Just read Biden is trying to regulate nicotine now.. He wants to make it so tobacco companies can't put an addictive amount in cigarettes.
I really don't want to live on this planet anymore. *sigh*
I'm set to replace @Keihan as the go to guy for politics on this site now.
I say this as there have been a lot of local body elections going on recently, and I've had candidates coming to me left right and center for support. I feel like the puppet master.
His experience is out of date now. Mine is up to date.
Sure rural Hokuriku is not quite Washington DC, but the basics are the same.
And to be sure, the candidate I eventually supported (well, basically told my wife who to vote for), came in 3rd with about 250 votes and is now on the village council.
Or they could just leave me alone and let me kill myself in peace. I've got a marijuana vape on my desk, and a pack of cigarettes in the car. I prefer the cigarettes personally. However, that's the crux of the issue. I'm apparently not allowed to have a preference anymore, because the crown has determined what my preference will be. I mean shit, I like Asian girls, but apparently in today's America that makes me a racist too! *sigh*Yeah, they should just get serious and make the production, sale, or import of tobacco illegal.
And then replace the tobacco plantations with weed farms after legalising marijuana at the federal level.
Nobody's going to miss tobacco after that.
That's the thing though - smokers aren't "killing themselves in peace". Smoking related illnesses are long term debilitations before they're lethal, and they cause financial distress to the families of smokers, put pressure on the medical system, and lower worker productivity.Or they could just leave me alone and let me kill myself in peace.
Of course it does, that's been proven quite conclusively, despite tobacco industry lobbies. More than 40,000 people a year die in the US from exposure to second hand smoke.second hand smoke does not fall under that "not harm other people thing,"
And this is the other side of the coin - marketing and selling an addictive substance that is intrinsically harmful when used as intended is pretty much "people hurting other people".Government should be there to ensure people don't hurt each other.
Or they could just leave me alone and let me kill myself in peace. I've got a marijuana vape on my desk, and a pack of cigarettes in the car. I prefer the cigarettes personally. However, that's the crux of the issue. I'm apparently not allowed to have a preference anymore, because the crown has determined what my preference will be. I mean shit, I like Asian girls, but apparently in today's America that makes me a racist too! *sigh*
I get it, don't steal from other people. Cool. Don't hurt other people. Also cool. Government should be there to ensure people don't hurt each other. (which, as we discussed earlier isn't often the case). However, when they get in the business of discussing what I'm allowed to do to my own body? Yea, fuck those people. And no, second hand smoke does not fall under that "not harm other people thing," anymore than McDonalds is responsible for the half a million people a year that die in the US from heart disease. I try to be courteous when I smoke in public. I try and move away from a crowd of people, I blow smoke away from people as much as possible and when there are kids near by, I always hold my cigarette away from them until they've gone past. However, when I'm sitting next to a public ash tray and people walk by making coughing sounds, or ask me to smoke somewhere else? Yea, they can fuck right off.
I love your unusual mix of Republicanism and North-Korean style of problem solving. It’s refreshingTruth be told, I despise cigarette smokers and would be very quietly pleased if the government banned smoking cigarettes anywhere in public and, better, start executing anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers and basically all tourists traveling for pleasure right now.
I love your unusual mix of Republicanism and North-Korean style of problem solving. It’s refreshing
I'm set to replace @Keihan as the go to guy for politics on this site now.
I say this as there have been a lot of local body elections going on recently, and I've had candidates coming to me left right and center for support. I feel like the puppet master.
His experience is out of date now. Mine is up to date.
Sure rural Hokuriku is not quite Washington DC, but the basics are the same.
And to be sure, the candidate I eventually supported (well, basically told my wife who to vote for), came in 3rd with about 250 votes and is now on the village council.
If I've got more time and it's a young female
I told her "because I am a foreigner" to which she immediately blurted "no, you're not!".
The good spot for that is in front of Shimbashi station among the smoking ojisans near the old locomotive exhibit. For some reasons TV crews are often there asking questions to passer bys.Impressive that your Japanese is that good! I can get about a sentence and a half in before the average Japanese figures out there's something wrong. Given my appearance, they usually make the illogical deduction that I must be Chinese, which generally elicits a particularly unfriendly reaction ranging from subtle apprehension to utter revolt. But on the bright side, it does keep the racist types from bothering me any further. But I'm still waiting for one of those variety show street reporters to make the mistake of interviewing me on camera one day so I can prove that no matter what color or creed, Americans truly are ignorant, racist bigots.
The good spot for that is in front of Shimbashi station among the smoking ojisans near the old locomotive exhibit. For some reasons TV crews are often there asking questions to passer bys.
The good spot for that is in front of Shimbashi station among the smoking ojisans near the old locomotive exhibit. For some reasons TV crews are often there asking questions to passer bys.
