| May 22 @ 9:57 PM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage!
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RareQuestor
Posts: 2,652
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I just walked by the pizza parlor called Tailgater's Pizza which just opened recently. It's against the law to smoke inside restaurants in Illinois and the restaurant wanted to cater to smokers, so it put a couple of tables on the patio. Two large ashtrays are located two feet from each table. So where did the smokers flip their butts?
Yep, that's right. You guessed it. The sidewalk around each table was littered with hundreds of cigarette butts. Apparently it is too much trouble for smokers to toss a cigarette butt 24 inches into an ashtray. 
[Edited on 5/22/2009 10:54 PM]
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| May 22 @ 10:28 PM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage! |
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Always_Striving
Posts: 8,794
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If I had the power I would force them to eat their cigarette butts.
Put a little ketchup on them and think of them as fries.
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| May 25 @ 10:53 AM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage!
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RareQuestor
Posts: 2,652
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That sounds rather cruel, sir. I prefer the more humane solution of banning cigarettes completely! 
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| May 25 @ 12:38 PM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage! |
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Haban3ro
Posts: 1,197
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Dandy!
If you ban cigarettes completely, who will the government tax? I woke up to find that $1.50 per pack taxes are planned in California to balance the state budget. Last week, my pipe tobacco went up from $6.99 an ounce to $8.94 an ounce, thanks to the new taxes.
And with unemployment as high as it is, do you really want to put all of the folks in the Tobacco-growing states out of work?  That'll cut into Al Gore's revenue; he grows the stuff.
And that would also kill the job of the guy who sweeps up the butts, as well.
Another case of people reacting with their gut, and not their brains.
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| May 25 @ 1:24 PM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage!
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RareQuestor
Posts: 2,652
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If you ban cigarettes completely, who will the government tax? I woke up to find that $1.50 per pack taxes are planned in California to balance the state budget. Last week, my pipe tobacco went up from $6.99 an ounce to $8.94 an ounce, thanks to the new taxes.
And with unemployment as high as it is, do you really want to put all of the folks in the Tobacco-growing states out of work? That'll cut into Al Gore's revenue; he grows the stuff.
And that would also kill the job of the guy who sweeps up the butts, as well.
Since when has the government ever run out of things that it could tax? 
It is a shocking idea, I know, but maybe the folks who grow tobacco could grow....food?!!  We could actually try feeding the millions of people who are starving. Crazy, huh? 
Considering the number of litterbugs in this state, a janitor rarely has to worry about job security. 
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| May 25 @ 2:37 PM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage! |
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Kenn159
Posts: 4,402
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I for one am glad with the newer stricter smoking restrictions.
I grew up being way to exposed to cigarette smoke as a kid.
I feel good knowing that most kids today have it better in that regard.
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| May 25 @ 7:11 PM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage!
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KatiefromStafford
Posts: 2,750
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Reaction to the statement, not the poster..
Another case of people reacting with their gut, and not their brains.
Anyone who has ever lost a loved one to any form of cancer that could have resulted from tobacco products would definitely react with their gut, and with their hearts. I, for one, would like to see all forms of tobacco products permanently banned, but it will never happen.
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| May 25 @ 7:13 PM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage! |
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LipGlossQueen9
Posts: 10,952
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Howbout it's laziness, not stupidity? People always litter out of laziness...and they're not just smokers.
I'd rather see alcohol banned, because drinkers tend to abuse their loved ones more than smokers do. And yeah, 3 out of 4 of my grandparents died of smoking-related illnesses.
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| May 25 @ 7:19 PM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage!
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KatiefromStafford
Posts: 2,750
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{{{Hugs}}} LGQ. My Dad died of lung cancer and emphysema (probably not spelled right). I was heartbroken to see all the changes that the cancer made to his body. 
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| May 25 @ 8:19 PM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage! |
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LipGlossQueen9
Posts: 10,952
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*hugs* I know. I remember being 9 years old and watching my poor grandmother who had always been so vital and full of life, I'd even say youthful even in her old age...just wither away. That's what caused me to become an Agnostic...when I saw that happen, my young mind kind of wandered to "what kind of God would allow this to happen?" Tough for a young kid. My other grandmother passed when I was three and my one grandfather died from too much cigar smoke. Heart disease.
