God. Real. Right.

In light of the new oversight of tobacco granted to the FDA by legislation passed by both parties in both houses of Congress and signed by President Obama June 22, 2009, I present two poems—generously so labeled. I heard the first from an out-of-control but really creative and interesting fundamentalist preacher in the 1980s. The second, as will be evident by the precipitous decline in quality from the first, is mine.

POEM ONE:

Tobacco is a nasty weed
and from the devil doth proceed
it burns your fingers
stains your clothes
and makes a chimney of your nose

POEM TWO:

Paternalists are a nasty breed
who from the poll booth do proceed
they take your money
buy more roles
and poke your freedom full of holes

Of course, we could avoid the jab of both poems if we’d just accept a little personal responsibility.

To see the real irony, you’ll have to click to read the rest of the story—which is just a picture. But the picture is too irksome for my main page. (more…)

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