Random Rant: Nothing Personal

[Kassiana]

Okay. This is a non-smoker's rant about smokers who complain they're being persecuted by not being allowed to smoke around non-smokers. I'm warning you at the start. If you're a smoker but you don't smoke around non-smokers and behave responsibly (i.e. don't treat the world like your own private ashtray), I'm not talking about you. If you stay here, get a nice thick skin and repeat several times, "Kass is a nice person and isn't saying this to hurt me" before you reply.

You have been warned.

How is it considered to be "discrimination" to keep someone from polluting my air?

Seriously. What "rights" under the Constitution are violated by telling smokers, "No, you have to keep your cigarettes unlit while you're in a restaurant or bar, because we don't want our lives shortened by your addiction. Turn your own damned lungs into coal if you'd like, but leave ours alone"?

I see none. Yet smokers all over the country bitch and moan about efforts to improve the health of waitstaff and other non-smokers. Why? We allow no other addicts to endanger others' health this way. We don't let wine drinkers pour non-drinkers huge glasses of alcohol and make them chug them. We don't let heroin mainliners jab hypodermic needles into non-addicts' arms and make them into addicts, too.

Yeah, you want to be able to keep smoking around others who don't smoke. Well, invent something that keeps your drug to yourself, or expect that we will restrict it FOR you.

And by the way, why do so many smokers think it's okay to dispose of their ugly cigarette butts on the ground, on sidewalks, and in the sand on beaches? I don't see alcohol bottles in the grass every time I go out walking, but I sure do see cigarette butts everywhere. Do smokers just not care about the environment? Do they not understand that by refusing to dispose of their cigarettes in an ashtray, they're showing utter contempt for everyone else?

Argh. I've been pissed off about this for a while. Thank you. This concludes this rant. You may now return to talking about tits and ass, though the Supreme Court has concluded by a vote of 7-1 that cocks are not acceptable in conversation.

 

[Liar]

How is it considered to be "discrimination" to keep someone from polluting my air?

My thought exactly.

But hey...

Do you ever wear spray-on perfumes? That's something my health would need laws against.

 

[Sunnie]

I'm a smoker, but I do agree with you 100% ... As a group, we smokers are entirely too whiney about the whole thing -- so what if restaurants are banning smoking, can't you get thru one lousy meal without lighting up? Or at least wait until you get to your car or something?

I'm also Pagan and as such, I consider littering to be the unpardonable sin (which my husband learned the hard way when we first started dating ). So I get pretty pissed off when I see cigarette butts all over the place, too. My husband and I always take a paper cup full of sand to the beach or wherever, to put our butts in, and then throw the cup away.

People have no fucking respect.

 

[Brinnie]

I randomly smoke beedies and cloves... But regular cigs smell like shit- and make my throat hurt...


I have no idea why people are so stupid to get addicted to those things.

Fucking morons... Act like they're fucking powerfull n shit, when they can't even quit.

 

[Kassiana]

Do you ever wear spray-on perfumes?

Rarely if ever. My husband is sensitive to them.

That's something my health would need laws against.

Oddly enough, according to my knowledge of current medical science, there is no scientific evidence that perfumes actually harm anyone's health. If you have some, of course, and they both show that (a) most people wear enough perfume to present a serious health threat to a significant population (as cigarette smoking has been proven in study after study to do) and (b) people are not willing to voluntarily stop wearing perfume around said significant population, go for it.

 

[Liar]

Oddly enough, according to my knowledge of current medical science, there is no scientific evidence that perfumes actually harm anyone's health.

Depends on your definition of harming health, I guess. It doesn't deterirate my helth slowly, like soot from passive smoking does. But it causes asthmatic reactions. Everyting from a sore throat to loss of respiratory function, dpending on how much fumes, what kind of fumes, and what condition I'm in at the moment.

 

[Kassiana]

But it causes asthmatic reactions.

Like I said, if that's a significant threat and there are really that many people wearing perfumes that affect a significant number of people, sure. Ban it. Rights to breathe trump rights to be addicted or smell like Coco Chanel says we should smell.

 

[JamesSD]

One of the women who recently moved into the apartment beneath mine is a smoker. I have no complaints about her as a neighbor, but I can't stand the smell which enters through any open window.

Unfortunately I don't feel I have a lot of right to complain. Really, in their own home is the best place for people to smoke. Mostly I'm lucky that she has class in the evenings, which is the most likely time for me to be home.

 

[BlackSnake]

The director of my department handed in his notice, the assistant director asked me to teach her how to do her job, I'm locked out of the database server, and this piece of crap DELL is too friggin' slow! I want to go out and sit under a tree.

