MOMania

By Yeah, I said it

January 30, 2007 07:43 AM | Link to this

Personaly I don’t think it’s right to smoke with kids in a car but I don’t think it should be a law. Parents, who are usually adults, should act accordingly and responsibly. Why make more and more laws when so many go uninforced as it is. I would want to see a study, and how the study was scientifically done, on how many people are really smoking with kids under age 6 in their cars. Where’s the evidence that a law is needed? I think a more appropriate law would be stupid people shouldn’t have children because they may endanger the lives of those children at some point in their life—sounds dumb doesn’t it. Sounds just as dumb as making a no smoking with kids in the car law proposal.

By Tina

January 30, 2007 08:02 AM | Link to this

I am not going to comment on whether or not the law is right or not. I will however, give a very recent example of what I think to be true: smoking ultimately hurts everyone around the smoker.

My sister in law’s father had a BASEBALL sized malignant tumor removed from his lung last Wednesday. Thank g-d for the doctor who did his annual physical and did a chest x-ray. He would have never suspected he had lung cancer. He has never smoked, but was around smokers in his childhood.

Burt got out of the hospital yesterday and is looking forward to rounds of chemotherapy in addition to healing from the lobectomy and partial removal of his diaphragm. The instances of non-smoker’s lung cancer is on the rise.

By Jesse's Girl

January 30, 2007 08:06 AM | Link to this

Ok…this is WAY more important than proposing a bill against spanking! This is something that actually causes immediate harm to children. I loathe any parent who smokes in the presense of a child. There is absolutely no excuse for such selfish behavior. Having said this however….why do we think our esteemed law enforcement officals will be able or even willing to act on this? Will this be something you are cited for IF you happen to get pulled over for something else? This may be a good faith bill, but I have little faith that it will inspire an already stupid parent to realize the harm they are causing.

I think this is more of a class issue than anything else. Typically….yes, typically…..the people I see smoking in their cars with children appear to be those of lower class. And I almost never see them breaking traffic laws. I normally see the more upper middle and up speeding and acting like silly teenagers in their cars. This is not to say that the ones with more money….or more debt(depending on how you look at it:))do not smoke around children. I have simply not seen it happen in their cars.

This seems to be a proposal for yet another law that cannot be enforced. Our legislators are blowing as much smoke as these parents.

By Buford

January 30, 2007 08:44 AM | Link to this

I cannot stand cigarettes. I hate seening people smoking PERIOD. But to smoke around a kid is just plain selfish, and stupid. And people that smoke in their houses are stupid too. Go outside.
But, what I hate the most, is the smokers who stand right in front of a store, and I have to walk through their smoke to enter the building. GROSS!!!!

By scubber

January 30, 2007 08:48 AM | Link to this

I always wondered how the little blue-haired elderly women could be piled into the Caddy, with the windows rolled up, all smoking. You do not see that so much today as that generation of has passed. Or, maybe I have not visited South Florida recetly enough to take notice if it still exists.

My counterpart setting across from me now, obviously smokes in his car with the windows up as he absolutely reeks of smokes multiple times through the day. I smoked for nineteen years before finally quitting. However, I believe even when I did smoke I would have smelled how horribly he smells!

Since separating myself from the smoking clan, I have noticed a habit that spans the entire breadth of smokers – they are incredibly lazy. If smoking is only allowed outside, they will huddle en masse at the doorway so the foyer, stairways, halls reek of cigarette smoke and the odor of the gnarly ash trays. You spend your life sucking the spirit out of cigarettes and they return the favor by sucking the life and strength out of you.

However, I do not oppose people smoking per se they do so with discretion and respect of others. Try stepping ten feet from the doorway. Try washing your hands and face before returning to your desk. Stop crying about being dienfranchised and place yourself in balance with those around you.

I have strong doubts that your children are smoking in the car, so make an effort not to do so in the same space. I do not want to come off as a self-righteous twit, but smoking is a *#%-ing horrible addiction that needs not to be passed on to the next generation through example from you as parent.

By past50mom

January 30, 2007 08:49 AM | Link to this

Kids with smoking parents are spending much more time in their smoke filled homes than they are in the car! IMO this law would have a minimal effect if any. What we need is more anti-smoking education. A recent study showed that cancer deaths due to smoking have declined, and I believe that is due to the public service anti-smoking campaigns, and due to pressures in the workplace not to smoke, and the higher insurance premiums for smokers.

By Jack

January 30, 2007 08:58 AM | Link to this

Good morning: Well once again here is a proposed law that I fully agree with and hope it really does come to pass. I feel any parent that smokes in a car or house with their kids in the car or house, is a unfit parent that doesnt deserve to be a parent.

My ex wife is a smoker and smokes in a two door truck with my kids in the truck. When I pick them up on the weekends they smell like an ashtray, their clothes do as well and the bag that they brought with them, with their extra clothes for the weekend smell like that as well.. Oh my god, how nasty… My kids are 10 and 8 and it truly makes me mad that their health is being effected by a non caring adult that is suppose to be responsible and looking after the best interest of her kids. Not only does she smoke in the truck with them but she, her live in boyfriend, the live in boyfriends 16yr old son also smoke in the house. It totally makes me sick..

I think this law should be passed and I think it should be for kids all the way up to 18yrs old. The reason for my thought pattern on this is because how many kids at 13, 14, 15 ,16, 17 will be brave enough to tell mom or dad that they wont ride in a car that they smoke in? NONE…. Mom and dad would probely be an as* and threaten the child with punishment if they dont get in the car and quit disrespecting them. This law is needed and I pray for it to come to reality.

SECOND HAND SMOKE IS DANGEROUS AND CAN BE HARMFUL.. PERIOD….

By JACK

January 30, 2007 09:10 AM | Link to this

If this law gets passed then its on. I will hire a private investigator to film my ex smoking in the car with the kids in it and then I will take the investigators report and camera work to dfacs and demand for them to take action. Then I will bring her to court for custody. Ha… im patiently waiting…

Parents if your a smoker that smokes in the car or house with your children in it then how in the hel* can you call yourself a good parent or a parent at all?? You might as well be a abusive parent, beat them, put your cigarettes out on them, ect.. because your no better than an abusive sorry as* parent..

WE NEED MORE LAWS TO PROTECT INNOCENT CHILDREN FROM STUPID PARENTS THAT DONT TRULY WANT TO PARENTS.. ITS SAD SO MANY PARENTS SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAD CHILDREN TO BEGIN WITH…

By Buford

January 30, 2007 10:03 AM | Link to this

Jack you seem to have a lot of anger towards your ex-wife. I get a sense of anger issues whenever you post about her and your kids……just noticing.

By JRGNYC

January 30, 2007 10:09 AM | Link to this

I always hated to be in an air-conditioned automobile, as a child , with no say as to the behavior of the adults. Now that I am an adult, I think that with all the info on second-hand smoke dangers, exposing helpless passengers,(young and old) to a life-threatening situation, such as smoking in an unventilated car needs to be stopped. Making a law prohibiting it, that is something else.

By TheOne

January 30, 2007 10:15 AM | Link to this

Well Jack, I can understand your reasons for being completely for this bill. Unfortunately, I don’t see it actually being enforced if it were to pass. I HATE to see anyone smoking around children, and I cringe every time I see an unfit parent smoking in the car, with the little ones in the back (and I have seen this A LOT). When my daughter was born I would not allow anyone to smoke around her PERIOD, and I am still that way to this day. I am completely thrilled that there are no longer smoking areas in restaurants.

Just curious Jack, have you ever tried to talk to your ex about this?

By Casey

January 30, 2007 10:24 AM | Link to this

Jack your a moron. You always find some reason to call parents unfit yet i’m sure your perfect arn’t you Jack? Yes I smoke, yes I have children and no I don’t smoke in the car. Common sense would tell anyone not to do that. However, if I want to use my basement as a smoking area in the evenings (it’s in the house after all) then your saying i’m an unfit parent. I say your probably the reason your ex smokes & definately the reason she’s an ex.

By Rod

January 30, 2007 10:34 AM | Link to this

No Casey - You’re the moron. Jack cares about his kids and his ex is endangering them around the clock with the second hand smoke. You’re just an a$$.

By TheOne

January 30, 2007 10:37 AM | Link to this

Dang!!! Will there ever be a day when this blog isn’t about belittling each other? Probably not……..

By Renee

January 30, 2007 10:42 AM | Link to this

Hey casey - ANY parent who smokes in the house with kids is an unfit parent. The least you can do is go outside. Are you saying that your kids are banned from the basement? Even then, the smoke filters through the house. Are you so ignorant that you don’t think your kids can get second-hand smoke from your actions? How will you feel when the doctor tells you they have lung cancer? It’ll be to late then to say “Oh darn, I guess I shouldn’t have been so lazy and should have stepped outside when I wanted to slowly kill myself.”

Everyone knows you’ve got to be an idiot to smoke anyway. BUT, to do it anywhere around other people is wrong - and around kids is inexcusable.

By R. Sellars

January 30, 2007 10:44 AM | Link to this

Although I agree with not smoking in the car with kids or anyone else, what I don’t need is the Government telling me I can’t. We have too much Government in our daily lives as it is.

By Kat

January 30, 2007 10:45 AM | Link to this

I grew up with two parents who smoked: in the house, in the car, everywhere. At times it was like being trapped in a gas chamber. And they wondered why I was carsick so often! I feel like I spent half of my childhood in the back seat, trying to hold my breath, or just breathe through my mouth, and trying desperately not to throw up. Even now, though I have never smoked, I sometimes worry that all the toxins from second hand smoke that I absorbed as a kid could still be dormant in my body, waiting to go off like a time bomb. And to parents who smoke: no, it really doesn’t help that much if you crack the window to draw out the smoke. It doesn’t help that much if only one of you lights up at a time “so it won’t be so bad”. It doesn’t help that much if you hang the hand with the cigarette out the window. Every time I see an adult smoking with a child in the car, I think, “That should be illegal.” And it should.

