COMMENTS: 179
Obama's Smoking Drama
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President-elect Barack Obama’s smoking habit is making news again. Tom Brokaw asked Obama if he was still smoking during his one-hour interview on last Sunday’s "Meet the Press." Obama hemmed and hawed, but in the end admitted to falling off the wagon a few times.
Obama’s relationship with smoking became a public issue when his wife, Michelle, made him promise to quit cigarettes if he ran for president. I have followed Obama’s public struggle with cigarettes with great interest, as addiction is both a personal issue that I face every day (I am addicted to cigarettes) and a professional issue for the organization I work for, the Drug Policy Alliance.
Like Obama, I have also promised my wife numerous times that I will quit ... for good. I quit cigarettes on birthdays, on my wedding day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and following the birth of my daughter. I sincerely hope that Obama will be successful if he continues to try to quit. But I also know that Obama is human and, if he is like most cigarette addicts, he might end up relapsing and starting up again, perhaps more than once. I can’t imagine the stress, pressure and thrill of being president, but I can imagine how those emotions could trigger the urge to relax or process over a cigarette!
Making public or private promises to quit is a mixed bag. The public announcement and promise can be a helpful motivator when the urge to smoke arises. The flip side is having to apologize and feeling ashamed after starting up again. It is no fun having to explain to people, in person or on national television how you came to start up again once they "catch" you smoking again.
One thing that Obama and I can be thankful for is that our addiction is legal! Relapse is a common experience, whether your addition is cigarettes, alcohol or drugs. Thankfully, we don't arrest cigarette smokers who relapse. While it seems crazy to lock up someone who relapses over cigarettes, it makes no more sense to lock up a cocaine addict who relapses.
While some see failure in Obama’s current smoking status, I see success. While Obama could be a regular smoker, going through a pack a day, it sounds like he is an occasional smoker and has one here, one there. That is not a setback, that is progress! Obama shows that it is not all or nothing, but that moderate use may be attainable for some smokers.
Obama's honesty about his past and current drug use is admirable. He has admitted to using marijuana and cocaine as a youth. It has been refreshing to see him admit it and not run from it or make excuses. Like Obama, tens of millions of Americans have also tried marijuana, and they seem to be rewarding his honesty by not holding his past drug use against him. Obama's continued effort to quit cigarettes is exemplary of an honest struggle to change for the better, whether he is finally able to quit -- or even if he is not.
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Posted by: masthead on Dec 11, 2008 12:49 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» Sometimes worse than smoking?
Posted by: pelican beak
» RE: Sometimes worse than smoking?
Posted by: masthead
» RE: There are worse addictions
Posted by: icgodnu
» Get An Effing LIfe
Posted by: NoPCZone
» THANK YOU!!
Posted by: undrgrndgirl
» RE: Get An Effing LIfe
Posted by: icgodnu
» RE: Get An Effing LIfe
Posted by: Bibsisis
» Thank you.
Posted by: Bliss Doubt
» i'm a non smoking, non drinking vegan but if i had obama's job...
Posted by: veggiegrrrl
» RE: Get An Effing LIfe
Posted by: Bibsisis
» Smokers may save the country money by offing themselves early.
Posted by: and_abottleofrum
» RE: Smokers may save the country money by offing themselves early.
Posted by: Bibsisis
» RE: There are worse addictions
Posted by: Lilykins
Comments are closed-
Posted by: ohb0b on Dec 11, 2008 1:35 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
While in the waiting area, I perused some of the anti-smoking literature.
One pamphlet got my attention. It was about the various conditions tobacco aggravates: bronchitus, stomach ulcers, migraines, to name a few.
I had been smoking for a few years, and I was suffering from chronic bronchitus and debilitating migraines. I thought it was just the way tobacco affected me. I had no idea it affected everyone the same way.
I was in my late 20's, and still thought I was invulnerable, so the threat of dying of lung cancer or heart disease in another 40 years or so didn't really phase me back then. But the realization I was making myself sick RIGHT NOW was a Damascus Road experience.
That was almost 30 years ago.
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» RE: How I quit
Posted by: AlterEg0
» RE: How I quit
Posted by: using
» RE: How I quit
Posted by: luzmejor
» RE: How I quit
Posted by: Bibsisis
Comments are closed-
Posted by: Alan Smithee on Dec 11, 2008 2:00 AM
Current rating: 1 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: douglashoyt
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Shey
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: AlterEg0
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Shey
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Alan Smithee
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Bibsisis
» If you say such things, you are an unwise person.
Posted by: Unapologetic Liberal
» Stupid smokers!
Posted by: Cathyc
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: losingmyliberties
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: US Citizen 07
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Raptor
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Bibsisis
» I smoked for 44+ years
Posted by: donl51
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: TomTom
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person NOT!
Posted by: Pilgrim
» RE: And what is your Vice my Friend?
Posted by: Purple Girl
» Drive-by Moron
Posted by: BobKincaid
» RE: Drive-by Moron
Posted by: jennymac
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person??
Posted by: bizeeb
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person??
Posted by: Noor
» I completely agree!
Posted by: bizeeb
» If you Drink, you're a bad person
Posted by: NoPCZone
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: sureshot45
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Alan Smithee
» Fer goodness' sake, get some perspective!!
Posted by: truthlover
» I'd be more concerned with his connections with Chicago politics....
Posted by: 2thepoint
» RE: I'd be more concerned with his connections with Chicago politics....
Posted by: Bibsisis
» If you judge, you go to hell
Posted by: kackermann
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: helenwheels
» George W. Bush,
Posted by: TruthBeTold
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: ynotu
» Wasn't McCain's cancer related to the sun?
Posted by: jmooney
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Bliss Doubt
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: innocentsue
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Bibsisis
Comments are closed-
Posted by: Shey on Dec 11, 2008 2:38 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You could hardly put out a worse message, since research shows that cigarettes are at least as addictive as heroin. But the most glaring omission in this article is the issue of second-hand smoke, proven to be as serious a health hazard as actually smoking. Which is what separates cigarette smoking from all other forms of drug use (and surely no one will still deny that nicotine is a drug).
Every time a smoker lights up, they are endangering the health of everyone in the same space, something you can't say about any other drug.
The author's candor in admitting his own cigarette addiction is admirable, but the elephant in the living room (second-hand smoke) is still there.
I admit I have a personal stake in this, I have asthma. Until several years ago when smoking was made illegal in all restaurants and bars in my state, I had to be very careful about social occasions, and I still have to pass on invitations to anyone's home where they allow smoking indoors. Fortunately, that doesn't come up too often, as I live in a very health-conscious area. My asthma isn't so severe that I have to use a "rescue inhaler", it's 100% under control with a daily preventative inhaler. The one and only thing that triggers a serious asthma attack, is cigarette smoke.
BTW, I smoked cigarettes for twenty years (started when I was fourteen) and have now been tobacco-free for longer than I smoked, so I know all about the difficulty of quitting.
