Time to step it up smokers...........

they are on to our evil plot to knock them off one by one. We will have to escalate our plans. Never smoke only one cigarette at a time. Be sure to blow smoke in the direction of anyone within 20 feet of you. Always smoke with the windows down in your car.....buck up, I don't care if it's 20 degrees out, take one for the team!

Since the slightest whiff of smoke will take out our delicate non-smoking friends be sure to smoke with the windows of your house open as well.

We will prevail as they drop like flies......bwahahahaha.



:evilgrin:

KILL KILL KILL.

Oh wait. You can't smell most of the auto exhaust and other forms of air pollution that you are breathing 24/7.

it a secret that smoking makes you hardier?

isn't trumad just the sweetest thing?

lol

and a resting heart rate of 54.

I don't plan to drop like a fly any time soon- but even if I do it'll likely be while I'm inside and warm, while the smokers are out in the back alley, huddled against the wind.

Yep, nice plan. Go with what ya got. Er... what exactly is it the smokers GOT???

Sorry, couldn't help it. :D

:hi:
:D

Hope you're doing well. :hug:

but maybe i should drop in there sometime.
actually, i'm romantically involved with another DUer. we met back in august. :)
hope life has been treating YOU well.
:hug:

Glad to hear about your romance.

My current beau is the only thing in my life that's worth getting out of bed for (or staying IN bed for :P )

is that a dumb question?
if you want to see some pictures of our get-together, go here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12028146@N07/
check the photosets on the sidebar. the DUer, kagehime, aka sara, and myself.

You guys look so happy. I am thrilled for both of you (and wish I could have shared a beer with all of you).

Me?

Cancer.

Lost job in Beloved Christian Workplace™ and health insurance one week after surgery.

Same old same old...

They're going to have to try harder than that to kill me. :D

have you been okay?? :hug:
i had no idea. sounds like life has been kicking you when you were down.
are you working now?
and yes, we are very happy :loveya:
where you from, anyway?

but I'm stuck down here in the bible belt (with Mitch McConnell as one of my senators-argh) for the time being.

I'm okay, really. I do need to go back into the hospital, but I've got good friends and an awesome guy looking out for me.

In the spirit of not wanting to totally hijack this thread, most of them smoke, too. :)

:hi:
it was good seeing you, my friend. :hug:

I'm so sorry. :hug:

If there's anything I can do.

Sid

:rofl:

because he's going to get pneumonia from smoking outside in the weather.

Then I started smoking on a dare. Fifteen years
later I have emphysema, chronic congestive lung
disease, high BP and cholesterol.

Be warned from one who knows too late.

a monkey on their back.

and apparently proud of it.

:shrug:

when I have something to drink-I have to have a cigar.Fortunately,in Redneck heaven,smoking is encouraged.

Got to say my peace though... so here goes:

I am addicted to nicotine.
An alcoholic is addicted to alcohol.
Nicotine kills.
Nicotine can destroy families.
Alcohol kills.
Alcohol can destroy families.

Why aren't there threads here treating alcoholics like pieces of shit?

It's more subtle?
What the f*** gives w/ this?

Drunks drive and kill on the road,
they bully innocent ppl in bars, on the streets, you name it.
They cause destruction for generations to come, with whom ever they love or love them.

Both suck.

I suck.
Drunks suck.

Addiction sucks.

Heartless, self righteous people that attack addicts SUCK.

Only picking on one type of addict sucks. Unless you are the "other kind of addict"... then it's smooth sailing here.

So, who's gonna start FIVE HUNDRED threads on how alcoholics suck and ruin RUIN RUIN the quality of peoples lives, and I will debate anyone who thinks, THE LIFETIME of stress that alcoholics cause on their loved ones, doesn't cause stress related deaths.

I personally know some people that are freaking wrecks from the havoc that alcoholics have brought into their lives, that these people smoke like chimneys, and take valium while attending Al-Anon meetings.

