My husband is a trucker and he is told about a lot of new stuff on the road that may or may not affect truckers and others.... this is one of them:
What he heard today really makes me mad and here is why!
I guess, Ohio has passed some new restrictions on smokers. They are not allowed to smoke in their vehicle if there are children in it, no more smoking in restaurants or other public places.
Ok, I agree that we as parents should not subject our children to second hand smoke. It is my choice to smoke and not theirs. Well, at this point it is not a choice anymore, I am addicted. Through several failed attempts, I have tried to quit and I will keep trying to quit.
Here is the problem though. I pay the taxes on my vehicle.. not other people. I own that vehicle, not someone else. The general tax payer including non-smokers do not pay the taxes or pay to keep my vehicle running. That is my property and I should be able to do what I want in or on my own property.
Next these people who are trying to change the laws will be telling you that it is legal to buy cigarettes, but it is not legal to smoke them anywhere, including your own home. Where has the American pride of freedom gone. I guess it has gone down the drain.
If they are so vigilant about making this world a non-smoking place, please make it illegal to even purchase tobacco or cigarettes. Oh wait, there are so many taxes that I as a smoker pay the government when purchasing my cigarettes that they could not make up for it in other places so the gov't would not allow a cut in taxes like that to happen.
Why not then make it so that those out there like me who would like to quit smoking, but do not have the resources, insurance and what not to quit be able to get help. Why not have an inpatient place like a rehabilitation center be built that was funded on your tax dollars (gov't needs to make up for us not smoking anymore)... so that we will be able to quit.
If we cannot change the laws and make smoking Illegal.... then make Marijuanna legal.... you won't be able to smoke that anywhere either, but the big guys can make money from it down the line. They can tax the begeezes out of that too.
Yes, I Know that pot is a drug, but what is tobacco if it is addicting. Cannot it be considered a drug too because it alters my body in its own little way over time.
Just something to ponder on. I would like to see what people have to respond to this about slowly losing their rights to things with property they own.
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Comments: 56
They're just terrified that someone who won't take responsibility for their actions will sue if something goes wrong--and the really terrible thing is, they're RIGHT to be scared, because people like that WILL blame anybody else but themselves for the consequences of their own actions.
Also I have a bit of allergies to certain perfumes that make me sneeze and some I can't breath very well. Like Happy. I had to ask my sister in law not to wear it when she was going to be around me but I don't think they should ban people from wearing them.
I won't join an association again for the reasons you mention Kathleen..
I want to thank everyone who has posted so far... this really is an issue that if not stopped somewhere will be the norm all over the united states. What will they take away next after they cannot take away rights of smoking?
All of the laws I have seen dealing with smoking in your home apply where (a) there are children present or (b) where it is an attached dwelling and the issue is smoke seepage into other units. I don't have a problem with that. I have asthma that is severely aggravated by cigarette smoke and you have no right to cause me to have an asthma attack.
In WV, if you own a restaurant and wish to allow smoking, you must construct a sealed off area for the smokers to protect the non-smokers.
I don't think any parent has a right to expose a child to second hand smoke. Mine did and I am still suffering.
So smoke where you like as long as no one else suffers for it. Your rights end there.
As far as anything else, yes, you have the right to smoke if you choose but you do not have the right to endanger others with your second hand smoke. So you have the right to smoke where others will not be endangered without their consent.
ps I agree with the no smoking around the kids thing.
Like I said, I agree we should not put our kids through second hand smoke, but they dont stop drinkers from drinking in their homes where the ones who do it like a smoker would smoke around their kids, beat on their wives and kids...
Now that said, as a smoker, I have no personal problem not smoking in a restaurant. I'm all for accommodation, and having smoking areas at the workplace etc. The bar thing hurts business though, I know, I owned one. If I go out of business, you don't care, you'll just go somewhere else. I'm all for having a sign outside easily read from a vehicle if the bar allows smoking or not, so that nobody has to walk in to find out.
I also find it wrong that every two years enough signatures are collected to raise the tax on cigarettes another buck or so. People are convinced it will lower medical costs......yeah right. It is a directed tax, and should not be legal. Hell, tax soccer balls and fatty foods next.....
