WHAT SMOKING CAN DO FOR YOU AND MORE

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RANTS AND RAVES
FROM
JAMES EDSTROM
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MARIJUANA IS CHEAPER THAN CIGARETTES

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James Edstrom Smoking In The Hamptons



STOP ASKING ME FOR CIGARETTES:


Stop asking me for cigarettes. Leave me alone. Buy your own. Cigarettes are now almost 11 bucks a pack in New York City. Every time you ask me for a cigarette you are asking me for over 50 cents. I am tired of being asked 100 times a day for a cigarette. I do not care if you just ran out. I do not care if your wife wants you to quit and you are sneaking one. I do not care when you approach me and tell me the prices are so high, but you need one and could I spare just one cigarette. The strangers that lurk on the corner and wait till they see someone lite up and then they go in for the kill. "Can you spare a cigarette?" The answer is no! I do not know you. Leave me alone ! They do not care if you are on a important phone call, they will tap you and ask. You give them the sign that you are on a call, yet they will insist. They act like like this is way more important than your call. They act like getting a cigarette from you is a life or death situation. They insist and insist. I get homeless people asking for cigarettes and I get millionaires asking. Up till now, I always gave. Now you can buy your own.


WHAT MY FATHER SAID:


My father always said, " I can never refuse a person a drink or a cigarette", and I have always lived by this. I have always been the first person to buy a drink and to hand out a cigarette. No one is more generous than me. But now, strangers lurk in the shadows, watching and waiting till they see someone lite up and then bam ! Can you spare a cigarette. Leave me alone.


HOW THE GOVERNMENT SCREWED US:


The states that are raising the prices on cigarettes are saying they need it for health care costs associated with smoking. The non-smoking politicians in New York decided they needed money and took it out on the smokers they helped addict many years ago. They let the cigarette companies advertise on buses, trains, television, radio and everywhere else. They hooked me at 12 years old. They let stores sell to me. They let their town concession stands sell to me. They had cigarette machines in city hall. They let a 12 year old boy walk into the store and buy cartons of Marboro. They hooked us, and now changed the rules!



POLITICIANS SHOULD START TAXING LIQUOR AND SEX:



Start taxing Liquor at the rates you are taxing cigarettes, and see how long all you politicians stay in office. The states are saying that they need to recoup the money from smokers. Well lets recoup the money from drinkers. All the deaths because of drinking. The car accidents. The hospital stays. The Rehab. The liver transplants. Tax the drinkers now. Then go after everyone that has sex, because sex causes Aids and Aids cost the government money. So sex should be taxed. And let's go after the fast food companies. They make us fat and cost us money.



IF I COULD QUIT I WOULD:



I have been smoking since I was 12 years old. The government concession stands sold me cigarettes every single day. They made money off me. They made money off all of us. Now at 49 years old, I smoke 3 packs a day. I have the nicotine patch, the fake cigarettes with nicotine liquid, the gum and I have their cigarette flavored vibrator. They do not work. I will be hanging out with the most famous celebrities in the world and all I am thinking is where I can sneak a smoke. Everything is geared for my next smoke.



WHERE I AM CONDEMNED TO SMOKE:



I sneak a smoke at Fox studios, NBC studios, CBS in New York, Broadway shows, restaurants and clubs. At the Jerry Springer show or the Steve Wilkos show at NBC Towers in Chicago, I'm up in the rafters sneaking a smoke. I'm in the men's room at Sirius XM radio smoking. In non-smoking hotels, I'm hanging out the window. At Shock Jock Mancows studio in Chicago, I'm on the fire escape with his staff. On the Staten Island Ferry, I'm hanging over the side. At Bridgehampton Polo, I'm Behind the horses. At the NY Post I'm was at Steve Dunleavy's desk, before he retired. No one would ask him to "Put It Out". I smoke where I used to be able too. Most of the time, I'm with the star of the show and smoking. Of course they do not have one, they are quitting. I have to give them one. I will not obey the " New Rules". I go by the old rules, sorry!


TIRED OF THE DIRTY LOOKS:



Stop looking at me like I just killed someone when I say I need a cigarette. I am so tired of the shocked looks I get from non-smokers, like I was giving them their first case of VD. We all know you have had it many times before !



SMOKING IS KILLING ME:



I am going to die from smoking. I am on inhalers, I can hardly breath anymore. I can not quit. My doctor says that nothing else is going to kill me but smoking. My apartment is turning yellow from smoking. My left arm are going numb. When you walk out of the elevators, just follow the smell. It will lead you to me. I love it when celebrities say I chased them down the street. Hell, I smoke so much, they run 2 feet, they got away. The rules have changed, but it is too late for me. Is it too late for you?

Photo By: Dede Gotthelf/Southampton Inn

Comments

Anonymous said…
Bravo! Superb story!!! No, you are NOT obligated to support the smoking habits of others! (If the shoes are polished and the nails are clean they can buy their own. If the shoes are run down I might remove a few and give the rest of the pack over.)

I enjoy my smoking and do not enjoy the government limiting free enterprise on smoking YET declaring alcoholism is an honored health concern. Say what? You can get assistance for you drug abuse? You get assistance for your drinking? You? You who kill more on the roads than my smoking ever killed?

What a system. What a rip off. I will light up next to you, James. Blow your smoke my way and we can save 50 cents...
James Edstrom said…
lol..... What happened to taxation with representation? The ones who voted for this were either rich or do not smoke. But they sure drink. To think that a cigarette pack costs almost 11 bucks. Sure, smoking costs money in health care. Alcohol causes more deaths than anything. Driving drunk, hospitals etc. While we are at it, lets add a heath tax on new cars. There are accidents, and that costs the taxpayers money. Like I said, Sex causes aids, lets tax sex. Aids costs money for the governments. They hooked us when we were young. They even had gum cigarettes that blew smoke that we smoked when we were 2 years. Thats when they started hooking us. To top it off, we pay double tax. The tax is already included in the price of cigarettes. But when we go to the store, they also charge us sales tax. Double taxation. Our taxes pays for a woman who has 8 children at one time, then she gets medicaid and welfare. When will it end?

James Edstrom
Anonymous said…
James Michener (sp), in the book Chesapeake, provides a wonderful understanding of the history of tobacco in the US colonies. Without it, we would NOT be where we are as a world influence. Also, o of our bills (is it the one dollar?) shows tobacco sheaves... So let us just push that under the carpet, okay?

The only thing I would approve is the removal of all the excess taxes AND the added chemical flavor enhancers...
James Edstrom said…
Interesting...Thanks.....Always love our readers insite !


James Edstrom
James Edstrom said…
Interesting...Thanks.....Always love our readers insite !


James Edstrom