Quit nagging the smokers, will ya?

PhillyBurbs.com ^ | 11-18-04 | J.D. Mullane

[TheForceOfOne]

You are the one persecuting people DU'er. You don't even sound like a FReeper.

[Dick Holmes]

We are not talking about smoking. We're talking about ETS, or second hand smoke, and no, the vast majority of the studies done, including the three largest, say there is no health risk from ETS unless there is a pre-existing medical condition.

Interesting. I didn't know that. This thread caught my eye 'cause I saw an article by Dr. Sally Satel once in the NYTimes op ed. It's no longer on their site (for free) but here's a copy.

From her WSJ article:

Activists have rushed to embrace a new study that seems to prove, at long last, that secondhand smoke is life-threatening. The British Medical Journal reported that after a smoking ban in Helena, Montana, the heart-attack rate dropped by almost half. In an accompanying editorial, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control heralded the finding. And that prompted the Washington Post to blare, "Second Hand Smoke Poses Heart Attack Risk, Warns the CDC."

In truth, the study is woefully unreliable; but its compatibility with widespread anti-tobacco animus gave it status as "fact." Meanwhile, other solid data that tobacco products can improve the health of smokers go largely ignored.

Interesting, eh?

[SheLion]

I've fought the smoking ban battle, AND the 2nd amendment battle and luckily I've won both in my state - so far.

Joe

[Protagoras]

But the good Lord knows me, and I, too, have prayed for a sign to help me stop.

Avoiding that "sign" would be the point. I already explained how most people get that sign.

He told me "God doesn't worry about what goes into our bodies, but what comes out."

Straight from scripture. It was referring to keeping kosher, but the idea is the same in some ways. Different in other ways.

I'm glad you are happy. But ya can't blame people for wishing you well.

[Terpesman]

I'm with you, I just read it. But tell me, where does it say you can do what you want if it infringes upon the rights of others?

[JimRed]

I was going to say "keep it in the closet", but the phone booth is better!

;^)

[GraceCoolidge]

I've always thought that the government should ban smoking in areas where people "have" to go... courts, DMV, government buildings, etc. Anywhere else... I think the law should only require a sign prominently posted outside re. whether the establishment bans smoking, allows smoking, or has sections. That way, everyone can make his/her own choice and gets the info up front. It always seemed to me that the market would take care of the situation. If people wanted non-smoking bars, someone would open one. I'm glad I've never smoked, because I can't get rid of the bad habits I have now... I'd never be able to quit. But all this hyper-sensitivity to smoke gets on my nerves.... the rights of the business owner really seem to me to have taken a beating on this issue.

[Mears]

Great article but there's one little thing I have a problem with. He said smokers die early and don't collect Social Security.

He should have said,"some smokers" die early-----I've been collecting SS for 10 years and there are quite a few like me.

[Just another Joe]

Interesting, eh?

It's a typical anti-smoking tactic.

If you shout it long enough and loud enough people will take it as truth.

I just don't have the money to shout as long and loud as the antismokers.
Probably because they're using MY money to shout with.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Great picture. Great idea.

[TheForceOfOne]

It's my LIFE, and I take the LIBERTY to smoke because it brings me HAPPINESS!

[Just another Joe]

where does it say you can do what you want if it infringes upon the rights of others?

Post 193

[k2blader]

Yep, and I *strongly* support private businesses making their own decision on the matter. No government intervention.

[TheForceOfOne]

I still think you belong in a Liberal think tank discussion group somewhere in a blue state stink hole debating whats best for smokers with the funding coming in the form of taxes taken pack by pack from smokers. As for the personal attack on me well thats typical liberal debate tactics straight from the DNC manual.

[Terpesman]

Right, the law states that I am not allowed to do it, no matter what the business owner says. The same way the no smoking law says you can't smoke in certain places.

This is something we can go round and round about all day. I say, smoke if you want. Just remember that your smoke affects people all around you. Sometimes it all comes down to the lack of respect people show each other in our everyday lives. It's friggin' pathetic.

I love to crank the radio up when I am driving, I also know that not everyone likes listening to rock music so I turn it down when I am at a stop light or somewhere else where it might offend other people. I don't have to, unless I am in a place that bans loud music, but I do it because I am not an A$$hole. How many times have you sat at a stoplight and listened to someone play music so loud that it drowns out your radio? I wonder how happy that makes people?

Anyway, this is one of those topics where you are never going to change someone's feelings. What's sad is that our society has become so self-centric that we no longer stop to think about other people when we do things, legal or not.

[Old Professer]

Now, it's not that I think smoking is good. I have friends who smoke. I wish they didn't. On average, they will trade 10 years of their lives to enjoy their habit.

Then I must be 109; my cousin told me on my 35th birthday that I was 35 when I was born (due to my conservative nature, I guess), and now I am 64...

[Old Professer]

Ther's no smell in the world that compares to dried coffee and spoilt milk.

[Terpesman]

(Me, as devil's advocate...)

But those people are allowed to be as loud as they want, they are paying for their meals just like you.

[laredo44]

I personally love the fact that I can go out Saturday nights in New York and Boston now and NOT come home reeking from cigarette smoke.

I'm sure you always could. It's just that you wanted to go to the places where smokers hung out. Now, of course you get a triple benefit: hanging out in the cool places, coming home reek-free, and the Adrenalin rush obtained from knowing you've forced your will on others. Seriously, does it get any better than that?

[Protagoras]

But, in states where it is illegal to smoke in public places, that means that I don't have to complain to the managers of the business.

Businesses are not public places.