[quote=scaredyclassic]what benefits an individual may harm society. how else can we kill people.
repeal helmet laws.
legalize heroin.
give tax refunds by check or double that value in cartons of cigs
need more ideas…[/quote]I’m highly sensitive to and allergic to cigarette smoke. I can’t even stand to stay in a “non-smoking” room in a hotel which allows smoking on the premises because the smoke invariably comes through the air conditioning ducts. It’s disgusting to me, will adversely affect my sinuses and I won’t be able to sleep. I won’t go into restaurants in flyover states which still have “smoking sections” because (like casinos) they just don’t “work.”
If TG’s idea was put into practice in all 50 states, I would probably have to move out of the country (or to an isolated area with a low population where the housing is far apart). I can’t even stand to pass someone on the sidewalk smoking. If I see someone ahead of me smoking on the sidewalk, I take a deep breath and then take short exhales out of my mouth until I run past them. If they are smoking cigars, I immediately attempt to cross the street, even if I have to “jaywalk” or cross half of the street at a time (until oncoming traffic passes).
Allowing smoking in public is a violation of citizens’ rights to breathe clean air (as clean as possible in some cities). Allowing smoking in one’s rental unit means the LL better take a HUGE security deposit because they’re going to need it upon move-out to mitigate the permutation of smoke odor in everything in the unit (even if no carpet or drapes exist). If they don’t clean it up properly after move-out, they’re going to have a hard time getting a future tenant who is decent. In some apt/condo/coop complexes with units on multiple floors, one tenant’s smoke can easily enter another tenant’s unit thru the shared HVAC ducts.
I think all smoke products (incl “snuff”) should be taxed the hell out of and the money diverted to health insurance carriers because I am paying in spades in my obamacare premium for my “brethren” to indulge in tobacco products, alcohol and drugs to their hearts content (or did for decade(s) in their lives and are “clean” now … doesn’t matter) so they can have an “affordable” healthplan in spite of their (present or former) “lifestyle choices.” My health premiums have been $5500 to $7000 more every year under the ACA than they were before the ACA became law and my paltry “subsidy” does not even come close to fully compensating me for that, nor do my subsidy increases year to year even represent 10% of the rate hikes I have been receiving every year beginning 1/1/15. The ACA is unfair and actually penalizes people who take personal responsibility for their health because it is priced on age, NOT the state of one’s health. I am so happy that the law will be repealed in 2017!
CO (and I think UT) doesn’t have any helmet laws and the result isn’t pretty, especially for young MC drivers and especially in the mountains. It is the young, inexperienced and daring drivers who are “killed off” by not wearing helmets, NOT the 65 year-old highly-experienced driver on his or her Honda Goldwing or Harley (with sidebags) touring the country. The latter group has seen a lot in their lifetimes and they wear helmets 100% of the time, no matter what the weather is or the laws are in the state they are riding in. I have 3 close relatives who were gravely injured (even one who lost a leg at age 18 and one who lost his life at age 19) in MC accidents. One was 60 years old and had been riding (always with a helmet) since he was 18. He had over $125K in lost pay due to his accident injuries and was hit by an uninsured motorist in a large panel van while on his way to work on a busy surface street. ALL of these people were wearing good helmets. MC riding is dangerous enough even while wearing a helmet. Deciding not to wear one (especially while riding on the freeway or on mountain roads) is suicidal, IMO.
