tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795567309988422596.post7021264363940752353..comments2023-11-05T06:38:26.101-05:00Comments on Schor Report: State Representative Blog: Road Patrol Revisited (Again), Smoking Ban Enforcement and New ControllerState Representative Andy Schor:http://www.blogger.com/profile/05044891579939315834noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795567309988422596.post-38216938946792074632010-05-01T17:12:15.824-04:002010-05-01T17:12:15.824-04:00Did you really include having meth labs as an exam...Did you really include having meth labs as an example of activities participated in by rural residents?<br /><br />Stay strong on the anti-smoking ban. Smokers like snowbird will hound you, but it is certainly not a choice everyone can make to avoid secondhand smoke when smokers are smoking in public. People eating in restaurants can choose to go elsewhere perhaps, but employees cannot (and it certainly cannot be argued these days that they can look for employment elsewhere). Don't even get me started on the effects of second-hand smoke on minors, who generally have no say as to their exposure. Suffice it to say, if it were up to me I would ban smoking in any home with minors living in it, but that's just the pediatrician who's admitted too many asthmatic children of smokers talking...Shannonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17275659173468106943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795567309988422596.post-61737429276622768202010-04-28T00:58:44.802-04:002010-04-28T00:58:44.802-04:00Government power the real health hazard
The bandw...Government power the real health hazard<br /><br />The bandwagon of local smoking bans now steamrolling from sea to sea<br /> has nothing to do with protecting people from the "threat of second-hand <br />smoke" but are themselves symptoms of a far more grievous threat: a<br />cancer that has been spreading for decades throughout the body politic, <br />reaching even the tiniest organs of local government. This cancer is the <br />only real hazard involved - the cancer of unlimited government power.<br /><br />The issue is not whether second-hand smoke is a real danger or a phantom<br />menace but rather, if it were harmful, what would be the proper reaction? <br />Should anti-smoking activists satisfy themselves with educating people <br />about the potential danger and allow them to make their own decisions, <br />or should they seize the power of government and force people to make <br />the “right” decision? <br /><br />It seems they've made their choice. Loudly billed as measures that only <br />affect “public places,” they have actually targeted private places: restaurants, <br />bars, nightclubs, shops, and offices - places whose owners are free to set <br />anti-smoking rules or whose customers are free to go elsewhere if they don't <br />like the smoke. Some local bans even harass smokers outdoors.<br /><br />The decision to smoke or to avoid “second-hand” smoke, should be made by<br />each individual according to his own values and assessment of the risks. <br />This is the same kind of decision free people make regarding every aspect of <br />their lives: how much to spend or invest, whom to befriend or love, whether<br />to go to college or get a job, whether to get married or divorced, and so on.<br /><br />All these decisions involve risks; some may have harmful consequences or <br />invite disapproval from others. But the individual must be free to make these<br />decisions because his life belongs to him, not to others, and only his own <br />judgment can guide him through it.<br /><br />Yet when it comes to smoking, this freedom is under attack. Smokers are <br />a minority, practicing a habit often considered annoying and unpleasant to <br />the majority. So the majority has simply commandeered the power of <br />government and used it to dictate their behaviour.<br /><br />That is why these bans are far more threatening than few stray whiffs of <br />tobacco smoke while waiting for a table at your favourite restaurant. The <br />anti-smoking crusaders point in exaggerated alarm at those tiny wisps while <br />they unleash the systematic and unlimited intrusion of government into our lives.snowbirdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10619817412325659719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795567309988422596.post-78224943259679101882010-04-27T23:25:39.110-04:002010-04-27T23:25:39.110-04:00Thank you for your support of the smokefree law.Thank you for your support of the smokefree law.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13907559868492895174noreply@blogger.com