[sonny]

....was the first weekend night that it was warm and not raining since king Bloomberg past his smoking ban.
Here are some of my observations....I live in a VERY busy area with lots of night life and restraunts......The first thing I noticed was HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of people on the streets up until
3 or 4 in the morning.............many were smoking many were not.
The bars were half empty and in many cases empty.
It seems the party has moved to the street.....patrons go in the bar ,have a shot or beer and then hit the streets or walk to the next place.Local people can not walk by without being harrased or ignored as they try to make their way through the gauntlet of drunks and tourists.
The noise on the streets was unbeleivable .....plenty of fights and police activity......and if I had a nickel for every time I heard some one complain about the smoke on the street I'd be rich.
It's gonna get ugly ...mark my words!

[Marko Kloos]

Many bars will go belly-up, and it will be the fault of the do-gooders who wish to force people to do what's best for them.

"Sense offender!"

I don't smoke. I hate the smell of cigarettes, and I don't like that crap sticking to my clothes whenever I go out to a place where soking is allowed. That said, I'd never dream of running for city council just so I can force all bars in town to cater to my preferences. These places are private property, and the owners should have the final say on the matter.

I'll get a pack of cigarettes and lighter today, just for keeping in my pocket. That way, I can light up in solidarity whenever I see a smoker being hassled by the Muesli crowd. L. Neil Smith coined the wonderful term "niccer" for smokers, since that word accurately reflects the status of smokers these days. I'll become a political Niccer:

When They Came for the Smokers ...

by L. Neil Smith

A friend of mine calls himself a "political smoker".
He doesn't smoke. He never has.
But told some time ago at a Los Angeles supper club that he and other members would henceforward be forbidden to smoke, his immediate reaction was to borrow a cigarette from somebody sitting nearby, stand, and light it up in protest. As he sees it, his interests, in terms of his individual and civil rights, run parallel with those of smokers who are being increasingly stripped of theirs.
I am a former smoker.
I quit cold more than a year ago, after suffering a heart attack. Even before that, I never claimed that smoking is good for anybody, just that I had always enjoyed doing it -- and that a great many lies were being told about it by individuals and groups who had gone beyond non-smoking to become anti- smokers.
But I, too, remain a political smoker.
Exactly like many another do-gooder-targetted group, smokers today are well along in the process of losing their human rights -- and more and more, it seems, their very humanity -- to social parasites who, as H.L. Mencken is reputed to have put it long ago, awaken in the middle of the night, sweat- drenched and trembling with the morbid fear that somewhere, someone might be happy. Until now, there hasn't been an effective way to crush these lice on the American body politic -- and their bloodsucking symbionts in media and government -- between the thumb of the Ninth Amendment and the forefinger of the First.
Until now.
Let me suggest a couple of ways to begin dealing with them. Of course you're free to employ one or the other, or both, or go off and think something up yourself ...
Although I smoked two packs of Marlboros a day for 30 years, I indulged in cigars and pipes, as well. One thing I still haven't been able to do is dispose of my collection of the latter. Some I inherited from my father and an uncle. They're pretty, they were chosen to express my personality -- the same way you buy a hat -- and they still smell wonderful. I keep my ancient favorite on my desktop to this day, and although I'll never put tobacco in it again and light it, I still pick it up -- it feels comfortingly familiar in my hand -- fondle it, and hang it off my lower teeth for a contemplative moment or two.
Drug paraphernalia.
So far, it hasn't left the house since that night last summer when I was rushed to the emergency room with unbearable pains in my chest and left arm. But I'm thinking of taking it on a field trip to the non-smoking section of a restaurant or two. I know what will happen, and so, if you think about it, do you.
There are non-smokers like me, and then there are anti-smokers.
The anti-smokers all around me will begin to fidget.
They'll mutter to themselves and each other.
They'll glare at me.
Because what they're all about -- what they've always been all about -- has absolutely nothing to do with the presence or absence of first- or second- or third-hand smoke and whether it harms anybody or not. That's only their excuse.
What it has to do with is the complete unsuitability, in their twisted minds, of simple human pleasure in the lives of everyone around them. This used to be the preoccupation of Puritanical religions. Today, most of the people of this bent have abandoned religion, but they haven't abandoned the demented ecstasy they experience by shouting "Thou shalt not!" at everyone in sight -- and being able to back it up with the brute force of governmental edict.
If I'm especially lucky, they'll complain to the management who'll be forced to confront me and my empty, tobaccoless pipe and ask me to put it back in my pocket or leave the restaurant. Either that or, at my suggestion, the management will go back to the nicotine Nazis at the next table and tell them where to put their complaints -- not in their pockets, but where the sun never shines.
So ... My first suggestion is that you become a political smoker. Go to the nearest drugstore and pick out an inexpensive pipe, a pipe that's never had tobacco in it, a pipe that likely never will, a pipe that strikes you as attractive or expresses some aspect of your personality. They make all kinds of pretty ones, not only briar, but gold, silver, inlaid, or enameled. Think of it as a fashion accessory or an item of jewelry. Don't worry that it serves no practical purpose. What practical purpose does an earring or a necktie serve?
Display it in your favorite restaurant, on the bus, at the theater, at a children's daycare center. What your empty pipe will accomplish is to inform beleaguered smokers that they're not alone, as media and government would have them believe. It will inform Prohibitionists that their reign of terror is coming to a long-overdue end, that they're up against a civilized solidarity that maintains the human, Constitutional, and American right to go to hell in your own way.
There used to be a certain class of people -- people of a certain color -- who by longstanding evil custom were forbidden to sit anywhere on a bus but at the back. After a century or so of such nonsense, one of them courageously refused to abide by this evil custom, and she changed the course of American history forever.
On another occasion, another class of people -- those who for reasons of their own enjoy nicotine in its many forms -- were also limited to the back of the bus.
Today, even that has been taken away.
My second suggestion to you is that we call such people "niccers" -- after their recreational drug of choice -- as loudly and as often as we can, so that the average tobacco Prohibitionist -- say, California Congressman Henry Waxman, as nasty a piece of work as I've ever seen in more than three decades of political observation -- will realize precisely who and what he has become.
I'm a political niccer.
Are you one, too?

