8 thoughts on “Commentary: Clearing the air on proposed smoking ban”

1. The smoking ban is not overreach by government. It’s to protect citizens from the harmful stuff that smokers do to them. Government regulation is what keeps us from eating food that is not properly prepared or not kept properly by private business owners. Regulation that protects us from uncaring, careless, or greedy private business people came about because people were harmed. There are plenty of folks that feel as I do.

2. Fred, thank you for looking out for the few of us left that believe that our current local and federal government is over reaching and intruding into our daily lives and our rights.

3. Fred I agree with you. I’m not a smoker but I want the choice to go to a place where people can smoke if they wish.

4. Fred Terry, very well done! It always amazes me that we see people with various “public health” type degrees claiming that they know better than the people who have spent their entire lives building and running a private business how that business should be run and how regulations limiting that business will “benefit” them.

   Unfortunately the little “private businesspeople” tend to all be independent of each other and have very little in the way of shared resources or associations to defend themselves when the “Big Boys” roll into town to apply pressure. The smoking ban folks truly have huge national and even international associations complete with guidebooks and guidelines for how to push legislation through, suggestions as to which “sound bites” will work best, and feel no compunction at all about threatening local legislators with images of upcoming elections where they’ll be pictured as “siding with Big Tobacco” against the defenseless little children if they don’t vote “the right way.”

   Regarding Charlie’s argument that a ban is justified to “to protect citizens from the harmful stuff that smokers do to them” the best recommendation I can offer is to read “The Lies Behind The Smoking Bans” at:

   http://kuneman.smokersclub.com/PASAN/StilettoGenv5h.pdf

   where you’ll see how questionable that concern is.

   – MJM

5. Since the original comments seem to have been removed and a fresh clean page offered I’ll just have to repeat what I wrote the first time.

   Mr. Terry, please ignore Charlie. It all apparently goes over his head. (Psssst… Charlie… if you want a place that has no smoking then put your own money into a business and run it that way. Otherwise, stay out of places where the owner, and HIS money, do what he thinks is best for HIS place. Geeez, neither the smoker NOR the non-smoker OWNS it. Oh, and your analogy — tainted food and smoking — fails. It is not the same thing at all).

   I, on the other hand, nominate you, Mr. Terry, for president. Bravo for having the courage to stand up for the “cornerstones” in the face of the PERCEPTION of an “unpopular” position. More people than you know stand behind you.

6. They are talking about banning smoking in Apartments and Condos in Austin now.

7. Nanny, yes. If you visit some of the main Anti sites you’ll find screeds trying to convince governments and building owners and condo associations to this and also offers of legal help or legal assurance that they can get away with it. After all these years of assuring the public that they simply wanted “to protect innocent workers” and other such claptrap they are now finally coming clean on their long term social engineering goals.

   – MJM

8. Everyone, please ignore Audrey. It all apparently goes over her head.(Psssst… Charlie… if you want a place that [is racially integrated] then put your own money into a business and run it that way. Otherwise, stay out of places where the owner, and HIS money, do what he thinks is best for HIS place. Geeez, neither the [integrationist] NOR the [segregationist] OWNS it. Oh, and Audrey’s analogy — “cornerstones in the face of the perception of an unpopular position,” and smoking — fails. It is not the same thing at all.)

   Liberty *in and of itself* is nothing worth pursuing or safeguarding. Geeez, have we learned nothing at all from the 60s?

   Oh, the laudable underdog heroism of the Tobacco Industry!