Posted on 01/21/2007 5:56:10 AM PST by NJRighty
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Thirty years after it began as just another quirky movement in Berkeley, Calif., the push to ban smoking in restaurants, bars and other public places has reached a national milestone.
For the first time in the nation's history, more than half of Americans live in a city or state with laws mandating that workplaces, restaurants or bars be smoke-free, according to Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights.
''The movement for smoke-free air has gone from being a California oddity to the nationwide norm,'' said Bronson Frick, the group's associate director. ''We think 100 percent of Americans will live in smoke-free jurisdictions within a few years.''
Seven states and 116 communities enacted tough smoke-free laws last year, bringing the total number to 22 states and 577 municipalities, according to the group. Nevada's ban, which went into effect Dec. 8, increased the total U.S. population covered by any type of smokefree law to 50.2 percent.
It was the most successful year for anti-smoking advocates in the U.S., said Frick, and advocates are now working with local and state officials from across the nation on how to bring the other half of the country around.
In a sign of the changing climate, new U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi banned smoking in the ornate Speaker's Lobby just off the House floor this month, and the District of Columbia recently barred it in public areas. Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Louisiana and New Jersey also passed sweeping anti-smoking measures last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at kpic.com ...
Do they know who they emulate?
If it's actually about "Health"
Just ban the damn things!
Was it about "Health" when they first forced airlines to segregate smokers?
They love Hitlers gun control policies too
I'm a smoker. I like smoke free eateries and pubs. It's nice.
ping
Tax revenue from smokers = good!
Such a conundrum.
emulate? I would use constituent.
I like my FREEDOM.
If that's your best argument, you had best sit this one out. Godwin's law has been satisfied in reply number......that's right, one!
I personally find smoking utterly repulsive - especially since I'm highly allergic to cigarette smoke. I frequent bowling alleys on their smoke-free nights and plenty of smoke-free bars. Bars that do allow smoking will only see me late on Tuesday night, for example - basically when nobody's around. Businesses have found that banning smoking is a good thing for business, not a bad thing, and all the smokers' whining isn't going to change that.
I don't really care what smokers do as long as it's not around me. I don't seek out smoke-filled places - I make most every attempt to avoid it. I don't care what people do in their own homes, but I would be perfectly fine with a public smoking ban.
I wish we could see a similar movement toward illegals crossing our boarder.
Are you suggesting that because of the evils of the Nazi regime everything they've ever believed or espoused is not only discounted, it's considered wrong?
I didn't say the comparison was incorrect. I said it was foolish and you're appealing to a boogeyman (The Nazis did it! Run!) rather than constructing a logical argument.
What most of us here know is that it has nothing to do with smoking.
You may be right but I'm not so sure of that. It is difficult to oppose something that on its surface is a good thing because of an ulterior motive I don't see but may be there.
1.)The right of private property owners to regulate the legal consumption of a legal product on their own property.
2.) The absolute refusal of the anti-smoking coalition to allow smokers a place to gather with like minded people.
Shouldn't there be a "right to choose" when it comes to entering a smoking vs a non-smoking barroom? If 23% of American adults are smokers, why can't a few bars and/or restaurants find a niche catering exclusively to smoking adults?
Aren't all of our associations as free men and women supposed to be voluntary and not coerced by gub'mint?
And Godwin's Law is BS put out by the same crowd that propagates crap like , "You can't fight City Hall." One has to take the situation as it rises and when it comes to smoke gnatzies it's usually a case of, "If the jack boot fits..."
>>"What most of us here know is that it has nothing to do with smoking">>>>
But it DOES! It has EVERYTHING to do with smoking! Not YOUR smoking but the 'breathing in of your smoke' that your smoking in public places causes non smokers to do. We don't want to smoke just because you are smoking. Smoking sections are a failure and these bans are the result. Go smoke at home, honest, we don't care.
The left realized they bit off more than they could chew with gun control, and they have to start a bit smaller, but that's one of the big targets all of this is geared for. No doubt in my mind.
I know the drill.
I don't really see any parallels between guns and cigarettes, though.
If the comparison is valid it (that being Godwin's law) doesn't apply.
I didn't say the comparison was incorrect.
Then how can you say...Godwin's law has been satisfied in reply number... when by your own admission it was never applicable?
I said it was foolish and you're appealing to a boogeyman (The Nazis did it! Run!) rather than constructing a logical argument.
I don't see those words anywhere at all in your previous replies. If you had intended to say that then perhaps you should've sad that from the outset.
Aren't you practicing revisionism?
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