Ban Smoking

[ChattanoogaPhil]

Read that NYC is considering banning smoking outside at places like parks, beaches, marinas.... What do you folks think? Time to ban smoking in public areas altogether, or should smokers be allowed to puff where they wish outside?

 

[Andy Griffith]

I thought the NY "thought police" already banned salt, fat, guns and all other things they think are bad for you.

They're just now getting around to smoking?!?!?

Well, I guess that'll cut down on the people that buy smokes outa state and make a profit on NY'ers.

They'll have to find something else to tax, then- is all I can figure.

I don't smoke, but this is ludicrous!

 

[enfield]

I think that NYC thinks the city owns public property. I think it's time for the citizens of NYC to take back their government, or become slaves.

 

[james56]

Yeah!! Let xxxxxxxxxx ban smoking like he wants to ban your gun's, salt, McDonald's, dang!! before long it will look like the Eastern Block Countrys of the Cold War years. Whats next? Wake up America

 

[Wayne02]

I dislike smoking and being around those who smoke inconsiderately. This is likely because as a child of two heavy smokers I was trapped in the back seat of the car with the windows barely cracked for the 5 hour drive to/from Portland several times per year. That cured me from ever wanting to take up smoking and made me pretty sensitive to cigarette smoke.

Having said that, there have been at least two anti-smoking initiatives on the ballot in this state/county in recent years and I voted against every one of them. While I don't like being around cigarette smoke, I am damn tired of all these bs nanny state laws we have and don't think it needs to be regulated.

Ban the smokers
Ban the fat people
Ban the short people
Ban the lawyers
Ban the guns
Ban everything

 

[Rule3]

That's a tough call. As a ex smoker who smoked for many many years, I hate it now and anytime someone else's smoke gets in my face I really do not like it. But there but for the grace of God go I. I do not like the "ban" of anything. Why not ban alcohol? Here in Fl and most of the country there is no smoking inside any where. So what did they do, they added small covered areas outside with awnings at restaurants and bars, so as long as I am not breathing it anymore I don't care.

The big problem I see, is not the second hand smoke but the cigarette butts (no pun). I go to Sanibel Island beaches a lot and to see butts washing up on shore is really a mess. Look at any intersection that has a long light. Butts every where, equally disgusting is the dissolved wads of gum stuck to the pavement. So lets ban gum also. How about chew, I see lots of guys, open there doors and spit out on the street or walk around with a spit cup. I find that worse.

No, I do not think banning is the answer, give them a designated area with disposal containers. I do not think the air pollution is much compared to cars, trucks, buses and industry. Fine them for littering and put them in jail for starting forest fires.

 

[cp1969]

Ban bans!

(Down with hotpants, too)

 

[Kelly Green]

There is something wrong when a government wants to regulate your every action. We are quickly becoming a regulatory state. If people understood the true meaning of "free society" they would be appalled at the power the government has over our lives through regulations.

 

[loutent]

I quit in '76 after about 10 years of smoking and really enjoying it. I keep telling my wife that I'm going to start again when/if I get to 80 when I figure I'll have more stuff to worry about.

For years I have looked into the second hand smoke issue (off and on, just for grins) and have never found proof that it does any harm. My dad smoked for 50+ years in the house, car etc - no harm done to we kids as far as I see. Granted, the butts smell and I can't stand them either, but some of our relatives/friends smoke and we have made the completely at ease when they are in our house by allowing them to smoke freely with absolutely no problem. I hate this nanny mentality and I figure that I do not want to be part of it either.

I think that it would be telling to walk through Central Park if smoking was band there and see if there would be anything done to some pothead lighting up.

 

[m1gunner]

Don't smoke, but don't mind if someone else does. The "second hand smoke" issue is BS, IMHO. I have seen the good the Tobacco Industry has done for the states where it operated. Many families fed and clothed, schools, churches, and hospitals built, billions upon billions of taxes paid. And hundreds of thousands of good paying jobs (many with benefits).

Of course, all has been in decline since tobacco was demonized.

So, yes, I am against smoking bans.

BTW, all you plus size guys and gals better read up on what they have done to those filthy smokers, your turn in the barrel is coming up real soon.

 

[Faulkner]

Don't smoke, but don't mind if someone else does. The "second hand smoke" issue is BS, IMHO. I have seen the good the Tobacco Industry has done for the states where it operated. Many families fed and clothed, schools, churches, and hospitals built, billions upon billions of taxes paid. And hundreds of thousands of good paying jobs (many with benefits).

