crazy cigarette smokers can all go to hell!

[nostatic]

If in fact people were only hurting themselves, then that would be fine. But the health problems associated with smoking burdens the health care and insurance system. So those taxes are just helping to even things out. Obesity is the biggest problem though...and growing (pun intended).

And as an ex-smoker, I used to ride my high horse. Or light it up.

[nostatic]

Originally posted by 69 Soft Targa

I miss ol' Frank. Use to hang out with Ike Willis years ago.

Frank smoked. Frank died of cancer. I liked Frank.

[69 Soft Targa]

Originally posted by nostatic
Frank smoked. Frank died of cancer. I liked Frank.

Yeah...I was listening to "The Yellow Shark" just yesterday.
Frank had undiagnosed prostate cancer. It was way too late when discovered. I was with Ike the night he got the call. It was a tough night...really a hard blow.

Yes Frank did smoke. He was onced asked why he smoked cigarettes and drank coffee when he was against drug use. (or against trendy chemical amusement aid.)

His response?
"These are food. I survive by eating these things (holding up a cigarette) and drinking this black water."

Glad you appreciated Frank. He was tremendously talented and a true original.

[techweenie]

I agree most smokers are oblivious.

And occasionally you get the ones who are not -- like the guy who laid a burning cigarette on my Porsche's hood last year at the Long Beach Grand Prix.

I don't think your car will catch fire just because you drive over a lit cigarette.

However now that we're talking smokers. I'm certainly not the kind of person who wants a witch hunt on smokers. Not at all, but....!

Smokers really need to show respect for their surroundings! Sometimes I have smoking costumers in my shop. They are there for maybe 10 minuttes yet still they *must* smoke....are you smokers that reliant!?

Every time, when they've left, I'm stuck in the stench thank you very much. Needless to say I'm a non smoker. There's also ashes on the floor in spite of the costumer ash tray visible on the front table.... Pigs!

And as the start of this thread mentions, smokers often throw their lit cigarettes out the car window. Annoying! Do you see me throwing candy bar paper out the window or the leftovers from a burger??

Ahh that was good to get out of the system

[Leland Pate]

We're not supposed to throw 'em out the window?

Is that was Ashtrays are for?

Christ, and here I thought they were just to put a little momento of sweet old granny in there for luck.


Umm, can you guys keep that to yourselves?

[dd74]

I sure as hell don't miss smoking in restaurants. To me it's disgusting to inhale second-hand smoke while one is trying to eat their bacon and eggs or whatever.

Hey, what city up in Northern CA is it - San Luis Obispo - I think, that tried to ban smoking EVERYWHERE?

I also heard there was a mandatory birkenstock law up there too - it was the only style-shoe allowable in public...

[sammyg2]

I used the cost of smoking on society as the subject on a recent term paper I wrote in college (I've been going for about 18 years now) and I did quite a bit of research on the subject. I received an A on it too (patting myself on the back).
The conclusion was that cigarette smoking was actually profitable for the U.S. government. Smokers typically have a shorter lifespan that non-smokers, and smokers collect much less social security that non-smokers. Smokers who die usually are near the latter stages of life and do not have minor children, again less drain on social security.

In addition, the total medical costs for a smoker are almost 8% less than those of a non-smoker. Lets face it, If I'm a non-smoker and live to be 90 I will probably spend more time in my life sitting in a doctor's office that a smoker who lives to 68. Add it all up and smokers cost less than non-smokers, even before the ridiculously high taxes are tacked on. Most of this was documented in studies by the surgeon general's department. It is public record if anyone wants to spend the time to dig.

Ironically fixed rate taxation is often thought of as unfair because the poor pay a higher percentage of income than wealthy people. Minorities are more effected by tobacco taxation that the majority, but I don't remember seeing Revs. Jackson or Sharpton getting all indignant about it. Where is the ACLU when someone actually thinks they might do some good for a change?
I guess that have decided they are no match for the health nazis who are so much better than everyone else it is their responsibility to tell others what they should and shouldn't do and how others should live their lives. Maybe they should look real hard at their own lives, people in glass houses and all that. How many of the posters here who have blasted smokers are so close to perfection that they can openly criticize a fault or weakness in others?

I still remember laughing out loud at irony in action several years ago as I watched a woman who obviously tipped the scales at well over 300 pounds asking a smoker if he knew that cigarette smoking was bad for his health.
He should have said so were big macs. Her obesity should not be a cause of ridicule, but an example of the tend in our society. We are actively being brainwashed in an attempt to punish smokers. it didn't use to be a big deal, now it is. Why is that? In California 25 cents per pack is spent in a huge advertising program to convince John Q. Public that smoking is bad, smokers are bad, tobacco companies are bad, and the exceutives of tobacco companies are murderers and criminals.
If in fact any of you agree with these items, it would apear the brainwashing is successfull. If any of you are health nazis dedicated to making decisions for others, you win.
After cigarettes, i suggest you maintain form and go after soft drinks, alcohol, candy bars, heck go after all sugar just for kicks. Ban it for the good of all of us. After that I'd bet its only a matter of time before you as a group decide that sports cars are too dangerous and you try to get rid of them. Yup, that way you can kill two birds with one stone:
Smoking porsche drivers.
I feel better now.

[layzee]

Some good points Sam, but the fact remains that Alcohol, candy bars and junk food do not directly harm others than the consumer.

As for smokers thinking they have some right to litter all over the place, that p!sses me off too :@, nearly as bad as having to share the same air as them.