However, I'd still choose the banning of alcohol over tobacco.
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| May 27 @ 12:36 AM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage!
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RareQuestor
Posts: 2,652
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There is an article in the current issue of National Geographic which states that for the past ten years, the world has been consuming more food than farmers have been growing. (In other words, we have been eating the surplus which once enabled us to stave off famines.) In my opinion, it is not only immoral to waste valuable farmland on a plant that does nothing but kill people, it is actually evil. Farmers have to clear more farmland and apply more fertilizers and pesticides. This in turn contributes to environmental degradation which harms your health whether you smoke or not.
I repeat: There are absolutely no circumstances whatsoever that justify smoking.
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| May 27 @ 4:07 AM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage! |
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SensualGemini
Posts: 6,888
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LGQ: Howbout it's laziness, not stupidity? People always litter out of laziness...and they're not just smokers.
...Many, many times I have watched people drop crap on the ground, when the garbage can is just a few steps away, in the direction they were going.
...The same with smokers, as every smoking area always has butts on the ground. Years ago, when most were non-filtered, they simply burnt up, with no residue.
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Haban: Last week, my pipe tobacco went up from $6.99 an ounce to $8.94 an ounce, thanks to the new taxes.
...After state sales tax, that is getting close to weed price with no taxes.
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Rare: In my opinion, it is not only immoral to waste valuable farmland on a plant that does nothing but kill people, it is actually evil.
...Last time I looked, we are still exporting millions of bushels of grain to the world, while parts of the world are starving as they always have.
...On the other hand, the $Billions of dollars in taxation and recipient of lawsuits on tobacco products are going to the state and federal coffers that further fund Section 8 Housing, Food Stamps and Welfare here in the US.
...Thus, indirectly, those patches of tobacco are helping the non-smokers, while the smokers are proven to cost less in health care, where the majority of costs are incurred in later years, including nursing homes, where statistically, the smoker is already dead.
===============
[Edited on 5/27/2009 4:15 AM]
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| May 28 @ 12:52 PM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage!
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RareQuestor
Posts: 2,652
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There is no need to take my word for it:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/06/cheap-food/bourne-text/2
Last year the skyrocketing cost of food was a wake-up call for the planet. Between 2005 and the summer of 2008, the price of wheat and corn tripled, and the price of rice climbed fivefold, spurring food riots in nearly two dozen countries and pushing 75 million more people into poverty. But unlike previous shocks driven by short-term food shortages, this price spike came in a year when the world's farmers reaped a record grain crop. This time, the high prices were a symptom of a larger problem tugging at the strands of our worldwide food web, one that's not going away anytime soon. Simply put: For most of the past decade, the world has been consuming more food than it has been producing. After years of drawing down stockpiles, in 2007 the world saw global carryover stocks fall to 61 days of global consumption, the second lowest on record.
High prices are the ultimate signal that demand is outstripping supply, that there is simply not enough food to go around. Such agflation hits the poorest billion people on the planet the hardest, since they typically spend 50 to 70 percent of their income on food. Even though prices have fallen with the imploding world economy, they are still near record highs, and the underlying problems of low stockpiles, rising population, and flattening yield growth remain. Climate change—with its hotter growing seasons and increasing water scarcity—is projected to reduce future harvests in much of the world, raising the specter of what some scientists are now calling a perpetual food crisis.
{emphasis added}
The article is 13 pages long, but worth reading.
The Global Food Crisis: The End of Plenty
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| May 28 @ 1:03 PM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage! |
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RareQuestor
Posts: 2,652
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...Thus, indirectly, those patches of tobacco are helping the non-smokers, while the smokers are proven to cost less in health care, where the majority of costs are incurred in later years, including nursing homes, where statistically, the smoker is already dead.
