Jump to content

Complete and utter rubbish


Recommended Posts

Plaintiffs in tobacco lawsuit still angry

quote:

INGLIS, Fla. - Mary Farnan started smoking at age 10, sneaking down to the fishing camps in this Gulf Coast town to buy 35-cent packs. In the 40 years since then, what once cost so little has taken a lot: parts of both her lungs, some ribs, a piece of her brain and with it her memory, and her job as a nurse. Doctors were once so sure it would take her life that they gave her three months to live.

But Farnan, one of three plaintiffs who took the spotlight in the historic class-action lawsuit against Big Tobacco, is still around. She considers herself lucky ÔÇö she was the only one still alive to receive an award after the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the $145 billion judgment.

Despite invalidating the ruling, a majority of the state's high court reinstated a $2.85 million award to Farnan that had been tossed out on appeal.


Can the courts legaly reinstate an award after it was tossed out on appeal?

quote:

Farnan smoked for 30 years ÔÇö sometimes three packs a day, sometimes four. She knows she shouldn't have. She tried hypnosis, a counseling program and nicotine gum to stop.

What bothers her most, she said, is that the tobacco companies never took responsibility for killing so many people, for getting kids hooked before they could legally drive and lying about it when they learned they were killing their own customers.

Rubbish. She either started smoking because she wanted to or because her peers were smoking too in a rebellious fashion and because they and she thought it look cool. Sue your peers and the rest of society while you're at it. Sorry for your lack of will power to quit but when is this blame game going to stop. When is this society going to start taking responsibilty for their own actions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:

Originally posted by Blerm:

quote:

Originally posted by LostInSpace:

When is this society going to start taking responsibilty for their own actions.

Probably the same time they wake up and realize voting for Bush was a mistake.


*rubs hands*

Probably at the same time they realize voting for ANY liberal OR republican is a mistake, since neither CARE about the country =P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:

Originally posted by Kalshion:

quote:

Originally posted by Blerm:

quote:

Originally posted by LostInSpace:

When is this society going to start taking responsibilty for their own actions.

Probably the same time they wake up and realize voting for Bush was a mistake.


*rubs hands*

Probably at the same time they realize voting for ANY liberal OR republican is a mistake, since neither CARE about the country =P


Exactly. Only out for #1 and their contributors and lobby.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:

Originally posted by Kalshion:

Probably at the same time they realize voting for ANY
liberal
OR
republican
is a mistake, since neither CARE about the country =P

quote:

Originally posted by LostInSpace:

Exactly. Only out for #1 and their contributors and lobby.

Good point. I think they should all start smoking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:

Originally posted by Blerm:

quote:

Originally posted by Kalshion:

Probably at the same time they realize voting for ANY
liberal
OR
republican
is a mistake, since neither CARE about the country =P

quote:

Originally posted by LostInSpace:

Exactly. Only out for #1 and their contributors and lobby.

Good point. I think they should all start smoking.


You have no idea my friend. Like I said in other threads this is strickly a "do as I say not as I do" ideology:

WHEN the citywide smoking ban takes effect here next month, at least one workplace in town will be spared: Congress, the beneficiary of a kind of diplomatic immunity for federal lawmakers.

That is excellent news for John A. Boehner of Ohio, the new Republican majority leader, who regularly smokes cigarettes between votes in the House. And for Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat, who sits and smokes cigars while reading the newspaper in the speaker's lobby. And for Sherwood Boehlert, the New York Republican, who is struggling to quit but can be seen inhaling in weaker moments during the workday.

Because while the rest of the country has turned against smoking with great zeal, Congress has stubbornly ÔÇö some would say proudly ÔÇö refused to bend. Smoking is still allowed in numerous indoor spaces in the Capitol, most noticeably in the gilded reception area where lawmakers crowd together during the long yeas and nays. Standing ashtrays, usually partly filled with cigar and cigarette butts, are strategically placed in the corridors. In a time when the "smoke-filled room" is more metaphor than fixture, its literal incarnation in Congress can seem almost quaint.