 

[Sunnie]

-blink-

um... Okay.

 

[matriarch]

I agree completely Kass.
I'm a part time smoker, only when at home, but not indoors. I only smoke outside on my terrace. And I would never dream of smoking near someone who is a non-smoker, or in a place where its environmentally sensitive.

I work in a non-smoking environment, and can't see the point in traipsing up and down three flights of stairs to stand outside in the rain, snow, boiling sun, whatever, just to smoke. So I don't. I have a couple of an evening at home, outside.

But I hate the smell of it when I'm not.

Perverse I know, but I'm a woman. I'm allowed to be contrary.

 

[cantdog]

And by the way, why do so many smokers think it's okay to dispose of their ugly cigarette butts on the ground, on sidewalks, and in the sand on beaches? I don't see alcohol bottles in the grass every time I go out walking, but I sure do see cigarette butts everywhere. Do smokers just not care about the environment? Do they not understand that by refusing to dispose of their cigarettes in an ashtray, they're showing utter contempt for everyone else?

Argh. I've been pissed off about this for a while. Thank you. This concludes this rant. You may now return to talking about tits and ass, though the Supreme Court has concluded by a vote of 7-1 that cocks are not acceptable in conversation.

Cocks, while interesting, and in elephants prehensile, are not sparkling conversationalists. The supremes are once again infallibly correct.

You are wrong, though, about the alcohol bottles.

I see alcohol bottles, and cans too, all over the beaches and the woods, the islands and the subways, the highways and the downtowns. People are being paid to pick the damn things up, and they do. For hundreds of thousands, this is their job. Beer cans and bottles are the most common.

There are relatively few hypos lying around, though.

I'm not keen on the tons of McDonalds and Wendy's wrappers and boxes I find thrown all over the Jesus, either.

You are singling out the cigabutts because of some special odium you have for them. Waste of all sorts is everywhere. Cigabutts are not an exclusive polluter.

 

[oggbashan]

Plus ca change

Smell:
When I was slightly younger than I am now, about 50 years ago, men working in offices used to wear shirts with detachable collars. The shirt, and underwear, would be worn all week and only the collar would be changed every day. Suits, which were made of a much heavier material than today, would be worn for three months before being sent to the dry cleaners. On a hot summer's day the aroma was strong. No man wore deodorant or after-shave. Anyone who did was assumed to be homosexual and that was illegal.

Women working in offices would also wear heavy materials such as woollen pinafore dresses. Their blouses would last a week with cuff-protectors made of plastic or celluloid from wrist to elbow. Tampons were very daring and external pads, even reusable towels, were used inside heavy knickers with panty-liners. The panty-liners were not the disposable stick-on items of today but real towelling that would be changed two or three times a week and the knickers would be washed once a week. It was apparent at three yards if it was 'that time of the month'.

Pipe smoking was common in shops, offices, bars and restaurants. Some pipe tobacco had a reasonably pleasant aroma. Many smelt like a ripe bonfire or burning rubber. Cigars and cigarillos were also common. A good cigar was reasonably pleasant at a distance. A cheap cigar reeked. All smokers had an aroma even when not smoking because clothes were washed so infrequently.

In most British cities coal was the main fuel for power stations, factories, offices and for house heating. The smoke produced the dreaded London Peculiar Smog. Apart from the very reduced visibility (in some smogs I couldn't see my feet IN DAYLIGHT) the polluted air was very difficult to breathe and fatal to anyone with a lung complaint. The smell was very strong and some described it like standing over a belching chimney.

Litter:
At the same time, although there were many more people employed to sweep the roads the litter still accumulated because they didn't have the mechanical aids we have today. A road sweeper pushed a handbarrow. When it was full he had to return to his depot to empty it. Market stalls standing in many High Streets produced heaps of litter that was beyond the ability of the road sweeper to remove before the next day's market began.

Cigarettes were not such bad items of litter as they are now. Very few had filter tips. The whole cigarette was biodegradable and people smoked them closer to the end than now. A cigarette butt half an inch long would have been wasteful.

What today's streets miss is the presence of horses. In the 1940s much transport was still horsedrawn, especially local deliveries. That meant horse manure. Not as much as in my father's youth in the 1910s when a London street could be a foot deep in horseshit, but enough to make it unpleasantly slippery and pungent. The poor roadsweeper had to try to shovel it up. He was losing the battle every day.

Even further back the streets of Pompeii have stepping stones across the street at junctions. The guides will tell you that they are there for flash floods when it rained. Don't believe them. The stepping stones were to cross the seething mass of horseshit and sewage. No wonder the Emperors banned horses from the centre of Imperial Rome.

