Blowin' Smoke...
Positive Comments of Viewers to this Site

Not all the mail is so negative. I also get quite a bit from people who seem to have a better grasp on the situation...

Why is the goverment going after smokers? When so many people die each day from crack, cocaine, pot and other home made drugs. You never see a ad about stopping the drugs?

Actually I don't think there are many people dying from smoking pot, but I get your point. In reality the so-called "war-on-drugs" has failed miserably. Earlier in Clinton's administration, he successfuly redefined cigarettes as a drug so that he could claim he has done something about drugs. It must have something to do with his legacy. [-smokinjoe]

As someone who doesn't have the legal right to smoke MY plant materials of choice, I support you in your fight to keep your right to do so. However, freedom necessitates responsibility. I believe that we should all have the decency to minimize others' exposure to our exhaled smoke or overpowering perfume or loud music or whatever unpleasantries our activities have on others. We've all got to live together in some semblance of harmony and care for each other.
I appreciate the fact that you are trying to build a case. However, the fact that our governments use flawed research to support their agendas does not negate the common-sense idea that second-hand smoke is not a healthy thing. I, as an individual, sure would like to minimize my exposure to it. And, as a smoker, I try my best to minimize others' exposure to my particular "brand" of exhaled smoke ;-) Most tobacco smokers I know are pretty responsible in this sense. Maybe if you stressed this need for responsibility, your message might be better received by those you are trying to reach.

Yes, I believe that tobacco is addicting. Yes, I believe that it is each person's individual choice as to whether they want to smoke or not. The tobacco companies are a business like the alcohol industry, the car manufacturing industry, the makers of slinky, kinky under garments, the cattle industry (meat is a killer especially with all the hormones that are put in).
Why are they singling out tobacco with these "Poor Me" ads. Like the woman that has a hole in her throat. Why didn't she quit smoking like I did.
I'm so sick of the government telling me what to do that I would almost like to go out and buy some cigarettes and a gun - just to rebel against the real monster. THE CONTROLLING, SOCIALISTIC FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

I agree with you about the anti-smoking legislation. It has really become noticeable and intrusive into a lot of people's lives. I have noticed how smokers are treated as second class citizens.
However, I wished to ask why a Christian site talks about smoking. I have several family members who smoke and I always thought that smoking was considered a sin against the "temple of the Holy Spirit."
Is it right for a Christian to smoke?

I just looked through the information on smoking & I have a question. Isn't smoking a sin? Why should Christians support the continuation of any sinful act?

