Well, maybe I don't the the smells that come out his various orifices, either.
Posted on 01/10/2005 10:52:26 AM PST by aynrandy
Hide your smokes and unhealthy contraband. The tyrants of wellbeing are back.
Apparently, the Denver City Council is never too busy to intercede with some good old-fashioned social engineering. And soon enough, smoking in restaurants and bars will be banned.
It's enough to make a holier-than-thou politician - with pristine pink lungs - shriek with delight.
Jeanne Faatz, at this point, is the lone voice of reason on the council. She still believes in trivial things like free enterprise and property rights.
She's sort of an outsider. And although she won't admit it on record, I'm certain the other council members put shaving cream in her shoes, lock her out of meetings and blow spitballs at her.
Don't misunderstand me. Faatz hates smoking. She detests the habit so strongly that she can't stop complaining about it - it causes her to be hoarse and sneeze and makes her stomach coil. She hates being put in this position, protecting smokers.
But Faatz, in contrast to the missionaries of healthful living, appreciates that the ban is not a smoking issue but a matter of freedom.
Faatz loathes sitting next to a smoker in a restaurant. Who doesn't? But she does something extremely peculiar: She gets up, walks out and finds an establishment where she doesn't have to.
"My decision comes from the fact that you have private ownership in business, and they should have the right to target whatever customers they feel the marketplace will give them," she explains. "If, indeed, nobody frequented a smoking establishment, I say, 'Right on, the marketplace has spoken."'
Faatz believes choices and decisions are key in a free society. It's expedient to say, "Yuck, I don't like smoke." But ask yourself this: Do you think government should dictate how a person runs a business? What about customers? Should they be allowed to decide whether they want an all-smoking restaurant or a nonsmoking restaurant?
What if the Denver City Council concluded that cellphones at work should be banned because they have been linked to brain tumors?
Are there justifiable reasons for intervention? Sure. If there is contaminated food or other hidden health issues, government must protect citizens. Full disclosure is imperative. But when the sign in front of a steakhouse reads "smoking allowed," adults should be able to make their own decisions.
Besides, a steady diet of steaks wrapped with bacon is probably apt to kill you a lot faster than secondhand smoke.
We all know what's next. "What about those unfortunate, powerless, coughing employees?" The logical answer given by Faatz is simply that "it is a person's choice where they work." Who is forcing you to work in a smoke-filled diner?
But for the moment, let's advance the argument further: If everyone with a risky job should be protected from all hazards, where would we end up?
You realize the stress a stockbroker goes through? What about the stress a cop experiences? Yes, stress kills far more people than the wildly overstated threat of secondhand smoke. And who can deny the dangers of being a bike messenger, a cabbie or a firefighter?
Smoke Free Denver, another group of sanctimonious nanny types, wants to sabotage freedom for smokers and property owners "to protect the health of Denver residents, workers and visitors from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke."
Well, what about the claims of tens of thousands of deaths due to secondhand smoke?
It's junk science. The University of Chicago's Dr. John Bailar, a critic of the tobacco industry, has produced a detailed analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine debunking the supposed link between secondhand smoke and heart disease. His study is one of many.
But if you don't believe them, there are long lists of smoke-free establishments for you to go to. Enjoy.
David Harsanyi's column appears Monday and Thursday. He can be reached at 303-820-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
Worm.
addict
SNICKER...........
"The argument is over. The bans are a done deal. I have the best of all worlds. A general smoking ban and your tax dollars.
I'm merely here to explain to you that if you want to stem the tide from further encroachments, smokers need to take more responsibility over their smoke and where it goes and find some other argument than the private property one."
Why are you on a conservative discussion board?
Boring, and lame.
I love using a little math and their own pseudoscience against them.
Worm-like response.
"A well trained dog causes no health problems in a restaurant yet LP's have no problem with restrictions on dogs ..."
Are you using one bad law to justify another bad law? Kinda like two wrongs DO make a right? What grade are you in?
"Was it when I said the best way to solve the smoking problem was to have smokers shot on sight ?"
Self admitted fascism. Your true colors (yellow) are showing.
I know exactly what you mean.
I dealt with it in Delaware, when not long after the smoking ban was implemented, there was a supposed budget shortfall (mostly because of lower tax receipts from businesses impacted by the ban) they decided the best way to cover it was double the cigarette tax.
I had already moved to Virginia before that increase went into effect.......but had to deal with the increase here.
But at least I can have a cigarette when I have a beer or a meal in a private establishment.
I don't remember it. I wouldn't be surprised by anything tho'.
Spot on post! With your talent to deliver a message I wish you would have never left these threads!
My premise is that they might actually think that they'll gain business with things like this; as did other owners/managers who are now in other lines of work. I was stationed in California when the ban was placed statewide. Of the little traveling I was able to do, I know of five places that had to either cut their hours, terminate employees or close down completely.
Well, maybe I don't the the smells that come out his various orifices, either.
Best response ever!
Seems like a pretty twisted, yet effective scheme:
1. Raise the tax of cigarettes.
2. Ban smoking everywhere.
3. Force smokers to go underground to buy.
4. Government loses expected revenue from cigarette sales.
5. Raise other taxes to make up for the loss.
*****a. Put the blame on the loss of revenue on the black market and internet sales.
*****b. Raise taxes on internet commerce.
*****c. Ban internet tobacco sales.
** * * *1. With door opened, ban internet sales of other items.
** * * *2. Place fees on what can be purchased.
Blame it all on EEEEEVILLLL TOBACCOOOO!!!! (Which is, by this time, an illegal narcotic
**Who here can say, "Slippery slope?"**
If you think your premise is not being contemplated, you're seriously deluding yourself.
Scary, isn't it?
I'm a Yankees and a Met fan.With the Yankees getting the BIG UNIT and the Mets getting Beltran,this is going to be a great year to watch baseball! :-)
No smoking at a NASCAR race? That's sheer idiocy!
It's definitely a "girl" book, not necessarly a "horse" book.
I made a point of buying the entire set for my daughter when we knew we were moving here because there is a lot of factual informatin about the area that is understandable to a child. (Marguerite Henry is the author)
I was never a Yankees fan, always a Mets fan.......probably because my grandmother was often able to get a hold of some of the tickets for the box seats the company she worked for had which were on top of the Mets dugout.....of course that was before the Amazin' Mets of '69. Baseball, unlike football, doesn't hold my attention on television.....only when I am there can I really get into it.
As to no smoking at NASCAR races...........Delaware did back off of that idiocy in the smoking ban........but only for the outside stands. No smoking is permitted in the PRIVATELY owned skyboxes at Dover Downs.............and that included all of the ones owned by RJReynolds....the original sponsor of the Winston Cup.
As bad as the Delaware smoking ban is, it's fairly low on my list of reasons why I am so thankful to no longer live there.
I was a GIANTS fan (my grandfather had followed them form when the were known as the HIGLANDERS),but when they moved,they lost me as a fan.
I hate football;find it boring and uninteresting. Baseball,now THAT is the game I love to watch in person and on T.V.!
Delaware is NOT a place I've ever thought about going to...it's just a state I've driven through,to get someplace else. LOL
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