I'm ANGRY that smoking kills..

[intelfan11315]

I quit smoking, but I do have to admit smoking is awesome.

At the same time, it's just the nicotine playing tricks on my mind and telling me that. It's actually horrible, makes me feel like crap and hurts my gym and running. Makes me smell bad, makes my teeth yellow and does nothing but hurt my health overall.

When you're laying on your death bed, about to die... do you really want to tell yourself "I wouldn't be here right now if I would have just stopped smoking".

I do however think it's ridiculous how society has criminalized smokers

[Trimac20]

Smoking SHOULD be criminal, but then we should also get tough on auto emissions, not just factory emissions which everyone feels comfortable pointing the finger at, despite they'd be living like cavemen without factories. Not that I'm pro-emissions, not at all. I think it'd be better if we lived closer to cavemen in many ways.

[NCRNStudent]

Smoking kills, plain and simple. It causes lung cancer, COPD, bronchitis, and emphysema. It increases the risk of stroke, coronary artery disease, and causes abdominal aortic aneurysms. It also causes vasoconstriction (a narrowing of the arteries), and puts you at risk of developing peripheral vascular disease. Smoking may also cause AML (acute myeloid leukemia), bladder cancer, cancer of the esophagus, kidney cancer, cancer of the larynx, oral cancer, stomach cancer, pancreatic cancer, and cancer of the pharynx. Smoking causes 90% of all lung cancer deaths in men.

Since you won't be dissuaded by any facts, please continue to smoke. It's a free country, and it isn't my business to tell you what you can and cannot do to your body in regards to tobacco use. If you are aware of all of these risks, and wish to continue smoking, then so be it. I can only hope that you do not expose others to second-hand smoke, as this is just as dangerous.

[IwalkLikeArabbit]

Because we don't all go around puffing in public. I don't?? I wait til I get in the car and am on the highway-alone.

Best time to smoke Got the radio on.. To me, you guys all sitting in traffic, gettin all pissed off, flicking each other off are the ones who will die first of a heart attack!!!!

So why aren't there "anti -stupid drivers in traffic" ads??? I'd much rather see that at 6pm while scarfin down my turkey with gravy...

[tijlover]

Originally Posted by burgler09

When you're laying on your death bed, about to die... do you really want to tell yourself "I wouldn't be here right now if I would have just stopped smoking".

And in the next bed over, there's a man, who never smoked, telling himself:
"If only I hadn't been so lazy! 1 block from a bus stop, and I insisted on driving to work everyday!"

Next bed over: "I never smoked, never drank, never exceeded the speed limit, and why oh Lord did you curse me with Lou Gehrig's disease?"

Next bed over: "I went to church and prayed for 60 years every single Sunday, admonished every smoker I ran into, and why oh Lord did you curse me with this fast-acting pancreatic cancer?"

And the next bed, and the next bed, and...................

It has been shown that some people can quit smoking with the least pain, and others it will always seem like a herculean effort that goes nowhere! A grueling, all-but-impossible exercise in compassion will help others to quit rather than: I quit, so can you!

[Escort Rider]

Originally Posted by Dale Cooper

So you somehow have the mistaken notion you're paying my monthly Medicare premiums? I'll be expecting that check in the mail any day now.

Newsflash: Medicare is NOT free. Why is this so difficult for some people to comprehend?

You need to brush up on how Medicare is funded. It is true, as you say, that we Medicare enrollees pay for that privilege. But what we pay covers only part of the cost. Let's take the Medicare Part B Premium, for example, currently at $99 per month and change for the lowest income tier. That premium pays only 25% of the cost. The remaining 75% comes from general tax revenues.

Part A (hospitalization) is funded through the payroll taxes, but these taxes are insufficient to cover the costs and Medicare is facing a meltdown sooner rather than later if nothing is done to correct the imbalance.

I consider my Medicare coverage to be the best bargain I have ever had on a major item in my lifetime. And yes, it is a burden on the general taxpayer despite my own contributions to it, both past and present. So the truth lies somewhere in between the belief that Medicare enrollees are getting a totally free ride and the belief that Medicare enrollees are totally paying their own freight.