Life is full of cautionary tales
My boss thinks I am crazy, and he is not wrong. In his Wednesday column, he says people who continue to smoke cigarettes knowing how bad they are for our health and longevity are crazy. However, this doesn’t take into account how crazy it makes me when I need a hit of nicotine.
I could chew the gum or wear the patch but the deep breaths involved in burning one has its own charm. Either people get it or they don’t. The anti-smoking ads on television, paid for with the exorbitant taxes levied on each pack is another thing that makes me unhappy. In my lifetime, Hollywood has moved from having the characters from the Hanna Barbera cartoon “The Flintstones” appearing in cigarette commercials to outlawing product broadcasting ads. I am surprised big tobacco didn’t have more pull with the government. The industry certainly had the funds at its disposal.
In addition to my fondness for Marlboro cigarettes, I have had a lifelong romance with Pepsi-Cola. According to the PepsiCo website, the company is attempting to shore up sagging sales by recapturing its pop-culture ad campaigns of the past. They have released limited edition beverage cans bearing the likeness of Brittney Spears, Ray Charles and Michael Jackson. Spears has recently completed a four-year concert residency in Las Vegas and Charles is still a standard of cool that will continue survive for years.
My reaction to the use of Jackson isn’t as generous. On one of the cable television stations recently there was a program about the last 24 hours of Jackson’s life. My first thought was wow, why won’t that guy stay dead? He may have been a musical genius but at best, his life and choices should serve as a cautionary tale for the anti-drug movement. How that equates with a plan to sell soda pop escapes me.
Whitney Huston is another celebrity that must still be supporting her family from the grave. That is just sad that her talents her whole life that provided untold riches to her family is still doing so better than six years after her death.
The wisdom of Madison Avenue and its choice of advertising campaigns would seem to be designed to appeal primarily to consumers who enjoy recreational cannabis. Fred treats them the same way he views most of the sketches on Saturday Night Live, he looks at me and asks, “Was that supposed to be funny?”
Glamour magazine sent me an email that said Planned Parenthood is planning to open 14 new clinics in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina and Florida. Many people are concerned that President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will become the swing vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Typically, people are passionate about the subject of abortion. My own views should be well known by now but just so there is no doubt, a woman’s right to choose to terminate her pregnancy belongs to her and her doctor.
Many people have no business being parents. Reports of child abuse alone bear this out. And yet there are people who fight to bring every pregnancy to term regardless of the condition or capabilities of the mother. Many of these same people fade into the woodwork, believing their jobs are done, leaving the child to the mercies of fate.
Have a good weekend.
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Readers, may contact Tami Jo Nix by emailing tamijonix@gmail.com or following @TamiJoNix on Twitter.
