exclusively to the education and prevention of the hazards of smoking....then and only then would I agree that you are 100% correct! But...as I said.....this isn't a perfect world......and so therefore the monies are not being collected solely for that purpose.....but instead to line the pockets of the powers that be (do we really know where the money is going?).

As to rising medical costs....I happen to have cancer insurance. I pay an additional cost for this....weekly.....from my pay.....so as NOT to drive the cost of insurance up for folks who don't smoke. Smoking may be the number 1 cause of cancer....but it's not the only reason for rising medical costs. As a medical example......people who are morbidy obese....or just plain overweight. Their medical problems abound.....but no one taxes them excessively for overeating! And one could even say that some diabetics could cut their medical costs and use lesser medicine if they would just lose weight and control their blood sugar through diet. I'm not picking on any one group.....there are many many ways to cut medical cost.......but this isn't a perfect world. Knowing that.......I, as a smoker, shouldn't be expected to pay for all the ills of it all!

Insurance fraud and medical malpractice are the number 1 and 2 reasons for rising insurance costs.....so don't lay that responsibility on me! I may be an addict.....but I've never lied about it when the insurance questionaire comes around......and so therefore I pay more for my personal insurance than non-smokers do! As a matter of fact......in addition to the sin tax imposed on me everytime I buy a pack of cigs (of which, who knows who benefits from it).......I also pay all the taxes expected of me whether they apply to my personal life or not!

So......why me? Why the smokers? And.....now that you have that money....and continue to get more and more from me.....what will you do when I quit?

(((((jenna)))))))......love you hun! We should have been on the debate team!