Governor Wants to Smoke

[kskiska]

(AP) -- Anti-tobacco groups are protesting Governor Schwarzenegger's efforts to return the smoke-filled room to California politics.

Schwarzenegger is converting the Capitol's interior courtyard into an all-weather ``smoking plaza'' where he can smoke cigars with lawmakers and other power brokers.

Anti-smoking groups say that sends the wrong signal particularly to young fans of the screen star-turned-politician. They're sending him hundreds of Valentine's Day (news - web sites) cards asking him to stop.

A Schwarzenegger spokeswoman says the governor discourages children from smoking -- but notes Schwarzenegger is over 18.

more…
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=350&e=2&u=/kpix/20040214/lo_kpix/9175

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Oh, cripes

"The Children! The Children!!!!"

Jeez, if the dude's outside, let him smoke.

All for smoke-free zones, but this is out of control stupidity.

[kokofitz]

3. I agree.

I appreciate trying to keep children from smoking and that people inside buildings don't want to breathe second-hand smoke, but sometimes I feel that some folks go a little overboard.

BTW, I like the piece you're using on your posts. :thumbsup:

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. Thanks!

Sadly, the auction is over, so your chance to support DU *and* get the painting is past.

But the painting is still available - the auction winner chose a different one.

[kokofitz]

9. I wish....

I'm currently on a "fixed" income (recently retired) and trying to figure out this new lifestyle and budget.

[TheDonkey]

5. sounds like it's inside.

If so let him walk out the doors and smoke.

[kokofitz]

6. Normally a courtyard is outside...

"interior courtyard" is usually an outside area surrounded by buildings, so he should be outside.

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. Yep - that's how I take it

"courtyard" always means outside, so an interior one is outside, just surrounded by building.

That is, a courtyard that is accessible only through a building, or a non-enclosed path that goes through the building, but never goes INSIDE the building.

[dfong63]

25. inside or outside,

... the presence of cigar smoke will render the space unusable by nonsmokers - unless they want to spend the rest of the day exuding that unbearable stench from their hair and clothes, and risk their health to boot.

does Groper-boy really think this is what the people of CA sent him to sacramento to do?

[calimary]

12. So how come his kid can bring stink bombs to a sleepover at

the house of a kid in MY neighborhood, 'eh?

Set 'em off in the bedroom of the younger brother of the sleepover host. Patrick Schwarzenegger. I was driving the older brother home and heard him telling my kids about this in the back seat of my car. Apparently Governor Schwarzengroper doesn't discourage stink bombs for children. Probably because he likes smokin' 'em (my opinion of cigars here).

[Rabrrrrrr]

35. How the hell should I know the answer to that?

I don't live with the guy.

The discussion here is about people bitchin' about him smoking legally acceptable cigars in what appears to be a legally acceptable space.

Don't obfuscate the issue by bringing up irrelevant tangents.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

2. In 2000 * said the first thing he would do after moving into the WH

would be to get rid of the "no-smoking" rule in the West Wing.

[kskiska]

4. * doesn't smoke any more, anyway (though "the lump" does)

He chews.

[SoCalDem]

10. In California there are lots of indoor "courtyards"

These are INSIDE.. the smoke will not be vented OUTDOORS..

So some schlub who lights up in a bar some night will get a huge fine, but the Gropernator can light up at "work"???

NOTHING worse than cigar smoke ..UGH!!

[Piperay]

13. Agree, that stuff stinks

worse than sh*t and people who have to walk through that area get all stunk up plus having to breath in that crap. :puke: I get sick of these repukes always taking us back, you make one step of progress and they take you back a mile. :argh: :mad:

[bluestateguy]

11. Oh, get a life!

I'm no Arnold fan (read the archives under my name if you want proof), but I could give a rat's ass if he and his associates want to smoke in a designated area. California has far more pressing problems to deal with than the nannycrat anti-smoking crowd realizes.

[cubsfan6969]

14. Who cares

Some of these anti smoker people are real pain in the asses.

[tinanator]

31. I understand emphasema can be fun?

Its even better when contracted from working around secondhand smoke. Yeah, asthma suffering and the nicotine induced headaches of others are worth the convenience for smokers. Poor oppressed junkies.

[Skittles]

32. those anti-smoker pain i n the ass people

helped me to quit a 30 year habit 28 months ago. I hope they keep being pains in the butt.