My car, my house.....piss off. What is with the rush to Big Brother take care of me suddenly in this country? "It's for your own good", and "it's a good idea" doesn't always mean good law. Private property is just about out the window, especially in light of the recent ruling of the Supreme Court on eminent domain. Now if a new gas station will bring in more tax revenue to the community than your house, you're screwed. It's for the greater good of all........ is it really?
Thanks.
Second hand smoke doesn't just cause lung cancer. It can be the leading cause of ear infections in children, asthma, chronic coughs, colds (my daughter is allergic, her symptoms are that she has a cold if she comes in contact with smoke for more than a very short amount of time, meaning sore throat, snotty nose, red eyes, red nasel passages & throat, etc), bronchitis, and even pnemonia.
Additionally, in a recent study of babies whose parents smoke around them, it was found that the children's urine samples held quantities of the carcinogens found in smoke, meaning they were breathing in a large enough amount that their body was processing it, and still leaving enough for waste.
"Sobering results from a study headed by Steven S. Hecht, Ph.D, a professor at The Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota have been published in the May issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Hecht's study looked at the level of NNAL in the urine of 144 infants exposed to ETS (envionmental tobacco smoke) by cigarette smoking family members. NNAL is carcinogenic and produced within the body when another cancer-causing chemical, NNK, unique to tobacco is processed.
According to Hecht: "NNAL is an accepted biomarker for uptake of the tobacco-specific carcinogen NNK. You don't find NNAL in urine except in people who are exposed to tobacco smoke, whether they are adults, children, or infants."
Forty-seven percent of the infants reviewed had detectable levels of NNAL in their urine. They came from homes where an average of 76 cigarettes were smoked on a weekly basis by family members in the child's presence, both in the home and car. Those children with who didn't have detectable levels of NNAL came from homes where an average of 27 cigarettes were smoked."
So, while you might see it as your rights being denied, I look at it as protecting a child, and seeing that their right to NOT smoke is upheld.
Personally, I don't see why someone would WANT to smoke around their children, much less in a small enclosed space. I'm sure no one will agree with me, but I'm just as entitled to my opinions as everyone else.
I just wish that people would think of the child before lighting up something that puts off cancerous chemicals. I realize how difficult it is to quit for most people, and I understand that. I just don't think that should be used as an excuse to smoke around children.
I'm one of the only non-smokers in my huge family. My brother & his girlfriend actually impress me quite a bit, because while both are smokers, neither one will smoke inside a house at all, or inside the car if there are children present. They didn't need a law to tell them it was bad for their daughter to breath it in.
www.lp.org
or take the worlds smallest political quiz at:
http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html
then you can even see if you are a Rep.,Dem, and where you fit !!
I look at it like this.. if the government has not illegalized it yet, then it is not as bad as they say it is....
So all you people who are proactive about not smoking around kids... quit making laws telling me what i can do where and make it federally illegale to even purchase the darn stuff to begin with.. quit nagging and get it done with so to speak... then i wont feel as if my personal rights are being violated...
The Bill of Rights is the term used to describe the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These amendments limit the powers of the federal government, protecting the rights of the people by preventing Congress from abridging freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of religious worship, the freedom to petition, and the right to keep and bear arms, preventing unreasonable search and seizure, cruel and unusual punishment, and self-incrimination, and guaranteeing due process of law and a speedy public trial with an impartial jury. In addition, the Bill of Rights states that "the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people," and reserves all powers not granted to the Federal government to the citizenry or States. These amendments came into effect on December 15, 1791, when ratified by three-fourths of the States.
Just instead of infringing on my personal rights.. go for the big one and make purchasing tobacco and cigarettes Illegal altogether.
Perhaps, we should impose a law that says that for any person born after 1991, it is illegal to smoke and it is illegal for anyone to smoke around people born after 1991 or any other nonsmoker. Then as the old smokers died out, there would be no new ones to take their place and no existing people would have to suffer. This would give the tobacco companies and the governments that rely on their tax revenues time to adjust and the problem would eventually go away.
Although I smoke, I do not like smoking and if I am around non-smokers, I do ask how they feel about smoking.. not to be argumentative, but so I do not offend them...
I guess there are worse things in our air than smoking... like smog, the stuff put in the air by companies.. not just our country, but all countries and the list goes on... more polution is put in the air by vehicles than smoking, but no one does anything about that...
