Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that Cigarette !

[zeehag]

perchance--is because you are a decadent pagan who just adores life.....

[gello]

if you can't lick em, join em.

as i told one smoker who lit up beside me at a marina and
glared at me just daring me to criticize "smoke up buddy".
"what?", he said, not expecting a positive response.

"I own tobacco stock. it pays a huge dividend so everytime you light up
you pay for my cruising"
"Then I bought health care stock, so when you get sick from tobacco i make money again"
"If i could find a mortuary stock so i make money when you finally die from the stuff i would invest in that as well".

six months later when i saw him again, he said after our talk he had quit smoking.
i suppose poisoning himself was less important than the idea of
some smart ass profiting from it.

there are people out there betting money and profiting from human stubborness and stupidity. choose which end of that equation you prefer.

a cynics solution, but i don't get upset at smokers anymore, i just let them
pay for my cruising.

[callmecrazy]

A large majority of smokers are in the process of quiting... We know how bad it is , but it's an addiction. If you've never beat a serious addiction before, it can be one of the most difficult things you'll ever do. Knowing that, people simply continue to smoke and feed their comfort instead of taking the pain (which is usually far less than we imagine) of trying to quit.

Of course, of all the people I know who've died and/or have been hospitalized, only two, my grandfather, and a lady I used to work for, was directly related to smoking. The healthcare in industry is overloaded with junkfood eaters, cancer patients, gunshot wounds, drug addicts, vehicular accidents, children, elderly, and hypochondriacs. Smokers are a very small percent of healthcare costs and they usually don't stay hospitalized very long since there's not much anyone can do you for emphizema (sp) and lung cancer. My grandfather was in the hospital for a total of probably less than 6 days, with both... (died at 77) My grandmother OTOH, never smoked in her life and spent months at a time in the hospital for various issues. She died at 81...

So yeah, invest in healthcare. But, the Tobacco industry is losing its steam at the highest rate in history. And may be nothing more than a relic in the next 50 years after all these hardheaded older generations die off and my generation continues to wise up, and our kids never start...

[boatman61]

Dream on... its like Religion... as long as there's Poverty there'll be folks praying and smoking..
It dulls the hunger...

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Lowcountry

I'd much rather get an occasional whiff of tobacco (or other) smoke while at anchor than be forced to look at some obese cruisers in bathing suits three sizes too small all day.

Well then, you proably just shouldn't leave the house.

[callmecrazy]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Dream on... its like Religion... as long as there's Poverty there'll be folks praying and smoking..
It dulls the hunger...

damn the man!

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by perchance

How is it that everything I like is illegal, immoral or fattening?

You just haven't bonded with your inner egg white yet.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

Boaters here, and especially live-aboards, were blamed.

The problem we have in this marina isn't a live-aboard but one of his buddies. Every time he comes to visit we have crushed up beer cans and empty liquor bottles floating in the marina. Soooo attractive ...

I keep my fishing net out and scoop them up and clean up after some drunk.

No wonder he/she treats you like halfwits if you behave like you were.

Stop fishing his/her rubbish out, confront him/her and tell them to stop that behaviour. If this does not help, ask marina manager to take action.

Being nice to tyrants only ever makes things worse.

b.

[gello]

Originally Posted by callmecrazy

So yeah, invest in healthcare. But, the Tobacco industry is losing its steam at the highest rate in history. And may be nothing more than a relic in the next 50 years after all these hardheaded older generations die off and my generation continues to wise up, and our kids never start...

if you want to invest
buy international tobacco (phillip morris versus altria for instance).
domestic consumption is dying, international is flourishing.
one thing we export to the chinese and still to europe strangely enough.
I worked in china in the 90's, smoking was considered a sign of affluence.
Even then the first thing that greeted me off the plane in shanghai was the marlboro man.

ironically, the us government still directly subsidizes tobacco farming.

and in a dark turn of irony,
a portion of the $5Billion settlement the gov won from big tobacco went to
state treasuries and here in tennessee and north carolina some of
it then went to subsidize tobacco farmers. couldn't make that up.

i truly hope all the addicted kick the habit, but if i have to put up with
it then i am at least going to get compensated instead of fruitlessly complaining.

if you really want to kick the habit, work one day in the tobacco fields.
it is the nastiest filthiest most disgusting substance imaginable
with parasites that make your skin crawl.
that is what is ground up into a cigarette.

quit smoking,
but if you must smoke, smoke phillip morris.
i thank you.

g

[ozskipper]

Originally Posted by IslandHopper

Down here non-drinkers are looked upon with suspicion....

Ditto what Island Hopper said. Its a way of commincating "hey i enjoy your company". To not have a brew, particularly with new friends, is considered mildy offensive and somewhat odd. The rare exceptions are for people with previous alcohol problems.

[ozskipper]

I have read this read with some dismay.

As far as I can see it, passive smokers should buy thier own and stop leaching off us. There, its been said!

