The tobacco companies. Now and forever the worst persons in the world (corporations are persons now, so, you know).
They've filed a lawsuit against the federal government for graphic warning labels required by law.
Four of the five largest U.S. tobacco companies sued the federal government Tuesday over new graphic cigarette labels that include the sewn-up corpse of a smoker and a picture of diseased lungs, saying the warnings violate their free speech rights and will cost millions of dollars to print.
The companies, led by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Lorillard Tobacco Co., said the warnings no longer simply convey facts to allow people to make a decision whether to smoke. They instead force them to put government anti-smoking advocacy more prominently on their packs than their own brands, the companies say. They want a judge to stop the labels.
Oh boo hoo. They're marketing addictive poison that kills people by the millions. They should thank their lucky stars (and southern politicians on the take) for not being entirely shut down and arrested.
UPDATE in response to the comments... I never thought I'd see so many liberals getting bent out of shape over a post defending the government against evil corporations that have been able to exponentially outspend government regulators to the detriment of the American people. But okay. @Bob Olivarez: I was a smoker for 16 years and quit cold turkey in 2007. Best decision I ever made. But as for the rest of the overly defensive smokers here, I wasn't trying to knock the cigarettes out of your mouths with this post. It's an attack on the tobacco companies. Even when I was a smoker, I despised the tobacco companies. RJR and Phillip Morris must be spiking cigarettes with something new these days -- you're pissed because I attacked a group of the most evil corporations in the world? Sheesh. Step back and read the post again. I didn't piss on YOUR mellow. Just the corporations.