Well, personally I always wonder about things like the '225,000 employees of skating rinks, bars, and diners' who must be protected from the horrors of smoking. The good news is, it's a vote, and Rita the coffee girl who I see smoking every five minutes at Denny's can express her opinion of wether she wants to be protected or not. As for the '25 feet from any entrance, window, vent, or air-permeable membrane'...let's just be honest, we're talking about a full ban. There's pretty much nowhere in the entirety of Seattle, other than a few parks, that doesn't have a door, window, or air vent within 25 feet. While gathering in the woods with other smokers would give me nostalgic memories of high school, it'd probably irritate me in the long run.
Long and short: It's a nanny-law. I'm never in favor of them, for any reason. Seat belts, motorcycle helmets, smoking bans, alcohol-impact zones, limited legalized gambling, etc. Once people prove that they've successfully solved all the real problems, then, maybe they can move on to attempting to regulate stupidity. I'd also really rather see some actual serious third-party reports on open air second-hand smoke before anything like this occured. There's a big difference between pumping the smoke of twenty pounds a day of tobbacco through a rats habitrail and a rat on a street ten feet away from a lit cigarette.
For the record, I go out of my way to avoid smoking around children, or even other people who aren't smoking. But so what? The government's place isn't to nanny-guard common courtesy. I'd find the entire idea of a smoking ban for health reasons somewhat less ludicrous if the government showed any sign whatsoever of seriously trying to move away from fossil fuel personal vehicles. Or any number of really rather bad for you, but oh, how could we possibly do without the luxury choices.
Screw it. This is America, private parties reserve the right to act as they choose, including refusing service for any reason. Likewise, I reserve the right to continue to screw over my neighbor (if anyone ever actually proves that it's a real issue) for as long as they continue to do it to me. =P Honestly, the second hand smoke content of any given city is probably significantly lower that the percentage of airborne *BEEF* particles in Houston from all the barbeque. (I think it's pretty obscene that the amount of airborne beef particles constitutes a percentage of their air to begin with.) Let's face it. Human beings suck. I reserve the right to choose what I suck on.
It's not so much that nothing should get fixed till everything gets fixed. It's just that with an out of control budget, major, deepseated issues that aren't even being addressed, and a general lack of actual social progress, I think maybe, just maybe, we should focus on government simply successfully running society, not our personal lives, whatever the reason or rallying cry to do so. I maintain a firm opinion that government, at it's best, should be involved in little other than itself.
Long and short: It's a nanny-law. I'm never in favor of them, for any reason. Seat belts, motorcycle helmets, smoking bans, alcohol-impact zones, limited legalized gambling, etc. Once people prove that they've successfully solved all the real problems, then, maybe they can move on to attempting to regulate stupidity. I'd also really rather see some actual serious third-party reports on open air second-hand smoke before anything like this occured. There's a big difference between pumping the smoke of twenty pounds a day of tobbacco through a rats habitrail and a rat on a street ten feet away from a lit cigarette.
For the record, I go out of my way to avoid smoking around children, or even other people who aren't smoking. But so what? The government's place isn't to nanny-guard common courtesy. I'd find the entire idea of a smoking ban for health reasons somewhat less ludicrous if the government showed any sign whatsoever of seriously trying to move away from fossil fuel personal vehicles. Or any number of really rather bad for you, but oh, how could we possibly do without the luxury choices.
Screw it. This is America, private parties reserve the right to act as they choose, including refusing service for any reason. Likewise, I reserve the right to continue to screw over my neighbor (if anyone ever actually proves that it's a real issue) for as long as they continue to do it to me. =P
Honestly, the second hand smoke content of any given city is probably significantly lower that the percentage of airborne *BEEF* particles in Houston from all the barbeque. (I think it's pretty obscene that the amount of airborne beef particles constitutes a percentage of their air to begin with.) Let's face it. Human beings suck. I reserve the right to choose what I suck on.
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Actually, what you said about the cars makes sense, but if we said "nothing should get fixed until it all gets fixed at once" nothing would get fixed.
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I maintain a firm opinion that government, at it's best, should be involved in little other than itself.
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