By past50mom

January 30, 2007 10:45 AM | Link to this

Casey, Nicotine is addictive, and smoking deprives your body and especially your brain of oxygen. Note to self: your cranky comments are a product of your oxygen starved and nicotine addicted brain. There are NO BENEFITS of smoking. It can ruin your health with high blood pressure, poor circulation, heart attacks, strokes and cancer. Your breath and clothes stink, your teeth and eyes turn yellow, and your voice turns raspy and gravelly. You smokers should know better but you refuse to listen. Therefore, smokers are stupid.

By G

January 30, 2007 10:56 AM | Link to this

Children of smokers have more ear problems, more allergy problems, and more respiratory problems. The research is there and the correlations are very strong. My parents were chain smokers, and I had years of repeated ear infections until I moved out and went to college.

Don’t smoke around your kids for their health’s sake if you’re too stupid to care about your own.

By Becky

January 30, 2007 10:59 AM | Link to this

I would love to see this law passed, but as has already been said, will it be inforced? Most all of my family smokes & I HATE it. And all of them are so stupid that they smkoke around their small children..My mother died from lung cancer, yet my sister still says that cigarette smoke isn’t dangerous, nor will she admit that it stinks..Guess there are some things that people will always be stupid about..

By Richard

January 30, 2007 11:00 AM | Link to this

We have smokers at work and as they go by my desk, I can tell that they’ve recently been outside on a smoke break - because they stink so bad.

Meanwhile, they act like they haven’t got a clue that they stink so much - I guess they’ve just gotten so used to it that they don’t realize it.

Take it from us non-smokers:

If you smoke, you stink - trust us on this.

By scubber

January 30, 2007 11:01 AM | Link to this

As duly noted before, I do not like smoking or being around people smoking. I smoked for nineteen years and fortunate to still be young and good health now that I am cycling and running. However, I do not oppose those who wish to do so. Be more observant of your surroundings and those around you. Especially those who have no power to choose their location or proximity to tobacco smoke [i.e. children, elderly, etc.]

Laws to lay dictates on this seem overly draconian and not inline with freedoms we share as adults. I think if this law should pass I might prefer to see it used as a precedent for other measures placed on parents who influence their children with racism, sexism, homophobia, not providing a child with a broad, liberal education, etc. Of course those type laws would never pass because the definition of damage would be difficult if not impossible enforce with due penalty.

However, as adults we know very well that everything that we do has an effect on children positively or negatively. It is our responsibility to shift the balance to the former for their well-being and fruitful development.

By Jennifer

January 30, 2007 11:02 AM | Link to this

Kat, we could be sisters. I grew up gagging at the smoke and my mom would just chuckle and say “You hated smoke even as a baby. You would gag while I was feeding you as I smoked”. I just don’t even know what to say to that! She smokes to this day so I guess the sight of a newborn gagging on her formula wasn’t enough to make her cut back on her smoking. I get bronchitis frequently and I haven’t lived with a smoker in 17 years so it is harmful. Even if you get lucky enough to dodge the health bullet, you are sending your kids to school reeking of smoke, and YES, cigarette smoke reeks. Kids are embarrassed when their hair, clothing, even textbooks smell like cigarettes.

When I visit my family, my mom is the last person I go to visit so that I don’t stink as I’m making my rounds. Unfortunately I have to endure a 3-hour ride home smelling like an ashtray but at least I’ll still visit the old bag, knowing I’ve rolled the dice on a new case of bronchitis.

I think the smoking law is putting too much government interference into our lives.

By Mandy

January 30, 2007 11:11 AM | Link to this

I don’t normally respond to blogs, but after reading the previous comments I was really irked by all the responses that allows for one action to deem a parent fit or unfit. I grew up in a household where a parent smoked. As me and my siblings became older, we as a family all became more aware and educated on the effects first hand and second hand smoke can have on a person. Now, that my father lives in the same house as my nephew, his grandson, he chooses to keep smoking only he does so outside. I think more education would be a more appropriate solution, not a law. And even though my father chose to smoke around us when we were younger, I would never refer to him as an unfit parent. He might’ve smoked around his kids, but he also managed to put three girls through college, not always an easy feat. I say he did pretty good.

By Sarah

January 30, 2007 11:14 AM | Link to this

If the parents can’t act responsibly, then someone must. I am not for losing personal rights in most cases, but this is clearly a health issue and not just the loss of another personal freedom. A two year does not have the freedom to simply leave the smoke filled car, they have no choice but to endure the second hand smoke. With this said, even as non-smoker, I feel some of the anti smoking laws, such as on a beach or in a public outside area, perhaps goes too far.

By SMOKINGPARENT

January 30, 2007 11:15 AM | Link to this

Okay..this is coming from a smoking parent. I and my husband are smoking parents. We smoke in our garage or outside will our little one is inside. What chaps my hide is hearing all of you guys grouping smoking parents in a pile. I do have consideration and put my child’s health first. I DON’T smoke in the car with, plus i even wash my hands before playing or holding him. Smoking is a personal choice, not your child’s choice. This bill is not going to be that enforceable but I see where they’re going with it. Yes, smokers stink. I hate to smell smokers that smoke in their car with the window cracked and they are blasting the heat. They’re just baking that smoke into their clothes. Yes, you smoke, you smell. Wash your hands, garggle with mouthwash. Don’t subject everyone to that smell. It’s horrid. I am smoker don’t even smoke in my own car, because that smell stinks. I am even such a considerate smoker that once I leave a restaurant and want to smoke, I make sure I walk far FAR away so I don’t offend anyone. So…please don’t group us all in a pile. Thank YOU!

By Casey

January 30, 2007 11:18 AM | Link to this

Rod & Renee, I’ve read your comments before and I know both of you are morons so I don’t think twice when you post something negative! My basement just so happens to be 2,800 sq. ft with 12 foot ceilings, 2 fireplaces, game room..etc. It is not open to the upstairs unless you open the door and no, my kids don’t go down there. If they want me they just call me on the intercom instead of coming down. They are both in their late teens and are too busy with thier friends, sports or school. I have NEVER smoked in an open room with my kids so you jack a*******es can judge all you want. My teens know the parents room is off limits and if I want a cigarette bad enough I venture down that long set of steps so as not to bother anyone. Relax & have a smoke break guys!!

By Julie

January 30, 2007 11:25 AM | Link to this

I grew up with everyone on my dad’s side of the family smoking. I have asthma, and had horrible ear infections growing up. Do you think that was enough for me not to smoke? No. I started smoking when I was 14, both of my brothers smoked too. One still does. I smoked for 10 yrs, until I found out I was pregnant with my son. Now my body was not my own anymore, and I wasn’t allowed to do with it what I wanted. I quit cold turkey. I just passed my 2 yr smoke free anniversary in Dec. There is no smoking in our house now, and my husband goes outside to smoke only after our son has gone to bed.
I do believe that children follow in their parents footsteps. Why with all my breathing problems did I start to smoke? Because most of the adults I was around smoked. I’m just glad I had the opportunity to stop at a young age.

By Mark

January 30, 2007 11:29 AM | Link to this

All it takes is a little common sense. If you lack that common sense, then you should have your children taken from you, and you should be spayed/neutered.

By Casey

January 30, 2007 11:30 AM | Link to this

Mandy, very good point. I think the reason I felt so irate when I first saw the blogger call parents who smoke unfit is because it was like him calling my mom unfit & them’s fighting words.

By nurse&mother

January 30, 2007 11:31 AM | Link to this

This is a topic that has great meaning to me on several levels. First of all, my father was a smoker. He smoked in the house, in the car etc. I can remember not being able to breathe well in the car. I loved my Dad dearly, but I don’t think he realized all the effects of second hand smoke (it was 23 years ago. My dad died of lung cancer when I was 12 years old. It was devastating.

My husband was a smoker that recently quit. He never smoked in the house or the car. AS a matter of fact, most people did not realize that he was a smoker.

Children cannot escape second hand smoke in a house or a car. Most smokers have a diminished sense of smell (my husband can attest to that now that he no longer smokes) and do not realize that smoke is truly irritating and detrimental to others’ health. AS strongly as I feel that parents should not smoke in the house or car, I think that education is the key to changing folks’ minds. I don’t think a law will be able to be enforced.

By Billy Bob

January 30, 2007 11:33 AM | Link to this

Mah solushun was ta make mah kids smoke too so we’d all be stanky and sickly at the same time

By nurse&mother

January 30, 2007 11:38 AM | Link to this

I don’t see the need in name calling. My husband was a recent smoker. He was not a moron or an idiot. He is a wonderful man that got hooked on cigarettes when he was a teenager. His mother and grandfather and uncle also smoke. He had really poor role models. He has tried many times to quit and was not succesful but he is trying again. Anger should be directed at the tobacco company for continuing to make cigarettes more and more addictive each year.(a recent Harvard study suggested recently).

By THE RIGHT THANG BABY

January 30, 2007 11:39 AM | Link to this

This is my opinion: Its my damn car, my damn kids, my damn house, my damn life. If I want to chain smoke with them in the car all the way from here to timbucktoo I wil do that. With the windows up and locked. The Government or nobody else can stop me. Let the little ungratefuls say one word and they will be backhanded. If it becomes a law or not. I will break it. That is my personal preference. You can say that I am wrong a bad parent, unfit, what ever the H311 you want but… what the hell…this is America, home of the free and the brave and thats that. Come on and attack me vultures!!

By MSpain

January 30, 2007 11:50 AM | Link to this

I was a smoker for 11 years. Never smoked in my car with my niece and nephew or around them. Many of my friends refused to step outside to smoke at their house. BUT what smokers dont realize is that smoke filled air is circulated through out the house, so just smoking in one room is not eliminating the issue. You’re still contributing to spreading the toxins.

