[ejdrapes]

This is so silly. You can't rewrite history. Who approves something like this, the record company? Or the ex-Beatles themselves (god I hope not)?

[The Wizard]

and....it increases the value of the original

[buffyt]

HOW SILLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I was growing up my father made our living by being a cigar salesman. Tobacco is a LEGAL substance!

[Woodman]

Also I think it is pretty hard to pin Brain Cancer on smoking?

[G.Mason]

How quaint.

Much like the mortician makes the dead look better than life.

"Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall".

[InvisibleChurch]

You can't rewrite history.

Oh? Just ask Hillary! about the 9/11 concert.

[SamAdams76]

I'd like to "airbush" out the entire decade of the 60's.

BTW, what the hell is a "Macca"?

[ClearCase_guy]

Well, we all know that the Beatles were opposed to polluting the body with any dangerous chemicals, such as nicotine. White-washing out the cigarettes in their lives is in keeping with their image as clean-cut youths who wanted to live pure lives, unadulterated by any pharmaceuticals.

[metesky]

The silly buggers just get sillier!

[aardvark1]

This is directly out of Orwell's 1984. If you don't think history is not being rewritten (more important facts than whether or not someone smoked), you're living in a dream world. The debate over the separation of church and state, the 2nd Amendment, abortion, for example, all have an element of the attempt to change the past thru the rewriting of history.

[Just another Joe]

Rewriting history PUFF

[Junior]

You can't rewrite history.

Hell you can't. History is rewritten all the time. For instance, have you considered the difference between what you learned growing up about the Founding Fathers and what is taught now?

[sweetliberty]

"You can't rewrite history"

Sure you can. The liberals have been doing it for years. Pretty soon the only "truth" will come from the liberal socialist gestapo.

[Gabz]

But Simon Clark, of pro-smoking group Forest, hit back: “This is pathetic. What next? We will have to remove pipes and cigars from pictures of Sherlock Holmes and Winston Churchill. These people should stop trying to re-write history.

Sorry Mr. Clark - they won't stop. They've already airbrushed out FDR's cigarette.

[Flashman_at_the_charge]

Who controls the past, controls the future.
Who controls the present, controls the past.
---- 1984 by George Orwell

[MEGoody]

"Who approves something like this"

I would presume whoever holds the copyright on the photo, as well as the remaining Beatles and the families of those who have passed on.

[SheLion]

HERE! Let them alter THIS!

Britney Spears in Australia.

[Cincinatus]

EMI did the same thing a few years ago with the release of the CD single, Real Love.

The 1965 studio picture. Note the ciggie in Ringo's hand.

The cover of the 1996 CD Real Love. Look at Ringo's hand -- what happened to the smoke?

[Xenalyte]

“People who see their idols holding cigarettes are more likely to copy them and start smoking themselves.”

Earth to Stupid Activist Chick: holding something does not equal using it. Holding my car keys doesn't mean I'm driving.