Unfortunately, Mason, this country is ruled by minorities.  All it takes is for one or two people to whine and complain to the right people, and hey presto!  there's a new law or clause or rule making life harder for the majority of normal, regular people.  Like this dumbass bitching about the lack of non-smoking areas at that truck stop - all he had to do was say 'ok, well I don't like smoke so I'll go across the street to the truck stop that DOES have a non-smoking section' - but no.  Rather than do the obvious, he chose to piss and moan and try to enforce his opinion on everyone else. 

People like him have ruined, are ruining and will continue to ruin what's left of America.

Reply #2 Unfortunately, Mason, this country is ruled by minorities. All it takes is for one or two people to whine and complain to the right people, and hey presto! there's a new law or clause or rule making life harder for the majority of normal, regular people. Like this dumbass bitching about the lack of non-smoking areas at that truck stop - all he had to do was say 'ok, well I don't like smoke so I'll go across the street to the truck stop that DOES have a non-smoking section' - but no. Rather than do the obvious, he chose to piss and moan and try to enforce his opinion on everyone else. People like him have ruined, are ruining and will continue to ruin what's left of America.

Exactly Dharma, that's what I am now bitching about

In this case, the truckstop across the street was totally smoke-free. This asshat chose to remain in the only one that permits smoking just so that he could then cry about it and try to turn it into a federal case.

I am seriously considering moving to a free country. Maybe Russia.

I am seriously considering moving to a free country. Maybe Russia.

Try Cuba...everyone smokes in Cuba...big ol' stogies.

~Zoo

What is crazy that is that most smokers I know roll the window down in the car while smoking.

As a child I rode in cars with windows cracked and partially down.  Jon I can tell you I still got sick, every single time.  The windows can't be down all the way or the ashes fly around, the tip flies off, and how many people crank them down during a down pour?

Smoking in a car is like sticking a kid's head in a box full of smoke.  A house takes much longer to fill and something as mundane as a door can make a big difference.

 

 

Smoking in a car is like sticking a kid's head in a box full of smoke. A house takes much longer to fill and something as mundane as a door can make a big difference.

Modern cars vent much better than the old ones did. It's really beside the point anyway as a law like this is still nanny state politics and shouldn't exist in the first place.

What was that I learned in government class?...Umm...ruled by the majority but with consideration to the minority....being ruled by a minority kinda defeats the purpose of democracy. I believe that's called an oligarchy.

~Zoo

I don't smoke, my hubby does. He smokes outside our home and in the car with the windows down if I'm with him, but not with the kids in the car because they don't like it either and my son has asthma. I moan and groan at him but basically I leave him alone to decide when he wants to quit. But I nudge him to remind him why sometimes. Other times I leave him alone because I know he derives pleasure from it.

I don't like second hand smoke and so I try to avoid it without making a big fuss when I'm in public. I don't go into the smoking area, that's stupid if I do. The same for the guy whose complaining. If there's that one place for you smokers, then he should just lump it since he went there on his own knowingly or like you said, go across the street to the other place!

As a smoker, I know full well how militant non-smokers can be. I also am extremely flexible as to where I smoke, and will ofter to either put out my smoke, or move away from non-smokers upon request; if the request has a least a semblance of politeness to it.

I have one for you as well:

Back when I was in college, I TA'd the Geology freshmen on a required field study. The last leg of this trip was on some mountain in the Death Valley region, forgive for the life of me I cant remember the name of the place.

Anyhow, we had about a 2 mile hike or so the the foot of the mountain, over some rocky terrain. Well we had a few younger people in the group, and my favorite was a 19 year old freshman girl. Oh yes, this was the biggest "smoking griper" of the 5 day excursion.

So, the wind is whipping over the desert terrain at about 25 MPH, and I'm near the lead of the group. Now this 19 year old beauty has a nasty habit of making her fake little cough-cough every time she even sees a cigarette. So off we hike, me somewhat leading the group, the 25 MPH wind to my face, and of course I light up a smoke.

