Wow, post #147! I sure am thankful YOU thought of me!!! heh!
Posted on 05/17/2007 4:47:06 PM PDT by Wheee The People
Oh, can you also tell us if those State’s laws are “good” or “bad” laws? Oh, never mind, just as long as anything passes that gets your way, that’s all your concerned about. Now, that’s REAL CONSERVATISM there.
Hey, everyone, Wheee’s going to jump off a bridge and we all have to follow!
LOL.
Fred would probably say “go stick it bud” LOL.
So am I.
“Oh, by the way, Wheee, my boss is one of those vets who were duped.”
So am I. I doubt the little socialists gives a s&it about it, though.
OOps. Posted before finished...oh, well.
Ping!!!
Sorry to hear that. Thanks for your service!
Wow, post #147! I sure am thankful YOU thought of me!!! heh!
I know it is hard to believe at first glance but they actually are directed at the health of the smoker. The objective of the 1993 ASSIST (American Stop Smoking Intervention STudy) was to reduce smoking rates. i.e. Coerce smokers to quit. What does "Mandate Clean Indoor Air" have to do with reducing smoking rates other than coercing smokers to give up since they can't smoke anywhere anyway. Folks who just are annoyed by the smoke benefit aesthetically. I promise you that if after all 50 states have banned smoking in bars that if the national smoking rates don't drop significantly, the anti-tobacco people will be pissed. Furious in fact. That's what all this effort is about.
WheeeWheee, this is what we call in the profession a Rorschach Test. I'm going to show you some pictures and you tell me what you think of and how it makes you feel:
Hey, Eric, maybe you should post a pic of a “racey” lady. Apparently, that’s what Wheee thinks of me with how he posts to me (you know, panties and all). Hey, how about posting a Victoria’s Secret model? What do you think?
Oh, darn, as a matter of fact I just walked across the street and got some lunch and walked passed a Victoria’s Secret store (truly, I did). I should have picked up some “panties” for Wheee, since, apparently, he’s into women’s panties. How thoughtless of me.
Oh, I bet the “addict” (his words, not mine) feels so much better now. I’ll send him some men’s boxers to help him beat his addiction.
I’m sorry, but I am just not buying. The interest is in getting rid of smoking so as not to bother non-smokers. That is a legitimate concern. Keeping people from smoking in bars and restaurants will not get the result of curtailing overall smoking. People will simply smoke in “designated” areas or whereever and whenever it is still allowed.
Those who are truly interested in getting people to stop smoking altogether would seek policies that are more likely to have that result: increased tobacco taxes, reduction in the availability of cigarettes, seeking deglamorizing of the practice or making them illegal by FDA regulation. Trying to prohibit smoking in bars, restaurants outdoor gathering places where non-smokers want to gather without the bother of smokers reveals the true agenda of these non-smokers. Again, that is legitimate goal, albeit not a popular one among smokers.
I find it difficult to blame smokers too much. I am a non-smoker who grew up in a smoke-filled home. I could tell when my parents woke up each morning from the foreshadowing sound of a lighter, followed by the invasion of smoke into my bedroom. Car rides were abysmal things, with windows up and cigarettes lit for the entire trip. But these were different times. As SheLion has noted, back then smokers were in the majority. It was simply part of life and non-smokers, including children, had to deal with it either by living in smoke or finding refuge where they could.
Today the tables have turned. Smokers are in the minority (for now, who knows what the future holds). For many of those who grew up subjected to smoke, now is the time for revenge. They seek to impose the same discomfort upon smokers that smokers did to them. This is wrong-headed in my opinion. Smoking should be regulated by those who own the property. Public spaces (indoor ones) should be smoke-free, as determined by local legislatures (city councils, etc.).
I think cigarette smoking is likely on its way out (not all the way out, but substantially reduced) as current smokers die off. AT some point it will perhaps make another comeback.
True lovers of freedom embrace the right to make choices, even unhealthy/dangerous/smelly (to non-smokers) choices.
Don't tell that to me tell it to them. There is already anecdotal evidence (from people on this site even) that state that they were motivated to quit because they couldn't smoke anywhere and it became too expensive.
Read the anti-tobacco playbook again. Why is "Mandate Clean Indoor Air?" in a study on how to REDUCE SMOKING RATES??? Remember, the study was not about how to protect non-smokers from being annoyed by cigarette smoke. They don't give a crap about that. If it smelled like Roses and cured Leukemia they would find another recourse.
I acknowledge the anti-tobacco playbook. I just don’t believe they are telling the truth. I think they are dressing it up in health concern statements, but the impetus for their choice of this particular health problem is that the fact that they don’t want to be exposed to tobacco smoke— again, a legitimate concern, perhaps not for health reasons (second hand smoke health effects are not well-established, IMO), but for social concerns for comfort and stench. The level of “concern” about tobacco use as compared to other health concerns is too great for this not to have been triggered by social and selfish concerns.
I think we are somewhat on the same page here. You understandably have a hard time believing that in a Free Country somebody would conconct the idea kicking smokers out of bars and restaurants as a way to coerce them to change their behavior.
I know it’s hard to believe. Just think about it. Let it settle in. Read the playbook a couple of more times, read it tomorrow, sleep on it. Then get back to me after you have thought about it.
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