Cancer Sticks...

I got off highway at the Robinson exit and was sitting at the light and looked down at the side of the road. There must have been over 1000 cigarette butts laying there, thrown out of windows of people sitting at the light. This is a personal pet peeve of mine. Not only do we have to breathe in the second-hand smoke of smokers, but we also have to look at their dried out hair, cloudy nails, yellow skin and teeth and smell their awful breath and smell of smoke on their clothes... and listen to them bitch about how much a pack costs. On top of that, they are using health care resources up for something that they know is hurting them. Now, apparently, we have to look at the waste product of their weakness lying on the road... for how long you ask?

Cigarette butt : 1-5 years Not only do cigarette butts last a long time, they are often thrown from a vehicle which means the cigarette butts end up in the street. These butts will eventually end up in the storm drains. Once they end up there they lead to the ocean and kill fish.

Is this littering, you ask?

Most cities have ordinances against this... anything is considered littering if it can be burned. I have seen fines from $200 - $500 for throwing a cigarette butt out of a car window and may include jail time.

Are cigarettes expensive, you ask?

Obama just imposed a higher tax on smoking products (from 39 cents to $1.01 a pack) in an effort to get people to stop and to fund health care for children. In the next 4 1/2 years, the tax will raise an estimated $33 billion for the cause.

Smokers: Do us, the environment and the fishies all a favor. Quit. Get a rubberband... put it around your wrist and every time you want to light up, snap the rubberband against your wrist. It's called 'behavioral modification'. If that doesn't work, give me $5... I'll light a match and blow it out in your face then smack you upside your head. That'll probably do it. Hell, I'll do that for free.