I seriously hope that our president-elect is at least honest enough with himself to admit that an addiction is an addiction, no matter how relatively seldom you indulge. And that this particular addiction is unique in the sense that it endangers others around you.
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» RE: really bad message from the author of this article
Posted by: pelican beak
» Not to be argumentative...
Posted by: BreeMass
» Context here?
Posted by: pelican beak
» Addictive?..dangerous..?..yeah..
Posted by: donl51
» asthma
Posted by: nahikurain@mac.com
» I respectfully beg to differ
Posted by: BreeMass
» RE: I respectfully beg to differ
Posted by: scared
» RE: really bad message from the author of this article
Posted by: BobKincaid
» and drinking does what to those around them
Posted by: TREEGUY
» RE: really bad message from the author of this article
Posted by: jennymac
» RE: really bad message from the author of this article
Posted by: Bibsisis
Comments are closed-
Posted by: TerryW4 on Dec 11, 2008 3:19 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» Out of all the drugs you mentioned only tobacco
Posted by: sonofloud
» Read the post- Einstein
Posted by: NoPCZone
» RE: ead the post- Einstein
Posted by: jennymac
» If I had to clean up W's mess
Posted by: Karina
» RE: Smoke 'em if you got 'em
Posted by: Bliss Doubt
» Notice how addictive, corporate subsidized drugs are not demonized..
Posted by: Aposterioriperception
Comments are closed-
Posted by: donl51 on Dec 11, 2008 3:22 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: Last I heard smoking cigarettes was still legal..
Posted by: Jamesberry
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Posted by: US Citizen 07 on Dec 11, 2008 3:31 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Everyone has habits that are bad, everyone.
overeating
gambling
drinking
drugs
shopping
lack of ethics
many others.....
Maybe people should work on their own flaws and shortcommings instead of focusing on others.
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» RE: Hypocrites......
Posted by: nobuko
» RE: Hypocrites......
Posted by: Starfall Deception
» Out of all the vices you mentioned only smoking kills other
Posted by: sonofloud
» True, that.
Posted by: BobKincaid
» Yo Einstein. Not True.
Posted by: NoPCZone
» RE: Out of all the vices you mentioned only smoking kills other
Posted by: Bibsisis
» I have no 'bad' habits
Posted by: limburger
Comments are closed-
Posted by: andrushka on Dec 11, 2008 3:52 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: Mind your own
Posted by: Raptor
» RE: Mind your own
Posted by: BreeMass
» That's Not Where The Line Is Drawn
Posted by: NoPCZone
» RE: That's Not Where The Line Is Drawn
Posted by: BreeMass
Comments are closed-
Posted by: bryangalt on Dec 11, 2008 4:10 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I think that about sums it up.
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» Thats called
Posted by: sonofloud
» Well...
Posted by: BreeMass
» True tho.
Posted by: adamjtucker
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Posted by: gwtnhvt on Dec 11, 2008 4:52 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: nahikurain@mac.com on Dec 11, 2008 5:00 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It took the pressure off me about giving up forever something I felt that I enjoyed. Of course, after no time, I was so glad that I quit, I never actually used more than two of my twenty and it's been five years and I have no desire at all to smoke.
Actually, I find the smell appalling and the look of smoking unattractive and I especially find littering cigarette butts disgusting. I have a no smoking sign at the gate of my property and I mean it. I don't want it around me or my child.
Now, I didn't smoke a pack a day, I didn't regularly smoke inside the house or car, I didn't smoke enough that my co-workers could smell it on me, but when I went to a party, there I would be, hanging on the porch with a group of people smoking.
I wish all the people in the world who want to quit a smooth transition to breathing fresh air. I hope Obama will quit for himself and the children of this country, and be strong and be a great role model, and make the changes in himself as we as a country make the ground work changes we wish to see.
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Posted by: Suzee on Dec 11, 2008 5:01 AM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» IT IS A HOAX!!!
Posted by: nahikurain@mac.com
Comments are closed-
Posted by: VZEQICVA on Dec 11, 2008 5:44 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: NIT PICKING
Posted by: lil ole me
» Tom Brokaw CAN'T do better than that
Posted by: BobKincaid
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Posted by: Emes Teller on Dec 11, 2008 6:00 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
a prohibition on smoking tobacco! An army can march on tobacco as well as on its stomach. At least as long as its pulmonary functions. Some of us remember Ron Reagan, that dashing cowboy advertising -- was it
Chesterfields? And now Barack Obama subtly giving the nod to all his children!! phew.
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Posted by: sunnywater on Dec 11, 2008 6:03 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
But cigaretts don't even get you high, so what's the point?
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» What is "jacking scag"?
Posted by: BreeMass
» RE: What is "jacking scag"?
Posted by: shermhead
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Posted by: starsailor on Dec 11, 2008 6:05 AM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The first modern state to introduce blanket smoking bans and campaigns to eradicate it in the population was Nazi Germany in the early thirties. It's known that Hitler was an avid anti-smoker, but less known is that Nazi scientists realised that smokers are far less susceptible to suggestibility which is essential for effectively delivering propaganda.
The reason smoking goes down so well with many people is not because they are "addicted to a vice", but because it suits their physiology. Interesting that smoking only became an "addiction" in the seventies where before it was considered a "life-style choice".
Researchers found that elderly people who have smoked or are smokers are far less likely to develop Alzheimer's - in fact, a whole range of neuro-degenerative diseases - because nicotine ingested in the form of smoke enables it to cross the blood-brain barrier where it's picked up as a near-perfect match by acetylcholine receptors. Acetylcholine is a key neurotransmitter in cognitive processes - thinking, mental effort, psychic ability, etc.
Smoking does not cause lung cancer:
http://www.journaloftheoretics.com/Editorials/Vol-1/e1-4.htm
What has happened is that control of the tobacco supply has been concentrated into few hands, so that the quality of tobacco that reaches the consumer is generally the equivalent of additive-laden microwave-dinner food, which, of course, is detrimental to your health.
Big tobacco got together with other big industries and agreed to unload the toxic waste by-products of plastics, metallurgical and chemical manufacturers into tobacco products when it was found that substances like formeldahyde and benzene greatly enhanced the shelf-life of cigarettes. Big Tobacco thus finds a novel way of mass-producing and increasing the cartel's control of the supply of tobacco, while heavy polluters find a way of getting around those pesky environmental protection laws. Everybody wins! Well, everybody except those stupid people out there who actually buy our junk...
Shop around for a quality tobacco product! Try Natural American Spirit's organic tobacco - best consumed as 'roll-your-own' because you have more control over how much you feel like smoking.
http://www.nascigs.com/
Let's all light up!
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/139304-Let-s-All-Light-Up-
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» RE: Smoking is good for you!
Posted by: Knowmad
» RE: Smoking is good for you!
Posted by: truthlover
» RE: Smoking is good for you!
Posted by: starsailor
» Smoking does not cause lung cancer
Posted by: Bliss Doubt
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Posted by: sonofloud on Dec 11, 2008 6:14 AM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Can you say hypocrisy????