[cheoah]

>and in a dark turn of irony,
>a portion of the $5Billion settlement the gov won from big tobacco went to
>state treasuries and here in tennessee and north carolina some of
>it then went to subsidize tobacco farmers. couldn't make that up.

gello, in North Carolina, these funds for tobacco farmers help them develop other agricultural enterprises. These dollars help stimulate rural economies and have created all kinds of new local food products and boosted related industries.

While everyone else languishes, look at all the new farm equipment rolling down the highway these days. My equipment sales guy damn near whined to me about how bu$y he was yesterday, as we arranged for delivery of a new $22,000 hay mower...on credit of course.

Farmland here is disappearing at an alarming rate and these new enterprises keep farmland in production. The maps that show projected loss are really eye opening. Most tobacco farmers I know also raise food too - several thousand acres compared to a few hundred tops, of bright leaf. The indirect protection of farmland as a result of farming systems that make money creates green space that does lots of things, ie: wildlife habitat, carbon sink, recreation, and on and on.

The Golden Leaf Foundation and the Tobacco Trust Fund in NC have funded some incredible projects, that benefit many. They funded a project on our farm to turn cheap hogs into cured meats like hams, pancetta, bacon, and guanciale. I guess you could then argue they have helped subsidize the boating industry....vis a vis my avocation

Boatman, you hit it dead on. However, as your cyber friend, I hope you'll quit.

[boatman61]

Hmmmm... Well now...
Could I claim a Government Subsidy as compensation for stopping one(Smoking) to develop the other(Boating) in a fuller more thorough and productive manner...??
Say... my annual outlay/yr on tobacco products x 10....
Figure I'll be dead by 73...lol

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by cheoah

>and in a dark turn of irony,
>a portion of the $5Billion settlement the gov won from big tobacco went to
>state treasuries and here in tennessee and north carolina some of
>it then went to subsidize tobacco farmers. couldn't make that up.

gello, in North Carolina, these funds for tobacco farmers help them develop other agricultural enterprises. These dollars help stimulate rural economies and have created all kinds of new local food products and boosted related industries.

While everyone else languishes, look at all the new farm equipment rolling down the highway these days. My equipment sales guy damn near whined to me about how bu$y he was yesterday, as we arranged for delivery of a new $22,000 hay mower...on credit of course.

Farmland here is disappearing at an alarming rate and these new enterprises keep farmland in production. The maps that show projected loss are really eye opening. Most tobacco farmers I know also raise food too - several thousand acres compared to a few hundred tops, of bright leaf. The indirect protection of farmland as a result of farming systems that make money creates green space that does lots of things, ie: wildlife habitat, carbon sink, recreation, and on and on.

The Golden Leaf Foundation and the Tobacco Trust Fund in NC have funded some incredible projects, that benefit many. They funded a project on our farm to turn cheap hogs into cured meats like hams, pancetta, bacon, and guanciale. I guess you could then argue they have helped subsidize the boating industry....vis a vis my avocation

Boatman, you hit it dead on. However, as your cyber friend, I hope you'll quit.

Now they own the food companys ie. RJ Nabisco..if they control the content of cigs.what makes us think they wont control the content of our food..hell they dont have to Im already addicted to Oreos..this is scarey,manipulation of food content..can I bum a cookie,Im addicted..DVC

[gello]

Originally Posted by cheoah

>and in a dark turn of irony,
>a portion of the $5Billion settlement the gov won from big tobacco went to
>state treasuries and here in tennessee and north carolina some of
>it then went to subsidize tobacco farmers. couldn't make that up.

gello, in North Carolina, these funds for tobacco farmers help them develop other agricultural enterprises. These dollars help stimulate rural economies and have created all kinds of new local food products and boosted related industries.

While everyone else languishes, look at all the new farm equipment rolling down the highway these days. My equipment sales guy damn near whined to me about how bu$y he was yesterday, as we arranged for delivery of a new $22,000 hay mower...on credit of course.

Farmland here is disappearing at an alarming rate and these new enterprises keep farmland in production. The maps that show projected loss are really eye opening. Most tobacco farmers I know also raise food too - several thousand acres compared to a few hundred tops, of bright leaf. The indirect protection of farmland as a result of farming systems that make money creates green space that does lots of things, ie: wildlife habitat, carbon sink, recreation, and on and on.

The Golden Leaf Foundation and the Tobacco Trust Fund in NC have funded some incredible projects, that benefit many. They funded a project on our farm to turn cheap hogs into cured meats like hams, pancetta, bacon, and guanciale. I guess you could then argue they have helped subsidize the boating industry....vis a vis my avocation

Boatman, you hit it dead on. However, as your cyber friend, I hope you'll quit.

yes well there are diamonds in slurry pools sometimes.
the irony is still that a portion of that money goes DIRECTLY to support
farmers who are STILL growing tobacco. It is not tagged for crop migration,
it is a subsidy directly to tobacco.

not the farmers fault, if the government wants to play moral guardian and forcibly remove money from one segment of the population and give it to another; who
could blame the farmer for cashing the check?