Quit nagging the smokers, will ya?

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

[SheLion]

Today is the day we set aside each year to badger, harass and pester that marginalized subculture of Americans, the Doorway People.

You know the Doorway People. They stand in doorways at work or at the mall smoking cigarettes because lighting up in mixed company has become as distasteful as nose-picking.

Yes, today marks the 27th anniversary of the Great American Smokeout, sponsored by the American Cancer Society, where modern incarnates of pinch-mouthed prohibitionists attempt to further ghettoize smokers.

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. But we're all grownups. Smoking is their demon and I have enough of my own demons to wrestle with.

But, unlike anti-smoking zealots, I sympathize with smokers.

That's because I was a smoker. When I quit for good in 1996, I was burning through 2 1/2 packs a day. I ditched the habit because each time I coughed, my lungs rattled as if someone had backed into metal trash cans.

Still, I loved every puff. I still miss it. In fact, I still have nicotine cravings.

So I'm sympathetic to smokers and believe they should be free to enjoy their addiction, which, last I checked, remains legal. Which is why I dislike the anti-smoking scolds. They are trying to criminalize smoking.

From New York City to Dallas, from Toledo, Ohio, to Eugene, Ore., anti-smoking zealots have racked up successful campaigns to ban smoking in bars and restaurants, the last bastion of peace and acceptance for smokers.

Eventually, the anti-smoking "movement" will have won enough smoking bans in enough cities in enough states to introduce national no-smoking legislation, said Zoe Mitchell, co-founder of Ban the Ban, which recently defeated efforts to enact similar no-smoking legislation in Washington, D.C.

"Ultimately, their goal is to make it a national issue based on their success at the local level," she said.

Anti-smokers say they're acting in the best interest of public health.

They say all those smokers burden the healthcare system with their cigarette-related maladies. It costs all of us more in healthcare premiums, they say.

Nonsense. Smokers die sooner than most of us nonsmokers, never collecting a cent from Social Security, which they've paid for decades.

Also, smokers pay outrageous cigarette taxes on each pack of smokes, which pours billions of dollars annually into government coffers.

At best, the money argument is a wash.

When an anti-smoking nut steps into a place like the Puss N' Boots Tavern in Fairless Hills, all they see is the blue-gray cloud of smoke hovering over the patrons crowded around the bar.

When I walk into the Boot, I see it differently.

I see a local cop who's seen more than his fair share of tragedy.

Or an emergency room nurse who was up to her elbows in blood just a few hours before.

Or a construction guy who's sacrificed years of Saturdays to work overtime so he could save for his kid's college tuition.

Or a middle-aged father worried about his son, who's fighting the war.

These are the good people the anti-smoking zealots want to stigmatize as public health leeches.

And if they accomplish their goal, they won't go away.

They will persecute the overweight, stigmatize SUV drivers and haul into court those who don't recycle.

They've got the money and the time and the lawyers.

[CSM]

Considering that if a person had been born in 1930 their life expectancy would have been around 60 years, your 70 year grandfather seems to have extended his life via tobacco use!

Not to be cruel, but the point is that old age brings all manners of diseases.

[CSM]

"Okay, show me where in the Constitution it says that smoking in public is an Right."

Check out the 5th:

"......nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

[Don Simmons]

Oh, how I wish we could go back to the good old days -- back when we didn't have to worry about our rights being taken away. Rights such as:

- our inalienable right to do as much cocaine as we wanted - you know...to enjoy our own addiction.

- our inalienable right to do as much opium as we wanted - you know...to enjoy our own addiction.

- our inalienable right to drink and drive as much as we wanted - you know...to enjoy our own addiction.

I just cannot STAND it when our rights are taken away! Things should really just stay the way they are!

-sigh-

[SheLion]

Oh, how I wish we could go back to the good old days -- back when we didn't have to worry about our rights being taken away. Rights such as:

- our inalienable right to do as much cocaine as we wanted - you know...to enjoy our own addiction.

- our inalienable right to do as much opium as we wanted - you know...to enjoy our own addiction.

- our inalienable right to drink and drive as much as we wanted - you know...to enjoy our own addiction.

I just cannot STAND it when our rights are taken away! Things should really just stay the way they are!

Are you being an ass or what Don Boy?  Where has it EVER been legal for cocaine and opium?

Yes, we used to be able to drink and drive, but that, thank God  has been held pretty much under control now by the laws.