Of course, all has been in decline since tobacco was demonized.

So, yes, I am against smoking bans.

BTW, all you plus size guys and gals better read up on what they have done to those filthy smokers, your turn in the barrel is coming up real soon.

M1gunner, I'm with you on this post with the exception of the "second hand smoke is BS" part.

 

[jframe]

The city council in Florence recently banned smoking in public parks. Wonder who the hell is going to enforce THAT? They can't hire enough cops to make that stick. I don't smoke, never have, but if someone wants to smoke in public, that's their business. I never saw anything wrong with smoking areas in restaurants. The nanny state is part of the problem, and the reason they become nanny states is because the people as a whole have turned into a bunch of sniveling wussies who have no respect for other people's wishes, and feel they should regulate everything anyone else does. Reckon how long it will be before the jerks in this town start telling me when I can have sex or go to the bathroom?

 

[cp1969]

If 2nd hand smoke is a real issue, why do companies confine their smokers to tiny "butt huts" and make all smokers take their smoke breaks in there? Where I work, they won't even let smokers stand one foot outside the butt hutt. There is no ventilation, other than what the wind provides.

Either smoking is addictive or it isn't. If it is, many of these people are presumably unable to quit. Yet, they are forced to feed their habit in an environment in which they cannot draw a breath of fresh air for all the second hand smoke of the other people confined with them.

Why don't they just quit? Big Government tells us that Big Tobacco has laced the cigs with chemicals to enhance addiction, therefore they CAN'T quit. That was the whole point of shaking down Big Tobacco for all the billion$ they've paid in extortion to Big Government lately.

Big Corn is surely next. They've got their talons sunk deeply in us. There's corn in everything from our gas tanks to our soft drinks. We're so addicted, we even put corn (margarine) on corn (roasting ears) to add flavor.

 

[Kanewpadle]

They should mind their own business.

New York and California politicians are having a contest to see who is worse. I think it's a tie.

 

[cp1969]

They should mind their own business.

New York and California politicians are having a contest to see who is worse. I think it's a tie.

What about the ones in Obamagrad (formerly known as Washington D. C.)?

 

[The Big D]

Here's my take on the subject...

I guarantee that my Mom smoked whilst carrying my sister and me. I guarantee she had a cocktail, too.

The folks I see pontificating against smoking are the very same ones who have obese kids who spend their useless days whilst playing computer games and have never set foot on a playground.

The same ones who say the sun, meat, butter, salt, smoke, alcohol, and who knows what else are horrible (and should be banned) are the ones who are miserable humans who simply endure life...and do not live it.

Who among us (over 50) heard of autism, Attention Deficit Disorders, peanut allergies, and similar "afflictions" whilst we were growing up?

Be safe.

 

[Steave]

I hate anything that has to do with the nanny state and smoking bans are a big part of the nanny state.

 

[rimfired]

Take five. Smoke 'em if ya got 'em.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Never smoked myself, always considered it a waste of money as well as bad for one's health. I've noted over the years that smokers are usually broke. I also think it's better for people to decide for themselves. I read somewhere that in 1950 60% of adults smoked, in 2000 28% did. Quite a drop in 2-3 generations. I can clearly recall my Econ 101 instructor discussing the lack of logic, not to mention the hypocrisy in taxing something to discourage consumption while at the same time anticipating the tax revenue. And I wonder if this law will be enforced agaibst smokers of controlled substances?

 

[m1gunner]

Here's my take on the subject...

I guarantee that my Mom smoked whilst carrying my sister and me. I guarantee she had a cocktail, too.

The folks I see pontificating against smoking are the very same ones who have obese kids who spend their useless days whilst playing computer games and have never set foot on a playground.

The same ones who say the sun, meat, butter, salt, smoke, alcohol, and who knows what else are horrible (and should be banned) are the ones who are miserable humans who simply endure life...and do not live it.

Who among us (over 50) heard of autism, Attention Deficit Disorders, peanut allergies, and similar "afflictions" whilst we were growing up?

Be safe.

Go visit an old folks home (retirement center, whatever they are calling themselves these days). You will see smokers there. Not everyone, mind you, but there are always some octogenarians huddled outside in the "smoking area".

Now look around for the obese octogenarians. You won't find any....


And your quote about " miserable humans", that is exactly why I ALWAYS sat in the smoking section on airliners when they had them. Great group of folks there.