
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Works Globally to Fight Antismoking Measures - zameerb
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/01/business/international/us-chamber-works-globally-to-fight-antismoking-measures.html
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lcswi
I wish smoking was simply non existent. People in the stories below in my
building and the adjacent one smoke which means I cannot have my windows open
unsupervised or overnight unless I want my place to smell terribly (not to
mention the possible health issues, minor but still...). Never again will I
rent above ground level.

Sorry for the not quite on topic comment but I really had to get that off my
chest.

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mikeash
It always amazes me when smokers try to paint themselves as martyrs, because
we keep trying to get them to stop exposing other people to their smoke.

I'm sure it's inconvenient that you have to go outside and away from the doors
to enjoy your habit, but if that's a problem then maybe you should have picked
one that doesn't pollute so much.

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ta92929
They're complaining because they see the general trend.

When it's getting to the point where you don't just have to go outside, which
is reasonable, or even go outside but avoid high traffic areas, but instead to
go to this one specific spot outside, and there are people advocating banning
smoking outdoors altogether it starts to get ridiculous.

I find it a strange comparison to the marijuana legalization movement.

EDIT: correction: they have actually banned smoking outside in certain places.
([http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/23/new.york.smoking.ban/](http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/23/new.york.smoking.ban/))
So you can't smoke indoors. You can't smoke outdoors. But fuck 'em, they're
smokers, so who cares.

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mikeash
Why should smokers have the right to pollute the air in public places? We all
have to breathe that stuff, you know.

Also you seem to be ignoring the "certain places" part of this ban. It doesn't
say you can't smoke outdoors. It says you can't smoke in public parks, public
beaches, and similar places.

You can smoke outdoors on your own property. You can smoke _indoors_ in your
own property.

The general trend is simply that smokers are free to enjoy their smokes in
ways that don't affect others.

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mason240
"You have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. (As long as
your pursuit makes me happy as well)" \- Too many Americans.

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mikeash
I can't quite tell what you're trying to say here, but I interpret this as my
desire not to be exposed to secondhand smoke being somehow an infringement of
other people's pursuit of happiness.

I really don't care what you do to make yourself happy as long as it doesn't
harm other people. Your right to smoke stops at other people's lungs.

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vinhboy
Is there a way we can get Google to leave this organization? It seems that
Apple was able to do it without consequence, what's stopping Google?

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anigbrowl
Get together with some other people and some shares in Google; file for a
stockholder's motion at the company's annual general meeting (you just missed
the 2015 one unfortunately), which will probably be recommended against by the
board; hire a PR person and target the business press with a clear explanation
of why you're doing it and what you hope to achieve; lose the vote but repeat
for several years in a row.

This is a slow and cumbersome procedure with a low-ish chance of success, but
it does have the merit that the senior management of the firm _will_ become
aware of your issue, and if you can make a good case that CoC membership is at
odds with stockholders' long-term interests then their fiduciary duties will
require them to consider the issue seriously.

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bmohlenhoff
It strikes me as both grammatically confusing and arrogant to refer to this
organization as " _the_ US Chamber of Commerce" when it isn't affiliated with
the US government at all. It's a lobbying organization.

It's analogous to calling something "the Google" or "the Microsoft."

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krschultz
Exactly. They have done a great job with branding to make almost everyone
think they are an official part of the government. The Chamber of Commerce
represents generally support _incumbent_ business interests.

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mikeash
See the Better Business Bureau for another example of this.

However, I don't think it's the fault of "the." Nobody thinks The New York
Times or The Washington Post are government entities, for example.

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scarmig
It seems like the "of" does it more than anything. It parallels organizations
like "Department of Defense" and "Federal Bureau of Investigation": some
generic noun to represent that it's an organization of people, "of," and then
an abstract noun that gives the organization a purview that's universal or
total in scope. Most organizations that have the audacity to do this have a
monopoly on the use of force behind them.

The CoC, of course, is itself in the business of government: trade its
governmental access and leverage to businesses in exchange for large cash
grants.

