World of Suck

I just saw the worst news ad ever!

Paraphrased: "Kids love to use instant messages. They might send hundreds per day. And when they do that, they use shorthand. Shorthand with...IMPROPER GRAMMAR!"

That's the top story on the local news tonight. Sometimes people don't use proper grammar on the Internet and on text-messages. Apparently, this is considered news. And it's considered a major tragedy judging by the announcer's voice, which used the same tones as "Are sex offenders working in your child's school?"

I know it's sweeps month, so local news stations need to scare people into watching. But is that really the best they can do?

Certain taxes get me. One of these is the taxes on cigarettes, which some states are increasing. They want to spend it on health care, schools and the such. All very good causes and hey, its an "evil" habit so let's tax the smokers, right? But here's the rub - isn't smoking something we want to decrease? In an ideal world, wouldn't we be do away with smoking? Then what are these states going to do for revenue for these very good causes? I personally think that increasing cigarette taxes and using the funds for anything but smoking cessation programs is building a house of cards that will eventually collapse, buring the taxpayers with it. Taxes on something like cigatettes, for which we hope future generations will find little or no use, is fool hardy and shortsighted.