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» Rolling my eyes...
Posted by: BreeMass
» RE: Do as Obama says not as he does
Posted by: georgiaorwell
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Posted by: dstauff on Dec 11, 2008 6:20 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» Actually
Posted by: BobKincaid
» RE: That's I couldn't care less
Posted by: 876
» RE: That's I couldn't care less
Posted by: sureshot45
» Are you an immigrant?
Posted by: BreeMass
» I loved Obama when he said
Posted by: Bliss Doubt
» RE: I loved Obama when he said
Posted by: georgiaorwell
Comments are closed-
Posted by: BreeMass on Dec 11, 2008 6:29 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: My very large/only real problems with smokers...
Posted by: Starfall Deception
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Posted by: Romantic Violence on Dec 11, 2008 6:46 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: Smoking????
Posted by: georgiaorwell
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Posted by: maxpayne on Dec 11, 2008 7:21 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» Hey Max!
Posted by: Juven
» Interesting.
Posted by: maxpayne
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Posted by: wmholt on Dec 11, 2008 7:26 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Relapse is not failure. If a person sticks with it and gets professional help, they may learn a bit each time and eventually become a non-smoker for good.
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» Thanks for that
Posted by: BobKincaid
» RE: Thanks for that
Posted by: Shey
» RE: Average Ex-Smoker Tried to Quit 6 Times
Posted by: clvngodess
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Posted by: CovertRage on Dec 11, 2008 7:50 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This crap is not news. Anyone who really cares whether or not our public officials smoke, drink, have sex outside their marriages, are overweight, or any of the other sanctimonious drivel that gives idiots without a life or a clue that pious sense of superiority and value, probably need to get out of their mothers' basements more. These feebleminded numbskulls obviously aren't seeing the big picture where the real American public discurse is concerned.
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» RE: Seriously......
Posted by: Shey
» RE: Seriously......
Posted by: georgiaorwell
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Posted by: 2dogarage on Dec 11, 2008 7:59 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In fact it seems that opponents of the war on drugs could use his addiction to make their case...
BTW, as a once and possibly future smoker who turns to cigarettes in times of stress I would have to say that after this excruciatingly protracted and vicious campaign cycle it's absolutely understandable that he needs a fag occasionally.
My only objection is that he posed on the cover of Time with one in his mouth, not because of the cigarette but because it was to mimic FDR, which I strongly believe, contrary to most people's opinions on this site, bodes ill for the nation.
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Posted by: steven w on Dec 11, 2008 8:16 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» Kudos to Alternet!
Posted by: 2dogarage
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Posted by: drricklippin on Dec 11, 2008 9:17 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It is bad for his own health, his family's health and the poor role modelling especially for afro-american youth.
However,single issue,intolerant,anti-smoking zealots have no place in medicine or society as I see it."ALL EVIL IN THE WORLD DOES NOT COME FROM SMOKING"
Smoking is only one of many poor health habits we Americans need to work on.
Let's help our new-president!
Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton, Pa
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Posted by: 876 on Dec 11, 2008 9:50 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: Iconoclast421 on Dec 11, 2008 9:55 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: amerimet on Dec 11, 2008 10:13 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Let's truly criticize the man.
Amen
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Posted by: sweetlilwookims on Dec 11, 2008 10:22 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: SO, YOU WANT TO SMOKE
Posted by: Starfall Deception
» That's the Most Moronic Simile I've Ever Read
Posted by: ATH
» RE: That's the Most Moronic Simile I've Ever Read
Posted by: Shey
» Second-hand smoke
Posted by: Bliss Doubt
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Posted by: animalleaderisgreat on Dec 11, 2008 10:47 AM
Current rating: 1 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: If he really truly only smokes a few cigarettes once in
Posted by: Shey
» RE: If he really truly only smokes a few cigarettes once in
Posted by: BCcovers
» RE: If he really truly only smokes a few cigarettes once in
Posted by: boing007
Comments are closed-
Posted by: Bushmaster on Dec 11, 2008 11:04 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I was a two pack a day smoker until 1994. It was the nicotine gum that did the trick for me and that only with will power as a kicker.
At that time the gum was only available by prescription. The doctor told me that he was giving me one last prescription and if I did not quit I was on my own because I would be addicted to the gum.
Good advice. I made the last script work because I knew I needed to.
Still today sometimes the desire to smoke rises in me. I like the smell of the smoke in fresh air. Sometimes I almost ask to 'bum' a smoke. But I don't
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Posted by: DaBear on Dec 11, 2008 11:27 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Meanwhile, 600 foreclosures in my town last week. All by Countrywide who refused to work out anyone's loans or modify them in any way, despite this being a condition by the Congress in order to get their millions in bailout funds. There are criminal takings going on, exacerbating the crisis all the more.
But Tony gives us Obama's need to light up once in a while. WTF is wrong with Alternet?!
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Posted by: disfasia on Dec 11, 2008 11:29 AM
Current rating: 1 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
So perhaps the author might want to write more advocacy for getting us through the next four years--an awful lot of smoking, cigarettes or other substances.
I think Obama's campaign slogan should have been: "Change you can smoke on"
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Posted by: PBELKNAP on Dec 11, 2008 12:17 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I don't smoke, but I have several friends who, now that we are all middle-aged, are trying to quit, and it's not easy for them. From what I've heard, Obama has said that he won't smoke in the White House itself. He has a very long road ahead of him, thanks to Numbnuts ruining everything about this country. He's going to be under an enormous amount of pressure--if he screws up and has a few cigarettes now and then, I don't think we should hold it against him.
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» RE: Let's give him a break...
Posted by: helenwheels
» RE: Let's give him a break...
Posted by: Shey
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Posted by: helenwheels on Dec 11, 2008 1:13 PM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I love the irony that the vast majority of Americans are completely hooked on caffeine but no one sees THAT as a vice.
I'd much rather quit smoking again (I smoked 20+ years a pack a day) than go through caffeine withdrawals. At least quitting smoking doesn't give you massive migraines.
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» RE: Who cares if PE Obama smokes!
Posted by: Shey
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Posted by: kackermann on Dec 11, 2008 1:18 PM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
He thought maybe something else should keep my hands occupied.
I still need to find something to do with my other hand.
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Posted by: helenwheels on Dec 11, 2008 1:20 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: I like smokers
Posted by: Chaimirija
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Posted by: popsicle67 on Dec 11, 2008 2:04 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Now don't get all high and mighty saying I wasn't doing it long enough to get really hooked, I was 2 and a half
packs a day when I wasn't stressing and up from there depending on how me and the ex were getting along.