Okay, so any foods with additives, gone. Coffee and soda should be gone, after all, caffeine is more addictive than nicotine, and is linked to heart attacks. We should get rid of pesticides too, since long term exposure causes cancer. Sport should be gone too, since contact sports cause brain damage long term, and non-contact sports even cause joint damage, muscle damage, etc. We should ban marriage too, since it's one of the things that causes insanity long term. Oh, second hand only? All those should be banned by that logic, since parents effectively force-feed their kids garbage causing irreparable damages during puberty. Not like a kid living at home with their parents have any control over their diet.That's the thing though - smokers aren't "killing themselves in peace". Smoking related illnesses are long term debilitations before they're lethal, and they cause financial distress to the families of smokers, put pressure on the medical system, and lower worker productivity.
And this is the other side of the coin - marketing and selling an addictive substance that is intrinsically harmful when used as intended is pretty much "people hurting other people".
Do you really think it's only the tobacco lobby that's fudging results for an agenda in this fight? A very simple thing. You say 40k a year die from second hand smoke. Long term causes are the most difficult to diagnose. Suppose you have someone in their 60's who died of lung cancer. Now, they grew up in a home with someone who smoked. They also grew up on a farm in the 70's when we were still using DDT. They spent time in Japan / China in the 90's, where smog was so bad you needed those oxygen stations. It's impossible to tell which caused the lung cancer, If someone says they can definitively say it was second hand smoke that caused it, they're full of shit.Of course it does, that's been proven quite conclusively, despite tobacco industry lobbies. More than 40,000 people a year die in the US from exposure to second hand smoke.
I'd hope you'd find this argument insane if it attacked some facet of your life you cared about. Say, alcohol should be banned because alcohol related driving deaths kills 300k a year. We should completely ban the sale of alcohol in public. If you want to drink, you have to make your own, and only drink it in your house.If you want to play the "what I'm allowed to do to my own body" card, I would still support your right to grow and roll your own if that's what you really want to do.... as long as you smoked it away from other people.
Completely agree, except 30 years ago it was the Republicans and the religious right who were pushing to ban everything. Before them it was the hippies. Authoritarianism doesn't know party lines. It's why I'm more libertarian in my principles / beliefs rather than supporting a party. The Libertarian party is a joke... 2016 was the year for Libertarians to become mainstream, but no. Their candidate was Gary Johnson with closet authoritarian Weld running with him. And the Libertarian convention was some naked dude coming out on stage to celebrate freedom. You had Donald Fucking Trump, a New York Democrat who had the entire media against him, and Hillary Fucking Clinton, one of the most bi-partisanly hated women in modern day politics. A trained monkey could have beat either of those candidates, and the libertarians STILL fucked it up. Hell, the Green party even had a chance, except we had Jill "Wifi causes cancer" Stein.You basically just explained to yourself why you should never vote Democrat again, ever.
I've never voted Democrat, except in situations where it's two Democrats running against each other (I live in the People's Republic of California).Now, I'm not saying I'm for or against such efforts. Truth be told, I despise cigarette smokers and would be very quietly pleased if the government banned smoking cigarettes anywhere in public and, better, start executing anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers and basically all tourists traveling for pleasure right now. But I never claimed to have a conscience or moral/ethical compass...or, at least, based my decisions on such things. I'm just saying, if that's how you truly feel, then you have two choices: Vote with your conscience and vote Libertarian, or vote pragmatically and vote Republican. But you should never be voting Democrat again.
Completely agree, except 30 years ago it was the Republicans and the religious right who were pushing to ban everything. Before them it was the hippies. Authoritarianism doesn't know party lines. It's why I'm more libertarian in my principles / beliefs rather than supporting a party. The Libertarian party is a joke... 2016 was the year for Libertarians to become mainstream, but no. Their candidate was Gary Johnson with closet authoritarian Weld running with him. And the Libertarian convention was some naked dude coming out on stage to celebrate freedom. You had Donald Fucking Trump, a New York Democrat who had the entire media against him, and Hillary Fucking Clinton, one of the most bi-partisanly hated women in modern day politics. A trained monkey could have beat either of those candidates, and the libertarians STILL fucked it up. Hell, the Green party even had a chance, except we had Jill "Wifi causes cancer" Stein.
*sigh* And it's not like Jorgensen was any better. It blows me away because every single time we have an election and think "350 million people and *this* is the best we can do? REALLY?!"
True be told, In 2008, I was really hoping Obama was going to do good for the country. But that was the key thing that moved me well away from the left, is the pure and utter bullshit they kept making up. The 2008 crash was Bush's fault, nevermind that it was policy created by Clinton and Bush Sr. that caused the crash. Bush started the war in Iraq, never mind that it was Clinton who gave Bin Laden a pass. Obama issued the least number of executive orders! Correct, except he used presidential memos instead, which are the same as executive orders. Add those up, and those of previous presidents and he's one of the highest. Obama deported more illegals than anyone. Sure, he also changed what counted as a deportation, to include those turned away. Obama earned the nobel peace prize~!... Except he was bombing people literally every day he was in office. That's my problem with the left, is they keep making shit up, changing definitions, and just flat out lying about shit. Trump's presidency was seriously making me question my own sanity with how much shit people were making up about him. It's like dude, seriously, you can be honest and talk plenty of shit about Trump. But when you make shit up about him, you become worse. People say he's a Russian agent, yet can't name a single thing that Russia benefited from with Trump as president. It's not like Trump handed the Ukraine over to Russia or anything, or sold them weapon's grade uranium or anything like that. People say he was an authoritarian, yet can't name any authoritarian policies he enacted. They say he's a racist, yet the only actual racist thing he's done was back in the 70's. Yes, he said stupid shit. Yes, he enjoyed causing chaos in the white house. Talk shit on that stuff. Don't make up some bullshit story about how Trump dumped his Koi feed in the pond like a brute, offending Abe and almost causing an international incident when he hugged him later.It's actually quite disturbing how much you sound like me when I'm not surrounded by other politburo types.
