Bloomberg Seeks to Ban Smoking in Every Restaurant and Bar

The New York Times ^ | August 9, 2002 | JENNIFER STEINHAUER

[antisocial]

Liberals amaze me with their constantly growing stupidity.
This kind of action is just one of the many reasons why I
am so thankful I live in a conservative area. I promise, they couldn't pay me enough to even visit that socialist hell hole. I hope this causes their tourism income to drop to zilch.

[WyldKard]

If someone is smoking in a restaurant, what choice do I have? Can I choose not to breathe it? No. My choice to breathe clean, smoke-free air is taken away from me.

Boo hoo hoo! BOO HOO HOO! The big bad smokers have take my freedoms away from me! WAH WAH WAH! Make them stop Uncle Mikey! Sick Aunty Hillary on those bad men!

Cry me a god damn river, Lefty. If you don't like being at a restaurant where they allow smoking, DON'T GO TO THOSE RESTAURANTS. You can even go a step further, and tell the owners of the restaurant why you no longer patronize them. It's not like someone is holding a gun to your freaking head and making you patronize the place, is it?

Sheesh! The nerve of some people who try to call themselves Conservative, and then go to great length to tell people how they can live their lives or run their businesses....

[SheLion]

We must not displease those among us who wish to run our lives for our own good.

[WyldKard]

Well said, E Rocc! I would like to be protected from these self-appointed anti-smoking Nazis, the intolerant snobs who choose regulation over simple choice. I can hear the conversation between them:

Gee Rob, aren't you the guy who thinks that people should be forbidden from smoking pot in the privacy of their own home...yet you have no problems with restaurant owners allowing smokers in their establishments, as a matter of freedom of choice?

Kinda riding the line rather thin here, aren't you?

[SheLion]

Don't you understand? The mere fact that other people are doing something of which they disapprove is enough to send some folks over the edge.

Oh! I understand! They think they should live in "PERFECT." But like the ad says, 'THERE IS NO PERFECT!'

[BikerNYC]

Sheesh! The nerve of some people who try to call themselves Conservative, and then go to great length to tell people how they can live their lives or run their businesses....

I agree. The same should go for alcohol, sex toys, adult videos, etc. The government should keep its nose out of the business of selling these products. If I dont like businesses selling these things, I won't shop there and I will tell them why I am not frequenting their establishments.

[handk]

The way it used to be, according to the United States Supreme Court:

"The individual may stand upon his Constitutional Rights as a citizen. He is entitled to carry on his private business in his own way. His power to contract is unlimited. He owes no duty to the State or to his neighbors to divulge his business, or to open his doors to an investigation, so far as it may tend to incriminate him. He owes no duty to the State, since he receives nothing therefrom, beyond the protection of his life and property. His rights are such as existed by the Law of the Land (Common Law) long antecedent to the organization of the State, and can only be taken from him by due process of law, and in accordance with the Constitution. He owes nothing to the public so long as he does not trespass upon their rights." Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43 at 89 (1906).

What morons like "Your Nightmare" fail or refuse to recognize or acknowledge is that this issue is, and always will be, about property rights. If smoking can be banned in an individual's "private property", then all bets are off. Anything can be banned, anything.

And like the saying goes, you can't be "a little bit pregnant." John D. Rockefeller was famous for saying; "Own nothing, control everything."

That is the basis for ordinances that ban smoking in restaurants. These pin-headed Nazi's in city councils et al. don't want to actually own a restaurant, or run a restaurant, or be liable for all the things a restaurant "owner" is liable for (including making a profit and keeping a payroll), no. They just want to control the restaurant.

[SheLion]

Those dry counties out there should be declared unlawful.

The last time I was in Texas, Texas was dry. Could only buy beer. But you could go to the "private bars," and bring your own bottle. I am not sure how the laws work for alcohol. I just know that the liquor industry isn't having NEAR the problems that smokers and tobacco is.

[WyldKard]

Oh! I understand! They think they should live in "PERFECT." But like the ad says, 'THERE IS NO PERFECT!'

