[Mpls] Smokin' in the boys' room/Brauer must be chastised..Is Jim G. really in charge?

[PennBroKeith at cs.com]

Keith says; I have waited many years,,, monitoring, plotting. At my lonely 
keyboard with my bloodshot eyes reflecting in this obsolete monitor (blah blah, 
etc.). Haven't the gratuitous offerings on this thread moved far away from 
Mpls. specific? So far that David is now critiquing smoking research studies in 
choral counterpoint to Victoria. Even Jesus' name was invoked; or was that a 
different recent thread? This topic, tobacco, appears harder to quit then the 
substance itself. I object, and not to the actual matter; proposed smoking bans 
in Mpls. Rather, it is the other, meandering discussion, that I protest. Me 
thinks, and it doth appear, Mr. B. actually has been allowing Jim Graham to rule 
on relevancy of List members' tobacco submissions. I think it IS time to 
quit. In a related matter I have formulated a "patch" to help me quit reading 
tobacco postings here. I put it over my eyes. It has helped me with my television 
habit, too.

Keith Reitman   I hate tobacco   NearNorth
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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  
Message: 2
Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2004 21:47:43 GMT
From: david at tcq.net
Subject: Re: [Mpls] I knew it!  Smokers LIVE LONGER
To: mpls at mnforum.org
Message-ID: <20040603214746.3DA0B6C81F at mapnp.mnforum.org>

Vicky writes:

> I always wondered why NO ONE would ever disclose the average age of
> "smoke-related" deaths.  Now I know.
> 
> According to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, the life
> expectancy in the U. S. has hit an all time high of 76.9 years.
> 
> http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2001pres/20011010.html
>
> According to surveys funded by the federal government, a 60 year old
> female
> smoker will live to be 84.2 years old and a 60 year old male smoker will
> live to be 78.1 years old.
> 
> http://www.forces.org/evidence/carol/carol8.htm

Ok, first off, the first study is different from the second one so they 
shouldn't be compared.

Next: the second citation is from the "Smoker's Rights Action group" 
(thanks for the link, Vicky). They don't link to the data they critique, 
or cite a source for the quote they dispute.

Finally, even considering source bias, the data they trumpet shows smokers 
die an average of 7 years earlier than non-smokers in all categories. 
Don't think that's an argument against a smoking ban...unless you've got 
an average of 7 years you're willing to cede.

David Brauer
Kingfield