There. God that felt good.

I've been on this forum for a few years, and I'm quite the crampy PMS'd stressed out mama of a two teen boys, a hubs on disability and a family of freepers... so I finally said what I think about this.

Well said.

- as

which i can't say for cigarette smoke.

on the other hand, why aren't there defiant people shouting from the rooftops about their "right" to drink wherever, whenever they want and implying that anyone who complains about any rude behavior associated with drinking needs psychological help?

:applause:

Halobeam,please don't be a stranger, your posts rock!
We need you.

at least with alcohol, there is a discernable "reward" to drinking.

you get a buzz on.

maybe an alcoholic does, eventually, drink to keep away the withdrawal symptoms, but at least, in the beginning, they got high.

they may have started drinking for the wrong reasons, like lack of self esteem, using it as a social lubricant, to bolster nerves for the final pickup attempt after "last call for alcohol", to justify the lowering of standards required BY the bolstered nerves after lastcall ("i was SO drunk"), etc.

those are not good excuses, but at least the alcohol DID something to them, made them more outgoing, relaxed their inhibitions... MAYBE even got them laid.

cigarettes do nothing.

the first time anyone takes their first puff off of a cigarette, the body tells you that it is not natural.

you cough. sometimes you cough your lungs out. i have never met one person who says that when they took their first drag, "ooohh, THAT felt good!".

i think people start smoking because it is a combination of rebellion, and the misguided idea that it looks cool. it gives you something to do with your hands. you can wave it around while blowing smoke into the air, looking pensive and thoughful. you may even burn people standing next to you because you aren't paying attention while waving your cigarette around. (haha, but i've seen it happen in bars. then we have the ever popular "smoker's face off..).

face it, you are usually young and stupid when you pick up the habit. you actually have to work at acquiring the taste for tobacco.

it doesn't take long to get hooked, but from then on you "relax" because it keeps you from having withdrawal symptoms. nothing more.

so, the rest of us have to put up with it because the smoker wanted to look/be cool, and doesn't have the strength to quit.

cry me a fucking river...

I addressed once the addiction existed.

There are so many grey areas w/ both alcohol and nicotine. Seems like your post defends that becoming addicted to alcohol is more acceptable/understandable than becoming addicted to nicotine. That's another argument.

It's food for thought. I do wonder if throughout history, to present day, if there are more alcoholics or more nicotine addicts in the world. It would be interesting to find the statistics.

Apparently there is one hell of a lure for nicotine, so there must be something to them. For this reason, I'm not quite sure I believe that cigarettes "do nothing". If that were true, I'd think many people wouldn't have started smoking. I vaguely recall information regarding cigarettes altering the mind too. It is a stimulant too, so there's that. I haven't studied this, I've just had some conversations about it with people during my life and in these talks, low self esteem, peer pressure, advertising, status (more so in the past, than present IMO) have relevance. Some of these reasons you have listed for reasons for people picking up drinks, which have more to do w/ reasons to "pick up" drinking, and less to do with the effects (the high) that comes from alcohol.

As far as your example of people not liking cigarettes at first, I recall most often than not, when people first drink, many make really funny faces and swallow hard. This doesn't really show it's a pleasurable thing either, and it very well in many cases becomes an acquired taste.

There's just too much to cover here about this.

My opinion was just about those who are addicted and the effects their addiction have on others.

I will not though, cry you a river, it seems you can cry yourself a nice size one, without any of my help.

I appreciate your time in responding to my post.

I am blowing smoke through all those interconnector-thingies. The fumes are just awful. Calls are coming in that I've killed at least 8 people in the last 60 seconds.

Thats my problem...

Can't we even have our own thread?

Did everybody see the photo of trumad's brain? Now I know what's wrong with him.

oh yeah, just let yourself go, you know you want to!

Visualize smoke, all around you, and inhale like you've never inhaled before. It's so bad it's good.

