[Madame Dufarge]

Well, isn't my face red.

That'll teach me to read more carefully.

But to plow ahead, freedom is messy.

I read a remark years ago by I think, Fran Liebowitz, to the effect that being "out in public" means I put up with your bad habits and you put up with mine. Private property is the refuge.

The smoking Jihad has eliminated the refuge of private property, simple as that.

It really is the death of common sense, and the descent into crybabyism.

All risk removed, and the ascendancy of mediocrity.

But hey, who wouldn't want to die of boredom?

[r9etb]

Well, I can certainly agree that you're free to smoke on private property -- as long as you're not harming somebody else in the process, at any rate.

It is obviously necessary to be very careful if one has to decide on an abridgement of property rights -- and "jihad" is not too far off the mark in the case of some anti-smoking campaigns. But once it comes down to a question of harm to others, then your property rights properly come under scrutiny.

All risk removed, and the ascendancy of mediocrity.

It's a bit much to claim that lack of smokers will lead to mediocrity....