Our towns and our people smell infinitely better than they did 50 years ago. Our streets are less littered than they were 50 years ago. It would be pleasant if our streets were wholly free of litter. That depends on people changing their activities and habits. Maybe, one day.

Og

 

[R. Richard]

One thing that bothers me is the typcial smokers lack of concern for other's habits. At a place I worked, they were going to great lengths to set up a "smoker's room." This was so that smokers would not have to stand outside in the wind and rain to execise their habit.

I pointed out that I do not smoke. Ladies of the evening are my habit. I proposed a room for that sort of activity. Talk about total lack of concern and outright refusal to discuss my habit.

 

[rgraham666]

Kass, much as I like you, blow me.

I have gone out of my way to try not to inflict my habit on others. And it's never enough. "No, you evil inconsiderate smokers. No place for you. You can't eat with us, can't talk with us. And soon it will be you can't live with us."

If you drive, you do a lot more damage to people's lungs than I do. I go outside, I can smell all the cars working and it's a lot less pleasant than my pipe tobacco. It poisons our air and water. But no one bitches about that, that's normal!

Fine, I'll go away. I'll hang out with my smoking friends and the non-smokers who are kind enough to let me smoke in my own space. We'll still live longer than you because we don't get stressed out that the world doesn't work exactly the way we want it.

Personally I hope they make tobacco illegal. I'm already setting up my supply, distribution and sales structure. I'm gonna be richer than Bill Gates. I'll make sure to send you money Kass. My wealth will be thanks to people like you.

 

[amicus]

Finally! A post of RGraham I can totally agree with.

Kassianna....not looking for a fight, but since the forum is somewhat barren, I read this post and growled as I am a smoker and don't give a rats ass who likes it or not.

http://www.cato.org/dailys/9-28-98.html

The Second-Hand Smoke Charade
by Dominick Armentano

Dominick Armentano is professor emeritus in economics at the University of Hartford and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. He lives in Vero Beach, Florida.

"...Smoking tobacco products over a long period of time may entail significant health risks. Acknowledging those risks, millions of Americans have quit smoking because they estimate that the possible costs exceed any possible benefits. That's their right. Alternatively, millions of other Americans have voluntarily assumed the risks of smoking and they continue to puff away. And that's their right, too.
Or is it? One of the important arguments for restricting smoking is that it can endanger innocent nonsmokers who inhale environmental tobacco smoke (ETS).

Indeed, many states (led by California and Florida) have decided over the last few years to severely restrict smoking in commercial establishments on the basis of a 1993 Environmental Protection Agency report that classified ETS as a "Group A Carcinogen," that is, as a significant risk to health.

It now turns out that the influential 1993 EPA report "Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders" was as phony as a three-dollar bill. State officials and private businesses that believed that ETS was a public health danger (and not just a nuisance) were completely misled by the EPA. And, of course, so was main street American public opinion..."

(only an excerpt, full article is at the link)


I really am however, pissed off and women and the law as smoking is being banned more and more.

Just like the Suffragettes who campaign and finally got alcohol banned in the United States a long time ago and basically created Organized Crime, the Mafia and the idiots who have banned Marijuana and Cocaine, both of which used to be legal, the goddamned pussy assed women with sensitive noses, in order to keep men under control and destroy all the things we enjoy, booze, drugs and tobacco, are at it again.

Really and truly PISSES ME OFF!!!!!!


So the above, and there are other sources, which disprove the so called 'danger' of second hand smoke.

Now consider: if there are no dangers to second hand smoke, and the health dangers to smoking are not well proven and the individual has the right to use tobacco products even if they are harmful, just as fat bitches keep gobbling chocolate at 300 pounds, then the whole goddamned second hand smoking thing, ban and all, taxes and all laws and lawsuits and all, are all fucking 100 percent phoney!

So to pamper your goddamned over sensitive nose you pass laws banning smoking. Bullshit! Many perfumes are bad enough to gag a maggot. By your reasoning, ban those also and every other 'scent' that displeases you.

And RGraham is right, if you use a gasoline or diesel powered engine, even an oil furnace, you create more carcinogens than a million smokers.


Bah! Humbug! Let the bitches eat cake!


an angry amicus...

 

[Guest]

OK, ami, don't hold back.

Just come on out and tell us how you feel.

As an ex-smoker, I feel I've dealt with both sides.

My undergrad voice instructor gave me the option of either continuing to smoke or to take singing lessons. As it was my college degree, I opted to quit.

I can take it or leave it, it doesn't particularly bother me.

I did, however, become quite militant when my children were infants, especially when restaurants had a less-than-ideal segregated system.