When I was pregnant the first thing I did was quit the second I found out. I was at work one day and one of my co-workers who was a smoker asked if I had quit and of course my reply was “I wouldnt be so stupid to smoke while I was pregnant.” She then went on to say that she couldnt quit and smoked her entire pregnancy…both of them. I was shocked..and in the same sentance went on to tell how she had her kid in the ER the night before because of an asthma attack.

I think Drs should report any pregnant woman who continues to smoke. That is child endangerment and should have their kids taken away. They would if they were caught smoking pot in around them or while pregnant.

I hope they pass this law. As a former smoker, non-smoker and a mother. Then I would hope that you could be able to sue ex-spouses or parents of your children if they refuse to stop smoking around the kids.

By Belinda

January 30, 2007 11:52 AM | Link to this

This is yet another example of the dichotomy that exist in our society today. The same people upset about privacy and government boundaries are more than likely the ones supporting this type of bill. Either the government is going to invade our personal life and think for us or its not. I personally think this is a ridiculous law. While it is appalling that a parent would smoke with a child in the car, it is not something for government regulation. Whats next let the government who has enough common sense to be allowed to have kids? Ridiculous

By lwa

January 30, 2007 11:54 AM | Link to this

Jennifer - You called your mother an “old bag.” That’s kind of harsh. You only get one mother! You didn’t choose her, but she is yours.

By Dookie_boy

January 30, 2007 12:04 PM | Link to this

Today is no smoking in the car. Tomorrow its no sex, eating, drinking, sleeping, reading, brushing teeth, applying make-up etc.

Right or wrong it is NOT the govt job to enforce such things…what may affect smokers to day will somehow affect you tomorrow.

By Seen The Reality

January 30, 2007 12:07 PM | Link to this

Just ban the #$%* things and the world would be a far better place, IMHO. It’s amazing that something that kills as many people as tobacco is still legal. Tax revenue, of course is why.

By Theresa

January 30, 2007 12:10 PM | Link to this

Hey MSpain you’ll like this one. I actually know a lady that said she continued to smoke through her pregnancy with the hope of having a low-birth weight baby because she didn’t want to have a hard, long labor!! So amazingly she knew of the danger of smoking but was going to use it to her “advantage!” so so wrong!

By Jennifer

January 30, 2007 12:28 PM | Link to this

Iwa- Not that I need to defend myself to you, because if she can smoke I can surely call her names- but that comment was tongue-in-cheek. Pretty funny that out of all of this, you comment on me calling her an old bag!

By Renee

January 30, 2007 12:32 PM | Link to this

Casey - your 11:18 post. You truly are an idiot if you think the smoke from your basement “game room” doesn’t filter into the rest of the house where others breathe it in.

You truly are a waste of life - just don’t waste your children’s lives as well: you don’t have that right.

By Renee

January 30, 2007 12:37 PM | Link to this

Mandy - regarding your 11:11 post. Please wake up before you type again. YES - did you understand that? Yes - if a parent smokes around a child he/she is an unfit parent. Period.

Your father had you many, many years ago and not everyone knew the dangers of smoking at that time. If you father did not know the ramifications it would have on his children, then obviously he’s not an unfit parent (in that respect). We’re talking about today - understand? Today.

Today - EVERYONE KNOWS SMOKING IS HARMFUL TO CHILREN. Therefore, any parent TODAY who smokes around children most certainly is an unfit parent.

By Richard

January 30, 2007 12:39 PM | Link to this

nurse & mother. Your husband can’t quit because like you, he wants to pass the blame on others. The cigarette company is not forcing him to buy anything. He just doesn’t have the willpower (or balls) to do anything about it. He cares more about his addiction than his family. Pitiful.

By Magenta

January 30, 2007 12:43 PM | Link to this

I’m not a big fan of government intervention across the board, and think it’s going too far to outlaw or restrict smoking in private homes (including apartments), but the car is a different story. My parents were heavy, heavy smokers and I vividly remember how uncomfortable it was in the car, dead of winter, windows rolled up, heat blasting, and a cloud of smoke. My mom was really cold- and noise-sensitive, so even opening a window a crack would have her complaining about the cold and the whistle of traffic outside. It was awful, and throughout most of my childhood I had an almost constant head cold. That problem went away almost instantly after I left home and moved in with a non-smoker. The car is a small, enclosed space. Second-hand smoke is proven to cause a multitude of health problems. I’m for legal restrictions.

By Jesse's Girl

January 30, 2007 12:49 PM | Link to this

What about drinking in front of your children…do you do it?

By Caroline

January 30, 2007 12:50 PM | Link to this

I was at a BABY shower and almost everyone (including the expecting mother) was smoking. When I asked why she was smoking, her brilliant beyond brillant friend said that the placenta filters all the bad things and it won’t affect the baby. Well, in that case, I said, maybe you should go do a couple of shots of tequila while you’re at it.

And these people are allowed to REPRODUCE!

By Jesse's Girl

January 30, 2007 12:55 PM | Link to this

And dookie-boy…..you win for the most immature and inappropriate post of the day. I’m sure your parents are exceedingly proud.

By Jesse's Girl

January 30, 2007 12:58 PM | Link to this

Dookie boy…what are you, 12? Are you seriously letting what people POST get to you in such a fashion? Grow up kid.

By scubber

January 30, 2007 01:01 PM | Link to this

Theresa I think Wooten let one of his lower minions [dookie-boy] out of his observation cage and has now run amuck into this forum.

Can you call animal control to return this beastie to his master?

By nurse&mother

January 30, 2007 01:07 PM | Link to this

Richardyou are wrong. My husband first of all has quit smoking. past tense. And secondly he has never blamed anyone but himself for his addiction. He does care about his family that is why he has quit. He has said it has been the toughest thing he has every done. you don’t know what kind of balls he has, so you shouldn’t label people that you don’t know.

I find it interesting that a lot of people in blogs are quick to judge other people. This applies to all opinions, and not just the ones that I share. You cannot lump everyone in a package.

I will admit that when people like Richard like to call people names, it makes my tail feathers ruffle, but I will not stoop to that level.

By Jesse's Girl

January 30, 2007 01:08 PM | Link to this

Careful Scrubber….I think he’s into the whole “master” thing. We don’t want to insult.

By Rod

January 30, 2007 01:09 PM | Link to this

Hey Jesse’s Girl - drinking is totally different. Sure, you’re setting an “example”, but the aroma of alcohol “in the air” isn’t going to cause serious long-term damage like tobacco smoke is.

By nurse&mother

January 30, 2007 01:12 PM | Link to this

one other thing: I was not completely blaming the tobacco industry, just thought it interesting that a recent study shows that the amount of nicotine has steadily risen each year since 1997 when this first began to be studied. Do you think that is a coincidence? probably not. The tobacco industry would like to keep those smokers hooked so that they can keep making their money. Nicotine addiction has been compared to heroine addiction. I don’t know if this is true since I have been addicted to neither nicotine nor heroine.

By Jennifer

January 30, 2007 01:15 PM | Link to this

I will have an occasional cocktail or glass of wine in front of my kids, but I don’t party in front of my kids. I certainly don’t do it while holding them captive in a box with wheels!

By Cletus Snow

January 30, 2007 01:16 PM | Link to this

I’for one will be glad to see the smoking police arrest a few of the morons, yes I’m talking about you schit for brains.Anyone who smokes in the presence of children should be sent to a concentration camp for inconsiderate a55 holes.to smoke in the confines of a car with kids present is a criminal and should be prosecuted as such

By Theresa

January 30, 2007 01:23 PM | Link to this

go to pick up my child and things get out of hand —- I’ll be doing some deleting as soon as I get my child settled. Dookie boy you need to calm it down my friend —

By Richard

January 30, 2007 01:24 PM | Link to this

nurse&mother - what are you talking about? Are you changing your story now?

In your 11:38 post, you stated: “He has tried many times to quit and was not succesful but he is trying again.” So, he hasn’t been successful and is trying again - than means he hasn’t given them up yet. Now, in your 1:07 post, you say: “My husband first of all has quit smoking. past tense.” - Make up your mind and stop changing the story. You mean he’s “trying” again - hopefully he’ll succeed, but given his past history, it’s doubtful (studies show if you can’t stop after one or two tries, you likely will never successfully stop).

Then, in your 11:38 post, you stated: “Anger should be directed at the tobacco company” - blaming them for his addiction. Now, in your 1:07 post, of course you say he never blamed anyone else.

Get your story straight before you start typing. Changing your words because you don’t like someone’s reaction is pathetic.

By eye roll

January 30, 2007 01:27 PM | Link to this

I want to preface this by saying: I do not smoke, do not date those that smoke, and encourage my children to believe that smoking is disgusting! (So far they seem to get that last part).

However, I am tired of children getting to run the household. No spanking in CA, no smoking in LA…the list could go on and on!!!!! Yes, children have the right to grow up free of the abuse of the adults around them. Yes, smokings harmful effects could be fleshed out (like many other things)to be “abuse.” The whole concept of “abuse” [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/abuse] has been abused (def 6). They already want to control the diets, tv watching, whom to marry, etc.

When do parents get to parent? I am up against this daily (and I am sure other parents are too).

When are we going to tell our Gov’t to get their nose out of our homes??????? These things to “protect our children” are the groundwork for the big stuff…it’s coming folks we we do not get our heads out of our collective postiere regions.

“Daddy” Perdue is already not willing to consider letting us “children” buy beer on Sunday…

Here is an idea, just give your children to the state or federal gov’t the minute they are born…

By Theresa

January 30, 2007 01:30 PM | Link to this

Dookie Boy — you are more than welcome to share your opinion but if you curse one more time I’m going to have you banned — I’m not sitting here all day deleting your obscenities - I’ve got better things to do like spend time with my kids!!