Members are uncharacteristically shy about discussing their smoking habits in a public domain where smoking is supposedly taboo. Not one smoker-lawmaker contacted for this article returned the call. Photographs of lawmakers smoking are virtually impossible to come by (as the blog Wonkette discovered last week when it put out a public call for photographs of Mr. Boehner smoking).

[more info in the link]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Keep in mind the news link I posted above:

Smoking ban imposed in Ky. state buildings

quote:

Gov. Ernie Fletcher said the ban will extend to state buildings controlled by the executive branch, but exclude portions of the state Capitol and the Capitol Annex controlled by the Legislature.

Seems once again the law will only apply to the sheeple and not the Judas goats.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In my current mood, all this does is make me laugh. I picture a fat liberal or conservative reading the paper smoking a fat cigar who has just passed a law stating that fat men reading newspapers can't smoke fat cigars (congress immune of course).

One possibility that comes to mind is that there are smart people who can handle smoking and oh, I don't know, stuff like driving while talking on a cell phone. People exist who can do this without causing any problems whatsoever. I was going to say that maybe congressmen are a sub-group of these people, but that's just, well, "complete and utter rubbish."

Though, maybe the woman who lost so much of her innards needs to be protected by these laws whereas congress does not, because congressmen or woman will never sue a tobacco company for malfeasance after using their product for 35 years.

Maybe Congress is retarded but don't cry when their own choices negatively affect their lives?

I dunno, man... I dunno.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Government hypocricy illustrated:

Smoking is bad for you, so we'll tax it, tax it, and tax it some more. We'll award massive suit settlements to states that have a huge number of residents with tobacco-related illnesses, and we'll force business owners to comply with OUR stipulations on how they are to operate their places of business in this supposedly "free" country.

But, if the government is SO set on protecting Americans from the "evils" of smoking and big tobacco, and their motives are pure and noble, wouldn't it follow logically that smoking should be banned altogether?

Oh, that's right - I forgot. That would cause the government to lose the absolutely MASSIVE amount of revenue that they collect through taxes on tobacco sales. Does anyone REALLY think that the government approaches this from anything other than a monetary (read: greedy) perspective?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nail on the head Prez. Drive it on in.

Excise taxes on tobacco out the wazoo in this state, on top of the federal taxes.

Smoking is fast becoming an unaffordable habit, thanks to a bunch of goodie-two-shoes and people who just can't seem to accept the resonsibility of thier own actions.

In the end it's all about the Benjamins and stealing as many as they can from tobacco users.

Let's face it, we have transitioned from a majority to a minority rules system. Disgusting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree that it's all a load of crap, but as a smoker, I can honestly say I'm not bothered by it. I realize smoking is bad for my health, but it's my choice and I fully accept the consequences and would no more sue a tobacco company than I would sue automobile manufacturers for their polluting vehicles.

It is about greed and on those grounds I would protest, but not on the grounds that my choice to smoke is somehow beyond my control and needs government intervention to set me straight. No thanks.

I stayed in a hotel in California once, where it was clearly marked a non-smoking hotel (damn those PC Liberals!!). I grumbled under my breath a bit, but laughed at the hipocrisy of the posted placards stating that "chemicals used in the carpet within this building are known to contain cancer causing agents".

Idiots.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:

Originally posted by aramike:

I'm NOT saying that I'm advocating it, but a nearby community has banned smoking in restaurants and the businesses have seen sales INCREASE...

This is true Mike, pretty much everywhere that smoking bans have been enacted, businesses eventually show an upturn. Good for them.

Personally it doesn't affect my decision about where to eat or hang out at all, and even though I am a smoker, I never smoke in restaurants anyway.

There's two sides to every story and this is just one case I really can't get all riled up about with the possible exception that I'd prefer these decisions be left to the businesses themselves and not mandated by law.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:

Originally posted by Prez:

Restaurants I can see. But bars not allowing smokers? That's just silly. Ultimately, it should be up to the man or woman who owns the business and no one else.

Funny that casinos are being exempt also from the smoking bans where tens of thousands of innocent non-smokers gather everyday. The way I see it, these smoking ban laws are very elitist in nature.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...