[hammer4nc]

This should be interesting...if it hasn't already happened, some entrepreneurs will start catering to the late-night sidewalk smokers. Imagine fleets of hotdog/pretzel carts staking out the desireable spots; sidewalk entertainers; mobile jumbotrons. The whole thing could spawn a new outdoor genre that will make indoor bars and clubs passe. Talk about unintended consequences!

Phase 2: Bloomberg's "nuisance cops" will start ticketing the sidewalk partiers for loitering, spitting, obstructing...anything else they can dream up...

NY Post will cover the story with the headline "When Worlds Collide" :D :what:

[Azrael256]

Here in Dallas, they enacted a smoking ban in any establishment that derives more than 25% of its income from food (restaurants). The restaurant owners in Dallas are livid about it. The decrease in business has been significant, and the ban has only been in effect for a few months. There is one steakhouse that has a Dallas mailing address but is just across the line in Addison (at least I think it's Addison) who lavishes his praise upon the Dallas mayor for giving him all of her city's restaurant business in his radio commercials.

[Sleeping Dog]

New York is becoming intolerable.

With all these people smoking on the sidewalks and in the alleys, there's no place for a self-respecting bum to sleep or take a leak.

The city is supposed to smell like urine, not cigarette tar.

Sheesh.

[El Tejon]

lend, with cigarette smoking wouldn't that be "scents offenders"?:D

Anywho it will be fun to see the unintended consequences of this lastest dynamic action to carry us forward to the brave, new world of the Left. More laws, less justice.

[Mike Irwin]

It won't be long before the police start swooping down to crack down on people who have open bottles of alcohol on the sidewalks or streets.

[sonny]

I have many friends in the bar and restraunt biz,they are getting stiffed on tabs and tips at an "unusually" high rate.
The cops ARE giving tickets out at a ridiculously high rate,and according to the one's I've spoken to, they are embarresed that they "must" do so.
This IS costing the city money in court costs even with the money they may or may not recover in Ticketing civilians for minor infractions.
Last but not least .....buiseness IS DOWN according to the owners.
P.S........LENDSRINGER......I love the pipe idea!.....You're idea is truly

:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

[Dannyboy]

I talked to a friend in Austin and she said they just banned smoking in bars and restaurants.

