Cops Smoking Cigarettes In Public In Uniform (Austin, Howe: renting, salary)

[curious1111]

Originally Posted by h886

Since you're so unhappy here, maybe you should move back to wherever you came from? I'm sure they miss you terribly .

we love it here...

[curious1111]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

curious1111, I'm more than familiar with red herrings (which really was what your statement that we were all saying that smoking wasn't hazardous when we replied to your original post about whether or not police officers should smoke in uniform and the replies were not the affirmation you clearly expected to receive). Straw dolls I haven't heard of - straw men, most certainly. (Though none of the above when I was a legal assistant, interestingly.) Your post saying that we were all saying that smoking itself wasn't bad could also be considered a straw man, in the context.

See, some of the rest of us know what those terms mean, too!

Glad you feel better that your personal preference about regulating other adults' personal behavior is held by others. Now, let's talk about civil rights, the Constitution, things that this country was founded on and got its strength from, Nanny States (where did you move here from, by the way, that you're having such difficulty adjusting?), etc. That should really be an interesting discussion, based on the evidence in this thread.

Since this is probably not headed anywhere helpful or healthy, I am going to bow out. THL, you are the one I was referring to that started both the tone and the specifics around comparing smoking to a big mac. One of the reasons we moved here and like being here, is the variety of people and views here. Cant find that anywhere else in Texas, only Austin. It's a little liberal for us personally, I think this little social issue is a great example. I am not sure that there are lots of mothers out there clamoring for the rights of police officers in uniform smoking elsewhere in texas, but again -- we take the liberalism any day to be somewhere that is interesting with all kinds.

And by the way, this is dad, not mom. And I was in the armed forces active duty for 4 years. I dont need a lecture on the things this country was founded on, or the Constitution. Did you serve?

[h886]

Originally Posted by curious1111

And by the way, this is dad, not mom. And I was in the armed forces active duty for 4 years. I dont need a lecture on the things this country was founded on, or the Constitution. Did you serve?

And from where I'm sitting the brave policemen and firemen (and women) who risk their lives to save ours don't need a condescending lecture for smoking on their break. They have stressful jobs--it's not the same as sitting at a desk all day preparing legal briefs where your worst worry is a paper cut.

Maybe you should take all this energy you're expending worrying about the legal behavior of other adults and do some volunteer work. Do something good for the world.

[XLadylawX]

I watched cigarettes slowly kill my mother over a 23 year period. To compare smoking to the consumption of a Big Mac or donuts is utterly ridiculous. Eating such things in moderation will not kill you whereas smoking in moderation will. If not, you WILL end up with some sort of debilitating lung disease. I think ANYONE who smokes in public is rude and disgusting. To those who smoke, shame on you for the suffering and grief you will cause your family as they will watch you suffer and decay away from your rotting lungs and all the other attendant illnesses.

Oh yes, I also watched a smoking caused tumor eat my father-in-law's brain last year. The tumor was identified as a small cell lung cancer tumor that never showed in his lungs. What a way to go (biting sarcasm there)!

[TexasHorseLady]

XLadyLawX, I'm sorry for your losses. If we wish to speak anecdotally (and I'm not supporting smoking), my mother in law chainsmoked from waking up in the morning to going to bed at night for 50 years that we know of and when she had surgery for something else late in life (in her 70's), her doctors expected her to have blackened, diseased lungs, only to find healthy, pink ones.

My sister, on the other hand, has never smoked a day in her life, eats the perfect diet, has been a competitive square dancer for many years (she's 73 now), still weighs what she did in college, in other words, did everything right, and ended up with breast cancer. My lifetime best friend, vegetarian, regular exercise, another one that "did everything right" (except choose her parents wisely - every member of her family died of a different form of cancer including a 2-year-old niece), died at 51 of ovarian cancer after six years of fighting it. She did smoke for a short while in high school/college.

We really don't know everything, it seems.

However, the question asked by the OP originally (not sure if it was the wife or the husband, it appears from past posts that they are tagteaming under the same ID which makes it difficult) was not about the evils of smoking but about requirements for the behavior of other adults in support of our own beliefs and preferences. That was answered quite thoroughly, I think, just not the answer that was being sought.

It's funny that the OP says that it's because of the "liberal" mindset of Austin that the responses given were given, when what they (the OPs) are advocating is something more indicative of a Nanny State, which is a liberal creation in and of itself (though both sides, really, are seeking to parent the citizens rather than treat them as adults, it just differs in which ways).

[Jennibc]

To answer the original question: No, I don't really care whether they smoke. If my son noted it, I'd just respond that "sometimes police officers make bad decisions" Finally, yes, maybe we shouldn't be spending tax dollars on campaigning in schools against smoking. Somehow my kid was able to learn about the dangers of smoking at home. And I have never read a legal case using the term "straw doll" straw man, maybe but never "straw doll." Must be a regional term.

[love roses]

Maybe it looks a bit unprofessional but I say more power to 'em. If it's such a big deal to you, maybe you could walk around with a camera and take pictures of them and report them to their superiors if it'd make you feel better. I'm just at the end of my rope with the amount of things that offend people. It seems that noone can even blink without offending some hypersensitive soul. I'm offended by the offended!

[JohnHenrySDM]

Originally Posted by curious1111

Am I wrong to be bothered by it, or find it a bit disappointing?

No, I can see where you are coming from. I too don't think it's good for children to see them smoking. However, as has been so very smugly pointed out, it is not illegal and I do not think any special rules should be made to prohibit officers (or anyone else) from smoking. If it's legal, it's legal.

Maybe use it as an opportunity to teach the kids a rarely taught but valuable little civics lesson- authority rarely leads by example.

[CarnivalGal]

Smoking is not quite the same as eating fast food or drinking coffee. Food and coffee don't affect other people or the environment the same way cigarettes to. Unless you are throwing french fries at or deliberately spilling coffee on someone, they are not going to smell like your lunch later. Additionally, it is not illegal for fast food and caffeine to be sold to kids or for kids to consume them. And I've never seen a fire caused by a Big Mac.

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by mm57553

Smoking is not quite the same as eating fast food or drinking coffee. Food and coffee don't affect other people or the environment the same way cigarettes to. Unless you are throwing french fries at or deliberately spilling coffee on someone, they are not going to smell like your lunch later. Additionally, it is not illegal for fast food and caffeine to be sold to kids or for kids to consume them. And I've never seen a fire caused by a Big Mac.

At the rate we we are going, this is only a matter of time. Think Happy Meals in San Francisco.