It is hard for all of us to face the hypocrisy in our lives, especially those things we take for granted. You are probably correct that many people considers smoking to be a sin. Some consider women wearing pants a sin. Others consider short dresses a sin. Some still consider dancing or listing to music a sin. In many of our churches, it is considered a sin to worship the Lord with drums and electric guitars. And, oh yes, even drinking alcohol is considered a sin (never mind Paul's suggestion to Timothy that he drink a little wine for his stomach - 1 Tim. 5:23). These, and many more, are merely traditions passed down by man. Read Jesus' reaction to man's traditions in Matt. 7.
Jesus taught in Mark 7:15, "Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'" The only exception seems to be what Paul is teaching in 1 Corinthians 6:19 about sexual immorality and he is making a distinction between sins inside the body and outside, "All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body." It is in that context of sinning against the body that he reminds us that our body is a temple of the holy spirit. To connect 1 Cor. 6:19 with smoking, drinking, or whatever (besides sexual immorality) is stretching Scripture beyond the literal clear plain sense meaning of what it says. When we begin doing that, well, anything goes and anyone can interpret Scripture however they please.
As for addiction... it is a sad fact that we humans are creatures of habit. Whether that is because of our sinful nature or what I really don't know. But this I know... we are ALL driven by habit or addiction to something. That something might be socially acceptable so not much is made of it, but it is still an addiction on par with any other addiction. If I were to take the time, I could list hundreds of examples, but I will only list a few: chocolate, coffee, tea, when we eat dinner, when we wake up or go to bed, watching TV, participating in sports, going to church, how we worship, when do we take communion, etc., etc., etc. I know some of those examples are pretty lame, but I hope you get my point. Sin is sin and I don't think you'll find supported in Scripture different levels of sin where one is acceptable by social norm whereas another is condemned.
As for what would Jesus do? Well, I doubt that he would tolerate much of anything in our culture today. I can't picture him driving one of our gas guzzling environment polluting automobiles, for example. But, does anyone speak out against that sin? He probably wouldn't be taking an asprin for a headache either. But, then again, that is one of the more socially acceptable medicinal "drugs", so there are probably some folks who don't see a problem in that.
Why don't I consider smoking to be a sin, you ask?
Well, I don't want to be dogmatic about it and would rather leave a little wiggle room in case I'm really way off base. After all, I too am a sinner (saved by grace) with a limited and fallible understanding of the Scriptures.
Let me first set the stage ... Unlike many in our culture today, I reject the idea that only part of God's commandments apply to Christians. The argument goes something to the effect that only those laws laid down by God to Moses recorded in Exodus and Deuteronomy and repeated in the New Testament apply to Christians. All the others may be only for Jews, or they no longer apply following the death and resurrection of Christ. Rather I agree with what Paul said to Timothy, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." For me, that would include ALL the commandments laid down to Moses, not just 10.
I think the early Christians fairly well understood something that we have conveniently lost touch with: that we who call ourselves followers of Christ are grafted in Jews (see Romans 11). As such, we are subject to the same laws they are. Yes, I understand that we are not saved by following the law, rather are saved by the shed blood of Jesus, but it is hypocrisy to single out certain things and label them sin when the Bible says much more.
Is smoking a sin?
It is not listed as one anywhere in the Old or New Testaments that I can find. However, eating pork is listed. I wonder if you've had bacon with your eggs recently? Or what about Exodus 20:8 which says, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy."? I trust you realize that the Sabbath is on Saturday, not Sunday and the tradition of celebrating the Sabbath on Sundays was made by man many years after the death of our Savior.
As I said before, I wanted to leave a little wiggle room... smoking might be a sin. But, what bothers me more is that we as a Christian culture will focus more on some man made label of sin and ignore what God said in the Bible. Smoking is not specifically listed, but there are other things that are, and modern day Christianity does NOT see them as sin. I think we need to be a bit more consistent in our faith, accept God's Word as written, and then maybe we will be able to see more clearly to remove the speck in our brothers eye.  [-smokinjoe]

I have been a smoker for 10 plus years now and I AM TIRED OF ALL THE NON-SMOKERS HAVING RIGHTS, BUT WE HAVE NONE.
It is my choice to smoke and I do so...If I go somewhere and the people do not smoke I abide by the decisions and do not smoke in their home or around them. And the same goes for people that come to my house. I open windows but ITS MY house and my guests respect that.
Why not go after Beer Companys, they are allowed to advertise and look at all the countless deaths do to DRUNK DRIVEN, but thats okay they are not hurting anyone else (TELL THAT TO THE FAMILIES OF THE PEOPLE THEY KILLED).
ALL I CAN SAY IS WE SHOULD HAVE A CHOICE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE AND IF I CHOOSE TO SMOKE THAT IS MY DECISION.

Personal rights are not compatible with the socialist system that the anti-choicer's promote. [-smokinjoe]

Amen to those that believe it is the individuals choice and responsibility. alcohol, is addicting also. So is coffee, tea, Coke, SUGAR. they are all killers if taken in too great an amount. Yet you don't hear anything against these forms of addiction. Cigarettes cause so few accidents in comparison with liquor and yet some of the do gooders use this as a stastistic. Get a life!
Heart attacks are caused by too much plaque in the arteries and although I know that smoking restricts the flow of blood to the artery, it would not do any damage if the artery were clear of all of the fat build up. Let's attack McDonalds as long as we are on the attack.
This is not about cigarettes. It is about control of WE THE PEOPLE. Next it will be ALCOHOL. They are already after guns. I have yet to see a gun pick itself up and shoot someone. Anymore than I have ever seen a cigarette pick itself up and make someone smoke it.
Can't you see through this smoke screen that our GREAT WHITE LEADERS are putting up. Oh by the way, ask Gore about smoking and who gives him so much of his campaign money. C'MON PEOPLE, WAKE UP.

