Date: 7/30/2007 7:33:00 PM
From Authorid: 15228
My neighbor has lung cancer. She is 42 years old. while she was in the hospital for stem-cell treatment, the nurse was shocked to see she'd packed 3 cartons of cigarettes.  |
Date: 7/30/2007 7:36:00 PM
From Authorid: 63026
while I do not condone smoking, alot of movies and tv shows stars did smoke in certain scenes, and was considered glamourous at the time. Like I said I do not agree smoking is good, it adds a certain element to the scene of the movie or tv show.  |
Date: 7/30/2007 7:36:00 PM
From Authorid: 64118
Very sad what those cancer sticks do to the human body:-( I miss George Harrison very much. Thanks for posting:-) Hopefully this can help people stop smoking.  |
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Date: 7/30/2007 7:36:00 PM
From Authorid: 15228
And she's back in for another round of treatment now. Probably dragging the IV out to the roof, to puff away in between treatments. |
Date: 7/30/2007 7:51:00 PM
From Authorid: 21867
...reading this is so traumatic...I think I need a ciggie...  |
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Date: 7/30/2007 7:57:00 PM
From Authorid: 21867
...on a more serious note: I'm a smoker - and yes I know its bad for me, yes I know the consequences and health/financial/social costs of it. I know I should quit...but the thing is I quite like smoking right now. When I don't, then perhaps I'll give up. I know its pretty much a 'mugs game'...its truly stupid to smoke...but even that - despite being somewhat intelligent (heh, some would debate that though) - is not sufficient to cause me to stop. A list of famous people...as horrible as this may sound...is not enough to prompt me into quitting. The fact is I know many friends and family - people I actually have loved and cared for, people who have been part of my life and actually mean something to me...I have watched them die from cancer attributed to smoking. And yet I still light up. Again i realise the absolute ridiculousness of it all. Who knows what it'll take for me to quit - though I am planning on having a very serious go at it at the end of this year when I get married as I would very much like to be smoke-free BEFORe having children. I would certainly hate being a smoker when children arrive...so perhaps that drive for someone else - for my children - will be the catalyst I need. |
Date: 7/30/2007 8:05:00 PM
From Authorid: 45630
Agent Smith I know that feeling. I loved smoking. I loved the way it felt when I was having a tough time and that first drawback hit my lungs as I lit up. I truly believe that in life we all need something worthwhile to stop us from smoking. My something worthwhile came in the form of my wife carrying my beautiful daughter. I didn't want her living in a smoke filled environment. I hope one day you find your thing.  |
Date: 7/30/2007 8:16:00 PM
From Authorid: 60792
Clark Gable died of a heart attack actually.  |
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Date: 7/30/2007 8:26:00 PM
From Authorid: 60792
and some others you mentioned didn't die from lung cancer, just a side note even though I know you are trying to make a point. Also, my stepdads dad died of lung cancer and never smoked a day in his life as have other people. But listen hear. People who smoke know the risks, just like obese people know that eating is what got them there but they just *can't stop*. I'm not trying to argue or anything, just that it is kind of a waste of breath. Sorry. |
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Date: 7/30/2007 8:34:00 PM
From Authorid: 60792
here* gr. lol. Oh and I'll also mention cause Agent Smith mentioned it, that most smokers have lost someone they loved from the habit. My grandfather died of emphysema, his liver had gone bad from years of alcohol abuse...all kinds of habits like that. But yet, my mom still smokes and does drink on the occasion. Maybe we all think we are invincible...you just have to hope that one day that smoker will realize that something is more important. |
Date: 7/30/2007 8:42:00 PM
From Authorid: 64365
Edward R. Murrow was my Grandfather's cousin. The family was very proud of him. I did some research on him, and even met some people who remember him well, and were around when he died.  |
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Date: 7/30/2007 8:44:00 PM
From Authorid: 63026
Lucille Ball was 88 When she died, Desi Arnaz was 69 years old, Vincent Price was 82 when he passed away, ernest tubb was 70, Rosemary Clooney was 74, Walt Disney was 65, Bettie Davis was 81, Most lived to be well into their 70's and close to 90 years old. But there were some who died in their early 50's. |
Date: 7/30/2007 9:00:00 PM
From Authorid: 64497
*sighs* I wish people would seriously put this type of effort into alcoholics. How often do you hear of a person smoking a cigarette and coming home and beating his wife? Not to offend you, but why do you care if someone decides to smoke? Isn't it a personal decision? -Callice  |
Date: 7/30/2007 9:21:00 PM
From Authorid: 26303
Although I have given up smoking, campaigns never worked on me. In fact, if a quit smoking ad came on the tv, I would go have a smoke. So Agent Smith, I understand what you are saying. I hope that you can give it up before you have children too. I stopped smoking during pregnancy, but took it up again 6months and 4months after the birth of my children. Stupid! But it was their nagging, and finally their refusal to kiss me sometimes because of the smell that finally got to me. I wanted to give up! So Agent Smith, you are on the right track, when you want to give up, then you will.  |
