And all those movies with the glamorous actors and actresses puffing away.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, September 9, 2020 2:20 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Where there's smoke there's fire!
I suppose you're right. The most addictive drug is money, and we will never
outlaw that. But money does impact the ban on other drugs.
Many a crooked polotician or police official, or for that matter any person in
a power position who can be corrupted. The tobacco industry is a prime
example. Huge payoffs to doctors and public officials, as well as celebrities.
Even Jolly old Saint Nick exchanged his pipe for a Camel cigarette. Most
every popular star of "Stage, Screen and Radio" puffed one brand or another.
And then the liars trotted out, telling us how safe sucking raw smoke into our
lungs, was. If tobacco had not been addictive we would never have bought it.
Carl Jarvis
On 9/9/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
But outlawing addictive substances isn't really a good solution either
because think of what has been done to punish people who are addicted
to drugs. And when the substance is outlawed, then there's a black
market in it. Remember the stories about prohibition? Prohibiting the
sale of alcohol seemed like a good idea, given how many alcoholics
there were, and are. So what happened? There were Speak Easies and the
Mob made lots of money smuggling alcoholic beverages into the country and
selling them.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, September 9, 2020 1:22 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Where there's smoke there's fire!
That reminds me of the many times I "quit" smoking, only to be out
with my buddies and tell myself that "just one cigarette couldn't
hurt". Nicotine is so addictive and so deadly that it's hard to
believe that the product hasn't been outlawed and the CEO's thrown in
prison. For the last ten years that I smoked, I bought a pack each
day, so if I decided to quit, I wouldn't have the rest of a carton sitting at
home.
I knew that if I had any loose packs, I'd convince myself that I'd
quit just as soon as the last pack was gone. I'd gone down that road several
times.
Oh, the horror stories all of us former smokers could tell. I
remember when Cathy's dad died at 57 years of age...from heavy smoking and
heavy drinking.
We had not smoked for over three months, but as soon as the service
was over we rushed outside and cornered our sister-in-law and bummed
cigarettes from her.
Quitting was hard, but staying quit was even harder.
Carl Jarvis
On 9/9/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I stopped smoking with great difficulty and then after several years,
after I returned from my first Evergreen trip which was to Spain, I
began drinking a glass of sherry before dinner each night, and I had
this great urge to have a cigarette with that glass of sherry. Just
one cigarette with one glass of sherry, how could it do any harm?
Before long, I was back to smoking a pack a day. Incredible, after
all of that suffering and sacrifice to give up smoking years before.
So then about 6 years later, Fred was in the hospital, dying of brain
cancer, and he asked me to promise him that I'd stop smoking. He
wanted to save me from possibly dying from lung cancer, a fate that
had befallen one of his brothers. I promised, and stopped. It was
the only gift I could give to him at that point.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, September 9, 2020 11:53 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Where there's smoke there's fire!
From the news you'd think all the West Coast was going up in flames.
It sure smells like it, but Cathy reports that all she sees is smoke
haze.
I can smell it, and considering how I've damaged my sense of smell
with too many years of cigarettes, it has to be fairly strong for me
to get a whiff.
And just for any who might be taking up the primitive art of sucking
smoke into the lungs, the sense of smell never returns to its full
power. This Labor Day weekend marked the 29th anniversary since
Cathy and I smoked our last cigarette. We drove to our cabin on
Friday night, with three cigarettes each. When I smoked my last
cigarette sometime mid Saturday, Cathy refused to drive me into town.
She never did weaken, but I kept the car keys in my pocket, anyway.
We came out of that weekend still married and still speaking to one
another.
But years of smoking had taken its toll on my nose and my taster.
A 29 gun salute to our Great American Tobacco Industry, a standout
example of Capitalism and the Free Enterprise System that has kept
that mighty American Standard in business spreading death to millions
around the world and spreading millions of lies as it waddles to the
bank.
But I digress.
. So far the Olympic Peninsula has reported no fires. In other
news, reported cases of COVID-19 in Jefferson County stand at a grand
total of 70, with no deaths. This proves that distancing does work,
since most of us live hundreds of feet apart. Port Townsend is the
County seat, and the county's only incorporated town, having fewer
than
10,000 residents.
So today I will do my best to obey Governor Jay Inslee's request that
we stay indoors and avoid strenuous work...I just love that governor.
Carl Jarvis
