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I am a non-smoker. I am not overly offended by smoke, but I would not buy a used car owned by a smoker, nor a house owned by a smoker. No offense intended. Really. My parents both smoked. I dreaded the sound of the "flick of the bic" when they awoke in the morning, knowing I would have to breathe that stuff as long as I was in the house that day.

No offense taken, but I do have a question for you if you'd be so kind: Your reaction to your parents smoking is the exact opposite of mine and I wonder, were you a sickly child? (no offense intended) Did you have a happy childhood overall?

No, I wasn't sickly, hardly ever sick at all, actually. Perfect attendance in school most years. Happy childhood? I can't complain too much, at least in retrospect. I never thought I lived a wretched life as a child. We were poor, but I didn't know the difference. My father drank too much, and earned too little, though. My parents divorced when I was in 6th grade, and we moved to NC (My mother, my younger sister and much younger brother and me.) We received govt assistance for a short time, but we didn't miss many meals. I was the first in my family to attend college. My mother died less than a year after I was married, of cancer (smoking-related I believe). She was 43. I went to grad school later and now earn enough to be hated by the dems (which pleases me to no end). We are not rich, but comfortable. My father has since stopped smoking. My sister has tried repeatedly to quit, without success. My younger brother has never smoked. By the way, I never blamed the tobacco industry for my mother's illness and death. She made the choice herself. She did smoke a LOT, and it was uncomfortable coming home to see her, walking through the door into the haze and smell. Only after leaving for college did I even realize that my clothes smelled of smoke from living in the house with her. I have rambled. Sorry.