Posted on 04/17/2006 2:57:29 PM PDT by fanfan
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: I got an interesting e-mail from a subscriber to my website, RushLimbaugh.com, named James Ward. It talked about the New Jersey smoking ban that went into effect recently. Last week, the day before it went into effect, the businesses learned that there are all kinds of things they didn't know about it such as no smoking within 25 feet of a building, which meant that a lot of restaurant owners had to nix plans -- and they had only started to build outdoor decks and patios to accommodate the business of smokers. Twenty-five feet away from your average building puts you smack-dab in the middle of the street, effectively making you rode kill if the smoke in New Jersey.
So I got this interesting note, and I've always believed this, and I read this to you because it echoes some reaction that I have. I think there's so much hysteria about so much in this country that's irrational. Everything becomes a crisis and everything becomes hysteria, and smoking and secondhand smoke is nothing more than an irrational hysteria. Global warming, man-made global warming, is nothing more than a mass irrational hysteria which can't be supported by facts. There are any number of issues like this. But Mr. Ward writes, "Not only can they not find one documented case of secondhand smoke the primary cause of death..." and, by the way, the quote from New Jersey regarding their new smoking ban is that ban will "save 1,800 lives a year in New Jersey, from secondhand smoke," and Mr. Ward points out, "Not only can they not find one documented case of secondhand smoking the primary cause of death, they would also be hard-pressed to find a documented primary cause of death from firsthand smoke."
Firsthand smoke! Now, I know when you hear that -- because you've been subjected to this mass hysteria for years -- you think I'm going nuts. You think I'm going Looney Toons, and you think this periodically on this program. I know some of you do. I'll come out with an opinion, you think, "Oh, my gosh, Rush is losing it," and after 18 years of stellar success and a brilliant track record how anybody can doubt me every again is beyond me, but I know that it happens. It's human nature. So when you hear somebody say and then you hear me agree with the notion that they would be hard-pressed to find a documented primary cause of death from firsthand smoke, you can't believe it. Here's how they arrive at these massive numbers of deaths attributed to smoking. Everyone who dies and has ever smoked is counted as a smoking related death.
Now, we're not saying that smoking is good for you, but how long do you have to smoke before it kills you? In many cases, something that does no harm, no significant harm for 45 years of activity can't be that bad, since we're all going to die anyway. That may be a shock to some of you at the Center for Science and the Public Interest and so forth, but stop and think about it. People who smoke, smoke 45 years or whatever, takes a long time for the effects of smoking. In other words, you don't inhale a cigarette and die. You just don't. By the way, nicotine is the most powerfully addictive drug on the planet. Here's the best way to explain it. I know you don't believe that. "No, come on Rush! It's gotta be cocaine or crystal meth." No, no, it's nicotine. You know how you can tell? Nobody, nobody, nobody has a pleasant first experience with it, and yet they keep it up. You ever seen a first-time smoker? (Coughing, choking.) And they keep going. You feel sick and you swear you're never going to do it again, and bammo! Unlike most other addictions which are based on euphoria or pleasure, there's no pleasant first experience with nicotine. So that's how you know.
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Although I loathe this habit and am very grateful FL has eliminated smoking in restaurants, etc, 25' from any building is rather extreme. If people want to smoke outside a building I really don't care, as long as I don't have to breathe it in.
They passed a similar law here last year and the 25-foot rule is generally ignored, at least in my area. I don't think the police are interested in enforcing it unless they receive an actual complaint. An indirect result of the smoking ban is that all the smokers are getting to know each other pretty well, huddled together out of doors in all sorts of weather. It's added a new social dimension to the bar scene. I think there should be exceptions for cigar bars and special smoker-oriented establishments, but I don't miss coming home with my clothes reeking of cigarette smoke.
Likewise, what possesses republicans to be afraid of tax cuts, fail to control illegal immigration, etc?
Ask a technician what smoke does to electronics and ask a collector what affect it has on the value of their goods.
Most of the bars (except the ones associated with restaurants) here in town ignore the ban but I have never seen it enforced by the police. One more reason why I rarely go to them.
"but I'm getting the idea that he's trying to equate smoking with eating apples."
Uhhhh, right. /s
The article was about trends of hysteria in America on numerous issues, with the emphasis on smoking death statistics. 400,000 K a year die from smoking type BS. Simply because someone points out the ludicris nature of such claims does not mean they equate smoking to eating apples.
It appears that some people actually like bogus propoganda if it supports their views.
The anti-smoking NAZIS got their start by demanding the airlines have a portion of the aircraft as non-smoking. Now the gov't mandates how you cater to the world in your business.
I personally hate the politicians and anti-smoking NAZIS that are destroying this country. In New Jersey, I guess they cannot allow the feds to renew treatys with the Indians because smoking the peace pipe is how you finalize the deal.
"(And his "not a primary cause" argument is transparently dumb."
Perhaps you should actually READ the article this time. He NEVER said smoking wasn't a cause of health issues or even deaths. NEVER said it ANYWHERE in that article. He simply stated a FACT that it is not a documented cause of death. He did not make that up is is a provable FACT.
If you don't like the facts, tough-titty, but don't put words in the man's mnouth. They article is about hysteria. Something you obviously are quite familiar with.
Because they value their health, and don't want to be a part of someone else's slow suicide. If someone wants to smoke, let him stink up his own damn house. I'd like to see the ban include every publicly accessible space.
And there ya go! Rush is precisely right!
Even if they responded, it would be a waste of everyone's time and police resources to real crimes.
Of course it's a documented cause of death. People are killed by the diseases that the smoking causes, and there are death certificates issued every day listing smoking as a cause of death. It doesn't kill the same way a bullet to the head does, but it is still the proximate cause of the death. He's trying to be clever, because the smoking always causes death by some other disease process. Again, that's profound logic and a deep thought only to 7 year olds.
Here's how they arrive at these massive numbers of deaths attributed to smoking. Everyone who dies and has ever smoked is counted as a smoking related death.This is an ignorant statement if there every was one. Not only illogical, but factually wrong. How about this gem:
In many cases, something that does no harm, no significant harm for 45 years of activity can't be that bad, since we're all going to die anyway.Again, grossly wrong as a matter of fact. Smoking causes immediate harm; the very act of inhaling smoke does some small damage to the body. In some cases, the body heals, but in much less than 45 years, significant health issues are created, and in many, many cases, deaths result. But according to this jackass, it "can't be all that bad..."
They article is about hysteria. Something you obviously are quite familiar with.
Look, I understand your hero makes you feel all flush and funny in the pants when you listen to him, but he's a blowhard who put his foot in his mouth here.
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