By Jesse's Girl

January 30, 2007 01:32 PM | Link to this

Oh…I absolutely agree that drinking is differnt. But this is my beef. We see all these ads against smoking…..those”truth” commercials. Yes…smoking is a nasty little habit. However, I would get behind a campaign aimed at my kids to not drink with far more ferver than this no smoking thing. When is the last time we heard of teenagers dying in an accident due to smoking and driving? There seems to be a chasm between what is “in” politically and what is actually relevent. Like breast cancer…it gets all the attention and much of the funding…..but it is not the leading killer of women.

By Jennifer

January 30, 2007 01:42 PM | Link to this

Apparently “heroine” makes you testy!

By Rod

January 30, 2007 01:43 PM | Link to this

Jesse’s Girl - I hear you. However, we can only fight a few battles. I’d rather fight some of these big ones than just quit on all of them. MADD is going after the teenage drinking also.

(by the way, Breast Cancer does more than just kill - it may only be #6 on the women’s killer list, but I’d say it probably affects more women than the other killers do - so it’s certainly worthwhile to pursue vigorously)

By Rod

January 30, 2007 01:44 PM | Link to this

Let’s see how long it takes Theresa to delete the 1:38 post.

By Buford

January 30, 2007 01:44 PM | Link to this

I don’t think a person is unfit to parent if they smoke. I don’t smoke, can’t stand smoke, but I don’t think smoking makes one unfit. And smokers SHOULD NOT have their children taken away from them. That’s just stupid, and I’ll bet those comments are coming from people who do not have kids. My parents smoked while I was growing up. They weren’t unfit parents. I grew up in a beautiful, loving home, two highly educated parents, lots of vacations, high morals, good grades, respect for others, etc. Gee, I wonder where I would be if they took me away from my family just because they smoked. Probably on a street corner, on crack!!

I’m sorry, but that’s just a stupid statement.

By scubber

January 30, 2007 01:46 PM | Link to this

You know, Dookie-Boy is probably the kind of guy who is opposed to abortion, when ironically he is the poster child for why roe v. wade should never be overturned.

If only his mother could had some financial support at the early stage of her pregnancy to do society a huge favor…..

By Buford

January 30, 2007 01:49 PM | Link to this

Buh BYE Dookie_boy……now, please go get a life and grow up!!!!

By johnnyP

January 30, 2007 01:51 PM | Link to this

i have an idea. instead of making it illegal to smoke in your car in the presence of children, let’s make it a legal requirement to recite the following statement to your kid(s) just before lighting up in the car: “I don’t care if you die.”

By m

January 30, 2007 01:55 PM | Link to this

I absolutely agree that our children should be protected from the inhalation of second hand smoke as much as possible. So often we see parents secure their children in the proper safety harnesses and traveling attire only to watch them drive down the road blowing filter less carcinogens into their own children’s lungs.

Parents need to be educated on the effects of secondhand exposure

By Renee

January 30, 2007 01:55 PM | Link to this

Buford - do you think smoking in front of (and around) children is the kind of thing a responsible parent does? If a parent today (not when you were growing up) smokes around their children, causing the children to breathe in that smoke, then that same parent obviously does not have great concern for that child. That is what a bad parent is.

Do you disagree with that?

By Renee

January 30, 2007 01:58 PM | Link to this

eye roll - you want government to totally get out of protecting children. Then - you believe people should be allowed to drive while drunk with their kids in the car? Um, it’s the government that says that’s bad (which you obviously disagree with).

By Jesse's Girl

January 30, 2007 01:58 PM | Link to this

I agree…breast cancer does indeed affect many millions of women. But there aren’t really precautions you can take to avoid getting it. Unlike heart disease….I just don’t see the attention being paid to this cause. You don’t see the fundraisers or outings dedicated to raising money for this cause. Right now….breast cancer is the “in” disease to get behind. But it is also more of an asthetic disease….visually it has more of an affect. Heart disease is impossible to see. However, the divide is disheartening.

By Casey

January 30, 2007 02:09 PM | Link to this

Well while we’re at it, let’s make sure & put breathing masks on our children before we take them outdoors RENEE. Does anyone here know what your air quality emissions standards are for your city? If you don’t contact the DNR & they will tell you. Your breathing toxic chemicals everytime you venture out for some of that “fresh air”. Not to mention in the home, you have mold spores, radon gas & millions of parasites from your dirty carpet, pet dander and DUST of all things. We’re living in a toxic dump you guys! Even your veggies are full of fecal coliform.

By Renee

January 30, 2007 02:22 PM | Link to this

Casey, you’re pathetically grasping at straws. Go enjoy your “2,800 square foot basement, with 12 foot ceilings (never seen 12’ ceilings in a basement before), 2 fireplaces and whatever else you made up” - just don’t cause health problems for your children by forcing them to breathe your poluted air (air does move through the house and it goes upstairs to where they are).

You’re the reason some people don’t deserve to have kids.

By Kat

January 30, 2007 02:22 PM | Link to this

Don’t look at this proposed law as government interference in your lives. Look at it as the government protecting children whose parents are too clueless to do it themselves. Consider carseats, for example. The government mandates that they be used for children under a certain age/weight. They have saved countless lives. Do carseat laws interfere with the parent’s rights? Would any of you be in favor of repealing carseat laws? Would any of you be saying, “It’s my god-given right as a parent to risk my child flying throught the windshield in an accident”?

In an ideal world, everyone would have common sense and apply it to their parenting choices. In the real world, some parents are careless and selfish, and yes, even addicted. That’s when the government needs to protect those who can’t protect themselves, be it from second-hand smoke, careless drivers, or worse.

By the way, if you smoke, it doesn’t matter if you do it outside and gargle, chew gum, or whatever, nonsmokers can still smell it on you.

By Casey

January 30, 2007 02:28 PM | Link to this

Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection Division, call 404-657-8600. Take an air sample from your home & while your at it, one from inside your car. The a/c (if not working properly) can actually cause cancer. Take those samples to AES (770)457-8177 and when you get the results back, let’s post them on an “air quality blog” Yes I work in environmental. I know what i’m breathing and I also know that cigarettes are deadly. Problem is, so is everything else :( Sad, but true.

By Penguinmom

January 30, 2007 02:34 PM | Link to this

I tell my kids smoking is an extremely stupid thing to do. Even though their Grandpa (on my husband’s side) does it that doesn’t mean it’s not stupid. Even putting aside the health risks, smoking makes you stink, makes your clothes, car, house, etc stink, it turns your teeth, nails, fingers yellow, it ruins your voice box and it prematurely ages your skin. Definitely goes down in the stupid column.

My father smoked until two things happened. One he saw the sludge that came out of my grandfather’s lungs after he died. Two, he saw my sister and I hanging out the windows trying to breathe while he smoked in the car. He realized he wasn’t being a good parent and threw all of his pipes and tobacco into a sink hole.

By Casey

January 30, 2007 02:34 PM | Link to this

No Renee, i’m not grasping at anything. I have 12 foot ceilings because of the land layout & because I could afford them. I also have a hepa vac filtration system filtering my entire house which blocks out dust & smoke from spreading through the home. My hubby can paint a car downstairs & you never smell a fume upstairs. You should know your facts prior to making judgement.

By Renee

January 30, 2007 02:35 PM | Link to this

AH, so Casey - since “everything” we breathe is deadly, you don’t care about your children breathing in cigarette smoke. You figure they’ll die anyway, why not speed it up. Finally, the truth from you.

By Buford

January 30, 2007 02:36 PM | Link to this

Renee Smoking does not make you irresponsible or a bad parent.

IF I were to start smoking tomorrow, I don’t think I should have my kids taken away from me, because I am making an adult CHOICE to light that cigarette up. I provide a warm loving home for them, don’t abuse them, and I’m with them on a daily basis. But you say they should be taken away because I choose to smoke???

I could understand if I were a bad parent and was abusing them, or whatever, but its just absurd to take someone’s kids away because they smoke.

I don’t think this is a law that could ever be enforced. Our police have more important things to do than write a ticket for a person smoking with kids in the car.

By Renee

January 30, 2007 02:42 PM | Link to this

Casey - assuming everything you stated is correct. You’re still an idiot for smoking - you can never overcome that until you quit.

By scubber

January 30, 2007 02:42 PM | Link to this

Renee I have 20’ floor-to-ceiling in my basement [house is built on hill slope]. Makes for a great art studio!

By Renee

January 30, 2007 02:44 PM | Link to this

Buford - you’re missing the point. If you smoke around your children - you are abusing them!! Do you know what abuse is? It’s not just hitting them. It’s verbally degrading them. It’s putting them in harms way - such as forcing them to breathe cigarette smoke.

Yes - smoking and having your children breathe in the deadly air is abuse. No mistake about it.

You think it’s alright to smoke in a car, guess you also believe it’s alright to drink alcohol in the car.

By Casey

January 30, 2007 02:48 PM | Link to this

Buford, don’t try reasoning or explaining to her. She’s a perfect example of a naive parent standing in front of a tv cameraman 15 years from now saying, I didn’t teach my son to be a murderer, I don’t know why he did it. A couple months ago she said we were all going to hell anyway, so let her have her glory time on the air.

By Buford

January 30, 2007 02:51 PM | Link to this

Renee Once again, stupid statement. I didn’t say it was OK to smoke in the car. I said it was stupid to have kids taken away because of smoking.

Of course I won’t drink alcohol in my car. I may hit a bump and spill it, and one of the kids would have to find a towel and help me clean it up, while I’m chatting on my cell phone, doing 100 mph running from the cops who want to arrest me for smoking around my kids.

Moron!!!

By Rod

January 30, 2007 02:54 PM | Link to this

Casey - are you just trying to be a jerk? Seriously. Smoking is stupid. Period.

Smoking around children is insane.

You’re the one with the problem, not Renee or anybody else. Wake up before you die. Just think - how will you feel if your children get lung cancer and they never smoked? If you honestly care, you’ll quit now. Otherwise, you’re just an idiot.

