My Rant for Today...Smoking

Why in the world do people smoke? Seriously? I hate the stuff...despise it...and...I really don't feel like anyone has a right to destroy my health because I want to go to a bar and have a few drinks with friends.

I don't understand why Alabama hasn't passed a law yet against smoking in any public place. California did it...so did New York...and Ohio...etc. I have no sympathy for the people that say they don't want to have to deal with going outside to smoke. Sorry folks, but it's your choice to smoke so deal with it. If people in frigid Ohio and New York can go outside to smoke on the patio/balcony, surely people in nice, balmy Alabama can handle it.

I was watching the new show The Doctors yesterday and they were going through exactly what is in a cigarette...including but not limited to tobacco, ingredients from antifreeze, rat poison, moth balls, etc. Mmmmm...sounds tasty, huh? Remember that when you reach for your next cigarette because you think you really "need" one...

Why in the world would someone want to smoke after knowing that smoke has been PROVEN to cause lung cancer? Ninety, yes 90, percent of lung cancer cases are caused from smoking. I would have to assume the other 10% or majority thereof are due to secondhand smoke. Thanks, smokers! I have known of 2 people who got lung cancer and never smoked a day in their life. Both are now dead. I can't help but think that had state-wide laws banned smoking in public places years ago those deaths may have been prevented. Just think about that the next time you go to "light up" in a public place.

Had I the power...I would ban cigarettes the way drugs are banned. I hate smelling even the faintest smell of them. I hate having to turn my A/C in my car onto the "circulation within the car" mode merely because someone in a car in front of me/beside me is smoking. I hate walking into a store where people are smoking outside and having to smell the crap. I hate walking into a gas station or bathroom where people have been smoking before I get in there and having my hair smell like smoke when I walk out. But...most of all...I hate hate hate going to bars where smoking is allowed and knowing that my lungs are being polluted...not because of something I am doing or choose to do, but because of what SOMEONE ELSE is doing. It's ridiculous.

We're heading to Ohio for a football game this weekend and I love knowing we can go to any bar without worry of smoke. It's a great feeling.

So...a big THANK YOU to states like New York, California, Ohio, etc that have passed laws banning ALL smoking in public places.

Alabama...get with the times and ban it before secondhand smoke affects the health of more people than it has already!

And you smokers...really think about what you're doing the next time you light that cigarette. I don't care if it's just a "habit when you drink" or if you smoke 3 packs a day...you're killing yourself and turning your lungs into a black, charred organ...and affecting other people's health while your at it...