When they try to say smoking kills you and gives you cancer, so do other things we eat, but those are not being banned...
So I agree to not smoking in public places and around kids.. I really totally agree with that.. but to make laws against it just really irks me... there are other ways to save children than to legally make other parents not smoke around them...
Like if you have kids it should be illegal to drink... Drunks kill kids every day by abusing them and damaging them for the rest of their lives.... and the list goes on.
I agree with you too Carol as cigarettes are drugs, but they are not looked upon that way by society or our govt due to the fact that they tax them so much and our good ole sweet govt depends upon those taxes... just think pot is illegal.. but they could legalize that and tax that too... just cuz they make it legal does not mean you can smoke it... that is where cigarettes are coming to...
For those that argue that smoking while children are present forget that cigarette smoke is carried on your clothing too... so while I may or may not smoke in my vehicles while children are not present.. then they do go into a persons vehicle that smokes in there on a regular basis but they dont have kids but now my kids are riding with them.. where does that save my kids... If you are placing a ban on one.. you need to place the ban on all and not segregate people.
I don't think that people should smoke around their children. Yes, many grow up and are ok witout and repercussions. But one child who has breathing troubles because of smoking is too many. I don't think you should smoke inside your home if you have children, but if you do...isn't that what they make air purifiers for? My hubby smokes his pipe and we have one. It keeps the air cleared out nicely.(at 73 years old...I am not going to harp on it with him)
I don't think that the Government should be telling people they can not smoke or where they can. When you start laying those laws down, you are a hop, skip and jump away from a more communistic country. People need to be more proactive in what is going on here. I am all for smoking rooms for those who want too. Whats next? Taxing people on their weight?
As a smoker, I don't mind having to go to another room desiganted for smoking at places... there is this place down in new mexico that has a seperate section for smoking ... you actually have to walk through a door to get there... ... it would be great if more places did that.
I do not buy what they are saying, work places are unhealthy, but they can't close them down. There was a factory, years ago, where many of the women who worked there were having miscarrages, this was not from cigarettes. They didn't shut that place down.
I think before they just jump all over cigarettes and the people who smoke them, they need to look at all the chemicals in the air that we breath, there is enough crap around us to blame, but they chose cigarettes, because there are a lot of smokers out there to blame and, hey, its nice to have scapegoats. The Govt. isn't going to stop the guys that are keeping their pockets stuffed, now are they?
And you are right.. smoking did not just start up so that is not the full cause of the increase in the amount of people in asthma, but a combination of things in our air that have been and will still continue to polute it until something is done to remove the entire chemical from being used.
I do however agree people should be able to smoke in the privacy of thier home or car. When people used to smoke before most women did the men would retire after a meal to a room just for that. My brother goes out side to smoke. Smoking is addictive and harmful to everyone. But you made a choice to smoke. Don't expect us non-smokers to agree with you. How long now since it became known smoking was causing a lot of health problems 25 years or so? Anyone who makes a choice to smoke when they know it is not healthy is plain stupid. YOUR choice and you knew the consequences and that people who were non smokers would push for laws for health sake of others as well as ourselves. I am glad there is no longer smoking allowed in resturants. I did not go to a lot of resturants I heard served really good food for years because they allowed smoking and one whiff and I am sick the next day and for 2-3 weeks to follow. That is how intolereant my system is of it now. I don't think it is fair to ask us not to patronize an establishment reported to be a good place to eat because you want to smoke or allow smoking. There are becoming less and less smokers. So people who have resturants allowing smoking actually in the long run are losing more buisness than if they did not allow smoking.
Here is the definition of Addiction on dictionary.com:
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
ad·dic·tion /əˈdɪkʃən/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[uh-dik-shuhn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source ad·dic·tion (ə-dĭk'shən) Pronunciation Key
n.
Compulsive physiological and psychological need for a habit-forming substance: a drug used in the treatment of heroin addiction.
An instance of this: a person with multiple chemical addictions.
The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or or involved in something.
An instance of this: had an addiction for fast cars.
The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or or involved in something.
An instance of this: had an addiction for fast cars.
I live in England, and many of the drivers who work at the company that I work for have reason to deliver in Scotland on a regular basis, so this has not been a welcome law for many of them.
