And the smoking ban hell continues....

[duodec]

I hope a few years from now its not some environmentalist fanatic crowing about "how great it is" that those old smelly unsafe cars with poor brakes, huge gas guzzling engines,  so heavy they crush the new politically correct flyweight ethanol-hybrid family tricycles in an accident, even with airbags... those old symbols of uncaring and arrogance and unseemly pride, those threats to the health and safety of others on the road and especially "the children" (TM)... have finally been banned forever! 

Woohoo! We can go drive our weeniemobiles without getting gasoline exhaust fumes in our faces!  We can be all virtuous for 'saving the world' and stopping those selfish arrogant bastards with their big noisy gas guzzling ozone-holing decadent cars from destroying it.  We can count on a few more of us surviving crashes where our tinytotmobiles bounce off eachother instead of becoming a crumple zone!  And put those mean selfish people in their place.  Think they can choose what to drive, drive whatever they want.  Hah. That'll show them!

Sigh...

If it comes remember this thread.

[ss]

http://ARE YOU PEOPLE FREAKING KIDDING ME ??http://

Bans are absolutely the beginning of the end.  Why do you like American cars?  Why do you like American anything?

PLEASE think about where this will lead.  Duodec is right,  I am a non smoker, I loathe cigarette smoke. But I will NOT support a ban because I am an American, NOT a communist, terrorist, nor a nieve short sighted dumbass.

I hope this DOES offend some of you, because if it bugs you you might think twice about your pathetic knee-jerk reaction.   What will you do if (when) they ban something you like to do?

   Your nonsmoking bar is going to disappear. next............................hello!

[Blackcuda]

Non smoking ban in resturants has nothing to do with the beginning of the end. Smoking ban has become a worldwide thing, more and more countries are accepting it because lung cancer has gotten out of control. This not communisum, it's about peoples health.

[hotrod98]

The quality of tobacco has deteriorated so much in the last few years that the manufacturers have had to increase the amount of ammonia in the tobacco to give it any flavor, much like putting salt on a steak. The cheaper brands are loaded with ammonia now and the more expensive brands are following close behind. The cigarettes that my parents smoked were much safer, yet my father is dead from lung cancer and my mother is dying. She coughs from sunup to sundown and can barely walk 50 yards. She's only in her 60's. If this is the life you smokers want then so be it...smoke away. I really don't care as long as you don't take us who choose not to smoke down with you.
My wife and I and many of my friends have started eating out again since the smoking ban here and the restaurants are busier than ever. We love it. And, I've noticed that my friends that smoke who said that they wouldn't be eating at these establishments have decided that they're tired of eating at those sports bars and are returning to the nice places. Who knows, maybe they'll stop smoking and live a little longer like the rest of us. At least I hope so.

[cuda]

Smoking SUCKS  !!

[ss]

Smoking sucks indeed,  I also think fatty foods are unhelathy, also here is a list of other unhaelthy things we should ban:

Alcohol
fossil fuel burinig cars (how unhealthy are these?)
obesity (put all the fat people in jail until they are at a healthier weight)
caffienated beverages
sugar
chocolate
unprotected or premarital sex
coal burinig electrical plants
lifting with your back (use your legs or you will get a ticket)
sick people (if you have a cold and are seen in public you can get a ticket)
eating within an hour of swimming
not wearing a hat when it's cold
hunting
music I can convince others might lead to unhealhy lifestyles
dogs that may bite
eating foods past their expriation date
lack of exercise (two hours of exercise should be federally mandated each day)
I won't even begin with a ban on baby killing (because we should be able to kill them as long as they can't make noise)
etc.....

OK this is an old subject,  but Freedom to choose your own constructive or destructive behavior is something we take for granted.  Every time we take someone elses rights away, we lose a little of our own rights.
Ask when you enter a restaurant, ASK if they serve food with fat, or if smoking is allowed.  If you don't like the answer, take your money to a better restaurant.

[RusTy/SE]

Non smoking ban in resturants has nothing to do with the beginning of the end. Smoking ban has become a worldwide thing, more and more countries are accepting it because lung cancer has gotten out of control. This not communisum, it's about peoples health.

 

So where cigarettes are concerned - ban the cause instead of the symptom.

Professor Obvious

[Green Drop Top]

OK this is an old subject,   but Freedom to choose your own constructive or destructive behavior is something we take for granted.  Every time we take someone elses rights away, we lose a little of our own rights.
Ask when you enter a restaurant, ASK if they serve food with fat, or if smoking is allowed.  If you don't like the answer, take your money to a better restaurant.