Oh? My father smoked for 30 years. He had a heart attack, two pacemaker implants, bypass surgery and innumerable medical bills that probably totaled around $300,000 before he died at the age of 73. His brother did not smoke and is still alive and relatively healthy at at the age of 78.
That doesn't even take into account lost productivity and the other costs of smoking.
It just boggles the mind that anyone would try to defend smoking in this day and age. It's like trying to defend pedophilia or rape: It's a lost cause no matter how you argue it.
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| May 28 @ 1:44 PM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage!
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LipGlossQueen9
Posts: 10,952
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RQ, I understand where you're coming from...cos you feel about smoking the way I feel about drinking. People just don't understand it. I wish alcohol could be abolished; I really do.
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| May 28 @ 2:04 PM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage! |
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RareQuestor
Posts: 2,652
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I can certainly sympathize, LipGlossQueen. My grandfather was an alcoholic who threw his own children out of the house when my father was only twelve years old. My father and his brother were only saved from a life on the streets by an aunt and uncle who took them into their own home.
However, Prohibition proved that banning alcohol is an exercise in futility. There is also some medical evidence that alcohol in moderation has some health benefits whereas smoking has absolutely none. The very nature of smoking also makes it an unintentional form of abuse. I can refuse to consume alcohol; I cannot refuse to breathe.
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| May 28 @ 11:43 PM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage!
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blueyes101
Posts: 12,080
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We could actually try feeding the millions of people who are starving. Crazy, huh?
Please provide a link to any obituary which points to starvation as a cause of death.
Like we need people to eat instead of smoke.......  These people should start selling ad space on their ass's, how much stretch do you think spandex has?
Oh? My father smoked for 30 years. He had a heart attack, two pacemaker implants, bypass surgery and innumerable medical bills that probably totaled around $300,000 before he died at the age of 73.
Do you really think he would have stopped, or would he have " started dealing " or bought from those who did?
Why didn't you just take his smokes away ?
It's called freedom, and it makes me puke to think of those who wish to throw those freedoms away ( for others ), no matter what their personal beliefs are.
Like I said a long timer ago, if you really want to save lives, ban the wheel.
THINK ABOUT IT !!!!!!!!!!! 
Do we really want to fill the courts with the use and sale of illegal tobacco too ?
The main reason pot is illegal is because southern farmers saw hemp as competition to their crops.
Railroads helped the temperance movement because they saw the first automobile as a threat to the railroads, because the first autos ran on ethanol.
Look how those decisions have filled our courts and prisons in the past present and future.
Morphine used to be sold in the Sears catalog, in a kit, with a syringe. But, make it illegal, and it takes on a life of it's own.
Give anyone the chance of making a quick dollar, with no taxes involved, and grandma will be rolling smokes to pay for her blood pressure meds.
And the one who wants to take away the freedom of others, uses Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage! ( because he saw people litter ) as a reason. What a freaking joke. 
Ban the use of soda,. water, juice ( ect ) , to prevent bottles and cans to be thrown about..... Yeah, that'll work..... 
[Edited on 5/28/2009 11:49 PM]
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| May 28 @ 11:54 PM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage! |
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blueyes101
Posts: 12,080
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Oh? My father smoked for 30 years. He had a heart attack, two pacemaker implants, bypass surgery and innumerable medical bills that probably totaled around $300,000 before he died at the age of 73.
What if he had died during WW II fighting for the freedoms you so casually want to throw away ? Hmmmm? Then who would you blame?
Would you be banning guns, ammo, knives, gun powder, rocks, arrows, or just the thought of war itself..... ??
That's it, just ban war...... ( Cause it kills people )
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| May 29 @ 12:21 AM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage!
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BluEyedQT
Posts: 498
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^^^^Makes me proud to have Blue Eyes. 
Bravo
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| May 29 @ 12:30 AM |
Irrefutable proof that smoking causes brain damage! |
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youbetcha
Posts: 14,834
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Hey I don't smoke and my GP's died from it, but I don't think the government has any right to make us persue their brand of happiness and it's pure discrimination.
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