I quit just by quitting. I know it sounds like a fish story but it's true. I got some creepy crawly and was in bed alternating between inferno and ice cube and I would drag my sorry carcass outside for a smoke but it hurt to move so I told myself to just give it up for now and get back to it when I'm better. About a week passed before I started felling human again and even after that I didn't start smoking again until the next week when I was sitting down to watch some race on TV and my trusty pack of menthols was sitting there by my chair. The scene was set, I worked one out of the pack, stuck it in my mouth, lit my zippo,
stuck the end of the cig to the flame and inhaled deeply, and promptly almost died. My throat closed up
and I gagged and coughed and gagged some more. The cigarette flew across the room and bounced off the TV.
As I cowered there on the floor, curled up gasping for breath, I thought "Well if I gotta learn how to smoke again I'm stupid to start" and I haven't even desired a cigarette since. I know it can be done because I did it, just quit. A couple of weeks in you'll start to feel like Superman and your whole body will feel like it hasn't in forever and food will taste Oh so much better.
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» RE: Quit being such a baby
Posted by: helenwheels
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Posted by: TruthBeTold on Dec 11, 2008 2:43 PM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Tom Brokaw and his ilk should go away and spend the millions he has been paid as a network shill for the REICH-wingers as they tore this country a new one.
I have no interest in anything he or the other excuses for journalist on network and cable channels have to say.
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» EXACTLY!
Posted by: ATH
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Posted by: ATH on Dec 11, 2008 4:46 PM
Current rating: 1 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"killed" other people is a total moron. Second hand smoke may be annoying, but the health risks are not very high. And how does drinking, with hundreds of thousands of drunk drivers causing fatal accidents NOT kill others?
What is it about people that they must force their views, religions, lifestyles, politics,
and belief systems upon everyone else? What about marijuana? It's been used for centuries and has never killed ONE SINGLE PERSON! But there are thousands of people that believe all the government propaganda that is spewed at them, due to the efforts of the alcohol lobbyists and others to keep it illegal, even though their product kills so many.
Also, smoking is NOT the #1 cause of death--it's heart attacks, due to the American habit of eating till we can't button our pants, while children around the world starve to death! Where's the outrage at that?
People should learn to live and let live, and stay out of other people's business! This is the cause of many social problems, and it is the cause of our disasterous foreign policies as well. Americans seem to think they're better than everyone else, and everyone must live as we live. By the way, alcohol is a drug. If you drink, even a glass of wine for dinner, you are a drug user just as a person that smokes a couple puffs of marijuana! And you have NO moral grounds to judge that smoker! Alcohol was once illegal, too; just because something is illegal does not make it wrong! Laws change. Also, marijuana is one of the safest drugs known to man--far, far safer than most prescription drugs, and non-addictive, unlike alcohol and tobacco.
As long as one is not directly affecting another, people should be able to put in their bodies whatever they wish. Our Constitution does NOT give the government these powers it has assumed. And unless we're talking about a baby, or a closed room FULL of smokers, second-hand smoke is no more dangerous than simply breathing the air in many cities. Instead of common sense, though, we have laws set in stone, demanded by those who just can't rest until we live our lives as they see fit. F***
that!
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» RE: Why Must Everyone Push Their Lifestyles on Others?
Posted by: Shey
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Posted by: Juven on Dec 11, 2008 5:43 PM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Perhaps he can eliminate all the cannabis laws and release all the a drug war victims since he may be able to understand that getting high, in whatever form it is, is human.
Better to be still addicted than to be repressing it.
Go Obama, smoke if you got 'em.
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Posted by: okcsteve on Dec 11, 2008 8:25 PM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: weeziewolly on Dec 11, 2008 8:25 PM
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Posted by: dstauff on Dec 12, 2008 7:06 AM
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Posted by: BCcovers on Dec 12, 2008 8:54 AM
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Show me a conclusive government-funded study like the one they conducted in 1968 in relation to cigarette smoker applied to second hand smoke. It was a 5 year study that removed all exstraneous factors from smokers who later developed lung cancer. It was only after this extensive 5-year study that it was concluded, with certainty that smoking did cause cancer.
To date no such study has been conducted about second hand smoke. If one follows the laws of physics at all they would realize that once smoke hits the air, it is immediately disapated, not to mention the fact most toxins are injested by the smoker and lost to that person's body.
Don't believe me, conduct an experiment. Stand across the room, spray a bunch of perfume, then leave. Come back into the room, go to the opposite end where you sprayed and it will barely smell at all. With that being said then you have to look at percentages; 1 in 4 people who smoke will die from smoking related illness (even though heart attacks are often caused by a combination of things). So for someone breathing in only a minute quantity of smoke, that itself is also free of many of the potent toxins already injested by the primary smoker, is at very little risk. It basically comes down to people being annoyed by a minority in our society and trying to remove that annoyance. Hey, that's life people, we live in a free country; I hate having kids running around my table in restaurants, but I don't try to use pseudo-scientific experiments to get those tykes banned from my eating establishments.
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Posted by: boing007 on Dec 12, 2008 10:04 AM
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It's none of Tom's or your business if he does or doesn't. You people take this PC business too far.
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Posted by: boing007 on Dec 12, 2008 10:09 AM
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Cannabis is not a drug, it's a leafy plant that gives you a more pleasant buzz than smoking Golden Virginia.
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Posted by: gjohloc@hotmail.com on Dec 12, 2008 2:25 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Wake up people or we're cooked. It may already be too late.
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Posted by: NZ_brian on Dec 12, 2008 2:47 PM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The President of the United States of America [from my understanding] is elected to govern and run the country with the best interests of citizens at heart. Consequently, I think the only grounds to object to President-Elect Obama's smoking habit is on the basis that it is a poor example to youth, notably African-American youth, as Dr Rick pointed out.
I think that taking up the habit of smoking is utterly stupid, and that anyone who starts is, at the time of doing so, either unaware of the addictive properties of nicotine or under a degree of duress from peer pressure, stress, depression etc. The allegation that smokers are stupid because they smoke is completely unfounded; I have not smoked but I understand it is indescribably difficult to quit smoking for the vast majority. Therefore I think a better adjective for addicted smokers would be 'helpless' or 'dependent,' rather than stupid.
So by this logic, Obama was stupid/naive/ignorant when he began smoking, but as he is [presumably] now addicted to cigarettes/nicotine he is, as I have explained, more helpless than stupid in terms of his nicotine habit.
It is not at all admirable, and quite disturbing, that some users on this post seem to spitefully regard all smokers as stupid, and wish to impose this such opinion on President [Elect] Obama. I challenge all those users who do so to start smoking and become addicted to nicotine, then try to quit and experience the difficulty of this, before passing judgement on those who cannot [yet] quit.
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Posted by: georgiaorwell on Dec 13, 2008 1:23 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: pana on Dec 13, 2008 11:08 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Why don't you pick on people who are so huge they smash others in the airplane?
And what about those who don't even wash.
And what about those who sit on the freeway and breathe in carbon monoxide?
This country is nuts and filled with "better than thou" people.
Bush is an alcoholic, why don't you make a big deal out of that?
