Posted on 07/18/2002 9:50:54 AM PDT by SheLion
ANTI-SMOKER PROPAGANDA VS THE TRUTH
Smokers, Take Back Your Dignity
This petition will be delivered to President George W. Bush, to Tommy Thompson at DHHS (who spends $3 million a day funding anti-smoker activities), to John Ashcroft (who is crafting another attack on Big Tobacco which will be paid by smokers alone), to the ACLU Lifestyle Discrimination Division, to all Congressmen and Senators, and to the governors of the fifty states.
This petition will be delivered to President George W. Bush, to Tommy Thompson at DHHS (who spends $3 million a day funding anti-smoker activities), to John Ashcroft (who is crafting another attack on Big Tobacco which will be paid by smokers alone), to the ACLU Lifestyle Discrimination Division, to all Congressmen and Senators, and to the governors of the fifty states.
PETITION
We, the fifty million smokers in the United States, believe that under the Constitution our interests should be represented and that we deserve equal protection under the law. In the current climate of fanatic extremism against those who choose to smoke, a legal activity, we have neither. We are burdened with oppressive, punitive taxes and selectively discriminated against in employment, medical care, property use, and even in our homes and families, with the blessing of our own government. We reject the label of "addict," which validates the desire to vilify, ostracize and demonize us by those who think it's their right to dictate how others live. We are not weak, selfish, ignorant or stupid; we are not murderers or child abusers because we smoke; we are one in four of your friends, neighbors, and family. We deserve the same respect and dignity afforded every other American. The War on Smokers must be stopped now by defunding the hate-filled anti-smoking movement that is built on lies and arrogance. The unfair, divisive and destructive behavior modification campaign must be dismantled and those unelected non-governmental organizations and officials stripped of their power to legislate and levy taxes on the citizens of this country. We demand a return to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution with inclusion of ALL Americans, including smokers, in the anti-discrimination statutes of this country.
Sorry She, I can't sign it because of this one phrase. I don't agree with it.
Oppressive, punitive taxes-- on a product you choose to purchase. Similar taxes apply to such things as candy, alcohol, and entertainment in many states. It's not just you.
Selective discrimination in employment-- smokers are absent from work at a greater rate than nonsmokers not to even mention the smoke-breaks! (This is where the smokers yell "gimme your reference!" and then deride it as propaganda...)
Medical care-- smoking related disease is big $$$ from a limited pot (insurance). Why shouldn't heavier utilizers pay more for what is an elective disease process (you choose to smoke even knowing the risks!)
Property use-- your activity stinks up a place. You may like the smell (or have wasted your olfactory sense), but smoke drenched hotel rooms, rental cars, etc are offensive. Businesses know this, but I guess that is only important when you want businesses to side with the tobacco lobby.
In our homes and families-- ?? Nahh- second hand smoke couldn't possibly be related to childhood asthma {sarc>
Looks like the smokers are now going for VICTIM status! Maybe Jesse and Al will pitch in: Tobacco combustion is in the Consti-tution, and for the weed we do plead. Sign the petition to protect our position, and puff away as you please..
Asbestos suit on...
Go back in your box.
He is so off the mark with his comments it isn't even funny.
Smokers Take Back Your Dignity
Thank you!
Here is one for you....
Myth: Smokers on average suffer poorer health than non-smokers and may be more likely to miss work due to illness. Ault (1991) using US data from 1968 show that smokers miss no more work than non-smokers. Rather smokers tend to be younger, heavier drinkers and blue collar workers and this group tend to have high absentee rates regardless of whether or not they smoke.
From LABOUR MARKET PERFORMANCE AND THE EFFECTS OF DRINKING AND SMOKING
J. Lye and J. Hirschberg, Department of Economics, University of Melbourne
Blacks have the highest absentee rate by far.
Should you not hire blacks?
Thank you, poet!
The same can be said of the statement that obesity causes some 300,000 premature deaths each year. Except for a few who suffocate under their own weight, there is no proof.
I beg to differ regarding the punitive taxes. when this state didn't have the funds togive state employees a pay raise, the governor in her imminent wisdom decided that increasing taxes on smokers was how that could be done. Excuse me, but smokers are only a small portion of the population of the state that benefits from happy state employees. let everyone foot that kind of bill.
Kindly prove that smokers are absent from work more often than non-smokers. If I made a similar remark about women who are the mothers of small children I would be drummed right off FR.
You're comments regarding medical care are totally off base and unrelated to the language of the petition. As to property use - if the owner of an establishment wishes to permit smoking, he should be permitted to do so. He is perfectly within his rights to prohibit it, but in very few areas is he allowed to permit it in a manner in which he chooses, if given the choice at all.
Secondhand smoke is not related to cildhood astham. show me proof that it is. Smoking has been decreasing, yet the instances of childhood asthma are skyrocketing. Can you explain that?
Smokers aren't claiming to be victims - we are just working to counter the VICTIM status adopted by those who don't like the smell of our tobacco smoke.
I don't see why you bothered with the asbestos suit - you strike me as the kind who will notbother to engage in the conversation.
Gaston, the one thing about obesity, you can see it. And we all know that all the extra fat around one's heart is no good. Being heavy slows a person down and they can't breath.
Also, when a person is heavy, they have all that extra weight on their little knees, and this causes a lot of knee problems. I can understand the health problems being connected to obesity.
The Surgeon General put forth a report before he stepped down:
Surgeon general warns obesity may overtake tobacco as leading preventable killer
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