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So because, your father and sister died, apparentely of tobacco-related disease, it should be banned in public places ? People die from alcohol abuse, should we ban drinking in public places ? How about peanut allergies, the latest "fad" ??

What really cheeses me off about anti-whatever zealots of all sorts, is their smug "we know better than you do" attitude. VERY liberal-like.

I'll also note that 50% of your posts here on FR, since you joined on 7/10/2002, are anti-smoking. So tell us, what's your REAL agenda, friend ??? Find a bar that caters to non-smokers. . .

"I'll also note that 50% of your posts here on FR, since you joined on 7/10/2002, are anti-smoking. So tell us, what's your REAL agenda, friend ???"

I'm a conservative Republican who would outlaw smoking in publicly-accessed places in a heartbeat. And if you really think that your right to the pursuit of happiness includes that of inflicting unhappiness and bad health onto unwilling others then there is really no point in our even discussing matters because we have no common ground at all. You need to realize that tobacco smoke is the number one cause of preventable illness and premature death, and that no one has the right to injure another person's health by polluting the air in places open to the public. Hiding behind the concept of "property rights" just won't cut it; by smoking in publicly accessed places, smokers make those places unusable at worst and unhealthy at best to nonsmokers in general and to those with cardipulmonary problems in particular. It's a form of denial of access. But smoking in private or in the open away from nonsmokers doesn't hurt anyone who doesn't choose to be hurt and it doesn't keep anyone away from anything; have at it.

As for the local "smoking lobby" coming after me, well, it's only natural that some smokers, particularly the hardcore nicotine addicts, will be extremely defensive about their smoking and in denial about the negative health impacts that their smoking has on nonsmokers. It's understandable that they feel threatened by recent changes and by anti-smoking laws designed to protect the health of other people at their expense. Nor will some of the more extreme ones ever be willing to accept the legitimacy of anything involving them ever not being able to smoke anywhere they please and in the presence of anyone they please; I have seen some of these people try to smoke amid the sick in doctor's offices, in hospital rooms, and in emergency rooms and a number of them became furious when told that they were not allowed to smoke there. (On the other hand, it should be pointed out that there exists a significant percentage of smokers who actually are considerate of the rights and the health of others.) And if someone wants to flame me for being anti-smoking, they can have at it. They can get as mad or as abusive or as defensive as they want, because it won't change anything. They will remain wrong and smoking in public places will continue to be restricted more and more as time goes by, whether they like it or not. The bottom line will remain: neither smokers nor any other class of citizens has the moral right to damage other people's health, only their own. Eventually smoking will be banned in every place open to the public in America - no matter what the ownership status is - as it is now in almost all government and university buildings and in some states and communities. The final, total, national ban probably won't happen in our lifetime so I wouldn't get too upset about it. But it will eventually happen, and future generations will be much healthier for it and will wonder why such an unhealthy activity was as smoking was ever legal in publicly accessed places to begin with.

Smoking is, thank God, on its way out. The ashtray is going the way of the spittoon. You may as well get used to it. And there's really no point getting angry about it.