Editor's note: In lieu of his regular column this week, WND features a popular column penned by Mychal Massie in 2003.
I have always had a low tolerance for those of duplicitous double standards and conspicuous deceit. The warts on that frog are nowhere more glaringly obvious than the class-action litigation gin mills against the cigarette industry and the fast-food industry. So with a bit of pragmatic desquamation, permit me to make my point.
A few questions for you to ponder. Who has done more for the suffering children and their families (vs. harm) worldwide: McDonald's Restaurants, through their Ronald McDonald House Charities, or sodomists?
Answer: RMHC. Worth magazine named RMHC one of "America's 100 best charities of 2002." It was their second straight award (Dec.-Jan. 2003).
Worth chose Ronald McDonald House Charities as one of the 13 top national health organizations most deserving of philanthropic support from a pool of more than 850,000 organizations in the United States.
RMHC creates, finds and supports programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children through its network of 174 local chapters currently serving in 44 countries. They provide grants to Ronald McDonald Houses and Ronald McDonald Care Mobiles worldwide. To date, local chapters have awarded more than $340 million in grants to children's programs.
How many millions have sodomists contributed to children's programs? I think it accurate to say the type of contribution said individuals contribute we could do without.
McDonald's Restaurants employ over 1.5 million worldwide, including their corporate employees. That's a tremendous return of capital to economies both here and abroad. How many jobs have sodomist organizations provided? What is the net effect of said lifestyle on the economy?
Factor all that the fast food restaurants collectively contribute to the worldwide economy, and the communities they serve, then compare those numbers with that which sodomists collectively contribute.
The cigarette industry is almost single-handedly responsible for the NASCAR experience so many have come to enjoy. R.J. Reynolds alone has contributed over $101 million to the old Winston Cup series. They contributed over $50 million to the NHRA. RJR had involvement in Formula 1 racing and every other kind of racing. They poured millions into facilities, marketing, support and promotion. All of which translated into jobs and money back into the communities. All of that from just one company.
Yet the tobacco industry was forced into a $246 billion legal settlement with 46 states. I personally have known many people who smoked cigarettes, myself included – I cannot identify one that is being treated for a cigarette related illness. But in the past eight years, I know three people who have died from AIDS – a family member and a life-long friend, both of whom ascribed to a lifestyle that was obviously detrimental to their health, and the another from intravenous drug abuse.
Which has done more harm to families and children: Wendy's, Burger King and Taco Bell or NAMBLA (North American Man-Boy Love Association), which advocates consensual sex between adult men and little boys?
When I questioned other friends, none knew of anyone suffering from cigarette-related illnesses, or a french-fry-and-pickles health-related problem – but several knew at least one who either had HIV or whose death was AIDS related.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, as of 2001 there have been 467,910 AIDS-related deaths domestically from 1981 to 2001. As of 2001, there are between 850,000 and 950,000 cases of adults and children infected with HIV-AIDS domestically.
When one examines the beneficial numbers of both the fast-food industry and the cigarette industry, I would argue their collective good far outweighs the bad to all but the trial lawyers.
The same cannot be said in defense of the sodomistic lifestyle and /or the intravenous drug culture. The cost of research programs and treatment for HIV-AIDS because of chosen lifestyles and detrimental drug practices must be factored in as well.
Those who would so readily bring lawsuits against legal industries that contribute millions of jobs and hundreds of millions to local economies – supposedly out of some deep well of altruistic concern for the rising health costs of the valetudinarian – are interested only in the depths of the pockets of those industries they would sue.
They are not interested in addressing the rising costs of health care vis-a-vis truly dangerous lifestyle behaviors – quite the opposite. Irresponsible dangerous sexual practices and intravenous drug abuse are a greater financial burden to every facet of the health-care system than is a double bacon cheeseburger with a Marlboro chaser.
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