What?! What do you mean there isn't?! I just spent $1000 on this train ticket to "Perfect".

....

Excuse me, I think I need to have a chat with my travel agent...

(Last time I buy a ticket from WJ Clinton Travel.)

[Great Dane]

This is what we have in Ottawa, 27 and counting going out of business, charities closing their doors as they are no longer getting funding from bingo halls and Legions.

[WyldKard]

The last time I was in Texas, Texas was dry. Could only buy beer. But you could go to the "private bars," and bring your own bottle. I am not sure how the laws work for alcohol. I just know that the liquor industry isn't having NEAR the problems that smokers and tobacco is.

Um...I don't think ALL of Texas is dry though. Or the bar at the hotel in Mesquite that served me a vodka sour is in a lot of trouble...

[BikerNYC]

There are some counties out there that prohibit businesses from selling alcohol or allowing people from drinking on their establishments. In other places, there are little carry out stores where you can buy a can of beer, but there are signs that say the law prohibits you from drinking it there. I dont see how that's any different than prohibiting a business from letting people drink in a restaurant and letting them smoke.

[Just another Joe]

They react with terror in their words.

Terror, no. Anger, yes.
As for smokers being sad and pathetic, $crew you too, buddy!
If you want to generalize, people who worry about where to go because they might encounter a smell they don't like are nuerotic and compulsive.

[Great Dane]

In my area, the bar that went no smoking has become the busiest bar, the delicatessen that banned smoking has become the busiest delicatessen, the steakhouse that banned smoking has become the busiest steakhouse, etc.

This is excactly the way it should work..... owners choice, you don't seem to understand, this is a matter of being free to choose.

Next ...... fast and fatty foods, in case you havent noticed, there is already a court case suing the four biggest fast food chains, making them responsible for people s obesity, how far are you willing to go. ??

[SheLion]

"Hey guys, this place isn't as much fun as it used to be! I wonder why?"

That's what we ALL are wondering! But the anti smoking health coalitions aren't going to stop until they completely ban smoking EVERYWHERE or else not until their honey pot from the tobacco settlement money runs dry.

I just wish these coalitions would be demolished! They are ruining people's lives, turning non smokers against smokers, closing down business's all under the guise of "it's for the kids," just like Hilter Screamed!

Well, no one takes a kid into a bar/restaurant. I know "I" sure wouldn't want to be around a bunch of screaming kids in a bar/restaurant. Take them to McDonalds! heh!

And this second hand smoke scam is just that: a scam. The Federal Court shot down the EPA's second hand smoke scam, yet the anti's are shoving THAT under the RUG! I wish more people were aware of that report! Might wake up a lot of people to what the government is doing to us:

Federal Court Rules Against EPA on Secondhand Smoke

Maybe someone should send that report to pot smoking BLOOMBERG!!

[SheLion]

I hope this causes their tourism income to drop to zilch.

If the people of New York do not wake up, it will!

[Just another Joe]

I don't mind people smoking in restaurants...as long as they don't exhale.

I don't mind you...as long as you don't inhale.

[Great Dane]

can purchase a special license (read: pay a special tax) which allows smoking. There are at least five within driving distance of my house, thank God. One I could hit with a seven iron.

In other words....... bribery.

[Brush_Your_Teeth]

Gee...yet another so-called "Conservative" who thinks he has the right to legislate what people put into their own bodies.

He is not a conservative at all. He has openly called himself a liberal democrat. The only reason he ran as a republican is because he did not want to fight it out with the other democrats. He said that as well in public and in newspapers when he was running. Bloomberg supported the clintons and the democrats with money to their campains.

[SheLion]

Sheesh! The nerve of some people who try to call themselves Conservative, and then go to great length to tell people how they can live their lives or run their businesses....

You know whats sad? I started a list of the anti smokers on Free Republic who "act" like they are Conservative. There are to date "30." You think this isn't sad?

To have 30 anti smokers in Free Republic is enough to make me barf. And we wonder why we have so many RINO's in office today!