I Finally Started Smoking

Previously
by Jeff Berwick: The
Invisible Fence Works as Well as a RealÂ One

Hello from
beautiful Acapulco,

Everyone has
there place and this is truly mine. I was just walking down the
street with a glass of wine, smoking a cigarette and… well, actually
I should mention something about that.

I finally started
smoking! I’m so happy about that. I tried when I was younger but
when I was in my teens and twenties I was not in very good health.
As I just mentioned, everyone has their place, and when I am here…
with the sun, every day of the year, it builds up your immune system
immeasurably. When I lived in northern Canada, the sun was always
this little white light in the distant horizon for most of the year.
It’d peer down to me as though to say, “What are you doing
living here?” And that’s if you could even see it at all, through
the clouds, rain, snow and hail. I was almost constantly sick. Even
when I visit, I look around and everyone is a grey color. Here,
with the sun and all the locally grown, mostly organic produce and
meat, it is almost impossible to get sick. I think the last time
I heard someone even cough here was never.

So, I just
couldn’t start smoking while I lived there. Even one cigarette felt
like it was going to kill me. I’ve since experimented with electronic
cigarettes and snus. Both had their moments but I felt like I was
missing out. Smoking, of almost all activities, is hardwired into
us from thousands and thousands of years of practice. I wanted to
participate in that tradition. But, something has happened of late,
a switch just clicked and now I am nearly a full smoker. I only
tend to smoke when I drink… but that is nearly all the time anyway,
so I’m good.

One of the
funnest parts has been collecting all the government mandated scare
propaganda on each pack. Here’s just one hilarious one, just for
your entertainment.

That wouldn’t
be allowed in the USSA. Boobies are illegal to see… But in Panama,
it’s allowed. Even if they turn one of the breasts into an ashtray.
I have a friend who collects these and puts them on his fridge.

I remember
once I was with my Thai girlfriend in Myanmar… and there they
haven’t started putting these on cigarette packs yet. When she saw
a cigarrete pack without disgusting, horrific images on it she got
so excited. At first, I didn’t understand. She said, “You know
how much I can sell these for in Thailand?” I just looked at
her with a blank stare. She then said, “The people there are
so superstitious that they’ll pay double or triple for a cigarette
pack without propaganda on it.” She bought a few cartons and
sold them to her friends at a nice profit. God bless entepreneurialism.

Even still,
when some people I know hear that I have finally started smoking,
they say, “You are going to die if you smoke those!”

I just look
at them, again in confusion. Are they under some misconception that
no one ever dies?

Even still,
I figure, if it is true, and I will die of cancer, it usually takes
20-30 years before the cancer sets in. And, ignoring for the moment
that there are numerous natural remedies that destroy cancer on
contact (hemp oil, for one), at 41 years of age I’ll maybe get cancer
and die in my 60s or 70s. Good, I think. I have no intention to
be here forever.

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the rest of the article

“Getting
Your Gold Out of Dodge” is available here. Â It is free
to TDV and TDV
Golden Trader subscribers or for a one-time price of $44.95
USD. Â It may be the best use of your fiat Federal Reserve Notes
you’ve ever spent. Reprinted
with permission from The
Dollar Vigilante.

October 1, 2012

Jeff
Berwick [send him mail]
is an anarcho-capitalist freedom fighter and Chief Editor of the
libertarian, Austrian economics grounded newsletter, The
Dollar Vigilante. The Dollar Vigilante focuses on strategies,
investments and expatriation opportunities to survive prosper
during and after the US dollar collapse.

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