[0rganism]

15. I guess we'd better let him smoke, eh?

2 reasons

1) smokers can get real ornery when pressured on the issue, and you don't want Ahnold getting pissy,

2) the more he smokes, the quicker he dies.

[Spentastic]

16. Is he going to set up a needle exchange too?

Let all the addicts join in. It's their own funeral after all. Oh sorry except smokers, they get to kill other people while exercising their freedom of choice.

[Dogmudgeon]

17. As a smoke-hater ...

... my opinion, which everyone is eager to hear, is thus:

With a good ventilation system, set aside a buttsucking area and smoke away.

No ventilation? Go outside. Down the street, if possible.

However, as he is a Republican, I think that we should hold Gov. Schwartzenegger to the same high moral standards to which he would hold us.

No smoking. No groping. And learn English!

A cheap shot? You bet.

Never lacking for an opportunity to hold conservative piggies to the fire, some of the good people of California might be persuaded to launch a campaign to get the governor to petition the Department of Justice to release Tommy Chong from his unjust incarceration. And while he's at it, to support the California Medical Marijuana laws. After all, as a smoker, he should have some sympathy with individuals who have suffered under the neo-Stalinist bootheel of "Political Correctness."

If none of that works, then we should send in our Secret Weapon -- arch-enemy of the tobacco lobby, Nosmo King.

--bkl
not "... smokin' on a big cigar ..."

[Speed8098]

18. Who Cares

Yes, I'm a smoker, and I'm a Democrat.



Before you blast me, read what the World Health Organization has to say about second hand smoke.

It isn't what you think.

Let him smoke if he wants to.

Who really cares. We have bigger fish to fry.

[warrior1]

19. f that sh!t

If it's truly outdoors and not a courtyard. This is the a state building and he should adhere to that reg. Twenty feet from the door, and no smoking in courtyards.

law should apply to all including the nazi.

[FlaGranny]

21. I grew up in a family of

nonsmokers, yet my mother deveoped lung cancer. She was never exposed to ANYTHING but second hand smoke, but nearly all her friends smoked. My mom spent a lot of time with her friends.

Fortunately, even though my mother got lung cancer, she survived it, because she was otherwise very healthy with no atherosclerosis and no emphysema that heavy smoker's get. It's a shame she had to get it in the first place because it's not much fun to get your chest opened up and a lobe of your lung taken out.

Emphysema is not much fun either. Although not every smoker gets lung cancer, most do get emphysema, which is similar to slowly drowning. Towards the end, after years of suffering, it gets even less pretty.

You smokers should ALL go to a hospital and see a patient with end-stage emphysema. Listen to the gurgling sounds and watch the patient's struggles for breath. After multiple long hospitalizations, he/she will finally, thankfully die.

Every puff gets you closer.

I love all you good Democrats and I don't even want to see this happen to a neocon.

[0007]

22. You have a lot of good knowledge about COPD

Thank!

[Robb]

20. Ah the politics of the smoke-filled room...

...Or, if you prefer, the Cigarthy. ;)

[bleedingheart]

23. Next thing - No Women will be allowed in the club so that it can

have that special ambiance reminiscent of the Victorian men's clubs...

ah yes the republicans pushing us backwards in time....

[dfong63]

24. he's setting a fine example

A Schwarzenegger spokeswoman says the governor discourages children from smoking -- but notes Schwarzenegger is over 18.

he's setting a fine example for them - a fine example of hypocrisy. do as i say, not as i do. does he also discourage children from groping?

[warrior1]

26. I don't care

if he smokes himself to an early grave, just do it in a open area or say in his hummer.

[dfong63]

27. open areas are generally "public" areas

... and cigar smoking pollutes those areas and makes them unusable for non-smokers. the "courtyard" might be a vital route for people going from one wing of the building to another. but if the Groper's wish is granted, non-smokers will have to detour around it if they don't want to spend the rest of the day smelling like cigar smoke.

[GoldenOldie]

28. Schwarzenegger and example????

"If you can't be a good example, then you'll have to be a horrible warning." Catherine Aird

[Dr Fate]

29. The last thing I'm going to do is stop him from enjoying a cigar...

...much bigger things to worry about...

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[9215]

30. It' part of a deal with the magazine "Cigar Afficionado"

or maybe that was Rush on the cover?

[Exultant Democracy]

33. Castro quite smoking

because he decided that it was a bad example to set for his people, the children in particular. Not that I think Arnold should not be allowed to smoke, I say go for it, I just wanted to point out a counter example.

[0007]

34. Smoke this phoney schmuck out of office