I don't smoke, but I believe adults have the right to choose their own vices. (Our President does.) I think the anti-smoking campaign is a smoke screen to cover up the present administrations condoning of drugs. If the amount of money spent on cigarettes and the entrapment of honest working shop keepers was used against "Drug Lords" I would be impressed. What will they come after next???

The last time I checked this was still a free country. American's don't need a big brother looking over their shoulder every minute making decisions for them. Government should shrink back into the subserviant servant role that the founding fathers laid down for it and stop looking for every possible opportunity to get into my pocket and lead me around by my money.
WAKE UP AMERICA AND BEWARE WHEN GOVERNMENT SAYS "LET ME TAKE CARE OF YOU I KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR YOU. JUST SET BACK AND LET ME TAKE CARE OF IT FOR YOU."

Thank you for trying. I'm fighting as one guy here. But this is a fight were losing I'm so pissed that people are blinded by their hatred of tobacco that the truth is only what the government propanda will let them believe. Is there a way to organize. Not grass-roots I mean huge. And why in the hell aren't the tobacco companies telling the ignorant the truth?

I read your information regarding smoking. I have been smoking hand rolled cigarettes for some years now. I am a Christian male. I am able to control my smoking habit to some degree. First, I choose to smoke only while I am at home because it is cumbersome to try to carry tobbacco, a rolling machine, cotton filters and papers around with me. Second, I definately notice less of a desire to smoke using bulk handrolling tobbacco, as opposed to smoking pre-manufactured cigarettes.
A few weeks ago, when this latest tax hike, I was struck with the notion: Could we have a Government so corrupt that it would sieze control of addictive substances and allow their constituants to get hooked then later steal money right out of their pockets in the form of higher taxation? I was afraid to share this with any of my peers for fear of being mocked, or being labled a "conspiracy theorist." It's crazy that I should even have that fear.
Here's another one for you. I get so tired of hearing the programmed response, "Quit smoking, don't you know your body is the Temple of God?" My humble opinion labels these types of comments as judgemental. Juge not lest ye be judged, is what my Bible reads. I stand by a firm conviction that judgement is Christs' business not ours. If we are priests of God, and God had priests serving in the tabernacle of Moses' day, why should we be afraid of inhaling smoke? When Aaron went into the Holy of Holies, God made him set fire to incense.
"And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail: And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not:" - Lev. 16:12-13
The Hebrew word used for cloud in this passage is:
6051 `anan (aw-nawn'); from 6049;
a cloud (as covering the sky), i.e. the nimbus or thunder-cloud: KJV-- cloud (-y).
A nimbus cloud? A big, black nimbus cloud? I don't think Priests in that day were too worried about second-hand smoke inhalation. Please don't get me wrong here, I am not trying to justify smoking with scripture. It's just food for thought.
How about this one, "Smoking is bad for you." For these poeple who speak this line like reading a script, I have this to say, "You better put down that pepsi you're drinking, any and all fast food, generally most foods we buy these days for that matter, chocolate is right out, and while you're at it you'd better stop drinking water and one last thing, stop breathing. The air is bad for us too !!!!
One last comment before I step off of my soap box. What about the statement, "Smoking will kill you." Duh!?!? So does everything else on this planet. There is no escaping that one. If I believe in the God of the Bible, I must conclude that he has each of our life spans pretty well figured out. If he needs us, he will use us.
OK, just one more. "Smoking is a drug." For these people I would say, "Throw away your coffee cup, your tea bags, and soda pops. I hope you enjoy headaches, because there is nothing for them. (except prayer, of course.) And, don't ever again buy any cough syrup for little Suzy."
Praise God for Jesus whose blood covers all, (did he say ALL? Why yes, I believe he did) of our iniquities.

I don't understand how any attorney can sue on our behalf, without our permission, and then keep the money and then use that money for any purpose they want to without any regard for what the money was intended to be used for. Aren't there any "gun ho" attorneys out there that want to tackle that settlement with a class action suit for the people to get what is rightfully theirs before the Gov. goes after all businesses?

