Open­ing state­ments began today in Rhode Island’s lead paint law­suit. The state’s idea is that, since lead is toxic when ingested by chil­dren, paint man­u­fac­tur­ers should be forced to pay for the removal of lead paint in old homes every­where. The law­suit is fre­quently com­pared to the tobacco tri­als of a few years ago, such that Rhode Island is finally hold­ing those darn paint mak­ers respon­si­ble for some­thing bad done unto society.

There’s one catch: NOBODY EVER SAID THAT IT WAS OKAY TO EAT PAINT. Futher­more, when it became known that chil­dren were snack­ing on it and get­ting poi­soned any­way, paint man­u­fac­tur­ers stopped mak­ing leaded paint. So it’s not like the tobacco cases at all. And even less legit­i­mate, per­haps, than the case where the fat peo­ple tried to sue McDonald’s for let­ting them get fat.

What it really says is that Rhode Islanders are a bunch of morons who can’t han­dle the con­se­quences of their own actions.