My; smoking all his life; 85 year old Dad lectured me about quitting smoking... :eyes:
He smoked at least 3 packs a day, when I was a 'youngster' and Yes! I stole his unfiltered
cigarettes a few times at age 13 and tried them with friends, down by the mudhole and we
turned green and puked and swore we'd never do THAT again but I (we) did... and so, at age
85 my Dad finally quit smoking! What a feat! He did it out of LOVE for my sickly, terminally
ill mother (and brow beating from my RN sister) and he died at a very young age... 93!!!!!!!! :P

I've heard that it may be a 'gene' thing, as far as some can tolerate it and some can't.

I don't smoke or blow smoke at others. I move away from others when I do smoke in public but
they like laughing so much, they follow me!! :P How is that 'my' problem? They tell me to go
ahead and light up and that it's not a problem. See? I'm considerate. I ask first. "Do you mind if I smoke?"

Pollution in this country far surpasses cig smoke, you may or may not be exposed to. ;)

:smoke:

Non-smoking grandma died at 67, Non-smoking Grandpa at 70.

The smokers also drank like fish.



It's gotta be genetics.

My mom swore all the bad diseases were bad genetics.
No one in OUR family had Cancer.
No one in OUR family had lung issues.
Started at age 13-14 for no other reason than to be/look cool or older.
Smoked for years. More than a pack a day.
She was just lucky, she'd say -- OUR family didn't have those BAD genetics.
Yup. Right up until age 60, when she had a massive stroke during elective surgery.

It was the only time I ever saw my mother without a cigarette. That was because she was in a drug-induced coma for a month.
So, now at age 64, she's half paralyzed and wheelchair bound -- living in a nursing home for the past 4.5 years.
She's had cognitive losses -- and can no longer READ.
She can't dress herself, comb her hair, or visit the bathroom without supervision.
She had a tracheotomy, and had to re-learn how to swallow/eat.
Lost her home, car, possessions, savings, and had to go on Medicaid.
Has become my legal responsibility -- when I have 2 children to care for.
Smokers' rights meant everything to her.


My mother's mother (non-smoking)lived a completely healthy life to age 93. No surgeries, health issues, medications.
Genetics?

Oh, and the same year my mother had her stroke -- her (smoking) brother lost a kidney. We didn't have Cancer in the family till her generation. She and her siblings all smoke. They're all having problems in their 60s.

Genetics aren't everything.

Keep spinning that roulette wheel, though.

where people are allowed to smoke and non-smokers can be sure to avoid them....walking down a street open air smoking, 15 ft from a door. and your own home. possibly you are allowed to smoke in your own yard. Everywhere else Smokers have been banned like lepers.

Last I noted, smoking is not against the law. Possession of tobacco is legal.

DAMN IT, QUIT HITTING MY CAR WITH YOUR BUTTS. It always seems to happen after I detail my car and some inconsiderate jackass throws their cigarette butt out the window and it hits my car. If you smoke allot, at least be considerate enough to not be lazy and actually use and keep your ash tray clean, don't just throw everything out the window because you don't want to clean the ashtray daily.

Back in the day, when police actually had time on their hands, they would bust people for littering. I was with my uncle when I was younger and we were pulled over and he was given the chance of either a fine or going back to find his cigarette butt. I couldn't laugh then because he would have had my ass but his son didn't waste time in telling him that he shouldn't have littered. LOL!

or on the sidewalk. If I'm smoking outdoors without an ashtray, I stub my smoke out on the ground and put it in my pocket for later disposal. Yeah, it stinks while it's in my pocket, but geez, we're adults. Why should anyone else be expected to clean up after us? (Plus, saw one of my goddaughters pick up a cigarette butt in the street when she was about four and pretend to smoke it. :gross: )

They last for years. Plus that's fucking littering. How are you justifying littering? I guess smokers can do whatever the fuck they want. So fucking defensive about their fucking disgusting habit. In deep denial about the fact that it causes cancer and emphysema. So maybe not every smokers dies of cancer or emphysema but it definitely increase the risk plus it's just fucking disgusting. It stinks and cigarette butts do not degrade. SO DON'T THROW THEM OUT THE WINDOW, you pigs!

