Ballad of the Sad Cafes

First, let's rememember that the French outlive us (U.S.) even though they smoke more than us. The Chinese outlive us while smoking more. The Chinese have 1/1000 of the DOCTORS as the U.S. per person. So MR. MD., with the facts cracking your back like a whip of reality, explain how they live longer. Perhaps its the totality of lifestyle more than any one factor.
Also, 1/3 of all people with lung cancer did not smoke nor were secondhand smokers.
The thing is - a DOCTOR will never tell a lifelong smoker that there was a 1 in 3 chance that they would have gotten lung cancer anyway.
A DOCTOR won't fess up to the fact that it is only the dangers of childbirth and childhood disease having been reduced that has resulted in our incresed life expectancy. If you go to old cemetaries you can see all of the infants, children, and pregnant/birthing women. When you average a zero years of age with a Ben Franklin old big number, you get the smaller lifespans of days gone by.
Smoking is not good for you, but the government doctors have said that an ultra light cig. with a one inch filter is NO safer than a camel unfiltered. Have they ever smoked? When our DOCTORS stand by false propaganda, we have to wonder when or if they are telling the truth. When was the last time you heard of a DOCTOR admitting to a mistake? That has to be dragged out of them (if it ever emerges) in court and only if a honest nurse risks their career and tells the patient what really happened.
The risks of secondhand smoke are overblown.
AND no one, not even a DOCTOR, can answer the question - if secondhand smoke is so bad, why does the GOVERNMENT have to force places to be nonsmoking. Wouldn't there be such a strong demand for nonsmoking facilities that smokers would have to hunt to find a place?
But maybe its that SMOKING = FREEDOM, and that even nonsmokers prefer a place that is fun with good food, a place with a relaxed atmosphere. AND you can't have a relaxed atmosphere with smoking NAZIS controlling your every move.
Maybe that's a big part of the collapse of the French cafe culture.

Sounds more like revenge and punishment than merciful justice to me. Maybe there should be laws against driving recklessly, but they should only be enforceable when there has been a victm to the crime.

Reply to zzzz'z----I guess if I have to explain it to you, you probably won't understand it, but I will try. Do you think their should be no laws against driving recklessly or speeding on our public roads; and if I don't like it I should try to find another road where people are driving in a safe manner.

I don't know a simpler way to explain it to you. I remember years ago, a very obnoxious woman smoker who sat across the table from me at an employee luncheon. She immediately lit up a cigarette, and said..."Hope you don't mind if I smoke---if you do, thats too bad."

About that time a friend of mind who smoked cigars came in. I suggested he should sit right next to the woman smoker, which he did. I knew he would light up a cigar, which he promptly did---and much to my delight, the woman turned green and I just about died laughing---that is justice!!

If the price you pay for health insurance is going to be the reason that we take away everyone's freedom, then the thing we need to make illegal is health insurance.

While I know that second hand smoke is not the deadliest thing facing me on a daily basis, I have to admit, I do prefer not to be subjected to it. Unfortunately, I am very sensitive to it - I grewu up in a houseful of smokers and suffered with asthma and allergies from birth, so for me? It is a very real health issue. When I am exposed to smoke, I instantly start with a runny nose that turns to sneezing and then to stuffiness and then the headache and the asthma set it. So, while natural disasters, automobile accidents by drunk drivers, and terrorism might kill me quicker, at least eliminating secondhand smoke from our lives is one thing that can be tackled readily and easily.

DUH!!! If you want to smoke than smoke...if you don't then don't. Individual freedoms are being taken away here in the U.S. at an alarming rate. When does personal responsibility become a part of our lives again...? Oh yeah! That's right it doesn't, because it's easier to let others dictate how we should live our lives.
Just as it should be a personal choice to smoke or not to smoke it should be a personal choice to patronize a public place that allows smoking or doesn't allow it. I do not need someone else telling me that I'm going to hell because I smoke. I certainly will not force my will onto others and should expect the same from them but that is not to be, as the righteous are always right. If I choose to smoke and the righteous are around I will remove myself from their presence as I find the righteous to be very offensive. In fact I believe there should be a law banning the self righteous...mmmm, just maybe I could get it passed...who's with me?

Second hand smoke may be hazardous to your health but drunk drivers kill whole families instantly. Terrorists kill people daily and there are children running around with guns that kill other children and anyone in the vicinity. There are people dying from natural disasters and starvation all over the world that could be avoided with government response and leadership. We have laws that let killers run free to kill again. Automobile accidents (usually ???Stupidents???) that kill people everyday and you are worried about second hand smoke. Instead of crying about smoking, try tackling one of these real issues that definitely is hazardous to your health and everyone else???s.

Second hand smoke may be hazardous to your health but drunk drivers kill whole families instantly. Terrorists kill people daily and there are children running around with guns that kill other children and anyone in the vicinity. There are people dying from natural disasters and starvation all over the world that could be avoided with government response and leadership. We have laws that let killers run free to kill again. Automobile accidents (usually ???Stupidents???) that kill people everyday and you are worried about second hand smoke. Instead of crying about smoking, try tackling one of these real issues that definitely is hazardous to your health and everyone else???s.

Monsieur Peresse was an otherwise healthy 71 year old man who sounds like he died from his smoking (or breathing in all the smoke) during his lifetime at his cafe. I am sure he had the choice to do it all over again, he would gladly give up the profits of his smokey cafe and cigar selling to have more years to live.

"A cigar is about pleasure...." the article states. Sure it is, until it is time to pay the piper in your older years with cancer surgery, chemo, oxygen tubes and an early death with medical bills that eat up your retirement savings. Everything has a consequence. I have no sympathy for smokers whatsoever anymore.

I went to Paris in April and LOVED the smoke free cafes and restaurants . I could actually enjoy my dining experience because I could actually TASTE my food and BREATHE. VIVE LA FRANCE FUME LIBRE !!

Undoubtedly the companies which manufacture 'drugs' will soon be using the chemical elements in tobacco in all kinds of tablets and meds to 'help' us. They already have nicotine patches and who knows what else. Profit motives under the guise of 'caring for us?' Aw, come-on! Deaths from all sorts of cancer cells in every part of the body must have been way over the top in the 20's and 30' - wonder if THEY knew cigs were the culprit!

I'll be the first to admit that nestalga suffers as life progresses.
But... GET OVER YOURSELF.
Embrace life, not a stinking ashtray.

So much for feeling upbeat... I feel this is true buy OMG it's more than depressing.

sfrancis

Could I be any more depressed...... Doubtful.

Fact: cigarrette smoke is bad
Fact: federal, state, and local governments administer laws designed to protect patrons of public business establishments -- such as maximum occupancy limits, sanitation, ADA rules, etc.
Put 2 and 2 together and then say you don't understand why there is a no-smoking ban in PUBLIC places. You can't walk into a restaurant in most states without a shirt or shoes on -- with a vague health/safety benefit, at best -- yet, people don't complain about that rule.

Hey what happened to all of the comments previously posted here?

test