Want to know something even more ironic? Following the election of Obama 2008, I was so disgusted with the GOP for that trainwreck of a ticket they came up with (Palin) that I actually joined the Libertarian Party. Card-carrying jagoff. But as always, the Libertarians managed to display just how irreparably stupid they are so I tossed my card, re-registered with the GOP in 2010 and re-joined the ranks of the entry-level operatives. Fast-forward six years and once again the GOP so enraged me by not being able to contain Trump and [what I thought would be] handing the election to Hillary, I once again broke ranks, joined some other GOP operatives in the Never Trump movement and voted for Gary Johnson. Yes, Gary Fucking Johnson. The idiot who went on HULU and let Triumph the Insult Comic Dog humiliate him. And then of course Trump won so I kept quiet about who I voted for, put on my red MAGA hat and re-joined the festivities. And holy dogshit, it was one hell of a fucking party before COVID brought everything crashing down around us. But of course, by that point my Never-Trumper past caught up to me and the MAGA crazies demanded I be booted from the party. Again.
I'm like an abused woman. No matter how bad the GOP fucks up, I keep crawling back to them because they at least tickle my twat before throwing me another beating.
All of these are piss poor examples and you know it.Okay, so any foods with additives, gone. Coffee and soda should be gone, after all, caffeine is more addictive than nicotine, and is linked to heart attacks. We should get rid of pesticides too, since long term exposure causes cancer. Sport should be gone too, since contact sports cause brain damage long term, and non-contact sports even cause joint damage, muscle damage, etc. We should ban marriage too, since it's one of the things that causes insanity long term. Oh, second hand only? All those should be banned by that logic, since parents effectively force-feed their kids garbage causing irreparable damages during puberty. Not like a kid living at home with their parents have any control over their diet.
This is the problem; literally everything causes some type of long term damage. When does it stop?
More importantly, why do you feel government has the right/authority to dictate those actions?
You may have a point with marriage, though.
No, they aren't piss poor, they're just ones you have no problems allowing. Until you don't. Caffeine, as I stated, is more addictive than nicotine, and has been linked to heart problems. Sugar, obviously has been linked to diabetes. Obesity, linked to heart problems. Alcohol, linked to liver problems. All of those problems kill substantially more people than second hand smoke does. Alcohol causes 5 times as many deaths of others per year as your second hand smoke statistics. Most all pesticides cause health problems over the long term. The extremely harmful ones like DDT were removed, but the remaining ones aren't exactly safe for human consumption either.All of these are piss poor examples and you know it.
- Food additives that are proven unsafe are generally removed from the market - remember how bright red maraschino cherries used to be? Red Dye #4 was banned.
- Coffee and soda are, unlike tobacco, perfectly safe at reasonable consumption levels.
- Pesticides that are unsafe like DDT are, again, removed from market.
- Sport in general has a net positive on overall fitness and longevity, but there is a strong argument for not allowing certain contact sports at younger ages, and American Football in particular as the padding leads to unreasonably hard hits causing brain damage that you don't see in (unpadded) rugby players.
- You may have a point with marriage, though.
The problem is that the tobacco industry feeds this kind of slippery slope argument to people as part of their efforts to continue marketing the a product that has no safe dosage.
You said it yourself- "Government should be there to ensure people don't hurt each other." The tobacco industry's days are numbered.
He postulated effects on sanity, not longevity.I believe most studies show that being married raises the life expectancy of both men and women above those that are unmarried.
He postulated effects on sanity, not longevity.
No, they aren't piss poor, they're just ones you have no problems allowing. Until you don't.
Sugar, obviously has been linked to diabetes. Obesity, linked to heart problems. Alcohol, linked to liver problems. All of those problems kill substantially more people than second hand smoke does. Alcohol causes 5 times as many deaths of others per year as your second hand smoke statistics. Most all pesticides cause health problems over the long term. The extremely harmful ones like DDT were removed, but the remaining ones aren't exactly safe for human consumption either.
My point remains. Virtually everything around you has the potential to cause you long term harm. You tolerate certain things because they're convenient or desirable to you. That's generally how it starts
Glad to see you support authoritarianism. I'll remember that when the next version of organized crime rises up to fill the void of the tobacco industry and we get more drug wars.
Caffeine, as I stated, is more addictive than nicotine, and has been linked to heart problems.
Sugar, obviously has been linked to diabetes.
Obesity, linked to heart problems.
Alcohol, linked to liver problems.