The UK is a bit behind the US in the villification of smokers, but is way better than most of continental Europe, where it is still mega popular. I read that they tried to ban smoking in bars in Athens for the olympics, but it was widely disregarded as smoking is like the national pastime in Greece.

[aigel]

Originally posted by Az911
How lazy are people? Why don't they just put the cigarette butt in the ash tray they throw it away when they get home/where ever.

They do that to keep the ash tray clean! Resale value! "Never smoked in".

And as mentioned before, I think to a certain point, those folks may be disgusted by their own butts?

It is real dangerous if smokers throw the cig butts out the window at night. It can really startle you until you realize WTF is going on a second later.

So, what do we learn from this? NEVER DRIVE BEHIND ANOTHER CAR! Always pass them! What's the 911 for?

George

[RoninLB]

Originally posted by sammyg2

The conclusion was that cigarette smoking was actually profitable for the U.S. government. Smokers typically have a shorter lifespan that non-smokers, and smokers collect much less social security that non-smokers. Smokers who die usually are near the latter stages of life and do not have minor children, again less drain on social security.

In addition, the total medical costs for a smoker are almost 8% less than those of a non-smoker.

I read a BusinessWeek article a few years ago that confirmed your paper and estimated the total savings.

[billwagnon]

I really don't have a problem with people smoking. I have a problem with people who will discard something on the street that they wouldn't think of discarding on their own front step.

And don't get me started on people without the common courtesy to exert the minimal effort required to use a turn signal.

[Rich Lambert]

"How lazy are people? Why don't they just put the cigarette butt in the ash tray they throw it away when they get home/where ever."

A lot of cars I've owned didn't have ashtrays. I used to have a problem with throwing ashtrays at stupid drivers...I'm much better now.

[tabs]

Light up or leave me alone!

[dhoward]

The detrimental effects of second-hand smoke were reported in a paper gublished 15 or 20 years ago. The cause was taken up by various groups who used the findings to blame smoking on everything from lung cancer to global warming. The paper has since been shown to be flawed in it's conclusions. I know a lot of old bartenders and sheesh, have you seen flight attendants lately? We like to blame everyone else for our troubles, seems like the farther west you go (anecdotal), the worse it gets. I really like the "I'm allergic to smoke" dealie. What the hell did you people do when there were no non-smoking areas? Hotels, airlines, restaurants, you must have all stayed in a bubble to survive. I was in a park last summer, smoking (AND drinking - gasp!) no less than 30 feet downwind of a woman who felt compelled to tell me how my smoke bothered her. She however, was sitting 10 feet downwind of a running diesel.
Try lighting gasoline with a lit cigarrete. Don't work.
Do you think all of the guys on the sie of the road are filling all of those trash bags with cigarrete butts. How 'bout wrappers and cups and anti-smoking leaflets.....
Not everyone who smokes is an *********. There are planty of self-righteous non-smoking people out there too.

Grow up, whiners....

Judge Smails - "Don't you people have homes?"

[Rich Lambert]

"Not everyone who smokes is an *********."

"Grow up, whiners...."

So, when you change the "ss" to $$ in "*********", it changes the meaning???

[nostatic]

someone sitting and drinking or eating generally doesn't emanate disgusting fumes that directly affects me (well, maybe tabs does, but that is another story). Smoking does.

While you can point to "flawed studies", if you don't believe that smoking puts you at a higher risk for a number of diseases, then you are living in a fool's paradise. If you smoke, are you guaranteed to get cancer? Of course not...too many variables in the makeup of the human body. Are you more likely to get cancer, emphasema, etc? Yes. Do you have the right to expose me to the same risk in public? I think not. You may think otherwise. That's why we have laws and a legislative process.

Not whining, just stating an opinion.

[on-ramp]

Originally posted by kepperly
Just to keep the flame up, I smoke and smoke in my Porsche.
I smoke Camel unfiltered the most expensive cigarette they sell.
They figure if your are hooked that bad they don't discount them.
Started when I was fourteen (53 now) and don,t give a crap
what someone in another car has to say about my habit. I smoke in my home(no children there) and refrain inside my place of work and in resturants that are so posted. I really prefer a good beer bar anyway. Before you condem smokers completly think for amoment how much additonal taxes we pay that you escape.
Get off your high horse, live and let live, Your Rights end at the begining of my nose.

Keith Epperly

you're absolutely right.....you have the right to smoke

No condemnation of smokers here,

I just get annoyed when I have to dodge fireballs on the highway

[LeeH]

My mom and dad both started smoking in their early teens. Mom died of a stroke. Dad died of pulmonary fibrosis. I sometimes wonder how much more time we all would have had together if they had not smoked. My mom never got to meet my wife. My daughter never had a chance to know either of them.

I've known smokers who claimed to be a "thoughtful smoker;" one who smokes so it doesn't affect others. Smokers - your illness and premature death WILL affect others - those closest to you. Trust me on this. Trust me.

[juanbenae]

i have been smoke free since the 1st monday of this year, just like last year and the year before. i have lasted as long as march (last year) before starting again. this year i'm taking a pipe in the evenings to take the edge off. quitting is the hardest thing i have ever tried to do.

being a smoker, still am like a 12 stepper i guess, i hated the 50% of smokers that are the guy that was described to open this thread. the 50 club gives all a bad name. its like anything else, there are idiots that give an entire group a wrap.

me: "im toby, and im a recovering smoker" group: "hello toby"

i have found that if you are to smoke in a car, one of those starbucks glass bottled coffee drink containers is a great butt depository.