[SheLion]

[SheLion]

[freekitty]

Can everyone say "NANNY STATE".

[Chad Fairbanks]

My favorite inept county councilperson, Carolyn Edmonds, was working on a plan to implement one of the smoking bans in King County, but then the one in Peirce County went tits up in the courts and she backed off.

She was lucky and dodged a political bullet on that one. Then, she got stupid and tried to put a tent city for the homeless (much like the old Hoovervilles) onto suburban county land. Didn't go well for her.

It's idiots like this that are the most dangerous to our rights as citizens...

[Just another Joe]

Gollinger is an attorney and part-time bartender.

But would he take a case to court against the smoking ban pro bono?

[noscreenname]

Unfortunately this 'trend' is gaining momentum. Our city council (Albuquerque NM) recently enacted a total smoking ban in every restaurant in the city. We have a 30' rule around any building that houses businesses (public and private).

I am a recovering smoker (40+ years), but not an 'in your face' born again non-smoker, and totally disagree with the ordinances (my wife smokes). My primary concern is the way these laws are imposed. Usually without a vote of the general population. Another imposition from the left because they know better than the rest of us and we're too stupid to take care of ourselves.

[VRWC_minion]

Moreover, free society demands that the majority refrain from such selfish imposition.

Wanting to fill a room with smoke because one cannot restrain themselves is pure selfishness.

[Michael.SF.]

Furthermore, nonsmokers are free to patronize restaurants that have voluntarily banned smoking. If people truly cared about the ban, such establishments would be inundated by those seeking smoke-free hospitality

There is so much truth in that above statement. We really do not need the government involved in this one.

As an ardent non smoker, one who travels on business a lot, I look for non smoking establishments, so that I can enjoy a nice glass of wine, free from the stench of stale cigarette smoke and cheap cigars.

[VRWC_minion]

The most compelling argument in favor of the ban is that hospitality employees are subjected to a dangerous work environment, polluted by carcinogens. Let me be clear on this point: I do not care.

He doesn't care because he is selfish. In this guys book selfish means anything that someone else does that causes him discomfort. If he does something that causes someone else discomfort, he doesn't care. Guess what ? Its because smokers don't care that the bans are happening. If they took a minimum of care they might stop the trend. But they won't.

[JamesA]

Hmmmmm, I wonder if you are the majority or minority. I can almost hear the Marlborough man say, if only, Oh well, life is about choices

[Carcharodon]

I was truly amazed when they introducewd one in Ireland. I haven't been there since (thankfully I moved two weeks before i came in) but I simply couldn't imagine an Irish pub without its haze of smoke.

I'm all for smoke-free areas in bars and restaurants, but only that - areas. Everybody should be accomodated.

[swarthyguy]

Taliban America. Insha'allah!

[swarthyguy]

Shoot Smokers NOW!

Better yet, castrate and sterilize them! Keep the taxes flowing

[Graymatter]

I say if a fellow walks into a restaurant, and sets fire to a limited amount of weeds, to satisfy a compulsion to inhale the smoke---this doesn't make him a disorderly person under the law.

As long as he doesn't yell "Fire!" he shouldn't be prosecuted.

OTOH the management shouldn't be legally obliged to serve him.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

I have no problem with some smoking bans. I do think others go too far. But I would favor a ban on gay kissing in public. What's the difference in that and public nudity? It offends the moral sense of the majority, so do it in private. They sell legalizing gay sex to us as a privacy of the bedroom issue and then they spend 24/7 cramming it in our faces. Go back to your bedrooms like you promised.

Smoking is not so much a moral issue as a health issue. I think it is not tyranny for the majority to decide they do not want to tolerate public smoking. It is an issue that affects everyone present, not just the one that chooses to smoke. We are selfish. That the author is correct about. But the selfishness is just as much on the side of the in-your-face smoker as it is on the side of those who wish to not have smoke in their face. We are a selfish generation with the collective wisdom of a gnat. We might be very cute and clever, but we are a pack of nearsighted, arrogant fools (generally speaking and not including most freepers).

Back when liberty was worth fighting for it meant something entired deeper than whether or not you get to puff smoke in people's faces and flaunt your immorality with court-ordered public blessings. These are the issues of a spoiled generation.

[CSM]

Great article ping!

[Cultural Jihad]

While we could outlaw physical contact by members of the same gender, institute speech codes and make showering mandatory, we do not and should not. We do not prohibit these activities because our selfish need for convenience and personal comfort must not interfere with the basic freedoms we enjoy as a society.

Perhaps for the benefit of the upcoming generations brainwashed by moral-liberal educators, who think homosexual sodomy is a basic human right and has been so ever since the Founders, in truth it was banned in all the states of the union, and for hundreds of years before the liberals started passing all this 'consenting adults' garbage legislation.

[Hunble]

As a smoker, I no longer care.

When there are smoking and non-smoking sections available, I respect the people around me and only smoke in the designated smoking area.

When the entire area is designated as non-smoking, then mutual respect in no longer being applied. When in that situation, I can and do smoke anywhere in the building that I desire.

This last week, I was on vacation in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and we had specifically reserved a smoking room at the hotel where we were staying. When got to our hotel room, it was designated as a non-smoking room. I promptly returned to the front desk to correct this error.

I was told that all of the hotel was non-smoking and I must go outside if I wished to smoke.

That motel room rapidly became filled with smoke!

Since they failed to provide proper ash-trays in the room, the carpets may need extra cleaning.

Mutual respect is all that I ask.

[Mears]

bump

[philosofy123]

There is another article titled THE OPPRESSIVE MINORITIES. It is a very interesting eye opening article, exposing how ethnic or religious minorities can control the majorities in many countries around the world. The secret was organization, networking, bribing the politicians, and of course hard working.

[devane617]

Cohiba Churchill after dinner. What a shame it would be to miss even one.