Miss priss is bitching about the hike, when she saw me light up from about 2/3 of the way back in the group, and oh yes, I knew it was coming.....cough-cough.

Well I had had just about enough of that crap. So I lagged behind, and the closer I got, the more cough-cough I heard. When I got to her, and led her away a bit, I told her that I was done with her cough-cough, and there was no way in hell she could get even so much as a whiff of my smoke from our distance in the current wind, let alone even here, where I was then standing next to her.

I told her I was being kind, by pulling her off to the side like this, but I wouldn't be next time. I told her next time she would be in for the embarrassment of her life, and you better damn well believe she knew I was not lying.

I never heard another cough-cough out of little miss priss ever again.

"Um ... smokers are the minority. Only 22% of adults in the U.S. smoke."

Beat me to it. By the rationale of the usual pretty pony activist waste, we ought to not only be allowed to smoke in public, but we should be allowed to sue people who hurt our feelings about being smokers. Our smoking should be subsidized by the government, and we should be given free cigarettes to make sure we don't smoke dirty butts of the ground or be victimized by people who sell us substandard product.

They protect my little girl from second hand smoke, but then say the burden of protection should go on serial child molesters who can't be harassed when they move into my neighborhood. The ass described in this blog can protest a truck stop, but if I stand too long in front of a child molester's house it is terroristic threatening. It's an idiotic world.

IF YOU WON'T SMOKE, I WON'T FART.

That is classic.

~Zoo 

Um ... smokers are the minority.

In the general population, yes, in certain businesses, no. In most bars around the country (Ultra PC CA excluded) smokers are in the majority. Same with truckstops.

That percentage will probably be shrinking even more as they tax the heck out of cigarettes and make it harder to find a place to smoke. I think that's a good thing.

That percentage will probably be shrinking even more as they tax the heck out of cigarettes and make it harder to find a place to smoke. I think that's a good thing.

So you're ok with excessive punitive taxation? I guess you'd be ok with a 1,000% tax hike on some of the products that you purchase if somebody decided that it was for your own good?

Automobiles are the single biggest source of pollution and carcinogens in the country not to mention the thousands who are maimed and killed in them every year. Perhaps we should tack on an additional $5/gallon tax in the interest of public health.

Maybe it will bring healthcare costs down

Yeah, uh huh, right. Just like seat belt laws and mandatory car insurance lowered health costs. You're joking on this one, right?

So, the wind is whipping over the desert terrain at about 25 MPH, and I'm near the lead of the group. Now this 19 year old beauty has a nasty habit of making her fake little cough-cough every time she even sees a cigarette. So off we hike, me somewhat leading the group, the 25 MPH wind to my face, and of course I light up a smoke.

Yeah nothing like taking a hike in nature, taking a deep breathe of the surrounding country side and getting a big ol taste of second hand smoke.

You are wrong to assume she couldn't smell it. I often can smell it while sitting in traffic with my windows up coming from other smoking vehicles with their windows "cracked."

Heres a question for you. Why would she or anyone even care if you smoke if it wasn't bothering them in some way?

But I also know from spending a lifetime around smokers its like talking to a brick wall when you tell them it stinks. Most agree, but don't realize how really bad the smell is until they quit.

Imagine if a person could voluntarily emit a strong barf smell. (Or any smell you find disgusting.) They were walking with you in a group, even though they weren't puking, the last time they did it got on their clothes, so they stink. You suck it up even though you were hoping to enjoy some nice fresh air on the hike.

Then they decide to spew. Granted they are at the front of the line and the "wind is blowing" so they don't believe anyone can smell it. And away they go.

When you show displeasure at the odor, or act, they pull you aside to snipe at you about it.

Seems you believe your right to smoke outweighs her right not to like it.

Mason's example is the exact opposite of this. If I go into a place that caters to smoking, then I can't complain when there is smoke. That's stupid.

But I don't think expecting fresh air when you take a hike is too much to expect.