By Renee

January 30, 2007 02:57 PM | Link to this

Buford - you “wittingly” missing the point. Now be a man and address it.

If you smoke around your children - you are abusing them!! Do you know what abuse is? It’s not just hitting them. It’s also verbally degrading them. It’s also putting them in harms way - such as forcing them to breathe cigarette smoke which you know can kill them and make them ill.

Yes - smoking and having your children breathe in the deadly air is abuse. No mistake about it.

Seriously - what part of that can you honestly disagree with? Seriously, I await your response.

By grayson

January 30, 2007 02:59 PM | Link to this

no one could have said it better then Scubber… That person is so correct in everything that he said. I do smoke. I do not smoke in my car, in my house, or around my child. I go WAY out of my way to do so. But as Scubber said this and other issues need to be taught to out children. I have tried to quit many times and I will keep trying until I get it right. I think along with this smoking bill they should also look at the toxins/polutions that are in the air from everything else. I bet that effects children also.

By atlantame

January 30, 2007 03:04 PM | Link to this

Studies have shown that young children who are exposed to smoke are at higher-risk of lung cancer later in life. I am against the government telling us what to do in most cases, but anyone who is dumb enough to smoke with their children in the car nowadays deserves any punishment they receive.

Spanking and abuse are different but smoking with a child in the car has to be considered as abuse. I don’t like to throw out harsh words often, but anyone who smokes around their young children are selfish and trash. Why did you have children in the first place?

By Buford

January 30, 2007 03:08 PM | Link to this

Renee Abuse is too harsh of a word to use in this situation. Stupidity maybe, but abuse NO.

Why must you ram your opinion down my throat? I have an opinion on the topic, and have stated it. You disagree, so you attack.

Again - IF I were to start smoking, that does not make me a bad parent all of a sudden. It’s a choice I make as an adult. If I chose to start smoking now, I certainly would NOT do it in front of or around my kids. Not that its abusive, but all the studies are showing the results of second hand smoke.

It is not criminal to smoke around kids. It’s stupid. It’s not abuse, it’s stupidity, pure and simple.

By Casey

January 30, 2007 03:09 PM | Link to this

Ok Rod, i’m an idiot. Are you happy now? Some of you are worse than gossip in a ladies room the way you turn things around that people say. Did I say I smoke in front of my kids? Did I say I smoke in my car? I don’t, but it’s my business if I did damnit! My kids have been taught how addictive smoking is and most of all how dangerous. I’m not a heavy smoker but if I want a beer, cigarette & a relaxing game of pool, I can take my alcholic smoking gambling a* downstairs to do it where it doesn’t hurt anyone.

By Synthia

January 30, 2007 03:18 PM | Link to this

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law smoked around their children from the day they brought them home from the hospital! I hated it. The poor babies were always coughing and had the perpetual smell of smoke on all their clothes — even when I would wash their clothes when they visted they STILL smelled like smoke. I think it is abuse.

I always loved my nice white teeth and beautiful smile too much to smoke! :-)

By Renee

January 30, 2007 03:19 PM | Link to this

Casey - you still are to ignorant to realize anything!!!

In your 3:09 post, you said: “Did I say I smoke in front of my kids? Did I say I smoke in my car? I don’t, but it’s my business if I did damnit!”

Point is - IT’S NOT YOUR OWN BUSINESS IF YOU JEOPARDIZE YOUR KIDS LIVES!!!

Wake up! Smoking by yourself away from others is your own damn business. Making your kids breathe that smoke is not your own business - it endangers your kids!!!

At least you admit you’re an idiot.

By What the heck

January 30, 2007 03:34 PM | Link to this

Yeah, at least some people admit they are an idiot, Renee. Why don’t you do the same since we know it already?

By Casey

January 30, 2007 03:34 PM | Link to this

Gosh your one of the dumbest people I’ve encountered. How many times do I have to tell your dumb a$$ I don’t smoke around my kids. Can you just not read or what? Being stupid makes you an unfit parent too ya know?

By please

January 30, 2007 03:41 PM | Link to this

For the love of everything that is holy, please stop it Renee. We get your point

By Buford

January 30, 2007 03:44 PM | Link to this

I’ll bet Renee is really Laura Mallory.

Ramming her opinion down our throats then name calling when someone doesn’t agree with her OPINION. She must be the perfect parent. But I bet she either has run her kids off, or never had any.

By layla grace

January 30, 2007 03:51 PM | Link to this

People should listen to Jennifer (who makes great points), Kat and myself. We lived with parents or a parent who smoked and can speak first hand about growing up around it. It was awful, for me it triggers headaches (then and now). My father loved us but as others have pointed out, the addiction is a hard one to beat. I can remember being sick with a cold in the back seat one winter and his concession to help me out was to crack the window as he smoked… not to smoke wasn’t an option. They had no perspective in those days, but today there are facts as to how harmful it is beside the fact that it is very unpleasant to those who don’t smoke (those who have posted here who were trapped by it as a kid have attested). Today I hate it as much as I did then. My brother smokes as does his wife and every Christmas package we get from them has to go straight to the garage - the stench of smoke is overwhelming from the box, to the paper in the box, etc. It truly creates a divide with people, we can’t stay with him when we visit because the house stinks, and he can’t stay with me when he visits because he has to go smoke outside. It is unfortunate - they both smoked with kids in the car as well but hopefully no longterm damage was done.

By Jack

January 30, 2007 03:52 PM | Link to this

Listen up everyone…. if you are a parent and you smoke in the car while the children are in it or if you smoke ANYWHERE in the house while your children are in the house then YOU ARE A UNFIT PARENT…..PERIOD…….END OF STORY…….

If you smoke downstairs in the basement, the smoke still goes through the duct system and gets in the breathing air!!

As a parent your childrens health and welfare should be the most important thing in the world. IF YOU DONT WANT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF BEING A PARENT AND THE UNSELFISH CHOICES YOU HAVE TO MAKE AS A PARENT THEN DONT BECOME A PARENT..DAMN IS IT THAT HARD TO COMPREHEND?

By Jennifer

January 30, 2007 03:53 PM | Link to this

I was thinking Laura Mallory, too, Buford, but she would surely use her own name to get more attention.

By Eric

January 30, 2007 03:57 PM | Link to this

Renee, is it possible for you to disagree with someone’s opinion without throwing insults?

“you still are to ignorant”

“stupid statement”

“be a man and address it”

The hurling of insults generally makes one appear as though she has a single-digit IQ.

If you disagree with someone, how about trying to articulate why WITHOUT resorting to insulting rhetoric….

By lilred

January 30, 2007 04:03 PM | Link to this

JessiesGirl- Breast cancer is more of an aesthic disease? Um Excuse me!! I am a breast cancer survivor, and let me tell ya hon, I couldn’t care less about the breast I lost. (I’m only 33), I do however care about all the hell my body went through during treatment and that I am still recovering from. Please think about things before you speak, and speak about that which you know. Now I’m not trying to be preachy or mean, I just was really offended by that remark.

By nona

January 30, 2007 04:16 PM | Link to this

In the sixties and seventies I was the most obnoxious smoker in the world. I smoked in my house and in my car. If the children were riding with me and attempted to roll down a car window I would engage the window lock so they could not. I did not become enlightened until the early eighties and then only after a lung biopsy. All I can do now is apologize and pray that my misdeeds will have no lasting effect on my now grown children. I was stupid, arrogant, and a bully. I’m sincerely sorry. Pass a law that forbids this behavior and impose a severe penalty.

By Tammy

January 30, 2007 04:21 PM | Link to this

I look at it this way my house & my car is my personal property. And I feel I can do anything I want in my house & in my car you bastards don’t pay my bills. People need to focus more on drugs being sold to our kids and kids killing each other. Stop casing stones Jack, you are no better than anyone of us.

By Sylvia R. Williams

January 30, 2007 04:38 PM | Link to this

Tammy your smoking is why kids start smoking. Two wrongs don’t make a right. You sound so angry, your mouth needs to be washed out with soap.

By me

January 30, 2007 04:40 PM | Link to this

i started smoking at age 16.. i finally quit when i was 23.. my parents both smoked but never in the car.. i would never ever ever smoke around children.. i hated smoking around non-smokers lol.. but i learned by lesson and quit.. now i am 100% healthier.. i used to get sick all the time.. and i have not been sick once this past year! (knock on wood) so i would go for the law to ban smoking with children in the car.. do i think it would actually prevent it? no.. ignorant people don’t see anything wrong with it.. that’ll never change..

and yes smokers.. you can’t smell the smoke on your clothes or in your home b/c your sense of smell is WEAKEND!! seriously.. quit and then you will notice.. things taste better and smells are more vivid!!

By Jesse's Girl

January 30, 2007 04:42 PM | Link to this

Excuse me Lilred…..I too happen to be a cancer survivor. Not breast, but cancer nonetheless. You missed the point ENTIRELY. By asthetic…I mean something that is visible to all. Not just known to the patients or their docs. And in that regard, it gets more attention even though it is not as vast a killer of women as heart disease. It gets more attention..period.

By Clay

January 30, 2007 04:46 PM | Link to this

To Tammy and other ignorant folks like her: It makes me sick to see the poor, helpless children suffering in the back seat (if we’re lucky) of a car while the parents sit up front smoking away like there’s no tomorrow. You do have the right to smoke. You have the right to do whatever legal activity you want to do in your car or home or wherever you choose. We don’t pay your bills and if you want to kill yourself with your cancer sticks, go right ahead! However, your right to smoke ends when it enterferes with the rights of others around you who do not want to be around your smoke. That’s why you can’t smoke in restaurants. That’s why you should not be able to smoke with your kids in the car. I hope this law passes.

By Casey

January 30, 2007 04:51 PM | Link to this

Jack, did you read where I stated I have a hepa vac filtration system? Actually I’d reccomend it to everyone with kids. It purifies all air flow, inside & out. Even if you leave a door open it sucks that nasty “fresh air” through a vent and filters it into clean air. Just clean the filter every month and you can see what we breath every day. We all agree smoking around kids is bad, so let’s have a truce OK? Oh yeah, call me unfit again & it’s on again so HUSH!