From,
A thinking person who wishes that the news would focus on more important stuff
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Posted by: paganpat on Dec 17, 2008 12:59 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: using on Dec 19, 2008 8:31 PM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If however, he is a heavy smoker...then..based on my experience ..this is not time to stop. It is possible that there are new substitutes that can work wonders, but that is highly unlikely...
MY experience: After the third day my body began to feel the stress of wanting to smoke. It took my body a year to stabilize.
Stopping if you are a heavy smoker, (I went cold turkey) takes effort and focus and control......and great discomfort. For many months after I gave up smoking, I ran to sit in the smoking section..and if I saw a smoker walking in the opposite direction, no matter where I was going...I would do an about face and walk closely behind to catch a little smoke.
So, he is young and healthy .... I think what ever he was doing will be ok..for a couple of more years...lets hope he is a light smoker as he claimed.
And there are pluses to giving it up:
1. you feel you are stacking the deck so that hopefully you can be arround to see your grandchildren.
2. you not only stop sitting in the smoking section..you complain if anyone puts you on the same plane with a smoker.
So, give the poor man a break..his Presidency will be no picnic..there will be plenty of aggrevation, blame and even shame waiting for him ....and he will need to grab an occasional drag or two...As long as its not pot..the last thing we need is another out-of-touchnic in the White HOuse.
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Posted by: masthead on Dec 11, 2008 12:49 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» Sometimes worse than smoking?
Posted by: pelican beak
» RE: Sometimes worse than smoking?
Posted by: masthead
» RE: There are worse addictions
Posted by: icgodnu
» Get An Effing LIfe
Posted by: NoPCZone
» THANK YOU!!
Posted by: undrgrndgirl
» RE: Get An Effing LIfe
Posted by: icgodnu
» RE: Get An Effing LIfe
Posted by: Bibsisis
» Thank you.
Posted by: Bliss Doubt
» i'm a non smoking, non drinking vegan but if i had obama's job...
Posted by: veggiegrrrl
» RE: Get An Effing LIfe
Posted by: Bibsisis
» Smokers may save the country money by offing themselves early.
Posted by: and_abottleofrum
» RE: Smokers may save the country money by offing themselves early.
Posted by: Bibsisis
» RE: There are worse addictions
Posted by: Lilykins
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Posted by: ohb0b on Dec 11, 2008 1:35 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
While in the waiting area, I perused some of the anti-smoking literature.
One pamphlet got my attention. It was about the various conditions tobacco aggravates: bronchitus, stomach ulcers, migraines, to name a few.
I had been smoking for a few years, and I was suffering from chronic bronchitus and debilitating migraines. I thought it was just the way tobacco affected me. I had no idea it affected everyone the same way.
I was in my late 20's, and still thought I was invulnerable, so the threat of dying of lung cancer or heart disease in another 40 years or so didn't really phase me back then. But the realization I was making myself sick RIGHT NOW was a Damascus Road experience.
That was almost 30 years ago.
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» RE: How I quit
Posted by: AlterEg0
» RE: How I quit
Posted by: using
» RE: How I quit
Posted by: luzmejor
» RE: How I quit
Posted by: Bibsisis
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Posted by: Alan Smithee on Dec 11, 2008 2:00 AM
Current rating: 1 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: douglashoyt
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Shey
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: AlterEg0
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Shey
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Alan Smithee
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Bibsisis
» If you say such things, you are an unwise person.
Posted by: Unapologetic Liberal
» Stupid smokers!
Posted by: Cathyc
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: losingmyliberties
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: US Citizen 07
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Raptor
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Bibsisis
» I smoked for 44+ years
Posted by: donl51
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: TomTom
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person NOT!
Posted by: Pilgrim
» RE: And what is your Vice my Friend?
Posted by: Purple Girl
» Drive-by Moron
Posted by: BobKincaid
» RE: Drive-by Moron
Posted by: jennymac
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person??
Posted by: bizeeb
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person??
Posted by: Noor
» I completely agree!
Posted by: bizeeb
» If you Drink, you're a bad person
Posted by: NoPCZone
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: sureshot45
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Alan Smithee
» Fer goodness' sake, get some perspective!!
Posted by: truthlover
» I'd be more concerned with his connections with Chicago politics....
Posted by: 2thepoint
» RE: I'd be more concerned with his connections with Chicago politics....
Posted by: Bibsisis
» If you judge, you go to hell
Posted by: kackermann
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: helenwheels
» George W. Bush,
Posted by: TruthBeTold
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: ynotu
» Wasn't McCain's cancer related to the sun?
Posted by: jmooney
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Bliss Doubt
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: innocentsue
» RE: If you smoke, you're a bad person
Posted by: Bibsisis
Comments are closed-
Posted by: Shey on Dec 11, 2008 2:38 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You could hardly put out a worse message, since research shows that cigarettes are at least as addictive as heroin. But the most glaring omission in this article is the issue of second-hand smoke, proven to be as serious a health hazard as actually smoking. Which is what separates cigarette smoking from all other forms of drug use (and surely no one will still deny that nicotine is a drug).
Every time a smoker lights up, they are endangering the health of everyone in the same space, something you can't say about any other drug.
The author's candor in admitting his own cigarette addiction is admirable, but the elephant in the living room (second-hand smoke) is still there.
I admit I have a personal stake in this, I have asthma. Until several years ago when smoking was made illegal in all restaurants and bars in my state, I had to be very careful about social occasions, and I still have to pass on invitations to anyone's home where they allow smoking indoors. Fortunately, that doesn't come up too often, as I live in a very health-conscious area. My asthma isn't so severe that I have to use a "rescue inhaler", it's 100% under control with a daily preventative inhaler. The one and only thing that triggers a serious asthma attack, is cigarette smoke.
BTW, I smoked cigarettes for twenty years (started when I was fourteen) and have now been tobacco-free for longer than I smoked, so I know all about the difficulty of quitting.
I seriously hope that our president-elect is at least honest enough with himself to admit that an addiction is an addiction, no matter how relatively seldom you indulge. And that this particular addiction is unique in the sense that it endangers others around you.
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» RE: really bad message from the author of this article
Posted by: pelican beak
» Not to be argumentative...
Posted by: BreeMass
» Context here?
Posted by: pelican beak
» Addictive?..dangerous..?..yeah..
Posted by: donl51
» asthma
Posted by: nahikurain@mac.com
» I respectfully beg to differ
Posted by: BreeMass
» RE: I respectfully beg to differ
Posted by: scared
» RE: really bad message from the author of this article
Posted by: BobKincaid
» and drinking does what to those around them
Posted by: TREEGUY
» RE: really bad message from the author of this article
Posted by: jennymac
» RE: really bad message from the author of this article
Posted by: Bibsisis
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Posted by: TerryW4 on Dec 11, 2008 3:19 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» Out of all the drugs you mentioned only tobacco
Posted by: sonofloud
» Read the post- Einstein
Posted by: NoPCZone
» RE: ead the post- Einstein
Posted by: jennymac
» If I had to clean up W's mess
Posted by: Karina
» RE: Smoke 'em if you got 'em
Posted by: Bliss Doubt
» Notice how addictive, corporate subsidized drugs are not demonized..
