Captain's Quarters -

I don't smoke. I don't appreciate it when people around me smoke. I think smoking is an unhealthy habit that people would be better off to quit.

That being said, bans of this sort are ridiculous. If the government believes that cigarettes present such a health hazard, then they should be outlawed in the same way that we outlaw marijuana, cocaine, etc.

The reason that the government doesn't do that is because they just LOOOOOVE to spend the revenue collected from taxing this pernicious habit.

So keep on smoking, America (just not outside your house, please): Senator Twiddle needs more money to hire his brother-in-law to build that highway!

Ban vegan eaters from the public square , their farts are killers.

Oh, I'm sure that their hearts are in the right place. I'm also sure that their heads don't mind expanding the reach of government into peoples' private lives.

Edicts of this type are an assault on private property, one of the cornerstones of free societies. If the state can tell me what I can and cannot do inside my own property, why can't the state tell me how I can use that property, or better still, how they could use it?

Non-smokers cannot whine about the loss of freedom in this country when they sit idle and allow smoking bans to be enacted without massive protest.

Give socialists an inch and they'll take a mile - and they've been doing it for well over 100 years in the US - with little to no real protest.

In California I've watched hundreds of businesses close their doors because of smoking bans, which included some of the finest nightclubs and dinning establishments in the state.

Most who could moved out of state, Nevada a chief beneficiary, but now that state, plagued with former Californian leftists who fled the mess they made here, is enacting ever greater smoking restrictions. Vegas is not happy...

Some counties in New Mexico have told the smoke-banners to butt out - forcefully so, and people still smoke in restaurants there. Anyone who complains is told to leave - and I don't mean smokers.

I asked why, and was told that if smoking could be banned in the state, any and all other freedoms could also be banned. I was impressed - they understood.

It is sad that most people in the US don't understand that they are seeing the end of their own personal freedoms.

I disagree that this is a case of misguided do-gooders with their hearts in the right place. There's nothing 'right' about a bunch of sanctimonious elitists seeking to force all of us to live by the standards they've set for themselves. And there's nothing 'right' with twisting the science to claim that the undesired behavior is unhealthy, whether it is secondhand smoke or driving an SUV. It's almost enough to make me want to start smoking (I already drive an SUV).

As an aside, just imagine the outroar if someone proposed making it illegal to engage in a particular sexual act that was 'proven' by science to be somewhat risky. The potential health benefits of such a ban would be drowned out by the cries of 'intolerance' and 'privacy'... and rightly so.

Their hearts may be in the right place, but their heads are up their collective a**es.

Out of curiosity, I want to open an establishment named "Smoker's Lounge". This business would serve light snacks and drinks, and would NOT include a non-smoking area. And post glaring notices to that effect. Why can't I?

Anyone entering the place would know that smokers congregate there, and I would have the air cleansing equipment neccessary to prevent the exit air from affecting anyone nearby.

This decision is the jack boot. It crushes any thought that private property still exists, if Kelo left you any hopes.

In Canada there is a growing displeasure towards people smoking in their own apartments. If anybody thought, that it is simply restaurants, so it is OK, think again. You can never be too careful with the “second hand smoke”, which creeps in through cracks in the walls and hydro outlets and kills our children. Apparently affected are condominiums and rental buildings.

This is no small matter. HL Mencken correctly noted that "The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false front for the urge to rule it."

The next step will be attempts to save us from obesity, and on and on from there. It's already happening in Minnesota:
ahref="http://news.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=2&a=287376
"A task force with Mayo Clinic and others in Rochester are moving fast to get anti-obesity legislation in front of the Minnesota Legislature this year."

In England, the state has mandated that parents teach certain lullabyes to their kids, and failure to do so is evidence of insufficient parenting skill.

I wonder how they are going to pull the "Second Hand Obesity" concept.
I think we should also ban unwashed people, I can already envision the "Feet Sniffing Police Force".
The sad part is that nonsense and idiocy dies hard.

Our state and local governments need to focus on things that actually matter and not on enforcing trendy junk science prohibitions.

Why focus on petty trivialities like smoking, which even if it does kill someone, takes 50 years? And ignore the real killers, like the lunatics on our highways? Who actually do kill people every single day.

If there are enough wet nurses out there to tattle on bars that allow people to smoke, why aren't there enough cops on the road, to enforce traffic laws already on the book?

Why are traffic licenses distributed like Halloween candy? Besides fogging a mirror, what driving skill must today's new drivers display at the DMV? The ability to make a right turn from the far left lane, without a turn signal?

Government needs to focus on the basic things it should be doing, like keeping incompetent and dangerous drivers off of the highways, rather than spending a single second enforcing inane anti-smoking laws.

And don't forget about fuel trucks and tunnels. If an owner wants to drive a fuel truck through a tunnel his tax dollars paid for, he should have the right.

And don't forget about methamphetamines. If I want to brew some in the privacy of my own apartment and the owner doesn't mind, why shouldn't I be able to?

After all, the owner is pope on his own property, isn't he?

Tobacco is an anti-depressant.

I wonder when the smoking speakeasies are going to start popping up.
Next will be the growing tobacco
black market.
It will be interesting when the do gooders get bit in
the ass when something they do or advocate will
be made illegal.
Have they thought yet about banning the manufacturing
of rope? You know double edged sword and all...

I'm glad to see that you've finally come around on this issue Ed.

