Nipped in the butt: Smoking bans take aim at Big Tobacco but often hit the little guy

WORLD ^ | 5/13/06 | Mark Bergin

[Renegade]

Since the no smoking bill was enacted in NJ last month, there has been no slowdown of business at the local watering holes in the South Jersey area .(SOUTH) meaning the Atlantic City and South area !!!

[ClearCase_guy]

Wait a minute, wait a minute.

Let me get this straight ...

You're saying that the policies favored by the Liberal Do-Gooders actually hurt the Little Guy????

Knock me over with a feather.

[RexBeach]

Is there a "little tobacco?"

[theDentist]

The sad truth is, I've read the same story in so many states after these laws are applied... change the name of the town, the name of the bar, and the names of the characters.... it's the same story.

[microgood]

The smoking Nazis will not stop until they are in our homes. Then the backlash happens.

[Publius6961]

Nipped in the butt: Smoking bans take aim at Big Tobacco but often Always hit the little guy

There. I fixed it.

Big tobacco cannot pay anything it doesn't first collect from the users...

[bigLusr]

No... but see. Their intention was good. See, they were protecting the little guy from Big Evil Tobacco and they didn't mean to hurt the little guy... (as opposed to Evil Conservatives (purely coincidentally) do help the little guy).

[Publius6961]

This is simply an escalating war between citizens...

Introducing 'big tobacco' into the discussion is a fraudulent distraction.
Big tobacco doesn't care acting as a tax collector so long as their profits are maintained...

[brownsfan]

"The smoking Nazis will not stop until they are in our homes. Then the backlash happens."

Nope. I don't believe there will be a backlash. Just another revenue stream for government. The smoking Nazis are making huge progress. Once they make it so that the only place you can smoke is INSIDE your home, they'll want in there too. They're starting already, laws regarding smoking in a car with children.
Incidentally, this isn't where it stops. Alcohol is next. Eventually, alcohol will be totally controlled.
Next, fat people. Fat people impact healthcare costs, they will attempt to regulate people's eating habits. And after that... my guess is fitness. Mandating a level of fitness. Anything less than an acceptable muscle mass ratio will be illegal or at the very least fined/taxed.

Americans have become docile, and are ready to give up their liberties. And every time I here one of these things discussed, someone will pipe up telling me what a good idea it is, or how it's for your own good.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

Believe me, the law of unintended consequences is hard at work in any neighborhood which enacts smoking bans. At the same time, throwing little privately owned bars and taverns out of business is just a bonus part of the Prohibitionist agenda.

[Just another Joe]

Is there a "little tobacco?"

Actually, there are a number of them.
Any tobacco company that did not sign on to the Master Settlement Agreement between the (however many) States' Attorney Generals is deemed "little tobacco".

[Little Bill]

I was doing an EPA method nine test yesterday, in an open field at Elm Brook Recreation Area, in NH, when some commie C word, I am offended type, asked me to put out my butt, I was pissed. Twenty acres and my smoke offended her!

I have been a power plant junkie for almost 40 years and a cigarette offended her, what is she going to do in a pressurized furnace boiler plant, where the sky is blue and the SO2 is an instant hangover cure. I am glad I am retiring

[SheLion]

Attention all business owners suffering from a smoking ban.
Please fill out this form and submit it for a new web page
Ban Loss

[Just another Joe]

No big surprise here.
The chains don't care if there are smoking bans. They have the resources to outlast any temporary dip in profits where the individually owned, and operated, businesses don't.

The chains just sit back and wait. Any business that would have gone to an individually owned place, even after the smoking ban is in place, now must choose between the chains. Their business goes back to where it was, but choice is pretty much gone.

[RMDupree]

Ping!

The Washington smoking ban, voted into law last November, is the most radical in the country, outlawing cigarette use within 25 feet of public place doors, windows, and entryways—often pushing smokers out from under the shelter of overhangs. The ban does not apply to tribal lands, however, providing Native American casinos a smoker-friendly monopoly.

First time I've seen these facts laid out so plainly. How folks can think this is OK is beyond me.

[DumpsterDiver]

Rob Paulson, owner of the Wedgwood Ale House in Seattle, is thankful for the ban as it spared him the brunt of criticism in converting to a smoke-free dining room—an environment he prefers. "A lot of my staff and a whole bunch of my best clientele are smokers," he said. "I would have been the bad guy. It would have been pretty traumatic."

What a spineless, whiny little man simp!

[microgood]

Americans have become docile, and are ready to give up their liberties. And every time I here one of these things discussed, someone will pipe up telling me what a good idea it is, or how it's for your own good.

At least some Americans have. The problem with smokers is they are very independent types, and therefore hard to organize. If smokers used the same techniques as gays they could accomplish a lot. It is their own individualism and belief in freedom that is being used against them.

As far as the Nazis go, here is a good quote from TS Eliot:

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

[SheLion]

First time I've seen these facts laid out so plainly. How folks can think this is OK is beyond me.

We don't think it's ok!  We just don't have the money or the backing to take all this garbage to court.  Some bar/restaurant owners have gone to court, but they will be tied up for years over this.  And all the while, the smoking ban is still imposed on them.  Just by going to court and suing, doesn't bring back the right to smoke in their private business.

And every time "some" people see us fighting for the rights of business owners and the smokers, then we are accused of working for Big T.  And that couldn't be further from the truth.

We hate Big T.  They sold us out when they fell to their knees in front of the Attorney Generals. 

[SheLion]

Rob Paulson, owner of the Wedgwood Ale House in Seattle, is thankful for the ban as it spared him the brunt of criticism in converting to a smoke-free dining room—an environment he prefers. "A lot of my staff and a whole bunch of my best clientele are smokers," he said. "I would have been the bad guy. It would have been pretty traumatic."

What a spineless, whiny little man simp!

And that's the truth!  I hope the nerd loses everything.  The forker!

Rob Paulson, owner of the Wedgwood Ale House in Seattle, is thankful for the ban as it spared him the brunt of criticism in converting to a smoke-free dining room—an environment he prefers. "A lot of my staff and a whole bunch of my best clientele are smokers," he said. "I would have been the bad guy. It would have been pretty traumatic."

What a spineless, whiny little man simp!

And that's the truth!  I hope the nerd loses everything.  The forker!