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 ...
If Obama becomes the Dem nominee, the anti-smoking movement will go into deep hibernation.
Whatever 'the man' decides isn't good for you.
"One's freedoms" includes the right NOT to be assaulted by your smoke.
And I'm a(n occasional) smoker - I just go outside, so I don't bother anyone else.
'Ware the spelling police! sad=said
Some freedoms and liberties have four feet and some have only two.
Yeah..........while at least THAT is still "legal"....
The Godwin's law thing seems to be uniformly rearing it's idiotic head the last couple of days.
Your hive should really make a greater effort to appear unconnected to one another.
Haven't you forgotten to post the endless list of your allergies?
Don't you have them on file?
There should be NO laws at all and the market should decide. I ONLY wish I had enough capital to build a SMOKE FREE Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. I would make a fortune!! Maybe not in the Sports Book but in every other area!!
Actually, they're committed to memory.
Constant repetition will do that to a person.
Good for you!
BTW there will be a test later. %;9}
;-)
Hive? Thank you, Captain Obnoxious, for that little gem. How nice of you.
I don't know of any other people who've brought it up, nor do I care to. It's interesting because it's true. The first reply in this thread made me think of it because the Nazi analogy was brought up to immediately appeal to people's fear. That is, the Nazis did it, so it must be wrong. Or, in other words, the Nazis were against smoking, so smoking must be a genuine all-American treasured freedom that the government can't take away from us. Hell, I even hear the original settlers came here to smoke freely.
There are two strawmen in this thread. The first was brought up in the first reply, and that was an attempt to discredit anti-smoking sentiment by mentioning that the Nazis did it. The second was to attack my credibility because I brought up Godwin's Law, which apparently you disagree with. That's all well and good, but it doesn't change the fact that the use of a Nazi analogy is inappropriate here.
Please grow up and try to debate intelligently ON THE TOPIC AT HAND and not something barely even peripherally associated with it.
Yes, I am suggesting that. Are you now saying that your initial post was informative and not loaded speech? It looked to me like you were taking sides and attempting to discredit any anti-smoking sentiment by mentioning that the Nazis did it.
I did not say the law was not applicable. As I understand there are certain places (like a discussion about Nazi Germany) where a comparison is perfectly relevant. However, there are plenty of cases where comparisons are made but serve no purpose in furthering the debate. People could bring up the Nazis about any number of things as they were (technically) human. That makes many potential comparisons correct but irrelevant. In my opinion this is precisely one of those cases. The Nazis were responsible for murdering millions of people. The Nazis were gun grabbers, which serves to take power away from the people and prevent them from turning against the government. These are topics where a comparison would be applicable. Most if not all totalitarian governments supported strict gun control. I don't know of any other totalitarian governments that have sought to oppose tobacco.
Sorry, I did not state that ahead of time. That was my intent.
When "the man" decides something isn't good for you when in fact that something is detrimental to the health of those who use it as well as those who are around it, then I don't see anything wrong with it.
When "the man" decides guns are bad, I'll fight tooth and nail against it. There is no reasonable parallel between guns and cigarettes. When an upstanding citizen uses cigarettes, he or she is still killing himself and poisoning those around him. When a career criminal uses cigarettes, the same thing happens. Thus it's the cigarette that's the problem, not the person. A gun, on the other hand, is a tool - in the right hands (the police, the military, and most important, good citizens) it can be used for great good. To save lives. In the wrong hands, it's dangerous. Thus it's the person that's at fault.
Agreed on that point. The left, however, removes responsibility from the individual with reporting such as "SUV kills three in rollover" when the truth is "unskilled overconfident driver" is really to blame.
It is why they criminalize the gun and try to avoid talking about the shooter.
I'm not sure what my larger point is. I want the playoffs to start.
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