Posted by: Aposterioriperception
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Posted by: donl51 on Dec 11, 2008 3:22 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: Last I heard smoking cigarettes was still legal..
Posted by: Jamesberry
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Posted by: US Citizen 07 on Dec 11, 2008 3:31 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Everyone has habits that are bad, everyone.
overeating
gambling
drinking
drugs
shopping
lack of ethics
many others.....
Maybe people should work on their own flaws and shortcommings instead of focusing on others.
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» RE: Hypocrites......
Posted by: nobuko
» RE: Hypocrites......
Posted by: Starfall Deception
» Out of all the vices you mentioned only smoking kills other
Posted by: sonofloud
» True, that.
Posted by: BobKincaid
» Yo Einstein. Not True.
Posted by: NoPCZone
» RE: Out of all the vices you mentioned only smoking kills other
Posted by: Bibsisis
» I have no 'bad' habits
Posted by: limburger
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Posted by: andrushka on Dec 11, 2008 3:52 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: Mind your own
Posted by: Raptor
» RE: Mind your own
Posted by: BreeMass
» That's Not Where The Line Is Drawn
Posted by: NoPCZone
» RE: That's Not Where The Line Is Drawn
Posted by: BreeMass
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Posted by: bryangalt on Dec 11, 2008 4:10 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I think that about sums it up.
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» Thats called
Posted by: sonofloud
» Well...
Posted by: BreeMass
» True tho.
Posted by: adamjtucker
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Posted by: gwtnhvt on Dec 11, 2008 4:52 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: nahikurain@mac.com on Dec 11, 2008 5:00 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It took the pressure off me about giving up forever something I felt that I enjoyed. Of course, after no time, I was so glad that I quit, I never actually used more than two of my twenty and it's been five years and I have no desire at all to smoke.
Actually, I find the smell appalling and the look of smoking unattractive and I especially find littering cigarette butts disgusting. I have a no smoking sign at the gate of my property and I mean it. I don't want it around me or my child.
Now, I didn't smoke a pack a day, I didn't regularly smoke inside the house or car, I didn't smoke enough that my co-workers could smell it on me, but when I went to a party, there I would be, hanging on the porch with a group of people smoking.
I wish all the people in the world who want to quit a smooth transition to breathing fresh air. I hope Obama will quit for himself and the children of this country, and be strong and be a great role model, and make the changes in himself as we as a country make the ground work changes we wish to see.
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Posted by: Suzee on Dec 11, 2008 5:01 AM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» IT IS A HOAX!!!
Posted by: nahikurain@mac.com
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Posted by: VZEQICVA on Dec 11, 2008 5:44 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: NIT PICKING
Posted by: lil ole me
» Tom Brokaw CAN'T do better than that
Posted by: BobKincaid
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Posted by: Emes Teller on Dec 11, 2008 6:00 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
a prohibition on smoking tobacco! An army can march on tobacco as well as on its stomach. At least as long as its pulmonary functions. Some of us remember Ron Reagan, that dashing cowboy advertising -- was it
Chesterfields? And now Barack Obama subtly giving the nod to all his children!! phew.
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Posted by: sunnywater on Dec 11, 2008 6:03 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
But cigaretts don't even get you high, so what's the point?
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» What is "jacking scag"?
Posted by: BreeMass
» RE: What is "jacking scag"?
Posted by: shermhead
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Posted by: starsailor on Dec 11, 2008 6:05 AM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The first modern state to introduce blanket smoking bans and campaigns to eradicate it in the population was Nazi Germany in the early thirties. It's known that Hitler was an avid anti-smoker, but less known is that Nazi scientists realised that smokers are far less susceptible to suggestibility which is essential for effectively delivering propaganda.
The reason smoking goes down so well with many people is not because they are "addicted to a vice", but because it suits their physiology. Interesting that smoking only became an "addiction" in the seventies where before it was considered a "life-style choice".
Researchers found that elderly people who have smoked or are smokers are far less likely to develop Alzheimer's - in fact, a whole range of neuro-degenerative diseases - because nicotine ingested in the form of smoke enables it to cross the blood-brain barrier where it's picked up as a near-perfect match by acetylcholine receptors. Acetylcholine is a key neurotransmitter in cognitive processes - thinking, mental effort, psychic ability, etc.
Smoking does not cause lung cancer:
http://www.journaloftheoretics.com/Editorials/Vol-1/e1-4.htm
What has happened is that control of the tobacco supply has been concentrated into few hands, so that the quality of tobacco that reaches the consumer is generally the equivalent of additive-laden microwave-dinner food, which, of course, is detrimental to your health.
Big tobacco got together with other big industries and agreed to unload the toxic waste by-products of plastics, metallurgical and chemical manufacturers into tobacco products when it was found that substances like formeldahyde and benzene greatly enhanced the shelf-life of cigarettes. Big Tobacco thus finds a novel way of mass-producing and increasing the cartel's control of the supply of tobacco, while heavy polluters find a way of getting around those pesky environmental protection laws. Everybody wins! Well, everybody except those stupid people out there who actually buy our junk...
Shop around for a quality tobacco product! Try Natural American Spirit's organic tobacco - best consumed as 'roll-your-own' because you have more control over how much you feel like smoking.
http://www.nascigs.com/
Let's all light up!
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/139304-Let-s-All-Light-Up-
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» RE: Smoking is good for you!
Posted by: Knowmad
» RE: Smoking is good for you!
Posted by: truthlover
» RE: Smoking is good for you!
Posted by: starsailor
» Smoking does not cause lung cancer
Posted by: Bliss Doubt
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Posted by: sonofloud on Dec 11, 2008 6:14 AM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Can you say hypocrisy????
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» Rolling my eyes...
Posted by: BreeMass
» RE: Do as Obama says not as he does
Posted by: georgiaorwell
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Posted by: dstauff on Dec 11, 2008 6:20 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» Actually
Posted by: BobKincaid
» RE: That's I couldn't care less
Posted by: 876
» RE: That's I couldn't care less
Posted by: sureshot45
» Are you an immigrant?
Posted by: BreeMass
» I loved Obama when he said
Posted by: Bliss Doubt
» RE: I loved Obama when he said
Posted by: georgiaorwell
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Posted by: BreeMass on Dec 11, 2008 6:29 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: My very large/only real problems with smokers...
Posted by: Starfall Deception
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Posted by: Romantic Violence on Dec 11, 2008 6:46 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: Smoking????
Posted by: georgiaorwell
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Posted by: maxpayne on Dec 11, 2008 7:21 AM
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» Hey Max!
Posted by: Juven
» Interesting.
Posted by: maxpayne
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Posted by: wmholt on Dec 11, 2008 7:26 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Relapse is not failure. If a person sticks with it and gets professional help, they may learn a bit each time and eventually become a non-smoker for good.
