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Joe most if not all day to day smokers are addicted to nicotine.
I am also saying that while in a building occupied and open to the public, having the presence of harmful by products of tobacco combustion is both irritating and potentially harmful to the health of others exposed to it, and it sure is unfair to the health of children forced to be exposed to it by circumstance. If a building is open to the public and the public has unfettered access to it, then it should be non smoking, especially restaurants.

Joe I am not sure how long you have smoked, my mother smoked for a little over 50 years before she died about 10 years ago from lung cancer. I was there with her when she died, I cleaned up all the fluid from her gown after she drowned in it. I sat there for nearly a day listening to that death gurgle grow louder and louder, for the last few minutes or so I kept getting clean towels to soak up the fluid from her lung as it spilled out of her mouth and nose. I went through 4 or 5 towels in last few minutes of her wonderful life, Yes Joe she exercised her liberty and smoked and enjoyed it a lot as I am sure you do. That is until the last month or so of her life as she began to die from that "wonderful liberty". She missed seeing her 11 year old grandson grow into a man and will miss his college graduation next month. She barely knew her other grandson and never met the other 2 who came along after her passing. In the end I know she knew it was not worth it. She just realized it too late.
It is not too late for you Joe. Have a seat Joe, Gabz and the other tobacco lovers and fire up a smoke and savor that "liberty". But, if you should have the misfortune later in life of coming down with lung cancer as thousands of tobacco users do daily, be sure to keep plenty of towels handy for your caretakers. They will need them in your last horrific minutes of your life as you drown and the fluids spill out of mouth and nose, that is unless you like to make a mess.
My life's experience has made me an aggressive anti-smoker. About a year after she died, I was in a restaurant with my wife and children, the smoking\no smoking layout was done poorly so our "no smoking table" was adjacent to a smoking one. The smoking couple had just finished their meal and right away had to fire up, they were blowing their smoke over towards us and my children. I asked them to stop, the male nico-nazi took offense to my polite request for them to refrain. Words were exchanged and we went outside to discuss it. He had a bad attitude and when it was all over he was missing a yellowed tooth and left on the ground bleeding after I rammed his face into the brick wall of the building 3 times and then kicked him in the gut. Thank God that public smoking and smokers are slowly but surely going the way of the dinosaurs. Regards dallasgop PS. If you are ever in Houston or Dallas and an attractive athletic 40ish blond haired, blue eyed couple politely ask you not to smoke around their preteen kids, you might consider obeying their request and not developing an attitude about it.:-)

dallas, I'm sorry for your loss. Truly.

BUT, the only thing about ETS (Environmental Tobacco Smoke) that has been proven is that it irritates some pre-existing medical conditions and that it annoys some people.
I very rarely smoke in restaurants or any other building besides a bar or my home.

Talking about the health of children, especially in this case, sounds more like a liberal than it does a conservative. I'm not accusing, just stating the obvious. (It's for the CHILDREN.)

Just because a building is open to the public does not mean that it is publicly owned.
You're coming very close to the definition of socialism there.

If you enter a business that you KNOW allows smoking you shouldn't gripe at the customers of that establishment for taking advantage of the owners largesse.
IMO, if the space between the smoking and nonsmoking portions were that bad you should have asked the manager or hostess for a different table. You were in the wrong to take it outside and cause the injury to that man, whether or not you won the fight or not.
And as for public smoking, and smokers, going the way of the dinosaur - Just remember that statement when fast food restaurants, alcohol, and gun ownership go the same route.

Given the tone of your posts, I highly doubt you politely asked them to stop smoking. You have shown no civility to this point, so it is safe to believe your claim is untrue!

Plus, I love the support you throw in about government control of private property that is "accessible by the public". Once again, I implore you to change your moniker to "dallasFASCIST".

Main Entry: fas·cism
Pronunciation: 'fa-"shi-z&m also 'fa-"si-
Function: noun
Etymology: Italian fascismo, from fascio bundle, fasces, group, from Latin fascis bundle & fasces fasces
1 often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
2 : a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control <early instances of army fascism and brutality

"I am also saying that while in a building occupied and open to the public, having the presence of harmful by products of tobacco combustion is both irritating and potentially harmful to the health of others exposed to it, and it sure is unfair to the health of children forced to be exposed to it by circumstance. If a building is open to the public and the public has unfettered access to it, then it should be non smoking, especially restaurants."

If you were talking a place of business or a school or somewhere that people HAVE to go, that would be one thing. But no one HAS to patronize a restaurant, bar or even a mall. There are others they can go to.

I am sorry you lost your mother to lung cancer. That was a very painful thing for you to endure. I lost my mother to kidney disease. They had told her to lay off the coffee, tea and soft drinks. She just couldn't leave the coffee alone. Perhaps they should ban it.

I'm truly sorry to here about your mother. But she was a grown adult and had free will to choose to smoke or not. I'm an ex-smoker and I quit, it's not that hard. It really depends on the will power of the indiviual and the real desire to quit. I abused cigarettes and smoked too much. One day, if I feel like it, I may choose to have a cigarette from time to time.

It's obvious that you're too emotional to make a rational decision on this subject considering your mother's illness so I'll just ignore your rants as that of an illogical, emotionally charged, irrational person.

No one forced your mother to smoke, she made the choice. Be mad at her for choosing to smoke, not the cigarette. It's like gun control advocates being mad at the gun, not the criminal.

One last thing and if it angers you remember you said it, not me. If your mother was a smoker, does that mean you think she's a loser? I should hope not.

Think before you say stupid things and go putting your foot in your mouth.

About a year after she died, I was in a restaurant with my wife and children, the smoking\no smoking layout was done poorly so our "no smoking table" was adjacent to a smoking one. The smoking couple had just finished their meal and right away had to fire up, they were blowing their smoke over towards us and my children. I asked them to stop, the male nico-nazi took offense to my polite request for them to refrain.

Yeah, the *nerve* of that guy to expect to smoke in the smoking section of a restaurant. Didn't he know he was sitting near the famed dallasgop? Did you pull a Kerry and say "Don't you know who I am"? (Incidentally, your complaint *should* have been to the restaurant, and not the smoker; after all, you yourself admitted that the place was poorly ventilated. But then you wouldn't have gotten to act like such a tough guy.)

Words were exchanged and we went outside to discuss it. He had a bad attitude and when it was all over he was missing a yellowed tooth and left on the ground bleeding after I rammed his face into the brick wall of the building 3 times and then kicked him in the gut.

You've got some real problems with anger management. The freeper who called you a hockey dad was right on the mark.