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Walter Williams: Things I Don't Understand (Great read)
Creators Syndicate ^ | September 3, 2014 | Walter E. Williams

Posted on 08/30/2014 4:40:54 PM PDT by jazusamo

There are things that really puzzle me. Some life insurance companies charge lower premiums if you haven't made a life-shortening lifestyle choice. Being a nonsmoker is one of them. Actuarially, that makes sense because the life expectancy for smokers is at least 10 years shorter than for nonsmokers.

Insurance company policies charge higher premiums to those who are obese. The National Institutes of Health reports that those with a body mass index greater than 40 have a six- to 14-year lower life expectancy. Again, actuarially, that makes sense. Indeed, there's a strong advocacy for higher life insurance, as well as health insurance, premiums for those whose lifestyle choices impose a greater financial burden on society, which obesity does. But there's one important exception.

According to the International Journal of Epidemiology, life expectancy at age 20 for homosexual and bisexual men is eight to 20 years less than for all men. That's a lifestyle shortening of life expectancy greater than obesity and tobacco use. Yet one never hears of insurance companies advertising lower premiums for heterosexual men. You say, "That would be discrimination." You're right, but why is it acceptable for insurance companies to discriminate against smokers and the obese but not homosexuals? After all, they are all Americans and protected by the Constitution. It's really a matter of politics, as seen by the journal's publication of an article titled "Gay life expectancy revisited" (http://tinyurl.com/25ejq2d). The publication had to soft-pedal its study results because of complaints that pointing out life expectancy differences between heterosexuals and homosexuals had become fuel for homophobia. The bottom line is that homosexuals have far greater political power and sympathy than smokers and the obese.

(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS: homosexualagenda; walterwilliams; warninglabels
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To: IYAS9YAS

For someone to be a martyr or liberals is a no-win situation. Either a person is a martyr for whining to high heaven, or a martyr by virtue of dying for any arbitrary reason, stupidity included.


61 posted on 08/31/2014 4:13:41 PM PDT by Morpheus2009
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To: IYAS9YAS

My grandfather was a smoker. However, he would not put up with people dumping their cigarettes just anywhere. Dump them in the ashtray, and smoke outdoors. It always surprised me how he was actually willing to go outdoors when it was cold. Maybe it was also respect to his wife, my grandmother though. Anyways, he really surprised me considering the amount of rules and cleanliness he was willing to go by when he actually smoked. He eventually did give it up, but still the fact that he was willing to restrain where he left his cigarettes and all the cigarettes you see thrown every which place nowadays, it’s a real shame.


62 posted on 08/31/2014 4:18:59 PM PDT by Morpheus2009
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To: Morpheus2009
For someone to be a martyr or liberals is a no-win situation. Either a person is a martyr for whining to high heaven, or a martyr by virtue of dying for any arbitrary reason, stupidity included.

If he were to die young, the press would treat him like JFK. They'd idolize him, non-stop. We'd never hear the end of it for 50 years, just like JFK. I think the shine's finally coming off Camelot for most folks, but there are still some holdouts.

63 posted on 08/31/2014 4:38:59 PM PDT by IYAS9YAS (Has anyone seen my tagline? It was here yesterday. I seem to have misplaced it.)
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To: IYAS9YAS

You realize Camelot was an awful tragedy in the mythology due to rash decisions by King Arthur, right?


64 posted on 08/31/2014 4:42:16 PM PDT by Morpheus2009
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To: AllAmericanGirl44; Mears

my son in law use to say he loved being at my house, he could always find an ashtray...


65 posted on 08/31/2014 9:32:33 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: Lurker

and a great Labor day to you...:O)


66 posted on 08/31/2014 9:33:29 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: miss marmelstein

unfiltered Luckys, thats hard core.....thats what my girlfriend smoked...lol


67 posted on 08/31/2014 9:35:27 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: IYAS9YAS; Mears; miss marmelstein
I am careful in dry areas about putting out a butt, but I had 600 foot frontage on a state road. Lots of grass to cut. I never had to get off my tractor to pick up a cigarette butt, but did for glass beer bottles, one crappy diaper, lots of Styrofoam from fast food places and one time, with a stick I had to pick up a pair of dirty ladies underpants...(not to mention a used condom in my driveway. After a while I started running over Styrofoam, it got shredded into little pieces and blew away. I lived in the country on a road between 2 towns... There was also beer/pop cans and shards of glass if the bottles broke...I had seen birds picking apart a filter for their nests also...use to put near bird nests hair from my dog when she would shed....never noticed a cigarette butt...pipe tobacco has a great aroma when men smoke a pipe...
68 posted on 08/31/2014 9:52:58 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: RipSawyer

You are right about the cost of ciggys today...I roll my own and its about 12 dollars a carton....1 pound of tobacco cost (varies) by brand 15 dollars=it makes 2 cartons and 2 boxes of tubes with 200 cost about 4 dollars per box..I would quit if I had to buy packages of smokes....I hate to give the government that much money...its almost all taxes, federal and state...(depends on what state you live in tho)


69 posted on 08/31/2014 9:59:59 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: goat granny

Non smokers need to get over their moral superiority and moral vanity and pick up their garbage.


70 posted on 09/01/2014 5:48:28 AM PDT by miss marmelstein (Richard III: Loyalty Binds Me)
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To: lepton
Sometimes only one member of a pair of identical twins is gay, but that does not mean that this tendency was not present from birth in the gay twin. Despite having the same DNA, their brains could have developed differently in utero.

A person is heterosexual when they are sexually attracted to the opposite sex, not because they have sex with members of the opposite sex. The same type of definition should apply to homosexuals. People who are free to choose are not going to engage in an activity that they don't already find attractive.

71 posted on 09/01/2014 2:27:37 PM PDT by wideminded
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To: miss marmelstein
Non smokers need to get over their moral superiority and moral vanity and pick up their garbage.

A person who litters certainly has feelings of vanity and superiority. As someone who once had a janitorial job I can say that smokers generate more than their share of litter and other people have to be paid to clean it up.

When one goes to a beautiful beach and finds that the sand is literally full of cigarette butts, that is not the garbage of non-smokers. It is fair to say that in general smokers are slobs and they are a major class of people who need to learn to pick up their own garbage.

72 posted on 09/01/2014 2:52:40 PM PDT by wideminded
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To: jazusamo

BTTT Insurance


73 posted on 09/01/2014 6:46:37 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (If America falls, darkness will cover the earth for a thousand years.)
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