Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em

Light up. Do it for the kids.

Congress passed the new expanded health care program for children and if you don't start smoking more, all the other taxpayers are going to have to pay up. For the sake of your neighbors, and their offspring, have a smoke.

The SCHIP program has been extended to include those who could probably pay their own costs for health insurance, but if the government is willing to foot the bill, why pay out of your own pocket? On the down side, it's to be a tax on cigarettes that's to pay for the thing, so don't even think about quitting for your health. Think of the health of the children.

Billions of dollars will be needed to pay for health care for those who are about to discover that there's not enough doctors in America to see them. As things now stand, there aren't enough smokers to fund the whole thing with the tripled tax on tobacco, so more smokers are desperately needed.

Poor folks are more likely to smoke, and they're more likely to quit because they can't afford to pay that additional $1.01 per pack for children's health care. As the population of nicotine addicts declines, the non-smokers are sure to be tapped, and you don't want that to happen when you could save your neighbor a few dollars.

Buy a carton. Light up, enjoy the buzz. Encourage your local politicians to overturn that anti-smoking ordinance so you can smoke in bars and restaurants. It's all tax money flowing into the SCHIP program, isn't it? It's a most worthy cause.

Don't worry about your own health. Now that the kids have national health care, it's just a matter of time before Congress approves health care for adults, and your lung cancer will be treated at taxpayer expense.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em; get 'em if you don't. Have a puff for the sake of the next generation.