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» Thanks for that
Posted by: BobKincaid
» RE: Thanks for that
Posted by: Shey
» RE: Average Ex-Smoker Tried to Quit 6 Times
Posted by: clvngodess
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Posted by: CovertRage on Dec 11, 2008 7:50 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This crap is not news. Anyone who really cares whether or not our public officials smoke, drink, have sex outside their marriages, are overweight, or any of the other sanctimonious drivel that gives idiots without a life or a clue that pious sense of superiority and value, probably need to get out of their mothers' basements more. These feebleminded numbskulls obviously aren't seeing the big picture where the real American public discurse is concerned.
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» RE: Seriously......
Posted by: Shey
» RE: Seriously......
Posted by: georgiaorwell
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Posted by: 2dogarage on Dec 11, 2008 7:59 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In fact it seems that opponents of the war on drugs could use his addiction to make their case...
BTW, as a once and possibly future smoker who turns to cigarettes in times of stress I would have to say that after this excruciatingly protracted and vicious campaign cycle it's absolutely understandable that he needs a fag occasionally.
My only objection is that he posed on the cover of Time with one in his mouth, not because of the cigarette but because it was to mimic FDR, which I strongly believe, contrary to most people's opinions on this site, bodes ill for the nation.
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Posted by: steven w on Dec 11, 2008 8:16 AM
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» Kudos to Alternet!
Posted by: 2dogarage
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Posted by: drricklippin on Dec 11, 2008 9:17 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It is bad for his own health, his family's health and the poor role modelling especially for afro-american youth.
However,single issue,intolerant,anti-smoking zealots have no place in medicine or society as I see it."ALL EVIL IN THE WORLD DOES NOT COME FROM SMOKING"
Smoking is only one of many poor health habits we Americans need to work on.
Let's help our new-president!
Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton, Pa
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Posted by: 876 on Dec 11, 2008 9:50 AM
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Posted by: Iconoclast421 on Dec 11, 2008 9:55 AM
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Posted by: amerimet on Dec 11, 2008 10:13 AM
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Let's truly criticize the man.
Amen
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Posted by: sweetlilwookims on Dec 11, 2008 10:22 AM
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» RE: SO, YOU WANT TO SMOKE
Posted by: Starfall Deception
» That's the Most Moronic Simile I've Ever Read
Posted by: ATH
» RE: That's the Most Moronic Simile I've Ever Read
Posted by: Shey
» Second-hand smoke
Posted by: Bliss Doubt
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Posted by: animalleaderisgreat on Dec 11, 2008 10:47 AM
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» RE: If he really truly only smokes a few cigarettes once in
Posted by: Shey
» RE: If he really truly only smokes a few cigarettes once in
Posted by: BCcovers
» RE: If he really truly only smokes a few cigarettes once in
Posted by: boing007
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Posted by: Bushmaster on Dec 11, 2008 11:04 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I was a two pack a day smoker until 1994. It was the nicotine gum that did the trick for me and that only with will power as a kicker.
At that time the gum was only available by prescription. The doctor told me that he was giving me one last prescription and if I did not quit I was on my own because I would be addicted to the gum.
Good advice. I made the last script work because I knew I needed to.
Still today sometimes the desire to smoke rises in me. I like the smell of the smoke in fresh air. Sometimes I almost ask to 'bum' a smoke. But I don't
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Posted by: DaBear on Dec 11, 2008 11:27 AM
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Meanwhile, 600 foreclosures in my town last week. All by Countrywide who refused to work out anyone's loans or modify them in any way, despite this being a condition by the Congress in order to get their millions in bailout funds. There are criminal takings going on, exacerbating the crisis all the more.
But Tony gives us Obama's need to light up once in a while. WTF is wrong with Alternet?!
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Posted by: disfasia on Dec 11, 2008 11:29 AM
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So perhaps the author might want to write more advocacy for getting us through the next four years--an awful lot of smoking, cigarettes or other substances.
I think Obama's campaign slogan should have been: "Change you can smoke on"
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Posted by: PBELKNAP on Dec 11, 2008 12:17 PM
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I don't smoke, but I have several friends who, now that we are all middle-aged, are trying to quit, and it's not easy for them. From what I've heard, Obama has said that he won't smoke in the White House itself. He has a very long road ahead of him, thanks to Numbnuts ruining everything about this country. He's going to be under an enormous amount of pressure--if he screws up and has a few cigarettes now and then, I don't think we should hold it against him.
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» RE: Let's give him a break...
Posted by: helenwheels
» RE: Let's give him a break...
Posted by: Shey
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Posted by: helenwheels on Dec 11, 2008 1:13 PM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I love the irony that the vast majority of Americans are completely hooked on caffeine but no one sees THAT as a vice.
I'd much rather quit smoking again (I smoked 20+ years a pack a day) than go through caffeine withdrawals. At least quitting smoking doesn't give you massive migraines.
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» RE: Who cares if PE Obama smokes!
Posted by: Shey
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Posted by: kackermann on Dec 11, 2008 1:18 PM
Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
He thought maybe something else should keep my hands occupied.
I still need to find something to do with my other hand.
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Posted by: helenwheels on Dec 11, 2008 1:20 PM
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» RE: I like smokers
Posted by: Chaimirija
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Posted by: popsicle67 on Dec 11, 2008 2:04 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Now don't get all high and mighty saying I wasn't doing it long enough to get really hooked, I was 2 and a half
packs a day when I wasn't stressing and up from there depending on how me and the ex were getting along.
I quit just by quitting. I know it sounds like a fish story but it's true. I got some creepy crawly and was in bed alternating between inferno and ice cube and I would drag my sorry carcass outside for a smoke but it hurt to move so I told myself to just give it up for now and get back to it when I'm better. About a week passed before I started felling human again and even after that I didn't start smoking again until the next week when I was sitting down to watch some race on TV and my trusty pack of menthols was sitting there by my chair. The scene was set, I worked one out of the pack, stuck it in my mouth, lit my zippo,
stuck the end of the cig to the flame and inhaled deeply, and promptly almost died. My throat closed up
and I gagged and coughed and gagged some more. The cigarette flew across the room and bounced off the TV.
As I cowered there on the floor, curled up gasping for breath, I thought "Well if I gotta learn how to smoke again I'm stupid to start" and I haven't even desired a cigarette since. I know it can be done because I did it, just quit. A couple of weeks in you'll start to feel like Superman and your whole body will feel like it hasn't in forever and food will taste Oh so much better.
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» RE: Quit being such a baby
Posted by: helenwheels
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Posted by: TruthBeTold on Dec 11, 2008 2:43 PM
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Tom Brokaw and his ilk should go away and spend the millions he has been paid as a network shill for the REICH-wingers as they tore this country a new one.
I have no interest in anything he or the other excuses for journalist on network and cable channels have to say.
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» EXACTLY!
Posted by: ATH
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Posted by: ATH on Dec 11, 2008 4:46 PM
Current rating: 1 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"killed" other people is a total moron. Second hand smoke may be annoying, but the health risks are not very high. And how does drinking, with hundreds of thousands of drunk drivers causing fatal accidents NOT kill others?
