[fabsroman]

I don't know what my main gripe is, but I do have a problem with people that do not wear their seatbelts while driving a car or their helmets while riding a motorcycle. The jury is already out about these items providing you with a much better chance of escaping a crash unscathed. My brother wrecked on his GSXR1000 at 100+ mph, and he vividly recalls his helmet scraping on the asphalt for quite a while. He was wearing his riding boots and a pair of jeans, but he "forgot" his jacket in the basement just like Roethlesberger forgot his "helmet" in the basement. Of course, my brother regretted "forgetting" the jacket because he got road rash all over his back and arms. He figured he was only going a short ways so he didn't need it. Now, he doesn't "forget" it, but he also rides a lot less.

Now, I would have no problem with people not wearing a seatbelt or their helmet, if when they became a quadriplegic (sp.) or brain dead and ran out of money, we just pulled the plug on medical service for them. It was their decision to not wear a seatbelt or helmet, so why should MY tax dollars go toward paying for their mistake. Same thing goes for the rebuilding of New Orleans, the people that live in Florida with all the hurricanes, the people that live in Tornado alley, and the people that live in California along a fault line that they know eventually will go. Why should I subsidize their homeowner's insurance through my tax contributions or have my homeowner's insurance premium increased to spread the risk amongst the entire USA?

By the way, the wearing of seatbelts and helmets is mandatory here. Further, even though a helmet is not required on adults riding bicycles, I never "forget" my helmet when I go bike riding, no matter how hot it is. The last time I went riding I started to overheat so I stopped riding and took the helmet off to try and cool myself as quickly as possible.

Oh yeah, people that do not wear their seatbelts and helmets set a bad example for the young. I also do not believe in do as I say, not as I do, because that just does not work for the most part.

On another note, a child doesn't have to hate its parents for the parents to have the child's respect. My dad was a tough guy when it came to punishment, but he also know how to let us have fun. All five of us still go over my parents' every Sunday for dinner and we are between the ages of 35 and 26.

Oh yeah, I also forgot about all the poor people out there without health insurance that are suffering from lung cancer due to smoking. Of course, the state pays for their medical care, which indirectly I end up paying for through my tax contributions. A lot of the recent litigation against the tobacco companies have been by states suing for contribution for the amount spent on treating indigent people suffering from lung cancer. Peter Angelos, a class action attorney that also owns the Baltimore Orioles, won a $25 billion judgment against Phillip Morris on behalf of the State of Maryland. His contingency fee on that case was $4 billion, but the state eventually got him to reduce it significantly.