I happened across your website and I have to agree with most everything you say. As a parent and a smoker I know that further government restrictions are not the answer. I believe parents have the right and responsibility to raise their children as they see fit.
My sixteen year old son Jacob is a cigarette smoker and we support his decision. We feel he is mature enough to make the choice. Other sixteen year olds may not be.
I buy Jacob a carton of Marlboros (Reds in the box) every week and believe I am doing the right thing. Since he became a regular smoker he's been very well behaved and doing better in school. He was diagnosed with Attention Defecit Disorder when he was very young and always had a hard time paying attention and concentrating on anything. But in the past two years since he's been a smoker, he has been able to go off his medication and become a much more responsible, focussed young man.
For this reason I believe that becoming a cigarette smoker has been a positive change in his life.

I am a smoker myself and I used to think that I resided in a free America, but it doesn't seem that way anymore. If I ever go to jail for smoking then I dearly hope there's more patriotic Americans out there who will follow by their own will out of love for country and their constitution for we all are about to be slaves to this so-called government. Oh, by the way ,I thought we were the government? So people, why in the world do we insist on continuing to give these money grabbing, land grabbing, power thirsty smucks our rightful power and GOD given title? Remember AMERICANS, WE THE PEOPLE... I faithfully believe that we as AMERICANS need to take back our position and lead this country the way GOD had planned and forevermore rid our country of these deceitful parasites.

I am a believer, and study the word of God. I see the things that are happening in this country and I pray for America to REPENT. The Lord has placed a love in my heart and an understanding toward Israel, and shows through Bible prophecy that all things are being fulfilled. I believe that we are grafted in. I'm writing all this to say this, I as a believer do smoke and I'm made to feel that I'm in sin. Flesh is weak I know. I do love God with ALL my heart, mind and strength. What would you say to someone like myself? I know I am the temple of the Lord for the holy Spirit dwells within me.

I responded, "I believe it is too bad that many Christians are made to feel somehow inferior or sinful because they smoke. I don't encourage anyone to smoke for a number of reasons. However, if they choose to, I don't believe anybody stands in a place to condemn them.
The point of "Smoking Aloud" is really an extension of the Jeremiah Project. To expose deception and call people to the truth. Most of the issues surrounding tobacco are veiled in deception. We are exposed daily to messages about the health risks, risks to children, etc., but that is not the real agenda behind the anti-smoking movement. The movement really is all about money, control and jurisdiction. It is a socialist movement of wealth redistribution and control of the population.
I think the real tragedy behind all this is that many Christians have bought into the lies because they conveniently fit their bias against smoking. I hear Christian leaders talking about "religious rights," "school choice," "prayer in the classroom," "right to life," etc., but where are the voices for "smokers rights"? I hear them condemning the lies spewed forth by the Whitehouse, but they don't mention the lies we hear from the CDC and other government sponsored anti-smoking organizations. Seems to me to be a little hypocrisy here.
Take heart, look up ... Jesus is coming back! When he does, all this garbage will be cleared up and we'll spend eternity with Him - and there'll be NO MORE LIES. Maranatha!

Love your website. Have you ever noticed that people who claim to be "allergic" to cigarette smoke are never bothered by smoke from barbecues, fireplaces, incense, candles, etc. Just smoke from cigarettes. I'm developing quite an allergy myself--to people who claim to be allergic to smoke. And perfume. And dust. And peanut dust. And just about anything anyone else might enjoy. It's a shame 48 million of us have let ourselves be bullied around by liars spreading junk science as fact and hoodlums in three piece suits (trial lawyers). We should've raised hell before now, but better late than ever.

I hope that you are saying why just signal out the smokers and demand government step in and help the smoker who has lung cancer now after years of smoking.
Let me tell you that I'm a smoker & I can't believe that smokers that have been smoking for 10-20 years and smoked 2-3 packs a day are able to sue tobacco companies and win money. Who bought the cigarettes (with the warning on the label none the less), who opened up the pack, who put one in THEIR OWN MOUTH!! WHO LIT THE CIGARETTE WITH THEIR OWN HANDS!! I'll tell you who just in case the people have convinced others who it was, IT WAS THE ADULT THAT INHALED, THAT SPENT THEIR MONEY ON IT AND WHO LIT THE MATCH OR LIGHTER AND INHALED AND PUFFED AND PUFFED AND PUFFED AND PUFFED themselves INTO LUNG CANCER.
Now could someone please help me understand how a jury can convict a tobacco company of causing this person to have this illness when all they did was sell it and warn the people of it!! Come on smokers it is you who is responsible for your actions. So the insurance company won't pay for your medical expenses now because you've gone over the limit of expense or you can't get insurance because of a pre-existing condition. Well you should have thought about that before you inhaled.
I just wanted to voice my opinion somewhere somehow. I can't believe that we would allow such a lawsuit. I'm a smoker as I said before, and no way would I hold the tobacco company responsible for my stupidity.

