Smoker rant

[dhoward]

Originally posted by Sebring77
Let me help you. Your smoke drifts over and gets in my kid's lungs at a restaurant. Your beer stays in it's glass. How about drunken driving you say? That IS illegal.

Don't get me wrong-I defend your right to slowly kill yourself. That's your choice. I simply choose not to be around smoke or people who do it.

PS-there are many who say drinking is bad-remember prohibition?

You're joking, right?
"Your smoke drifts over and gets in my kids lungs at a restaurant?"
You probably drove to the restaurant. Exposed your precious darling to excessive levels of all sorts of toxins in the form of automobile emissions. You can't possibly believe that short -term exposure to cigarette smoke is going to kill anyone or shorten their life expectancy in any measurable amount.
No.
You don't like it, so everybody who does it should be "horse-whipped".
Come to my house for a party and expect to see:
Smoking
Drinking
Loud talk
Laughter
Friendship.
Oh, and if it gets late, I might take my dick out and shake it.
Lighten up, Francis.

[targa911S]

You guys are missing the point. What will you do if a bunch of do gooders say now you should not drink?? Then will it be bacon? Carbs? Milk? You see where does it end? Will you not go to someones house if there is alcohol? bacon? food with carbs? I don't drink and believe me there is a reason for that. But I have people over all the time and have beer in my fridge. Should I say you can come over but don't bring any booze? Of course not. I'm TOLERANT! A word that everybody seems to have forgotten unless we are talking about sexual preferrance or racial diversity.

And yes you ARE killing yourself drinking. Now I know that you don't have 20 drinks a day..although at one time I was pretty close to that, but it none the less is not good for you either. Is alcohol prohibition any different from banning smoking? People will do what they want to do. How about that progress we are making in the War On Drugs.

[SLO-BOB]

I stand by my words. No. I'm not joking.

I think your imagination is running a bit wild about the toxins one encounters on their daily commute vs. second hand smoke-even in St.Louis.

I won't bother to post links to the myriad websites dedicated solely top that topic as your mind is clearly made up.

On horse whipping. Smoking itself is pretty pathetic. To subject your own kids to not only the second hand smoke, but the culture itself, is a heinous crime imo.

As far as my "little darlings"-I simply remove them from the presence of the offending individual or establishment. No horse whipping necessary on that one.

On parties. Somehow I manage to have fun with friends and family without having to suck down carcinogens. I guess I'm selective-or blessed.

Like I said-smoke up. I'm not for banning it in any form. Unfortunately my health insurance premiums will reflect the burden placed by your short stay in the emphysema ward, but it's a price I'm willing to pay for your freedom.

When it comes to my health and my family's health-I never lighten up.

[dhoward]

Originally posted by SoCal911SC
Dang, dhoward, sounds like fun, but I sure hope you don't do all of those things at a party with 8 kids present.

Of course not.
But sometimes the bible-study group gets out of hand.
I'm with Targa. Apparently we have to be tolerent of everything, but you don't.

[targa911S]

People that use the "For the Children" reason for their own personal dislikes should start being honest with themselves. I'm 56 years old, I grew up in a smoking household, I have smoked since I was 12, I have made a career out of playing music in smokey bars, and both my parents are still alive and I'm typing here right now. Not to mention that I changed my share of asbestos brake linings and worked as a body man before OSHA and VOC. I'm still typing here.

[dhoward]

BEATUTIFUL!
Couldn't have said it better.

[SLO-BOB]

Originally posted by targa911S
You guys are missing the point. What will you do if a bunch of do gooders say now you should not drink??

I think you're missing MY point. Smoke all you want. I'm not for banning it at all.

I'm TOLERANT!

I'm VERY tolerant too. I refrain from horsewhipping every horses ars that smokes in my presence.

And yes you ARE killing yourself drinking. Now I know that you don't have 20 drinks a day

Yes I do have 20 drinks a day. Ok-maybe not quite that many. However, most doctors agree that a glass of red wine a night is good for you. On the other hand, even one cigarette a day is bad for you.

[SLO-BOB]

You two are exactly the type Phillip Morris depends on to stay in business.

"I ran across the highway blindfolded and survived. Therefore it must be safe for everyone to do that."

Good luck guys. I mean it.

[dhoward]

Quit somking a while back, in a previous thread.
I certainly don't complain about smokers now.
Bastards.
Maybe because my kids are nearly grown, I don't feel the need to sheild them from every possible source of harm. But then I never really did. Could be the way that I was raised? There are pics of me sleeping under a pool table in a bar in a baby carrier unapproved by ANY government agency.
I know, a crime punishable by forfeiture of all parental right nowadays.
For heaven's sake don't let your kids watch od reruns of Andy Griffeth. Yes, there was a lesson in every show, but for God's sake, HE SMOKED!!
Not picking on anyone in particular, S77. Just attitudes in general.
This is fun!