Date: 7/30/2007 10:02:00 PM
From Authorid: 63194
Okay - to those who disagree, take the small state of Maine, where smoking related medical costs COST the state hundreds of millions of dollars in one fiscal year - and yet the idiots complain about the cigarette tax - they don't even break even on the tax they bring in off the cancer sticks. I can't imagine what it must be like in larger states. I say, Deny PAID treatment to those whose illnesses can CERTAINLY-BEYOND-A-DOUBT be directly linked to their lifestyle choices. It is not fair to those who do the right thing. Let them get into serious debt for their own choices.  |
Date: 7/30/2007 10:15:00 PM
From Authorid: 18155
I may not be famous, in some circles, but I choose to smoke, though various types of cancer are genetically predisposed on my fathher's side of the father's side of the family.Wifey will be very well off and I think she is getting tired of waiting for me to pass over.  |
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Date: 7/31/2007 12:09:00 AM
From Authorid: 21867
BeezleBen brings up a great point in regards to the cost to the Health System. Thing is his point doesn't fly here in my country - our Tobacco Tax is at such levels that the average smoker actually (by way of Tax) contributes 60% MORE towards the Health System than they will actually cost it. So - in my country at least - all those NON-smokers out there who access our health system should thank a smoker or perhaps even encourage someone to light up if they want their hip replacement or whatever subsidised by the smokers extra tax dollars. |
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Date: 7/31/2007 12:12:00 AM
From Authorid: 21867
...the 'sector' of our country that actually costs the Health System more - in fact a HUGE amount more - than they contribute by way of related taxes (as well as standard income related taxes) are actually the sporty healthy ones...who injure themselves playing their sports or going to gyms and the like and so soak up a huge chunk of the hospital budgets without actually contributing a whole lot in regards to extra taxation which is predominately assigned to items/activities deemed 'unhealthy'...so its all the nice lovely health freaks who should bring along their wallets next time... |
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Date: 7/31/2007 12:24:00 AM
From Authorid: 21867
...the tax system in my country is quite interesting in that regard. Basically the Tax Boffins had a bit of a sit down and crunched some numbers...figured out how much the average smoker smokes and how much they cost the Health System through their smoking...and wallah, thats the tax amount tagged on to each packet of ciggies. Fair enough too...I think we should be responsible for the choices we make, so if we choose to smoke then by all means we should front up and take responsibility for the ramifications of that. The thing is that my country also has a whole bunch of paternalistic types in Govt who believe that people shouldn't do things that they believe are 'not good for them'...so they also whack on another level of tax which is basically a bit of a 'naughty naughty slap on the hand you bad bad person you' tax. The aim of that is to essentially increase the cost of the 'bad thing' to the point that people will find it such a financial kick in the pants that it will discourage them from taking it up or continuing it. For instance, a pack of 20 cigs in my country will sting you between $10-11 for the cheap brands, and $12 for the 'nicer' ones. Then insurance companies and the like will also add on a bit more of a cost over and above that attributed to smoking...so again you get reamed a little bit more. Hence the reason smokers in my country contribute a amount well in excess of what they actually will cost any system. yeah - even more reason to give it up for sure...but there ya go... |
Date: 7/31/2007 1:16:00 AM
From Authorid: 15070
Amanda Blake also had AIDS which she caught from her bisexual Husband.  |
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Date: 7/31/2007 1:21:00 AM
From Authorid: 15070
I am in my 40's and I battle not smoking. I have quit several times. Sometimes for long periods of time. Since January of this year, I have been battling bronchitis to pnemonia to pleresy, back to bronchitis. I have only had 6 weeks "free" of any of these problems. I am also showing COPD. Yet, I have been without a cigerette for a week, and daily I struggle not to buy a carton. And the real kicker? I have battled (and won) Cancer once. How twisted is that?? |
Date: 7/31/2007 1:59:00 AM ( From Author )
From Authorid: 24924
Vampire Kiss, Clark Gable was in poor health from years of heavy smoking (three packs a day for over thirty years) and drinking whiskey. Lung cancer is not the only side effect from smoking. Heavy smoking DOES horrible damage to the heart.  |
Date: 7/31/2007 5:35:00 AM
From Authorid: 8024
each of will have ou day .. it's gonna happen somehow .. famous or not  think about it..  |
Date: 7/31/2007 5:46:00 AM
From Authorid: 10245
