I bought a couple packs of Camel filters a while back.

I'm not a smoker, but when you bought two packs of smokes you got a free T-shirt.

I bought the smokes to get the free T-shirt. The cigarettes cost $4.30. I gave them to a guy who works in the circulation department. I figured $4.30 wasn't too much to pay for a T-shirt.

I wanted the shirt to wear as a silent protest of the way the tobacco industry has been demonized by our government.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think the tobacco industry is perfect. I'm sure they had negative information about their product that they didn't readily share with the public.

But lots of businesses are in the same boat. Think any automakers have safety studies laying around that will never endure public scrutiny?

How about the oil industry? The timber industry? The chemical industry?

But there is a difference. The tobacco companies were forced by the government to print warnings on their products. They were taxed like crazy and their ability to advertise was restricted.

Could you imagine each fast food burger wrapper emblazoned with the warning, "Eating too many of these fat-laden sliders could clog your arteries."?

And, you know, I might even be able to live with the way the government has treated the tobacco industry over the years if it weren't so hypocritical about it.

Tobacco is one of the most heavily subsidized products.

So on the one hand, the government is telling us how horrible the stuff is, then they turn right around and use tax dollars to help grow it and support its market prices.

Dumb.

Even dumber is the way lots of politicians claim to absolutely hate tobacco while absolutely loving tobacco money.

The tobacco companies make lots of donations to lots of politicians.

And then there's that tax thing.

Tobacco is one of the most taxed products in the history of mankind. And right now they're talking about raising the tax another $1.10 a pack.

Tobacco tax dollars are used to fund all manner of government programs.

Again, if the stuff is so horrible, why is government so dependent on its revenue?

Lots of politicians are very vocal tobacco opponents. They also allege to be champions of the middle class and the downtrodden.

They vote for higher taxes on cigarettes to help pay for programs to help the middle class.

But what demographic is hit hardest by the cigarette taxes? Who smokes the most cigarettes? The middle class, the downtrodden, maybe?

So while they claim to be the protectors of the middle class, the politicians hammer them with cigarette taxes.

But probably the most absurd thing about tobacco policies is the way the government seems bent on making sure that no one smokes, while simultaneously depending on smokers as a source of revenue.

It would be like me trying to convince our readers that they shouldn't buy the newspaper.

I don't get it.

Aside from the government, I really am annoyed by the way all these smokers suddenly have the idea that it is the tobacco companies' fault they got sick.

This week there was this milestone case in Florida.

For the first time, a jury ordered a tobacco company to pay punitive damages - intended to punish and deter wrongdoing - on the grounds that cigarettes are inherently dangerous.

Wow, there's a shocker. Cigarettes are dangerous! Stop the presses!

And how about this quote from a juror: 'I don't think they will have a leg to stand on much longer. ... We feel tobacco products, especially the non-filtered ones, are dangerous.'

Gee, I wonder when that dawned on him.

Come on, people. Show me the person who doesn't know cigarettes are bad for you and I'll show you a green-skinned Martian.

There have been warning labels on cigarettes since the '70s.

In the Florida case, the guy who died of lung cancer said he enjoyed smoking, scoffed at the health risks and called cigarettes "coffin nails."

(My dad used to call cigarettes "coffin nails." That was 30 years ago.)

Testimony indicated this cigarette "victim" used to rip the filters off cigarettes before he smoked them.

Of course his behavior is all the fault of the cigarette company. In today's America he couldn't possible be held responsible for the choices he made.

So the jury gives his family a million bucks: $500,000 in compensatory damages and $450,000 in punitive damages.

But the big deal is that there is nothing that distinguishes this case from thousands and thousands of others.

In other words, smokers and relatives of smokers will be lining up at the doors of the tobacco companies with their hands out, wanting their share.

Here's the bottom line. Everybody who smokes knows that cigarettes are bad for them.

It's their choice. It's their decision. They assume the risk. If they get sick from it they have no one to blame but themselves.

And as for the government - if our leaders think cigarettes are bad, they should ban them and be done with it.

Instead we get lawsuits and the basic message is that nobody is responsible for their own actions.

It's not just tobacco.

It won't be long before the next politically incorrect product draws fire from the protectors of liberty in this country.

Booze or guns, most likely.

Bartenders already are being sued for serving somebody too much booze. It won't be long before somebody sues Anheiser-Bush because their liver rotted away.

And the mayor of Philadelphia is suing a firearms manufacturer because of all the shootings in his town.

Anybody know where I can get a couple cheap Smith & Wesson and Jack Daniels T-shirts? [[In-content Ad]]