Let me guess, you are a smoker?  

Bottom line? I have no problem with you or anyone else doing whatever they want to do (in a private area or in your own home/car, etc.) but just because you choose to cause potential harm to yourself in a public envirnoment you should not have the right to cause harm to others to do the same simply because they wish to occupy the same (public) environment, when I hear statements like that I think of a person who is seflish and has a blatent disregard for others health and safety, it's not like there isn't piles of strong evidence that second hand smoke kills people.

 BTW, yes, I think we should remain a free country and keep the government out of our private lives and decision making as much as possible, but comparing an optional activity like smoking to something as basic as everyday transportation is a bit rediculous don't you think?
 

[chevyconvert]

whoa..this is an emotional subject.
I'm the worst kind of critic (ex-smoker age 11 to 28), but even when i smoked i didn't want it around while i was eating.
Out here on the left coast everyone predicted doom and gloom for businesses with the smoking bans.
Didn't happen, business is BETTER than ever.
They don't even allow smoking in bars here...bars are doing just fine.
Don't freak out...everything will be ok.

p.s. now they're talking about banning smoking in parks here...for some reason people with toddlers playing in the sandbox hate pulling butts out of their kids mouths....go figure.

 

[MEK-Dangerfield]

Maybe we are starting to mix apples with oranges here? 

Smoking has been proven to be bad for you, and anyone around you inhaling second hand smoke. As far as sugar, trans-fats, caffiene, alcohol, and such... it is bad for you too, but ONLY to the person eating or drinking the stuff. Not everyone else around them.


  Mike

[locked and loaded hemi]

banning food wont make them not get fat it will make them want it more and why should us skinny people suffer due to someones eating habits

[MJS73]

You know, if we're going to ban everything that's dangerous (or bad for us) then let's start with driving.  How many people are are killed/injured daily in car wrecks?  More than die from french fries, I'd guess.

Mike

[Carlwalski]

We have a total smoking ban down here in New Zealand. I think it's been law since about 2002(?). It bans smoking in pubs, restaurants and work places. I'm a smoker, love it. Good with booze and good for me. I couldn't imagine listening to AC/DC without a Winfield in my mouth. I don't smoke in Lucy but will in the 'Cuda and do in the Jeep.

I've been smoking since 15, so only 9 years, not like some in this thread. I think the ban was dumb when introduced however I have gotten use to going outside to light up. It has it's weak points, more drunks on the sidewalk means more fights, which means more arrests and more broken lives. I wish they would have smoking bars, like one chain with a big yellow (or what-ever) sign on top so you know where you can smoke. Yes smokers decided to smoke but I also think one bar for smokers in a town/area wouldn't hurt anyone, that way non-smokers couldn't complain as they'd know what they were walking into.......besides, the smokers pub would get a hell of a lot of business, isn't that what "The Man" wants?


 

[71GTX]

     Everyone seems to be concerned with smoke free places and such, but why cant there be places that are SMOKING ONLY! There are many that discriminate against smokers(with government approval, nonetheless), why not discriminate against non-smokers?? That way, there is no second guessing as to what is what....It seems so easy to pick out a vice that some may have and the "we-know-whats-best-for-you Nazi's" to jump on board and dictate their agendas, under the guise of health or safety! Are smokers such bad people that we can openly discriminate against them with government approval??

Who is the next group that we can openly discriminate against?? Oh, yeah....BIKERS! Then Drinkers, then Christians, then.....

[KTO]

I say let the establishment decide whether they want to allow smoking or not. Putting this in the law books is another slide down that slippery slope. No smoking in bars today, tomorrow no drinking and no talking allowed either.

If an owner of a bar or resturant doesnt want to allow smoking at, fine, let them ban smoking in that resturant. If the owner wants to have a smoking and non smoking section, fine, let them do it. If a bar or resturant wont let you enter the bar unless you prove that you are a chain smoker, fine, let them do it. The choice is then up to the consumer, not some politician who gives a rip about nothing besides themselves. If you dont want and smoke, go to the non smoking business, if you want to smoke, go to the smoking resturant. If you dont give a rip, go wherever. If the community is full of non-smokers the non smoking bars will do well and the rest will tank. If the community smokes, then the smoking bars will do well, and the others will tank. Leave it up to us.

I dont smoke but every smoker I know is extremely polite about it and practically walking on egg shells the way it is.