Why don't the smokers of the world get together and stand up and say enough is enough. It seems that there is no happy medium any more. They go from one extreme to another. We are TAX paying citizens in this country and we have rights too. We are being taxed into the poor house. Its got to stop.

The state of Maryland has abeted and aided tobacco farmers for over a hundred years by subsidizing the growing and production of tobacco products. This was done because the State heavely taxed the end user, the smoker, and made millions and millions of dollars. The State has been the hidden "pusher" of this so called dangerous drug. The profits from employment taxes of the farm workers, tobacco farmers income taxes, advertising taxes and others have filled the State pockets. The State of Maryland is guilty up to it's eye balls as a drug pusher.
Today the State of Maryland, mostly democratic, profess to be the victim and elects to join other states with their hands out again in the court room against their previous parters in the tobacco industry. How blind can our judges and courts be? Fair? Legal? Not hardly!

The last time I checked this was still a free country. American's don't need a big brother looking over their shoulder every minute making decisions for them. Government should shrink back into the subserviant servant role that the founding fathers laid down for it and stop looking for every possible opportunity to get into my pocket and lead me around by my money.
WAKE UP AMERICA AND BEWARE WHEN GOVERNMENT SAYS "LET ME TAKE CARE OF YOU I KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR YOU. JUST SET BACK AND LET ME TAKE CARE OF IT FOR YOU."

I am sick and tired to the do gooders who rub in our (smoking) faces how terrible we are. Why in the heck don't they go after the drug dealers, drug users and do something about the Gang problem in this country and start to clean up our streets in America.
Our policemen and women are out gunned on the streets and cannot defend themseves properly. Now they want to take our guns away from us!! What is our country coming to?
I, like so many American people have worked hard all of my life and do continue to do so. I pay my taxes, have never been arrested and do what I am supposed to do. However, our rights are being taken away one at a time. I am amazed at the number of people who don't seem to mind these infringments.
Open your eyes and look where we headed..This is Socialism at it's best.
We pay too damn much in taxes and to add insult to injury the government blows it to support lazy people who don't work. We each need to held accountable for our actions and be responsible for ourselves (and that included Clinton) and live with in the laws of the land.
Oh well, There you have a small idea of how I feel.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

Come on America! It's not just your right to smoke and your money that this statist government is trying to take away from you. They are systematically stripping us of every "RIGHT" we have ever enjoyed in the country. The very "RIGHTS" that hundreds of thousands of young men and women have fought and died to insure for us and our futures.
It has taken me a long time to reach the half century mark and by God I don't need nor do I want a government making all my decisions. At my age, I will decide whether or not I want to wear a seat belt . I will decide when, where and how much I want to drink and eat. if I spend 20 years of my life paying for a house or apartment in this country, I'll be damned if I'm going to let this or any government tell me who I have to Rent it to. It wasn't their sweat and money that paid for it. It was mine.
I don't want "Big Brother" or his first cousin "Media" deciding what I should watch on my television or read in my books, It's not the business of this government to tell me I can't smoke or own a gun, and I damned sure don't need them telling me how to raise my kids. I have never complained about paying my fair share in the country but if the government is going to continue trying to make all of my decisions for me then I say Let them pay for the privilege. If they don't like the way my car runs then let then buy me a new one. If they don't want me to discipline my children then let them raise the little darlings.( they better build better prisons) because with out discipline you have chaos.
"Big Brother, get back to the business of running the government and get out of my bedroom, my living room and my kitchen and most of all get the hell out of my wallet.