I have to go outside to smoke? An OUTRAGE! FASCISM! Waaaaaaaah! :eyes:

How dare you tell me I'm a shitty parent for puffing away with an infant in the back seat and all the windows rolled up. An OUTRAGE! FASCISM!

Oh, yeah.. of course, it's just the faintest "whiff" of smoke.. since, as smokers are well aware, that stuff smells like roses and a medium rare steak dinner rolled up into one. Who would have a problem with that? When non-smokers complain that cigarette smoke smells like dog ass, they're obviously just making shit up. As for it being a documented health hazard- it's all part of the conspiracy, maaaaaaaan!

Oh, I know, we're imagining it because we just like to complain- we're actually out to get you, and the real reason is we're jealous because those things make you look so sophisticated and sexy. Really!

Like I said, that stuff smells GREAT. And it's good FOR YOU! Non-smokers are the ones making an "issue" out of nothing... Just like all drunks are great drivers--- it's everyone else who doesn't respect their amazing ability to artfully weave in and out of traffic lanes who has the problem.

Here's the bottom line: Want to kill yourself with cigarettes, like my Dad did? It's not my job to stop you. I know better than to argue with an addiction. But if you're in an enclosed indoor public space, your smoke becomes my problem. Although thankfully, praise Jeebus, not in California. Not any more.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Clearly that disproves all this nonsense about burning poison being somehow BAD for people. P'shaw!

Bravo!!

:applause:

I'm still floored when they ask up here if I want smoking or nonsmoking. Didn't have to deal with that at home. Lost my dad at 47 from smoking. Hate the fucking things.

There's still an awful lot of that, floating around.

Heidi, smoker :smoke:

For many that isn't good enough.

We DO have delicate health, and would appreciate it if smokers kept the foul stench of their cancer sticks to themselves. One whiff of smoke DOES cause problems for people like me...I'm sick of having to pay big bucks to an ear-nose-throat specialist every time some imbecile smokes in public, causing my sinuses to close up immediately. I'm one of the lucky ones; I had a neighbor who had asthma, and she had a severe attack after being exposed to cigarette smoke. She died in the car as her husband drove her to E.R.

Nothing says "no class" like sucking on a smoldering pacifier. If smokers are as tough as they like to think they are, why can't they just put the cigs down instead of having to wean themselves off like drug addicts?

Oh, that's right...because they ARE nicotine addicts. Drug addiction always clouds logic, after all....

ya get tired after a while pointing out what you said up above, hoping they get it. They won't. Instead they'll come up with a million reasons and rationalizations why it's such a wonderful habit.

But here's the thing... they know they're full of shit each and every morning as they wake up coughing lungs balls out of their chest. Or when they look in the mirror and see their faces crinkle by the day----or when they leave the warm confines of their office and huddle with other rationalizers in 10 degree weather just outside the door of their office buildings to light that fag up. They know what they're doing to their bodies but are simply to weak to stop doing it.

So instead they start another OP for the simple hope that one more rationalization will get them through one more day or 3 more packs of this nasty vile habit.

I have clear boundaries about where I do and don't smoke, and you can be assured that I know my addiction may eventually kill me and that I am not entitled to maintain my addiction at the peril of others' well-being.

1. I don't smoke indoors anywhere, even if it's allowed. This includes my own home. We stopped allowing smoking in our home when we got our cat. He's a non-smoker. Why should we put his health at risk in order to indulge our addiction. Plus, it stinks.

2. I don't smoke outdoors unless I've first checked with the folks around me to see whether it will bother them.

3. I don't smoke outdoors _at all_ if there are kids around, even if everyone thinks it's okay.

I'm no saint or poster-kid for the ideal smoker, nor do I want to be, but my addiction should be nobody's problem but my own, and I try to keep it that way.