By Billy Bob

January 30, 2007 04:58 PM | Link to this

hey Tina - did you know medical science has never actually proven that 2nd degree smoke causes cancer? Unless you spend hours a day in a car with the windows up and the driver chain smoking, you’re not going to be affected by 2nd hand. Your father in law had lung cancer, but before you go blaming it on someone who smoked around him, know that cigarette smoke is not the only cause of cancer in the lungs.

By Lori

January 30, 2007 05:09 PM | Link to this

Illegal or not, the bottom line is anyone who smokes around their kids cares more about themselves than they do their children. There is simply no excuse for it. But then, smokers don’t even care about their own health so why would they care about the health of others! If you love your kids, don’t smoke around them, especially not in an enclosed space like a car. And if you think you are not hurting your kids by smoking around them then you are either stupid or in denial.

By NC Native

January 30, 2007 05:11 PM | Link to this

I grew up in Tobacco Country. Both my parents had their driver’s licence at 14 so they could drive the pickup or tractor during “the season”. My parents also started smoking at 14 because everyone smoked. My mom is 60 and still smokes. My dad stopped smoking (I was told) when I was around 7 and passed away a couple of years ago from cancer. I hate to say this - but I think my mother is stupid. I realize that back then she had no idea she was endangering the lives of her children. However, now she gets mad at me when I tell her she cannot smoke around my kids! With all the information out today - you would think she would realize the dangers. I am glad that my kids are not around her that often. I’m sure in the years to come I will discover the damage my parents smoking has done to me.

By ihavebronchitisthankstomymom

January 30, 2007 06:34 PM | Link to this

WTF!…..tobacco is a drug! Thanks to the money it makes for the government, it so happens to be legal. Of course smokers won’t see it that way…why?…because they are ADDICTED!!!…I hate when I see parents smoking with kids in the car, I have seen it a number of times. There should be a law, of course it will be hard to enforce, just like so many others…but maybe the parents will think twice before doing it. To those that think if they smoke in their room or a basement….EVER HEARD OF VENTS,UMMMM MOLECULES TRAVEL…GO BACK TO SCIENCE CLASS….My mother has been trying to convince me for years that she can smoke in her room and it doesn’t travel to the living room. I don’t care how big your house is!..Please smokers—killing yourself is fine with me, but don’t kill the rest of us!

By Laura

January 30, 2007 06:38 PM | Link to this

To me, it is sad and pathetic that this has to even be considered as a law. You would think parents would be smart enough to not smoke in the car (or house or anywhere else) where their child is present. If someone wants to smoke, fine. But to do so with a child nearby is irresponsible and disgusting. I find it odd that any parent would smoke AT ALL, much less with their child present. Do they have no sense at all?

By eye roll

January 31, 2007 06:28 AM | Link to this

Renee…grow a brain! I have been told before not to argue with an irrational person, their ability to perform logic and deductive reasoning is impaired.

For those who are thinking:

I totally agree that the Gov’t has to govern. I do not agree that children have “rights” the way adults do. I certainly do not agree that the gov’t should be making laws governing all the tiny details of how to parent. If you want to repremaind your child in public by spanking their rear, then you should not have to fear being charged with abuse. Beating your child is much different than swatting their tush!

If you want to let your kids watch the Simpsons, Rugrats, Family Guy, etc…go ahead. I find no value in those shows for adults or children. My children are aware that none of those shows are acceptable in my home.

If you do not want your child to read Harry Potter, don’t let them. Don’t make a law saying the book isn’t available in schools. Some children only get books in the school library.

As I said previously, I do not smoke. I can’t stand the smell of it. I do what I can to protect my kids from it —ie keep them away from smokers.

BTW, with a drunk driver, their reasoning is impaired. Therefore a law has to be out there that tells you the consequences while you are sober so you make decisions while reasoning is ok. You shouldn’t drive angry or tired…want to make a law about that?

While I whole heartedly agree that ANYONE who smokes is making a poor choice, I do not think that they are impaired to make the right decision.

Societial pressure will do a great deal more to stop the smoking near kids than a law will. You cannot legistlate societial thought.

My point is that we cannot ask the gov’t to be the parent. You cannot make a rule on every detail in life.

By Kattherine

January 31, 2007 07:30 AM | Link to this

My husband smokes…. and I used to as well.. However it would have never been a thought in my mind nor my husbands to consider smoking in the car with my daughter! I agree that smokers should be repectful of people who make the decision not to smoke.. It is discusting to see people smoking with children in the car.. however I do not think it should be a law.. It is an invasion of privacy! When is the line drawn.. what right are they going to take away next, even if the subject at hand is not right.. it is still a choice that people have to make themselves.. If we keep letting the government take control of issues such as this- they will eventually take control of other things as well!

By Robert

January 31, 2007 07:35 AM | Link to this

Billy Bob - your 4:58 post is a flat-out, blatant lie. Yes, it has been proven that second-hand smoke can kill.

By Robert

January 31, 2007 07:36 AM | Link to this

Tammy - re your 4:21 post. So, you think you have the right to drink and drive in “your own car”? Sorry, you’re wrong. You do not have the right to endanger other people’s lives. Smoking with your kids in the car is endangering their lives.

By Robert

January 31, 2007 07:40 AM | Link to this

Eye Roll - per your 6:28 post. You don’t think children have “rights” the way adults do? We’re talking about the right to live, the right not to have to breathe in harmful elements.

You don’t think children have the right to live?

I hope you don’t have children.

By willie

January 31, 2007 08:05 AM | Link to this

Smoke’em if you got’em.

Smoking is stupid. Stupid people smoke. Stupid people have kids. Stupid people smoke with kids in the car. Do you really think stupid people will obey yet another law?

By Renee

January 31, 2007 08:31 AM | Link to this

Hello all, new day, fresh attitude. I’m sorry if I got a little beligerent yesterday, but it really gets me upset when people on here are actually trying to justify their right to harm their children.

In Casey’s 3:34 post, she reiterated that she doesn’t smoke around her kids. However, she does admit to smoking in the house and that smoke does filter throughout - doesn’t matter that it’s in the basement and she has a fancy filter or anything. But the biggest thing that peeved my about Casey is her arguing that she has the right to smoke in her car with the kids in the car. She said she doesn’t do it, but still argued that it’s her right. In her 3:09 post she stated: “Did I say I smoke in my car? I don’t, but it’s my business if I did damnit!” Again - it’s not her business to intentionally harm her kids.

Buford, regarding your 3:08 post. I never said if you started smoking it would make you an unfit parent. I said if you were smoking around your kids it would. People who want to smoke and go outside and do it away from their kids are fine (other than the damage to themselves). In your 3:08 post, you stated that abuse was to harsh a word to use in this situation (others have agreed it’s abuse). Specifically, what do you think abuse is?

I believe abuse is the willful harming of a child with no benefit gained (giving a child a shot or a spanking has a “benefit”). Abuse can be physical - beating. It can be verbal - constant degrading. It can be sexual - forcing sex. It can also be ignoring needs - not taking a sick child in for care, not providing proper food and clothing. It can even be subjecting a child to harmful things - such as cigarette smoke. To many times people make comments like: “Oh, she’s a bad parent.” Some things make you a bad parent - other things (more serious) make you guilty of abuse.

A loving parent (a fit parent) does not subject their child to harmful things needlessly - such as cigarette smoke. This is abuse, as others have indicated.

By now, I think we all know that smoking is dumb. There is no benefit, it harms you (can kill you), it harms those who breathe in your air, it stinks your clothes, it turns your teeth yellow, it gives you a hacking cough, it reduces your endurance, it neutralizes your taste buds, etc, etc, etc.

But smoking around children is way past dumb. It’s insane. An old grandmother may not know any better. But a parent does. There’s no excuse for a parent to ever smoke around a child - much less in a car. Is this law enforceable? Doubtful. However, there are many other laws that aren’t enforceable either, but they’re there to at least make people think before they do something this a55inine.

And by the way Buford - I have three children (3, 7 & 9) and I love them very much. That’s why seeing people so carelessly talk about intentionally harming their kids ticks me off so much.

By Teacher's Kid

January 31, 2007 08:32 AM | Link to this

As a public health educator, I think if more parents saw the health effects of smoking on their children, they would be less likely to smoke, period. Many parents we worked with at the local health department did not realize that their smoking was a potential cause of their children having asthma, ear infections, and allergies. Many times we heard, “But I and/or my husband/boyfriend/grandparents smoke outside!” It doesn’t matter. The residual chemicals remain on your clothing and skin and your kid can breathe them in when you hold them.

Here’s an idea for those of you on this blog who work in public health: One device we used at the health department to curb prenatal smoking was “Smokey Sue Smokes for Two”, which you can order online. When you put a lit cigarette in the doll head’s mouth and squeeze the bulb to have her inhale, the water in the jar that the doll head is attached to (and has what looks like a fetus inside) turns dark brownish-black. I used to use this for an adolescent prenatal nutrition class (unfortunately there was a great need in the county for this class!) and every girl who saw that was shocked and many of them decided to quit (at least while they were pregnant).

For those of you who are involved in television advertising and creating Public Service Announcements, here’s another idea to hit the point home with people who smoke with kids (or anybody) in the car: a commercial showing a gas chamber with a child strapped in it followed by a child strapped into a child safety seat in a smoke-filled vehicle. Having lived with a smoker in the house as an adolescent (my mom’s 2nd husband smoked and yes he unfortunately smoked in the car too!), my brother and I (and our house!) REEKED of the smell of hard pack Camels (aka “coffin nails”) and I had the worst time with allergies. Her divorcing him was the best thing health-wise for her, my brother, and me. Food for thought.

