being in a band I love when we hit a state that bans smoking....you at first don't realize it but then you start to notice something is different.....long live the ban, its starting in chicago too.....about time

I smoke about once every 6 months, usually outside a bar, at nite, when im on edge. relaxes my legs and i feel like i just got a dose of feel good drugs or whatever they give women that are in labor :D

Jim,
If your so disenchanted by this thread why did you post and continue to debate?
Just my .02

I'm sure smokers don't visit doctors too often because if they did they'd stop smoking. I remember Dr. Oz showing preserved lungs from dead smokers..frightening.
But public health care is tapped. "Cost shifting" where a patient without any coverage (out of work smokers) has all of his smoking realted treament bills shifted to that working patient who ends up paying $2,500 for a three hour emergency room visit for a mere bad-aid. This isn't accounted for in these studies because no one at these hospitals and treatment centers admti to borrowing from "Peter to pay for Paul" when they bill the carriers when medicare runs out. The "double books" of the hopital industry...

Now as far as lost tax revenues, consider that every single day a plane load of workers die. That (according to CDC) results in a loss of $92 Billion in lost productivity every year. The average smoker can count on going to grave 14 years earlier than he should have.
Tell a smoker you know to stop smoking today.

Why do cigarette smokers throw their butts out in the sidewalks and streets, or when driving they throw them out the window? This irritates me as much, if not more, than the actual second-hand smoke.

It shocks me that young people today start smoking, with everything we know about the health risks associated with cigarettes. But, I guess they feel invincible.

when ever I see the guy in front of me throw his cigarette out of his passenger window and I think an explosion is going to follow shortly...

my favorite is when I see a smoker pull into a gas station and he keeps on smoking...

Ohio,

Somehow, you've missed the fact that there are two classes of 986forum members; those who need to stick to the topic at hand at all times and those who are free to post whatever the Hell they want. I've aluded to this mysterious secret society previously. I am at a loss as to how one gains admission, though we are clearly not invited.

I could cite countless examples of this two class society, but I will not. Suffice it to say that winning $18,000 in Vegas and being forced to sit through a Celine Dion concert (in the front row, no less) has absolutely nothing to do with Boxsters last time I checked.

Personally, I like the off-topic conversation. For me, it's like walking into Cheers and meeting up with the boys in the evening. My Boxster is cool, but the Earth doesn't revolve around it.

My .02

Grizzly,
You made me go pee pee in my pants I laughed so hard. (Porsche panties by the way) seriously, I think the board gets kind of dry sometimes and this stuff gets people talking. I enjoy off topic stuff just as much.

One of the best thing that is happening in this forum is the off topic. I hang around here more than myspace..hehehehehe!

Grizz, you are right, our Boxsters are cool, but our world/conversation doesn't have to revolve around it. Well said, Grizz! 2 thumbs up :D

Oh, yah! glad to hear from you again, Ohio :cheers:

Hey Ohio,

I did not think a big dude like you ever spoke the words "pee pee" !! :)

Are you doing to do the Dragon Run with us in May?

Ohio, I was a little confused by a post you made a couple weeks ago. In it, I think you told a story about being in a bad neighborhood when someone made a snide remark about Boxsters. Do you carry a side arm? Help me out here. Thanks.

I have guns.

Thanks. Do the Dragon with us, Ohio!

Give me details and I will try to be a part of it. E-mail me if you want mpaolino@neo.rr.com I will have to look at it later I have to go night night.

Good night! Make sure you brush your teeth!

At one time I thought you worked for the IRS (when you were getting your promotion). And then, most recently, I thought you worked for the Insurance Industry.

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Following this argument to its logical extension then. . . .we should put limits on horspower on cars so they won't drive so fast, people will kill themselves driving fast. .. . .young people shouldnt drive until they're 25 since the risk of accidents at that age substantially decreases prompting isurance carriers to lowering their costs to insuring vehicles and drivers.

ditto with speedlimts. 70 mph is safe but 55 mph is safer. .. . but 20 mph is even safer!! It would save fuel too, and we'd be less oil dependent, so there's a triple benefit. While we're at it, all lights across the country should be turned off at 11pm, because it's not "safe" for you since you can't be up to any good after that hour and you're more likely to be caught for drinking and driving after that hour..

oh yeah, since 20 mph is safest cars should be lined with titanium reinforced block cages. . . . becasue if you get in an accident at that low speed you'd be more likely to survive.

In europe they smoke EVERYWHERE, airports, bars, sections of hospitals, burgerkings, McDonalds, public arenas, public buildings, yet they live as long if not lslightly longer than americans. (They serve alcohol in BK and McD's as well, even in front of all those innocent children.)

They should ban drinking, since people WILL drink and drive (oh yeah, we already tried that), or maybe even ban drinking until one is 30 years old since that will reduce risk even more. . . or would it?