I don't smoke, don't like to smell smoke, don't like to sit next to someone who is smoking, don't like to be in a restaurant that permits smoking...BUT, I think that smokers shouldn't be targets of more taxes, regulation, etc...and I support their constitutional right to smoke without restriction, period.

BINGO! The government will never make the sale of tobacco illegal because of money and control. They will use this weapon against the people. They say they care but certainly do not. If smoking was so harmful to people, then make it illegal.

I don't smoke, but I believe adults have the right to choose their own vices. (Our President does.) I think the anti-smoking campaign is a smoke screen to cover up the present administrations condoning of drugs. If the amount of money spent on cigarettes and the entrapment of honest working shop keepers was used against "Drug Lords" I would be impressed. What will they come after next???

I certainly do have a comment, or a question that is. What I want to know is why the hell growers, mfg'ers, smokers etc. patronize a "NO-SMOKING" establishment. I have not purchased a penny's worth of products from these establishments in five years. I takes a little more time to find a retailer who does not have the signs posted, but damnit, it's the principle of the thing. Maybe if more people, and the TOBACCO COMPANIES, would consider this action, we would not have to put up with this crap.

I myself have never smoked and never will. Back in the old days, before smokers became the PC lepers of the 90s', when people smoked around me, I just adjusted my position to stay out of the smoke. If that did not work, I ask the smokers to adjust their position. Only as a last resort, do I ask them to put it out. I have never been refused. I believe in personal choose and responsibility, if a person chooses to smoke, so be it. If there are any health problems up the road, so be it, but don't expect me to pay your health expenses caused by your vice.
The current actions against Tobacco producers, a legal product, is nothing more that a money grab by governments, federal and local, who do not have the guts to raise taxes or cut spending. So go for the deep pockets of the Tobacco industry to fund more and more socialist programs.
What is next will be alcohol producers, auto makers manufacturing SUVs (the attack on SUVs have already started in the name of safety), and legal gambling while leaving alone PC approved vices such a homosexual activity that spreads AIDs and other diseases.
When is big brother government going to stop trying to protect ourselves from ourselves? At the rate we are going, many of our freedoms will disappear in the name of public safety and the children (which face a projected 80% tax rate within the next 20 years).

You absolutely amaze me! When I came across the website and read the lies of the anti-smokers I absolutely couldn't believe it! I was so touched by your pearl of wisdom I still can't believe it. You have truly proven so many things false to me.
You showed me that 30% of cancer cases are caused by smoking. That's definately not the SMOKING KILLS attitude everyone flaunts and tries to beat into your skull.
You made me so aware that although tobacco companies admit their products cause cancer it's not the tobacco companies we should worry about.
You wisely showed me just how someone can manipulate the facts to try and prove what they like. The CDC what crazy idiots.
Most importantly, however, you showed me that nicotine, the feared drug, is actually present in things we eat everyday. Now granted, we don't inhale these things nor is the nicotine refined but you give us the truth, the WHOLE truth.
I want to thank you for putting up this website. It's a true fight for the smokers rights, and fact filled site, and it shows how most smokers can stand on their own two feet and demand the public to know the truth.

I have a filtering system that I made for my shop. It has a white washable filter in it. I set in out in our driveway and let it run all day. I took the filter out and it was as black as coal. This is the air we breath everyday. It could not possibly be cigarette smoke.
I think alcohol is by far more deadly than smoking. I can smoke four packs of cigarettes and get in my car and drive without becoming a road hazard. I think that they need to take a look at alcohol and the problems it causes. It wrecks homes, causes lost jobs, kills people, eats up your brain, eats up you liver, etc.etc.
You can go on and on about smoking, but never hear any mention about curbing drinking. Start law suits against the alcoholic beverage industry.

How do we make them test things right. How can they say a thing about smoke and get away with it , when you can not say anything about Mad cow on tv ..Where is the FDA on what they claim about smokeing and death.. Lets ask them about truth in testing. Take them to task.

I am not a smoker and do not like smoking, but believe that part of living in a free country also means the freedom to do stupid things. I'm not saying that smoking is stupid, but it's just not something I wish to do. Why don't people understand that we are slowly giving up our freedoms? One day we're going to all wake up and realize that we have no freedom left.