PS. No, I do not smoke, never have and never will. Chocolate is my vice :-)

By Smoky

January 31, 2007 08:46 AM | Link to this

The gays are out of the closet and the smokers are in.

By Jeff

January 31, 2007 09:10 AM | Link to this

1) I am compeltely againt government invervention in an adult’s personal life, no matter how “good” the intentions.

2)”Abuse”: Defined FAR too broadly, see #1. If I want to verbally berate and/ or physically deal with my child, the government has no right to stop me. I and I alone will discipline my child, and I GARAUNTEE YOU that the government will never have to worry about MY kid.

By gloria

January 31, 2007 09:12 AM | Link to this

We already know smokers stink, blah blah blah. that is not the point of this blog. What they are asking is should a law be passed to try and prevent adults from smoking in cars with children present? keep to the subject people. We all know smoking is bad, that is why the question is being asked.

By JamesD

January 31, 2007 09:23 AM | Link to this

I say screw the smokers. Let them smoke in the car with their children. Obviously they are not the top of the gene pool anyways. Let Darwinism win this battle for us. If the studies and reports don’t convince you to quit smoking (especially around your children) your shouldn’t be breeding. Their children shouldn’t breed either, because we know where their genes come from. I’m sure the fact their children are overweight and have asthma will keep them virgins for a long while. It you have the audacity to smoke in front of your children, you must really regret they were born, or are just a s** parent. I don’t care if you smoke, I smoked for years, but I was smart enough, that when I grew up to quit.

By budman

January 31, 2007 09:30 AM | Link to this

I guess this law will not affect illegal immigrants as the other laws do not apply. If you are caught with out a drivers license and are a legal citizen you get 10 days in jail… state law..if you are illegal $280.00 fine pay the clerk on the way out of court next case please. Man If I had to do it again I wood be an illegal immigrant and let you pay for my smokes and my health care>>> pay up sucker!!!

By Riley

January 31, 2007 09:32 AM | Link to this

Hey gloria - why don’t you stick to the topic?!?!?! You rattled on a little bit, but didn’t interject on the topic. So, same at ya.

Jeff - you are a total moron and a pathetic excuse for a parent. Sounds like you’re a classic abuser (most abusive men have little penises).

By Kevin

January 31, 2007 09:44 AM | Link to this

1/2 of me thinks there are too many laws out there to begin with, but this one I wouldn’t mind. I wish people weren’t foolish enough to start such a destructive habit when it’s obvious how bad smoking and second hand smoke is for you. I have little respect or sympathy for them.

Casey and other smokers- I hope for the sake of your health and your children’s that you can quit someday. Unfortunately, you are an influence for your kids and showing your lack of care for your own body and others (via second had smoke) may rub off on them in life- I hope not- I’m sure you are teaching them well. It’s just that when you tell someone they shouldn’t do something (although YOU do it) it’s like the pot calling the kettle black.

This disgusting ‘habit’ has become a drain on our society and health care and has sped up the death of too many people. Yes there are other things we breathe (bad air/smog) that are harmful, but by smoking you are directly choosing to kill your body off slowly and effect those around you.

I realize I may be pretty harsh with my opinion on people who smoke- but damn- stop killing yourselves.

ps- can you also stop throwing cigarette butts out the window of your car? the world is not your garbage can.

By Jeff

January 31, 2007 09:44 AM | Link to this

Riley:

So I’m a moron and a child abuser because I believe in individual liberties and the right of adults to think and do as we choose?

By Casey

January 31, 2007 10:00 AM | Link to this

Renee, glad to know I got under you skin. I never thought twice about one word you said….have a nice day :)

By Fall Line

January 31, 2007 10:02 AM | Link to this

Dear Jeff, your rights end where another person’s nose begins. I am an ex-smoker and quitting is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I smoked in the house and in the car with my children in there with me. I wish now that I had known what we know now about second hand smoke. With the information that we now have, I don’t see how anyone could choose to put their chicldren at risk. We have seatbelt and child seat laws to protect the children. A “no smoking in the car” law is a good extension of that effort.

By JT

January 31, 2007 10:05 AM | Link to this

Yea I agree, I saw a nice looking middle class Women smoking with her probably 3 or 4 yr old Boy, in the back seat the other morning, and it’s just crazy, if you can’t atleast wait till you drop your kids off at school, then you need some help! I have a 4yr old girl, and a 3 mnth old girl, I smoke occasionaly, but never at home or in the truck with my girls! Come on Parents WAKE UP!

By Jeff

January 31, 2007 10:11 AM | Link to this

Fall Line:

Where did I EVER say I was a smoker? I see this as a government intrusion on an adult’s private life, and I am against THAT, PERIOD! No matter HOW repulsive I see an action as, I see NO REASON for the government to be involved in an individual’s private life!

By darlene

January 31, 2007 10:13 AM | Link to this

My feelings are simple - When the State starts paying smokers auto payments, insurance and required yearly license plate, then and only then should they be allowed to tell us we cannot smoke in our own vehicles. The next thing you know they will be trying to tell us we cannot smoke in our own homes. I think the government should regulate acohol being not being served to someone in a restaurant with a child.

By des

January 31, 2007 10:15 AM | Link to this

The government should not be about legislating laws in regard to our private life. That would mean many laws in regard to the care of a child. Perhaps a license or written agreement should be obtianed for people having children, one that would require them to be responsible for their childrens care.

By Hunni

January 31, 2007 10:24 AM | Link to this

First I’ll like to qualify that I’m not an expert on smoking and pregnancy. Years ago my now ex-husband had a friend who smoked heavily and was allowed by the hubby to do so while visiting our home. I can’t stand smoke and became ill. Two days later I miscarried. (unfortunately I was not aware of the pregnancy until I started cramping). Although I may have miscarried for another reason, I shared this because I believe that smokers should be careful about smoking around others. You have no idea of their health conditions and could be putting them in danger without realizing it.

By Jeff

January 31, 2007 10:25 AM | Link to this

des:

What you fail to see is that even having children is a private function between two adults. Therefore the government should KEEP OUT!!!

By David

January 31, 2007 10:29 AM | Link to this

If you have small children and smoke in your house or your car, don’t you dare say you LOVE your children! I have never smoked but both of my parents did. I now have very serious allergy and sinus problems. It is increidble to me that this day and time with all the research showing without a doubt all the harm that smoking causes, that anyone would continue to smoke!!!!

By david

January 31, 2007 10:36 AM | Link to this

right thang baby, you are the poster child for abortion! you are typical of most smokers. inconsiderate and rude. apparently, the best part of you ran down your daddy’s leg!!!

By Bob

January 31, 2007 10:52 AM | Link to this

Jeff ,

In a lot of cases, doesn’t the gov’t ( basically the people) pay for some of the health problems caused by smoking and the effects of second hand smoke with our tax dollars? One could argue that it flirts a fine line with public/private arguement. On the surface, your choice to smoke is private, but if you dig deeper into the issue, it’s very public.

Smokers are a drain to society. I’m tempted to say that any law’s that punishes or prohibits smoking or draws more attention to how bad it is, is fine by me. I still think we have enough laws…… This one should be common sense, unfortunately there are some parents out there that have none.

By JamesD

January 31, 2007 10:53 AM | Link to this

Jeff I agree with you, asbestos and lead paint are cheap. I can’t believe the government will not let me use them in my private house. It’s a private decision.

Let me help you out a little Jeff, smoking in the car with your children affects everyone. The more you’re sick children and you’re sick a* go to the doctors the more my health insurance prices go up. Since the majority of the people who smoke are uneducated and have in general lower incomes (aka no insurance), we don’t pay a portion of the bill we pay all of their bills through taxes, and insurance premiums. Why should I pay for idiots who cannot comprehend basic logic? This discussion is not about your right it’s about the child’s rights. The government is allowing the child to make the decision whether or not he wants to smell funny and have heath problems when he grows up.

Once again if you smoke in you’re car with you’re children, please don’t let them breed, something is obviously missing from their gene structure based on the parents decisions. I can’t believe someone would hate their kids so much they would pump cancer and asthma producing chemicals into their children’s lugs. I don’t care if the government pass this law or not, I just wish people weren’t so dumb.

By Renee

January 31, 2007 10:59 AM | Link to this

Casey - your 10:00 post is a flat out lie. Go back and read your posts yesterday - you got hysterically mad! By the way, you didn’t get under my skin, I just feel sorry for your poor kids. I guess I should feel happy for them, you’ll die sooner than otherwise thanks to your stupid habit. So they’ll be without you quicker - good for them! Unfortunately, they may have cancer due to them - what a wonderful parent you are: giving them the gift of death.

Jeff - you’re an a$$.

By Bob

January 31, 2007 11:01 AM | Link to this

Well said Mr JamesD…..

By Jeff

January 31, 2007 11:02 AM | Link to this

Bob:

1) I don’t think we have “enough” laws. I think we have FAR TOO MANY!!!!!

2) I’m also against government-paid healthcare and any other entitlement program. When you give someone money for nothing, they only want more.

By Bob

January 31, 2007 11:09 AM | Link to this

Bob- I agree with you on #1.

Undecided about the right way to go about health care reform.

By Bob

January 31, 2007 11:11 AM | Link to this

Ooops! That last post was for you Jeff….

By Bob

January 31, 2007 11:12 AM | Link to this

But… it still doesn’t mean we shouldn’t consider new laws if they make sense.

By Jeff

January 31, 2007 11:19 AM | Link to this

Bob:

Overall, while I wouldn’t push us back to the Articles of Confederation, I say go back to the level of government that existed in the Lincoln era, maybe even before that.

When forced to decide between individual liberty or group cohesion, individual liberty should take precedence very time.

By Casey

January 31, 2007 11:25 AM | Link to this

LOL, no Renee, sorry I didn’t. In fact, I left here, went to my 2nd job, made a grand & went home & spent a wonderful envening with my DH…sorry do diappoint you.