If my mother in law can...you can.

The lady was so addicted she smoked with 25mg patch on her arm. 3 packs a day--- she couldn't go a minute without a cig in her mouth. After open heart surgery, she went cold turkey and hasn't smoked since. She says it's the best thing she ever accomplished.

Just quit. Please.

I often forget to smoke, and if it weren't for Coke and coffee, I probably wouldn't even be reminded.

Thank you for the encouragement. :)

Look--- I know it's tough and who the hell am I to tell you what to do. My Mom-In Law told me to F-off when I'd ask her to quit.

I wish you luck in your quest...

Those nitrates will curl your skin as much as 'tobaccey, and the heart disease might kill you before the colon cancer does.

But you ignore the real cause of your problem -- the auto pollution which you breathe in without saying anything.

I do get along with most non-smokers but some of them get on my nerves.

My health is just fine thank you. You're just seeing what you want to see.

:hi:

:P

We had someone just outside the frame hold the flag up because it's difficult to take photos while the bikes are moving.

Here I am knocking on heaven's door. That pic was taken at about mile 75 of a two day 90 mile ride.

:thumbsup:

Shall I scan the results of my last physical and post them?

Would that make you happy?

Sure, maybe one day I'll get sick but it's also possible that one day I'll quit. Right now I'm fine.

your 50 mile bike ride will become. But you already know that right?

All smokers are not the same. We're not all rude and fanatical, nor do we all look as though we're at death's door. Just sayin'.

I'm also a smoker and I don't smoke in my own house.

I have two human and two feline males in the house, and I
don't want to smoke around them.

Many of us are considerate, It's just the inconsiderate smokers that
get the attention and put us in a bad light.


:hi:

In fact, he died of emphysema. After viewing his lungs - which were nothing like human tissue at the time of his death - I wouldn't smoke again for a million dollars. That's about what a carton of cigarettes costs these day, isn't it? People from out-of-state always stop at the neighborhood store for "cheap" New Hampshire smokes. It boggles my mind when people rack up $500.00 credit card bills on something that's killing them, decreasing the value of their homes and cars and causing them to prematurely age and get that funny colored skin from lack of oxygen. Sorry to be preachy, but you know what a pain in the ass a born again breather can be.

I smoke. I enjoy smoking. I don't have kids, I don't drive (smoking or otherwise) and I rarely smoke on the street (old-fashioned thing I was brought up with) but if you're in my house, I'm going to smoke. Guess why? Because it's my frigging house. I don't grumble about not being allowed to smoke in public, I don't give anyone crap about being asked to go outside to smoke at a friend's place, it's their home and that's their right. I smoke in my own company, I don't bother anyone else with my smoke and I dispose of my butts responsibly (and since I smoke roll-ups, they're all biodegradable too). So, leave me. the fuck. ALONE.

Oh yeah, and stop showing me pictures of diseased lungs and shit too. I swear, you fuckers are as bad as the anti-abortion zealots. Yeah, it's kinda gross but the human psyche doesn't respond well to being shown healthy removed organs either. I KNOW smoking is bad for me, I KNOW smokers die younger of various diseases. Guess what? I DON'T GIVE A SHIT!. Way I figure it, life is like a savings account. When you're born, you get X number of days deposited. Have a smoke, you knock off a couple days. Have the salad instead of the burger and you claw a few back.

You don't want my smoke? That's fine and I'll do my best to oblige you because that's called being a decent guy but don't give me shit about my smoking when the only person it affects is me.

oh and BTW:

This does remind me of the how-dare-you-make-a-choice-brigade with their
huge photo placards outside of a Planned Parenthood center.

My opinion is that cigarette smoking is unhealthy and will help lead to lung cancer. You got a different opinion of that fact?