What is it about people that they must force their views, religions, lifestyles, politics,
and belief systems upon everyone else? What about marijuana? It's been used for centuries and has never killed ONE SINGLE PERSON! But there are thousands of people that believe all the government propaganda that is spewed at them, due to the efforts of the alcohol lobbyists and others to keep it illegal, even though their product kills so many.
Also, smoking is NOT the #1 cause of death--it's heart attacks, due to the American habit of eating till we can't button our pants, while children around the world starve to death! Where's the outrage at that?
People should learn to live and let live, and stay out of other people's business! This is the cause of many social problems, and it is the cause of our disasterous foreign policies as well. Americans seem to think they're better than everyone else, and everyone must live as we live. By the way, alcohol is a drug. If you drink, even a glass of wine for dinner, you are a drug user just as a person that smokes a couple puffs of marijuana! And you have NO moral grounds to judge that smoker! Alcohol was once illegal, too; just because something is illegal does not make it wrong! Laws change. Also, marijuana is one of the safest drugs known to man--far, far safer than most prescription drugs, and non-addictive, unlike alcohol and tobacco.
As long as one is not directly affecting another, people should be able to put in their bodies whatever they wish. Our Constitution does NOT give the government these powers it has assumed. And unless we're talking about a baby, or a closed room FULL of smokers, second-hand smoke is no more dangerous than simply breathing the air in many cities. Instead of common sense, though, we have laws set in stone, demanded by those who just can't rest until we live our lives as they see fit. F***
that!
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» RE: Why Must Everyone Push Their Lifestyles on Others?
Posted by: Shey
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Posted by: Juven on Dec 11, 2008 5:43 PM
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Perhaps he can eliminate all the cannabis laws and release all the a drug war victims since he may be able to understand that getting high, in whatever form it is, is human.
Better to be still addicted than to be repressing it.
Go Obama, smoke if you got 'em.
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Posted by: okcsteve on Dec 11, 2008 8:25 PM
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Posted by: weeziewolly on Dec 11, 2008 8:25 PM
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Posted by: dstauff on Dec 12, 2008 7:06 AM
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Posted by: BCcovers on Dec 12, 2008 8:54 AM
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Show me a conclusive government-funded study like the one they conducted in 1968 in relation to cigarette smoker applied to second hand smoke. It was a 5 year study that removed all exstraneous factors from smokers who later developed lung cancer. It was only after this extensive 5-year study that it was concluded, with certainty that smoking did cause cancer.
To date no such study has been conducted about second hand smoke. If one follows the laws of physics at all they would realize that once smoke hits the air, it is immediately disapated, not to mention the fact most toxins are injested by the smoker and lost to that person's body.
Don't believe me, conduct an experiment. Stand across the room, spray a bunch of perfume, then leave. Come back into the room, go to the opposite end where you sprayed and it will barely smell at all. With that being said then you have to look at percentages; 1 in 4 people who smoke will die from smoking related illness (even though heart attacks are often caused by a combination of things). So for someone breathing in only a minute quantity of smoke, that itself is also free of many of the potent toxins already injested by the primary smoker, is at very little risk. It basically comes down to people being annoyed by a minority in our society and trying to remove that annoyance. Hey, that's life people, we live in a free country; I hate having kids running around my table in restaurants, but I don't try to use pseudo-scientific experiments to get those tykes banned from my eating establishments.
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Posted by: boing007 on Dec 12, 2008 10:04 AM
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It's none of Tom's or your business if he does or doesn't. You people take this PC business too far.
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Posted by: boing007 on Dec 12, 2008 10:09 AM
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Cannabis is not a drug, it's a leafy plant that gives you a more pleasant buzz than smoking Golden Virginia.
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Posted by: gjohloc@hotmail.com on Dec 12, 2008 2:25 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Wake up people or we're cooked. It may already be too late.
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Posted by: NZ_brian on Dec 12, 2008 2:47 PM
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The President of the United States of America [from my understanding] is elected to govern and run the country with the best interests of citizens at heart. Consequently, I think the only grounds to object to President-Elect Obama's smoking habit is on the basis that it is a poor example to youth, notably African-American youth, as Dr Rick pointed out.
I think that taking up the habit of smoking is utterly stupid, and that anyone who starts is, at the time of doing so, either unaware of the addictive properties of nicotine or under a degree of duress from peer pressure, stress, depression etc. The allegation that smokers are stupid because they smoke is completely unfounded; I have not smoked but I understand it is indescribably difficult to quit smoking for the vast majority. Therefore I think a better adjective for addicted smokers would be 'helpless' or 'dependent,' rather than stupid.
So by this logic, Obama was stupid/naive/ignorant when he began smoking, but as he is [presumably] now addicted to cigarettes/nicotine he is, as I have explained, more helpless than stupid in terms of his nicotine habit.
It is not at all admirable, and quite disturbing, that some users on this post seem to spitefully regard all smokers as stupid, and wish to impose this such opinion on President [Elect] Obama. I challenge all those users who do so to start smoking and become addicted to nicotine, then try to quit and experience the difficulty of this, before passing judgement on those who cannot [yet] quit.
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Posted by: georgiaorwell on Dec 13, 2008 1:23 AM
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Posted by: pana on Dec 13, 2008 11:08 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Why don't you pick on people who are so huge they smash others in the airplane?
And what about those who don't even wash.
And what about those who sit on the freeway and breathe in carbon monoxide?
This country is nuts and filled with "better than thou" people.
Bush is an alcoholic, why don't you make a big deal out of that?
From,
A thinking person who wishes that the news would focus on more important stuff
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Posted by: paganpat on Dec 17, 2008 12:59 AM
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Posted by: using on Dec 19, 2008 8:31 PM
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If however, he is a heavy smoker...then..based on my experience ..this is not time to stop. It is possible that there are new substitutes that can work wonders, but that is highly unlikely...
MY experience: After the third day my body began to feel the stress of wanting to smoke. It took my body a year to stabilize.
Stopping if you are a heavy smoker, (I went cold turkey) takes effort and focus and control......and great discomfort. For many months after I gave up smoking, I ran to sit in the smoking section..and if I saw a smoker walking in the opposite direction, no matter where I was going...I would do an about face and walk closely behind to catch a little smoke.
So, he is young and healthy .... I think what ever he was doing will be ok..for a couple of more years...lets hope he is a light smoker as he claimed.
And there are pluses to giving it up:
1. you feel you are stacking the deck so that hopefully you can be arround to see your grandchildren.
2. you not only stop sitting in the smoking section..you complain if anyone puts you on the same plane with a smoker.
So, give the poor man a break..his Presidency will be no picnic..there will be plenty of aggrevation, blame and even shame waiting for him ....and he will need to grab an occasional drag or two...As long as its not pot..the last thing we need is another out-of-touchnic in the White HOuse.
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