I fully understand the current anti smoking trend but we really need to keep things in perspective. As a smoker I respect the choice of others and would not impose my habit on them, but when we reach the level of banning smoking in a lorry that is travelling on the motorway and unlikely to affect anyone other than the person with the cigarette then the law is becoming absurd. This is not designed to protect others but simply a way of imposing someone one's preferences on an individual.
To our Smoking Customers:
The newly voted into Law (No Smoking Ban) in Arizona also carries with it a tax of .82 cents a pack…
It is unfortunate, and angering, we know. This tax is to pay the cigarette Cops to enforce the ban, and bust those who break this law. Your Liberty has now been voted out of existence!! This now opens the door for further legislation already in the works. If you smoke around children in your house, car, anywhere, it will be considered child abuse and you may be prosecuted. Sorry folks, if you smoke you will now be treated as a 2nd class citizen. No longer will you have the rights once enjoyed.
Think definition of (OPPRESSION) unjust or cruel exercise of power or authority. WELCOME TO AMERICA, THE LAND OF THE FREE!
They used to hang people in England for stealing a head of lettuce and cut off the hand of a man stealing a loaf of bread, so his family might eat that week in China. At one time Germany decided to create a perfect world.
This is just Dan venting to somebody
I injected some of my personal feelings into this notice to our customers. The vote was a close one, but in my opinion a proposition that separates citizens into a group and takes away their liberty should never be put on the ballot in the first place. After all, this country has been smoking since its inception and before, with the Indians. And to think for one minute that we can sterilize our country is ridiculous. The ATF (Alcohol,Tobacco & Firearms) would like to see all of this outlawed out of existence. I get so tired of Government, state agencies and other organizations trying to ban and make laws against anything and everything that might or may hurt someone. Damn, living life is a risk, period! There was nothing on the ballot banning fossil fuel and look at the air we breathe in Phoenix. Or, banning Nuclear power and all its waste. Maybe they will put on the ballot to ban Natures Fury, for there is plenty of smoke in a forest fire. Anyway, sorry to bother you with this, I am just a strong believer in Freedom and Liberty of which our country was founded on. There are many things that aren't good for us. Should we ban them all? What's next? Yeah, Let's ban fat bastards out of public places, what do you say? Have you ever went out to have a good steak (which by the way, a lot of people say will kill you) but could not enjoy it because the lady at the next table or heaven forbid your waitress was wearing about 3oz. Of some strong perfume! "So much for the smell or taste of that $16.00 steak in front of you!!"
Merle Haggard produced a couple tunes regarding current events. I'll write some of his gut lyrics down to show the undercurrent in this country, the silent majority so to speak.
Title: Where's all the Freedom we've been fighting for. Is it still our creed from shore to shore? After a soldier fights, should we read him his new rights? There's not that many to read anymore. Where's all the freedom that we're fighting for? Where's all the freedom that we fought to save? Is it gone for good with yesterday? Yeah, it aint no fun around it's the same in every town.
Can't show no commandments anymore where are all the freedom that we're fighting for? My grandson done went to battle, I'm somewhere below Seattle Can't afford to take my car to the grocery store counting the cars with Police across the door Where's all the freedom that we're fighting for? Where's all the freedom that we're paying for? Are we a nation under God anymore? How long do we cower down? Is this really still our ground? Our country is like a Prisoner of War Where's all the freedom that we're fighting for?
Title: America First
Why don't we liberate these United States we're the ones that need it the worst Let the rest of the world help us for a change and let's rebuild America first.
Our highways and bridges are falling apart, who's blessed us and who has been cursed, there's things to be done all over the world but let's rebuild America first.
Who's on the hill who's watching the valley who's in charge of it all? God bless the army and God bless our liberty and dad gum the rest of it all.
Yeah, men in position of backing away, Freedoms stuck in reverse Let's get out of Iraq get back on the track and let's rebuild America first…
peanut butter causes cancer so ban it too....lol
Ever notice that in many restaurants (especially in truck stops) you have to walk through the smoking section to get to the non-smoking section. That's a lot of second hand smoke.
Ever notice that there are many places that are ademant about you not smoking, but they sell cigarettes. If I can't smoke there, they shouldn't be able to make money off my habit.
Little off track - but - ever notice how many truck stops sell beer and alcohol in their convience store section. But you can't drink on the premises, and you cannot legally have alcohol in your tractor on the road.