HURRAY -SOMEONE WITH SOME SENSE.
I am a 54 year old housewife (husband is 57) who have enjoyed our cigs since in our teens. Lately since we have been treated by lepers by so many non-smoking "friends??" we have decided not to invited non-smokers into our home. This action has been met with great surprise from people who have come into our home in the past and seemed to take great pleasure in bad-mouthing smoking - even tho' they knew beforehand that we both smoked and we have gone to great links with air cleaners and clean ashtrays (many have told us our home just doesn't even smell like a smoker lives there) to not offend their right to be non-smoking.
Recently Alaska passed a "sin tax" on cigarettes of $1.00 per pack. Which makes a carton here about $25 - $28. In order to work this into our budget, we decided to stop eating out as we regularly have in the past - passing the cut along to the restaurants in lost sales.
I resent the "sin" tax and also being treated like a leper (smokers are forced to go outside in sometimes below zero temperatures to smoke) but am glad my life is simplified by not having to socialize with narrow minded people unable to think for themselves and see thru all this bullshit. Am enjoying more free time doing and studying things that interest me now - instead of my time being tied up with what others think are important.
Would also like to add that even at our age, we have always been very healthy (except for a hot flash now and then :-), hard-working,active oldsters. In the last 4 years have build our own home including clearing the land, pounding the nails and raising the walls by ourselves while most of our criticizers have set on their buts and let themselves go to pot.
I ran across your page while trying to find Rush Limbaugh's connection hoping to find out where he got the statistics he threw out in one of his TV shows. He said "all vegetables have nicotine in them and gave the amounts -- and also that you get more nicotine from eating one tomato than you would get from being in a room FULL of smokers for 8 hours.

I had an uncle who smoked back in the 1950's and until he died. He smoked the non-filter (didn't have filters then) Pall Mall, Lucky Strike, Camel, and others. He never had an illness due to smoking. No asthma, bronchitis, wheezing, etc. He smoked from the time he was 17 years old until he died at 77 years old. He died of natural causes. No cancer was ever found.
I can not say that smoking may not cause illnesses. Nor can I say that it does cause illnesses. I think it could be a combination of things, which together, cause the illness.
Yes, I do believe that the money received from taxes and the money into party coffers is the real story on PR restrictions. If smoking is as bad as they say, then more people should be ill and/or dying from smoking. If it is as bad as they say do a total ban, prohibit it. But no, they want the revenue from the sales tax. Raise sales tax and people will still smoke. They raised the gas price and taxes and people still drove.

I just wanted to let you know that this is the first article I have read that really states what I've believed all along. My husband has long been a smoker because he really cannot quit easily. That does not make him any less of a Christian or a concerned person. I've been really fed up of the way he is treated everywhere. You would think he was dirt. I know our rights are being taken away slowly but other than letters and phone calls to congress (who doesn't listen anyway) I feel quite inadaquate to fight against all this.

I happen not to be a smoker, but I agree with Rush. America wake up! Seems like the Liberals will destroy every industry. Oh, don't forget not to eat your hamburgers or any food for that matter.What is the percentage of people that die from starvation ? We should all stop eating, there might be a little E-coli out there. Oh yes, people with weakened immune systems (guess who they are) are actually the ones more likely to die from E-coli poisoning.

It's about time we get facts other than what the goverment gives us about smoking. I've spoke to people in the medical field about smoking and certain lung problems and from what I've found out either a person is born with some lung problems wheather they smoke or not.
With the Anti-Smokers it seems to have opened up a door for people to be rude and most of them enjoy having something to look down on others about, but yet some are great church going people, but still like to judge.
As a smoker how do we stop laws that have already been set?
Thanks so much for your information.

I must first say that your site is not only nicely laid out but, also well written.
However, I think you mised on point. Or maybe it is more of a question. If you are a addicted to drugs or booze. You can be considered disabled and have special treatment, from SSI to employment and beyound. If I am want to increase my employment I must put in special items of all nature to assits the disabled people I might or must employee. So, why if I where to go back to work for someone else whould they not be required to give me a special room or time off so I can handle my disablity (smoking)? After all one of the points that the zelots make is that we must keep somking away from the children, because it is addictive.
So, I guess my real question is has anyone challenged the Fed. on the question of disablity rights for smokers?