I do think that system is fair on one level, AS, but what about all the pollution we can't help but take in that also results in respiratory illness and other health problems? Most of the people I know with asthma and other breathing disorders are non-smokers who worked in factories? Who gets the blame for that? I live on a highway and have to breathe exhaust and diesel fumes all day long. The auto plant down the road belches nasty looking stuff out of it's smoke stacks all day long. When do we start attacking and blaming and being vocal about that kind of stuff rather than blaming smokers and the tobacco industry for all the ills of the world? "They" found a scapegoat and it's being beaten like a deadhorse.  |
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Date: 7/31/2007 5:48:00 AM
From Authorid: 10245
none the less... it's a nasty habit that I need to leave behind. Kids: don't start! It's not worth it on any level; from the money to the so-called "satisfaction". It makes you cough, stink and go broke. Period. |
Date: 7/31/2007 10:04:00 AM
From Authorid: 17516
I thought Jackie O died of bladder cancer
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Date: 7/31/2007 11:00:00 AM
From Authorid: 60792
yes and he also had recently done a crash diet losing 35 pounds for a movie role and he took diet pills a lot and had seizures and people thought he had Parkinson's disease. I'm not saying smoking didn't help him die, but it wasn't the only thing that killed him. I've never found any documentation that said he had lung cancer, though it was his fourth heart attack that killed him among other things. It is a poor lifestyle choice, but your premise that these people died from lung cancer due to smoking is false. Some of them died of throat cancer and esophageal cancer for example (though both of those are directly related to smoking. My Uncle Johnny died of throat cancer from chewing tobacco). Karma Killer, Jackie O died of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. |
Date: 7/31/2007 11:09:00 AM
From Authorid: 53284
Here's an interesting article. The total cost of smoking related illness was $72 billion dollars in 1998. People say that smoking is a personal decision but it costs everyone money. Either tax dollars or insurance dollars are paying for this "illness" and it's taking money either in the form of taxes or increases insurance premimums. Think about it. http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/1998/0916/smoking.html  |
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Date: 7/31/2007 11:13:00 AM
From Authorid: 60792
smoking isn't the only thing that we pay for others treatment from. |
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Date: 7/31/2007 11:16:00 AM
From Authorid: 53284
Personally, I think that the tax on tobacco products should be high enough to pay for the cost of smoking related illness. You could also tax alcohol sufficiently to pay for health costs related to drinking. I think that the tax on products that are know to create illness and/or death should be sufficient sothat people who choose not to use them wouldn't have to pay for those who do. I guess you could include cars in this scheme. |
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Date: 7/31/2007 11:41:00 AM
From Authorid: 63194
VK, it doesn't really matter whether it is or not. |
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Date: 7/31/2007 12:21:00 PM
From Authorid: 60792
the government isn't going to relinquish any it's profit from alcohol, so don't hold your breath on that lol. |
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Date: 7/31/2007 12:48:00 PM
From Authorid: 15070
I will however take responsibility for my own actions. No one put a gun to my head and made me smoke. So, when the Atty contacted me about a "Class Action Lawsuit" against the tobacco companies for putting "addictive" additives in cigarettes, I passed. No one put a gun to my head and made me smoke. |
Date: 7/31/2007 11:34:00 PM
From Authorid: 16671
I smoke, I like to smoke. Have I been sick? yes, a couple of days ago my cousin died, just because she had her upper teeth pulled and a false plate put in. She did not smoke, ever but still she is dead. My grandmother died from cirros of the liver, never drank a drink in her life. My cousin at age 27 died, he was shot. The point Im trying to make here is that no one knows what is going to kill them in life, or at what age we should make it to. YES we are taking years off, so they say by smoking, but its my choice. I pay taxes too. For all those that eat MUCH and turn obese, the taxes on the food I buy, pays for their medical and life choice of eating too much. Before I ever smoked I had a cough all my life due to allergies. It hasn't changed at certain seasons I STILL have it. I've tried to stop many times, its a hard thing to do. My sister in law had cancer of the spine, she told the doc she guessed she needed to stop smoking. The doctor told her that people that have smoked over twenty years, that if they stop their body is so use to having this chemical that it starts to try and break down the body. He told her NOT to stop smoking as it would be worse for her and not better.  |
Date: 8/1/2007 3:40:00 PM
From Authorid: 21903
Kudos for posting this! My dad has smoked since he was 11, he won't even try to stop, which scares me, because I know how his end will come. I was around his smoking the first 18 years of my life, I hope my lungs can be forgiving. BTW, I didn't know Edward Murrow died of lung cancer!  |
Date: 8/1/2007 3:41:00 PM
From Authorid: 59876
does this mean you managed to quit after all thinker?  |