They've done a terrific job in our country lately to give non-smokers breathing space. That's all I want. That's all most non-smokers want.

The rest, well. (Your source is most slanted, by the way).

But on the negative? Fuck you running, ami, for once again blaming all the ills of the world on women.

 

[amicus]

You mean there are people who don't think women in general are the base cause of all evil on earth?

Name one!

ahem....

edited to add: I am reminded of the Rex Harrison song in My Fair Lady, "Why can't a woman be more like me?"

Let a woman in your life!.....

 

[cantdog]

Cato is bias in Latin, I think.

 

[SeaCat]

I received two complaints this afternoon from the property manager where I currently live. The first dealt with the smell and offensiveness of my cigar smoke. (I only smoke in my courtyard.) It commented about how several of my neighbors had complained about the smell of my cigar and how it impaired thier enjoyment of their patios.

The second letter dealt with two things. The first was how the manner in which my wife dressed in the evenings was causing my neighbors wives and girlfriends to be uncomfortable. (Bikini tops and skirts.) The second complained that we tend to keep our slider pen, which means they occasionaly hear us when we have sex. this seems to make them uncomfortable as well.

I declined to reply to either letter although I have enjoyed one cogar on my patio this evening, and plan on enjoying another later. I also have no plan on closing my slider when we head to bed. (Hey at least I'm not recording my wife and I as we go at it then play it at high volume on my stereo. )

Cat

 

[Guest]

I received two complaints this afternoon from the property manager where I currently live. The first dealt with the smell and offensiveness of my cigar smoke. (I only smoke in my courtyard.) It commented about how several of my neighbors had complained about the smell of my cigar and how it impaired thier enjoyment of their patios.

The second letter dealt with two things. The first was how the manner in which my wife dressed in the evenings was causing my neighbors wives and girlfriends to be uncomfortable. (Bikini tops and skirts.) The second complained that we tend to keep our slider pen, which means they occasionaly hear us when we have sex. this seems to make them uncomfortable as well.

I declined to reply to either letter although I have enjoyed one cogar on my patio this evening, and plan on enjoying another later. I also have no plan on closing my slider when we head to bed. (Hey at least I'm not recording my wife and I as we go at it then play it at high volume on my stereo. )

Cat

Well, if you would stop having sex in the dang pool!

 

[SeaCat]

Well, if you would stop having sex in the dang pool!

So I like making waves.

Cat

 

[Guest]

You mean there are people who don't think women in general are the base cause of all evil on earth?

Name one!

ahem....

edited to add: I am reminded of the Rex Harrison song in My Fair Lady, "Why can't a woman be more like me?"

Let a woman in your life!.....

Ahhh, I've done that show. Played Eliza.

And I directed a production four years ago.

You forget the outcome of the show, do you not?

My favorite song - Without You

Eliza (singing):
What a fool I was, what dominated fool,
to think that you were the earth and the sky,
What a fool I was, What an elevated fool,
What a mutton-headed dote was I!
No, my reverberated friend,
you are not the beginning and the end.

Professor Higgins (speaking):
You impetant hussy there's not an idea in your head or a word in your mouth that I haven't put there.

Eliza (singing):
There'll be spring every year without you. England still will be here without you.
There'll be fruit on the tree.
And a shore by the sea.
There'll be crumpets and tea without you.

Art and music will thrive without you. Somehow Keats will survive without you.
And there still will be rain on that plain down in Spain,
even that will remain without you.
I can do without you.

You, dear friend, who taught so well,
You can go to Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire.

They can still rule with land without you.
Windsor Castle will stand without you.
And without much ado we can all muddle through without you.

Professor Higgins:
You brazen hussy,

Eliza (singing):
Wihtout pulling it the tide comes in,
without your twirling it the Earth can spin,
Without your pulling it, the tide comes in
Without your twirling it, the earth can spin
Without your pushing them, the clouds roll by,
If they can do without you, ducky, so can I
I shall not feel alone without you
I can stand on my own without you
So go back in your shell
I can do bloody well
Without...

You forget she stands on her own two feet and leaves him. And only after he is left alone, broken and lonely, does she return.

And in the original stage version, we end the show with Eliza at-the-ready to toss his slippers at him.

Well done, Eliza.

(Eat me, amicus.)

 

[amicus]

And Seacat smokes stogies....hmmm

Rant aside, if indeed the EPA report is flawed, why then the immense push to ban smoking in many places? Just today, I heard on the news that New Jersey has a law pending that would ban smoking in ones private automobile.

amicus...

 

[Dar~]

I don't see how it is unreasonable to smokers to allow non smokers a little un smoke infused air.