Ciggy smoking is unhealthy and will probably lead to cancer (although what doesn't these days?), no arguement at all. The problem is that a) I really don't care much about my health and b) I resent being given crap for making a perfectly informed choice to engage in what happens to be a self-destructive behaviour.

ya wanna kill yourself then kill yourself...

I'm not interested in controlling what other people do with their bodies in their own space.

I think that asking smokers to step outside of indoor, enclosed public spaces is a legitimate thing for states and municipalities to do. Beyond that, what you do with your body is your business.

We just banned smoking in all enclosed public places here (Britain). That means if I want to smoke while I'm at the pub (for example), I have to go outside where they have a little awning set up. For me, that's a minor inconvienience.

But that's the point, I choose to smoke. I know the risks, I know the dangers and I make an informed choice to smoke anyway. That's me. I don't have the right to make the same choice for the wait staff. For me, it's a minor niggle. I don't know about you but my life is full of minor annoyances. My cat's habit of kicking litter over the side of his tray is a niggle, tiny things that you just smile and put up with because really, you'd have to be a drama queen to make a fuss about it.

If it's the choice between the minor inconvienience of going outside or inflicting my smoke on the wait staff, I'll take the few minutes in the open air.

I think you and I can agree that if everyone observed some basic courtesy to others, this discussion wouldn't even need to happen.

....this thread has put me in the mood for a ciggie, anyone care to join me?

:hi:

:hi:

I'll have to step outside before I light up.
;-)

that would be fine with me.

Sid

because I loath interfering hysterical ninnies.

What can I do to help?

unlit cigarette because apparently that is enough to set some of the ninnies off into a coughing fit. ;-)

Everyone in this thread, smokers and non smokers alike will be dead. Questions?

The non smokers think they will live forever.

what non smokers want and what they get is two different things.

drag other people along with you?

and I don't like anyone telling me on how to live my life and I don't tell others on how to live theirs. My mom never smoked. She died at 1720 CDT on 17 Aug 06, 69 years of age of brain cancer. My Dad has never smoked and used to do things like ride bicycles from Chicago to Boston. For the past 15 years he has had severe heart problems. (along with two heart surgeries) It really surprised me he outlived Mom. My Dads father never smoked and he died at the age of 62 of pancreatic cancer. I'm thinking about taking up smoking, maybe I will live into my 80's. Not smoking hasn't done my family any good.

And despite the fact that I watched my dad die of lung cancer at age 53 after a lifetime of smoking, I would never dream of telling anyone "how to live their life". I'm not interested- AT ALL- in stopping consenting adults from smoking in their own space. In fact, if anything, I think we do way too much of that as a society, already. Women go to jail for having vibrators in Texas. Alabama has outlawed adult stores. We lock up millions of non-violent drug offenders, and we spend $40 Billion a year (not including costs of incarceration) trying to keep dangerous potheads like Willie Nelson from smoking a relatively benign plant on their own property.

I'm not interested in telling people they can't smoke cigarettes. Where it becomes my business is when it happens in an indoor, enclosed public place (or on a playground) where me or my kids have to breathe it in. That's why we have the laws we do in California- no one is "forbidden" from Smoking, they just have to go outside to do it. They can't do it absolutely whenever and wherever they'd like.

That's not "telling someone how to live their life", that's asking a basic level of common courtesy from people when they decide to light up.

Let the whiny littlr bastards collapse.

oh yeah, make pot illegal as well.

Sit in traffic with your driver window open. Who idles next to you? Why some non-smoker in a diesel pickup with their exhaust pipe aimed at your window.

Smokers smoke...the rest of you can find another planet.

This debate rages on------

:hi: :D

and hopefully we'll have our typical windy Illinois winter so it blows toward all the poor little anti-smoking Nazis who are driving in their high polluting cars, eating their gut rot McDonald's hamburger and drinking their teeth rotting cola.:eyes:

GEEZUS! The whining on this thread is unbelievable! And I thought my anti-smoking Nazi sister *cough*cough*cough*cough*cough* was bad!