Houses should be built underground and of concrete in hurricane-prone areas, since they are "safest."

Twinkies, cupcakes, sweets, softdrinks should be banned as well because they make us fat, and if you're fat your more likely to get diabetes, heart disease, and die younger thus rasining healthcare costs, thus "crippling" the "fiscal" future of our economy, unless of course we have national healthcare like they do in Europe and canada where they smoke everywhere, where drinking ages are much lower and they have higher speed limits than here.

IMHO the antismoking drive has nothing to do with health only control and regulation.

Light em up.

you know my folks have a place in Florida and I recently visited there and made a return trip to Disney World after a nearly 20 year abscence. I was old enough to remember my last visit there and the first thing that struck me was how many obese children I saw. It was disturbing. Fat knees and fat necks on chubby whiny faces. And their parents? were even worse. I wouldn't be surprised if the average American male has put on 20 pounds and the average female 15 pounds since the 80's. This nation has changed drastically in only 20 years.

Meanwhile exercise isn't even required in many schools. Did you see Supersize me? Great film.

Go ahead indulge in your personal freedoms and put away that three month supply of Ring Dings and Twinkies from Costco inside of a week! Then polish it off with a pack of Newport menthols and wash it down with 2 liters of mountain dew.

Like it or not when the goverment speaks Industry responds. Like over here in NYC, the bizzare Mayor Bloomberg decided to take on trans fats making them a public health issue. Now fast food chains across the country are starting to think about cutting this crap out of their food nationwide FOR FEAR OF LITIGATION?!
How about fear of profiting from the "chunking up" of America? These Corporations don't care.
Unfortunately we have become a sleep walking nation stuffing our faces with cigarettes, Bourbon, and Taco Bell.

See unlike driving at high speeds, no amount of cigarette smoking is safe. Not for the consumer or the sorry sap that has suck up the second hand smoke.

" How can I prevent laryngeal cancer?
Smoking is by far the strongest risk factor associated with the development of laryngeal cancer. Since it is fairly uncommon for a non-smoker to be diagnosed with laryngeal cancer, smoking cessation is the best way to prevent laryngeal cancer. In fact, not using tobacco of any kind, by either smoking or smokeless, is the healthiest thing anyone can do, both in terms of preventing laryngeal cancer, as well as the prevention of other throat cancers, lung cancers, and many other serious health problems.-www.oncolink.com

As a lawyer, you must've heard of a "straw man" argument, I'm sure. Here's where the straw man leads you: Preventing people from randomly shooting others point blank must only be about control and regulation.

On the contrary, antismoking has nothing to do with control and regulation and everything to do with: Your freedom is only restricted by the freedom you take away from others.

My freedom NOT to be exposed to someone's exhaled smoke (which btw has been proven to be dangerous to my health and wellbeing) should prevail over his freedom to smoke wherever he likes. As I said previously, we don't even need to prove that the smoker's disregard for his own health affects me through the increased health care costs. He directly affects me with the smoke that he blows into my lungs, and that's enough. Just as shooting randomly on the street is "controled and regulated", so should be smoking. Personally, I wouldn't mind if they didn't ban smoking but they regulated obligatory glass jars on top of smokers heads. That way they get to "enjoy" the full product of their cigs (no waste), and the public doesn't get affected. Win - win for all.

Z.

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1. Unless of course you crash at high speed and kill, cripple, or injure yourself, a passenger, pedestrian or another motorist, then it's just as deadly as a smoke except you've injected innocent bystanders into the equation.

2. Ponder this: do you think all the pollution from all exhausts is a lot more deadly to the entire world population that all cigarette smoke inhaled by primary and secondary smokers? If so, then shouldn't we try to ban oil completely? Are we already trying to do that?

how many smokers do you think would sign up for one them jars?

p.s.
JS, we should have switched to electric cars 20 years ago. I talked to my driver the other night on the way to the airport and asked him how long he was driving. He said 15 years. I asked him how many times a day a he had more than one passenger in his Town Car. He said zero. If that's not a candidate for a hybrid I don't know what is. As it is emissions standards on autos are very high relative to the rest of the world. At moment emissions standards on smokers are non-existent. Maybe we can fab up a nice low emissions jar to go on top of that smokers head?
p.s.s.
My current siginificant other is the first NOT to smoke. Thank god...

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You mean the freedom you take from those who choose to smoke in public places against those nonsmokers who choose to voluntarily attend those same public places? Sounds like a strawman argument to me.

My advice is to avoid patronage of smoke-freindly restaruants and establishments. There are plenty of them out there. ANd while you're there, quaff some CocaCola, imbibe bourbon, gorge cake, wallow in fried food and loosen your belt as it rubs against the table, but enjoy yourself.