[gaijindabe]

Stress is the biggest killer guys... Just the running from the second hand smoke and getting upset about it is doing you more damage..

When did this become the Berkley & Boulder OT?

I can see all the kids now as they hit the rebellious years - they are just waiting to take a puff of the forbidden leaf....

[dhoward]

Really true.
Seems like now more than ever too.

[targa911S]

Ire mon!

Hey 77 I just want you to be honest with yourself. It's YOU that doesn't like smokers. I'm OK with that just don't hide that behind your kids stroller. I play in a band now that the lead guitarist is a vascular surgeon and ya know what he does before and during our breaks...he SMOKES! He also shows up at rehearsal every week with a (shudder) a Mac Donalds cheeseburger and fries! I bust him all the time. Just be honest man YOU hate smokers ...it ain't about "The Children" you sound like Nancey Reagan and every other politician in the world. You say it's about the children but it's REALLY about you.

[Z-man]

From an email I got a few years ago:
Cigarette smoke is the residue of your pleasure. It contaminates the air and pollutes my hair and clothes. NOT TO MENTION MY LUNGS. This takes place without my consent. I have a pleasure also: now and then I like a beer. The residue form my pleasure is urine. Would you be annoyed if I stood on a chair and peed on your head and clothes without your consent?

BTW: My wife has asthma and is allergic to cigarette smoke, so I'm a little biased.

One thing that really used to piss me off was the fact that ciggy smokers had a 10-15 minute 'smoke' break during the workday 2-10 times a day, depending on the level of nicotine required. So while I stay in and work, they'd be out smoking and socializing.

As I said, it used to piss me off. Now that I've found this here internet, well, now everyone's doing the 10-15 minute 'net break 2-10 times a day, depending on the level of surfing required.

-Z-man.

[Moneyguy1]

And DRINKING?

What part of the word "inTOXICated" means poison?

Yup.."politically correct" has gotten a bit out of hand along with a lack of tolerance for other people's foibles.

Ahh..nuts...think I'll have a cigar and a couple of beers.....

Stress kills more people than smoking ever could. Being uptight is hazardous to you and those around you.

[dhoward]

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
Snipped.......Being uptight is hazardous to you and those around you.

10-4

[SLO-BOB]

Originally posted by targa911S
Ire mon!

Hey 77 I just want you to be honest with yourself. It's YOU that doesn't like smokers. You say it's about the children but it's REALLY about you.

Lol! I've never said anything other. Yes-it's me! Me ME MEE!!!

My kids are simply collateral damage for my anti-smoker hate campaign. The poor devils! It wouldn't be so bad except for the odd brick chukked through my window now and then by the smoking klan.

Seriously- I don't really hate smokers-just what they do. Feel better?

My best friends dad, a MD too, played tennis damn near every day, smoked right up to his early funeral. Same with my wife's father-except the tennis part. Unfortunately he got to hang out in the emphysema ward for a few months before the light at the end of the tunnel. No one in my family smoked in our plastic bubble-like world thank God. Oops. Okay-that's a lie. My Mom smoked until she got breast cancer. Then there's my Dad's second wife-who swore she'd spend every dime of my inheritance on some young guy (when my dad was out of the room of course-she had her limits), whoops-she died from smoking too. Karma cops were working OT on that one.

Honestly-you're defending the indefensible. Smoking kills-period. I'm not making this ***** up.

[wludavid]

I try not to be uptight about smoking. I enjoy going to bars but typically go despite the presence of smokers. Sometimes its my friends who are smoking. When some of the cities near me banned smoking, the bar and restaurant owners cried that they were destroying their businesses. In fact, just the opposite happened - more people came out to eat dinner or have a beer. All else being equal, and given a choice between a place consumed with second-hand smoke and one without, 99% of non-smokers are going to choose the place that doesn't allow smoking. And empirical evidence has shown that banning smoking brings in more non-smokers than repels smokers.

Ugh. You really don't know second hand smoke until you go home from sunday brunch at your favorite bar reeking of the previous night's cigarettes. It'll make you want to take your second shower of the day before noon.

[SLO-BOB]

On stress:

I'm sure stress is a convenient excuse for smokers to keep huffing away. No doubt it's a killer too, but it's not like you have to choose one or the other.

I get as stressed about avoiding smoke as I do about avoiding heroin. Doesn't even factor. I simply get up and leave-no drama.

[Moneyguy1]

77..

While that may be true, your posts do not look that way.......

[targa911S]

I never said it didn't. I know it does. My choice. Not yours. I however did not start this thread..you did, ranting about your friend smoking in his own house. That IS what I am defending. How do you feel about farting in your own house?