At one time the Conservative ideal was that I allow you more freedom, you reciprocate and allow me more freedom, and together we have the ability to run our lives the way we see fit. When it came to Gays in the military Goldwater said soldiers need to shoot straight, not be straight. In other words if you don’t like someone else’s life style too bad, giving them the freedom to do what they want in turn gives you the freedom to do what you want. The modern Conservative movement has abandoned that principle a long time ago. To be intellectually consistent the outrage would not stop at smoking bans, it would include bans on Gay marriage, drug use, porn, and a host of other lifestyle choices. Now the only difference between liberalism and conservatism is what aspects of our lives they want the nanny government to regulate. Smoking or gay marriage, drug use or trans fats, a restriction is a restriction. Now put that in your pipe and smoke it [sorry couldn’t resist].

Sounds to me like the Captain is against the smoking ban because someone from California is for it.

Wait until they get around to banning smoking in outside areas like football and baseball stadiums. :-)

"No one doubts that the proponents of these bans have their hearts in the right place, but it opens a troubling precedent. Once we establish that the state has an interest which overrides two key rights -- the right to assemble and the right to private property -- just to modify personal behavior that the state considers unhealthy, where will they stop?"

The governor here in VA is proposing a similar bill. A well-intentioned co-worked sent out an email asking everyone to support this latest government intrusion into our lives. He didn't phrase it that way, of course. Anyway, my response pretty much mirrored your's due (1) cigarettes are legal and (2) the businesses are privately owned. I even sent a link to the Wikipedia entry for the Tragedy of the Commons.

Not surprisingly. I haven't heard back from him. Turns out that people are awfully sanguine about the club of the state when it's not their ox getting gored.

grognard,

You are wrong on gays. There are gays in the military, they are just not allowed to flaunt their "life style" then force straights to shower with them.

Cripples and Fat people are the ones who are discriminated against in the Military...not gays.

I agree with the rest of your comments. I don't care if you smoke crack in your bathroom while you play with yourself...your house. None of my business. Those are political / thought crimes.

But if you break into my house in an attempt to terrorize my family...or to steal my TV to support your drug habit, now you've committed a real crime against my person or my property. No longer a “thought crime”.

However, that particular scenario would involve ACP rounds vice the "justice system".

Once we establish that the state has an interest which overrides two key rights -- the right to assemble and the right to private property -- just to modify personal behavior that the state considers unhealthy, where will they stop?

While I agree with you regarding your main point, my inner nitpicker wants me to point out that, strictly speaking, the right to assemble isn't being overridden. It's a ban on smoking, not on smokers, so they're free to assemble, just not light up while they do so.

SwabJockey, there are gays in the military, they just can‘t say anything about it. That’s like saying blacks can join the army but they have to wear whiteface and not talk about it. Nonsense, there might need to be segregated showers, in the same way men and women are not showering together, but the fact they are gay should have no bearing on serving their country. Otherwise we are in agreement, gays can get married, I get to own a gun, more freedom all around is better for everyone. If you get drunk fine, just don’t get in a car, if you like porn fine, but you still can’t use children in a video. There are restrictions to total freedom, but my owing a gun does not endanger my neighbor if I act responsibly. If my neighbors are a married gay couple, so what, not my business. Granting more freedom does not mean I might not like the choices other people make but if we leave each other alone we both get to enjoy our freedom from the nannies, left and right.

gognard,

Agree except on the gays. Your assertion that there can be segregated showers is absurd. Who gets to use the "gay" showers...just the gay sailors? What about the gay females? Do we have four showers and berthing areas...gay male/straight male gay female / straight female? Have you seen how small the ships and subs are...ain't enough space. Plus isn't having "segretaged" showers with just gays using them kinda like having women shower with men? Aren't they sexually attracted to each other?

We don't force women to shower with men in the navy even though there are rules against certain behaviors.

You say the Don't Ask Don't tell infringes on the gay...I say forcing a straight guy to shower with a gay guy (who 10 minutes priviously had politely asked the straight guy to go on a date) is an infringment on the straight guy.

There are far more straights than gays...you suggest it's better to infringe on the majority...is that to make up for some past "wrongs"? Maybe even "punishment"?

Gays are not discriminated against in the military...cripples and fat people are not the gays.

The ONLY thing I want the Government doing for me is provide a military and fund road projects. That's it! In theory, they should finance public schools, but that's proven disasterous; and my husband teaches in a public school.

Governments don't take personal choices/freedoms away in large swoops; they take them in little bites at a time. They're not as painful that way. I wish someone would compile a list of all the freedoms we've lost in the Country in the last 100 years. I resent the law requires that I wear a seat belt. I choose to wear one, but it makes me angry that I could be ticketed if I don't. My husband wears a helmet when he rides his motorcycle, again out of choice. Makes me angry that the law requires he wears it though. These are just a couple of things. I'm sure, if we thought about all our lost freedoms, the list would grow astronomically. The recent eminent domain decision is another area of contention with me. Having to pay Social Security pisses me off. I'm also socially liberal in that I don't give a damn what gays do. Why shouldn't they be allowed to marry and fight it out in divorce court like the rest of us. I also believe in a woman's right to choose an abortion. I don't think Government funds should pay for it though.

No longer is there a party for those us who espouse a live and let live philosophy. Used to be conservatives were close, but they're as bad as todays' "progressives."