By JamesD

January 31, 2007 11:33 AM | Link to this

Laws are made to protect the rights and property of people. When one persons actions affect another persons rights laws are required to limit or stop those actions. How is smoking with in the range of a child who cannot speak his mide not an invasion of his or her rights.

By JamesD

January 31, 2007 11:47 AM | Link to this

Casey You’re a striper with a Designated Hitter?

By Jeff

January 31, 2007 11:52 AM | Link to this

James D:

Flip the coin. How is smoking in my car affecting YOUR rights?

It isn’t?

My point exactly. Mind your own dang business.

By Hmm

January 31, 2007 12:04 PM | Link to this

There shouldn’t be a law required for this. Education, perhaps, from pediatricians and child welfare agencies. Just like there shouldn’t be seatbelt laws. Too many laws and too much government. If an adult wants to smoke around their kids, that’s their prerogative. If an adult wants to swear around their kids, that’s fine, that’s their kids. Who are we to tell someone how to raise their child? That’s their child, they’re responsible for raising them, teaching them good and bad, not the government. Give the power back to the parents.

I don’t smoke, I find the habit filthy beyond words, and I’d never be close to a smoker (even simply a friend). When my ex started smoking after the divorce, I practically withheld visitation until he agreed to not smoke around the kid. Kid had chronic ear infections back then. I haven’t spoken to my brother for years because of this habit and his health. If he wants to kill himself with his smoking (he’s in chronic heart failure), then that’s his choice. Leave me out of it.

Also, if they’re going to insist on passing these inane little laws against smoking, I’d much rather they just ban it altogether. No smoking, anywhere, phase out the cig supply, happy world. Next, they’ll attack sugar.

By Jeff

January 31, 2007 12:07 PM | Link to this

AMEN Hmm!!!!!

By Renee

January 31, 2007 12:30 PM | Link to this

Casey, how pathetic. Obviously you didn’t re-read your posts. You got sooooo agitated yesterday, it was quite funny!

Did you kill your kids a little more yesterday by smoking in the house?

What a pathetic mom you are.

Let’s see - you live in a house with a 2,800 sq ft basement, have the most expensive air filtration system available, have money flowing out of your a$$, don’t care about your kids health (or your own) and work two jobs. Sorry - my life with a family I love sounds MUCH better (see, I love my family - I don’t try to kill myself or them - and they love me: meanwhile your kids merely tolerate you).

By JamesD

January 31, 2007 12:31 PM | Link to this

I agree, Hmm, ban smoking altogether. Ban sugar what a horrable comparison. You guys are fing paranoid about your rights. I guess it was a bad idea the banned cocain or heroine, it was once legal you know. Who knows they might ban water next, DeeDeDee

By JamesD

January 31, 2007 12:56 PM | Link to this

Jeff

How is smoking in my car affecting YOUR rights?

Well I’m not going to rewrite my earlier post just for you. Go find an adult and let him read my earlier post for you, then discuss. Your smoking and everyone’s smoking in general affects society economically. People before the information age should be taken care of because they were tricked and lied to by the tobacco companies. I’m not totally heartless. If you were born during or after the information age and decided to smoke despite all the warnings, when it come to time for you to go to the hospital with no insurance I don’t think your should get treated. Watching people suffer and or die is a great educational tool. If you’re a smoker (born post information age) with out insurance or bad insurance and need help with medical bills, I would rather you die than take my money. Everyone makes their own choices and should pay for their own decisions

Do you like paying the medical bills of an ignorant smoker (born post information age) who have no insurance, through you increased taxes and insurance premiums?

Would you like to pay for my medical bills if I had a habit of drinking acid?

By Jeff

January 31, 2007 01:17 PM | Link to this

JamesD:

Ah, I see, you’re worried about me taking your money. Sounds like you have a problem with large government as well, yet you propose making government even MORE invasive in our lives. Pick a side!

See, I say that government shouldn’t be paying ANYONE’s healthcare in the first place… thus eliminating apparently your oly reason for saying my rights should be curtailed.

By Eric Berry

January 31, 2007 01:20 PM | Link to this

Jeff,

I don’t believe I read anywhere that James D said you smoking in your car affected his rights. If you go back and read some of his posts he was specifically talking about someone smoking in a car with a child in it. It’s infringing on the childs rights in that case.

The bigger point was that society pays for the idiots that smoke in the form of increased health care premiums and having less capacity b/c of time consumed taking care of smoking related health problems (all of which are preventable if people would wise up to the dangers of smoking.)

By Bob

January 31, 2007 01:28 PM | Link to this

James D- it’s pointless argueing with Jeff. Although I respect he has a difference in opinion, he’s going to continue to play word games and twist things around. No sensing continuing with him. It’s like trying to convince a smoker they shouldn’t smoke in front of their kids.

By JamesD

January 31, 2007 01:54 PM | Link to this

Jeff, I never said I didn’t want the goverment taking my money, I said I didn’t want to waste my money on idots who exercise their right to smoke. The government can take 70% of my money as long as it goes to good causes and increases my quality of life. Life is about quality not quantity. My quality of life goes down when I have to pay for smokers medical bills. It’s their right to smoke, it should be my right to say fu when they ask for tax icreases or insurance premiums hikes to help uninsured smokers. I in no way would be mad if I got taxed like I lived in Switzerland, if America was in any way similar to Switzerland (Ex. poverty, health care, crime rate. education).

The government has the right to step in and help those who cannot help themselves. Please tell me your children have given you their permission to increase their chance of dying from cancer, or limiting their ability to participate in sports because of the asthma you gave them, please tell me they said they would gladly go through all the s** that comes with second had smoke because you need a fix and could not wait 5 min. Smokers are fing selfish bastards, you on the other hand are paranoid of the government. Don’t let your paranoia influence your decisions. Don’t fight all the battles just the ones that are valid. Preventing idiots from killing or harming their children (there is no arguing this, smoke causes health problems, and will kill some children *), and creating a debt to society is not that bad of an idea. Your only argument is you don’t want the government in your life, I do want them in your life because you and other who would argue against this bill are incompetent parents and deserve to have rights taken away for them, for their children’s sake. You do not have the right to put poison in your children’s milk and kill them slowly, then why in the hell would you have the right to blow poisons and toxins in their face (there is no arguing this, smoke causes health problems, and will kill some children and harm thousands more*). Don’t use your hate for the goverment to let these idots off so easy.

By Hmm

January 31, 2007 02:48 PM | Link to this

JamesD, Your arguments could easily be applied to sugar, fat, and obese people. Also, those that don’t exercise. It’s human nature to ignore the things that are good for us. That’s why I made the exaggerated claim that Sugar would be next…

By JamesD

January 31, 2007 07:54 PM | Link to this

I see your point Hmm. But on the topic that was started, smokers are killing and harming children with their ignorant vices.
Yes weight is a large problem we are facing and everything I said earlier about smokers, still applies to fat people. I will be able to pay for my vices, why do I need to pay for someone who can’t put down a hotdog to save their own life. Why should I pay for someone who cannot control theirselves. If fat people are making their children unhealthy by force feeding them, then I belive social services has the right to send the parents to an educational class.

By Jeff

February 1, 2007 08:01 AM | Link to this

JamesD:

So I was watching a GPB special on the Supreme Court last night. FASCINATING stuff really. Stuff that even I - a Constitutional Law and History buff - did not know.

For example, and I’ll get to my main point in a second:

In 1800, John Adams was leaving the Presidency, having lost to Thomas Jefferson. This was at the very beginning of partisan politics in this country, and Madison was a Federalist. Jefferson was the leader of a new upstart party he had only recently created. (The Jeffersonian Republican party).

The primary difference between these two original political parties in our country is the same fundamental difference between us.

The Federalists were elitists that believed only the privileged and wealthy had a right to have a say in government. They believed that the national government should be all consuming, in a fashion we would later come to call Big Brother.

The Jeffersonian Republicans, however, believed in the common man. They believed that organized government is just as dangerous as organized religion, and that both should have as little influence as possible in this new nation. Jefferson on liberty: “rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law” My question remains, JamesD: Given this definition of liberty, HOW DOES SMOKING INSIDE A VEHICLE WHICH YOU ARE NOT IN AFFECT YOUR LIBERTY????

By Renee

February 1, 2007 02:01 PM | Link to this

I only smoke when I get drunk & after sex. The baby is in the crib so I don’t do it in front of him. Does this count as abuse?

By Miss L

February 8, 2007 03:36 PM | Link to this

Okay, on the subject of smokers hurting their children. Overweight parents hurt their children w/out having to force feed them. Do you honestly think that your children will not develop eating habits from observing momma packing the food in her mouth nonstop? Do you think you are setting a god example by plopping down on the couch and staring at the television or home computer screen? Many smokers I know do not “force” their bad habit on their children because the choose not to smoke in their home or car but I’m sure the overweights are not going outside in the cold winter air to cram that donut. I do not smoke but honestly, coating your lungs with tar or clogging your arteries with fat, how can you make one out to be a sin and the other to be more acceptable? In either case the person knows that what they are doing is not healthy and they are taking the risk of passing on unhealthy behavior to their children. I think the main point underlying this issue is do you or don’t you want our government to have the right to interfere with your personal life. Personally, I do not. To suggest that DFACS should take smoker’s children away and they should lose parental rights is outrageous and ignorant. If you support that conclusion here are a few more things DFACS should relinquish parental rights for: obesity / overweight (probably feed their kids from fast food joints), moderate to severe alcohol consumption (causes poor judgement and sets bad example), parents who have had multiple sexual partners (possibly pass on STDs which harm kids more than cigarette smoke and also sets bad example), and the list could go on. Undoubtedly at some point everyone who is human would find themselves at fault for one thing or another which leads me to my final point that there is no such thing as a perfect parent or a perfect human. I don’t understand what joy some of you get from being harsh and judgemental. Are you so unhappy with your self that you have to tear other people down to feel important?