Everything you have mentioned here is ILLEGAL.  SMOKING is NOT illegal.  Pompous asses like you are a bit over the top of late.  And you wonder why we come down on you so.  Look in the mirror Donny.  I hope you like what you see, because "I" have a mental image of you that you would NOT want a picture of!

[SheLion]

You talk about addiction so much that I'm inclined to think that YOU are addicted to YOURSELF. Heh!

GET OVER YOURSELF.

[Mears]

That's the silliest argument I have ever seen and I've seen quite a few.

Back to the drawing board,Don!

[Don Simmons]

Cocaine and opium were once both legal - right here in the good ole U.S. of A. Cocaine used to be an ingredient of COCA COLA -- HELLO!

Just an analogy, folks. Nothing to lose a lung over! :-)

[bkwells]

Did you quit yet?

[Mears]

And alcohol was once illegal----and so it goes!

[Gabz]

You don't like smoking....so be it....stay out of private businesses that permit it instead of applauding those choosing to take away the rights of the private business owners.

[CSM]

"Tell me how it fits in the Webster'd definition of Fascim." - Terepesman


"Democracy is the road to socialism." - Karl Marx

We all know that socialism leads to fascism. Precisely why our founding fathers were so brilliant in setting us up as a republic that supposedly protected private property rights and individual rights.

[The Mayor]

That would be so much fun, wouldn't it????

Ya we could all sit around collect food stamps, welfare while we are overdosing..

[The Mayor]

I had no idea that a guy got killed because of the ban on smoking in the city of NY, did you?

[SheLion]

I had no idea that a guy got killed because of the ban on smoking in the city of NY, did you?

Is there another one? I am trying to find a link for where several people have been killed this past year just because they smoke. It's horrifying. As soon as I find that link I will send it to you!

[SheLion]

I had no idea that a guy got killed because of the ban on smoking in the city of NY, did you?

Here is one VERY sad article.

Boy, 13, dies in beating on street

Sept. 21, 2002


NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 13-year-old New Smyrna Beach boy was beaten to death Friday by a 15-year-old boy who thought the victim had given cigarettes to the older boy's little brother, authorities said.

After an argument that left Shane Michael Farrell, 13, on the ground, the victim begged the 15-year-old boy to stop kicking him, according to one of several boys who said they witnessed the attack near the intersection of Julia and Faulkner streets.

"Please don't; no, no," Shane pleaded as the older boy repeatedly kicked him, according to the father of a witness.

Gene Correia said his son, Gene Correia Jr., who was with Shane when the attack happened, told investigators the older boy had been looking for Shane for four days.

The older boy was angry with Shane because he thought that Shane had given cigarettes to his 8-year-old brother, authorities were told.

The assault occurred about 3:10 p.m., according to New Smyrna Beach Police Department investigators.

Paramedics found Shane unresponsive and not breathing when they arrived at the scene about 3:30 p.m.

He was taken to Bert Fish Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

A handful of teenage boys--one clutching a skateboard--and their parents filed in and out of the New Smyrna Beach police station as detectives interviewed witnesses.

Gene Correia said his son told authorities that Shane tried to explain to the boy that he hadn't given any cigarettes to the older boy's brother.

The 15-year-old boy was being held at the Department of Juvenile Justice in Daytona Beach on a second-degree murder charge. Authorities could not say if he would be tried as an adult.

[SheLion]

Hey, I'm on your side. I smoke and it doesn't bother my asthma...well it probably irritates the lungs a bit which doesn't help, I guess.

Well, what with all the 'stuff' in the air today, I'm surprised we aren't all wearing a mask when we leave our homes. Just never know WHAT the terrorist or some idiot is going to release into the air.

[SheLion]

Back to the drawing board,Don!

HaHaaaaaaa! Ain't it a hoot? Or a crock. haha

[Chevy34]

Did you actually read the article? Or are you one of those anti-smoking zealots? LOL

[Freedom Dignity n Honor]

Oh, the reason I stated it that way is that my allergist assures me that cigarette smoke particles are too big to get into the lungs, though it can irritate the lungs.

He said if anyone claims to be allergic to tobacco, that they'd have to actually touch the tabacco to have a reaction.

*shrugs* He's the expert from the Oklahoma Allergy Clinic, not me, and that's what he told me.

[Bogey]

Smoking causes cancer. Period

---

Good luck finding a doctor or researcher to back that up
in a court of law.
You won't find one.