[jsalcedo]

The smoking ban is about to happen in San Antonio as well.

I am a cigar smoker and I am prohibited by most establishments anyway. I don't smoke in small enclosed places out of respect for other folks.

But now it looks like I have to stay home.

What if I decide someones hairspray or perfume offends me
can I have that banned too?

[Zander]

I'm a political niccer. -- lendringser [moderator]So am I...and a practical one, too.

'Scuse me, I'm going to retire to the deck and finish my Arturo Fuente...

[Dorrin79]

they just passed one here in Austin.

:banghead:

sickening. I am a smoker, but even if I weren't, the complete disregard for property rights that these idiotic nanny-state laws demonstrate is stomach-turning.

Social-facism in action...

[Monkeyleg]

You want ridiculous anti-smokers? Just minutes ago I received an email from a person to whom I'd sold a digital camera on Ebay. I paid nearly $500 for the camera last November and used it twice. It had the factory box, papers and even some things that I didn't unwrap. It was like new, and she bought it for $321.

She wants to return it. Why? Because she can smell cigarette smoke on the box.

And where is she from? NY!!!

She's worried about a camera box that smells like smoke? Do these nitwits spawn on their own, or is there a farm somewhere where they're harvested and sent into the general population?

[sonny]

I was gonna say UNBELIEVABLE!......but ya know what?...I believe you:(

[Mr. James]

lendringser,

That is brilliant. I've been contemplating doing just that for some time. The habit is disgusting. It killed my father (emphysema) and it will kill my mother (emphysema). But, mercy, ponder, if you will, the self-righteousness, the mendacity, and the prune-faced sourness of the anti-smoking zealots. Their willingness to enlist government to coerce THEIR desired forms of behavior, to me, bespeaks some mental pathology. Instead of "it's for the children," the battle-cry is "it's for the waitresses." Never mind the waitresses - sentient thinking adults, all - HATE the idea. Oh, I forgot. the government knows better what we want.

Go ahead, use the "n" word. Yes! I'm a niccer. A political niccer! By any means necessary!

:evil: :D :evil:

[Monkeyleg]

Sonny, it's no joke. Here's the reply that I got just minutes ago:

"Dear Dick:

Today, I checked and tested the camera. I took three pictures. It seems
to work. However, unfortunately I cannot buy this camera. The main reason is
I am very sensitive about the smell of cigar or cigarette (that kind of
smell). It causes me headache. In fact, I have it now. When I opened the
package, I awfully smelled it. And I smelled it from everything inside: the
camera body, the manual book, etc.

Therefore, I would like to return this camera.
I opened only what you opened. I still have everything you sent.
I will carefully pack it with the original boxes (the Nikon box and Postal
box) and return it by priority mail with insurance (I will pay this.).
Please pay back my money $321.05 as soon as you receive it. I am sure that
someone will be happy to buy it through eBay.

Thank you in advance for your understanding.

Sincerely Yours,

(I'm withholding the purchaser's name for her own protection)

[sonny]

At least she was nice about it:confused: :D :confused: :D :confused: :D

[ravinraven]

Here's a quote that I may not get down exactly, but I ain't making this up.

"When I enter a restauramt where people are smoking, within an hour I feel that I have caught a cold."


Who said that?

Clue #1: The same person also said: "What luck for governments. The peoples they administer do not think." [again it's close to the real thing.]


Clue #2: This man could pass any law he wanted but he never passed one against smoking.


Clue #3: He committed suicide very shortly after getting married. Hmmm....there goes that theory that married people live longer.

===================

One way to fight the smoking ban fools is to chew gum and stick wads of it everywhere. Stick it in parking meter slots, on door knogs, on patrol car door handles, on counters in gov't offices where people will get gooey in it and so forth. I think bubble gum is the raunchiest for this purpose.

I smoke about two cigars a week. In fact I just did this week's smoking.

Where is this crap going to stop? They just keep whittling away at liberty. I'll tell you where it'll stop. It'll stop at the point where the people fight back. If tobacco banners and gun banners started disappearing mysteriously and never being heard of again, those that are in their pre-disappearance mode might lose interest in their pet religion.

I writ a song by hand that I've been know to howl in bars when I've got a bit of refreshment under my belt. One part goes like this:

"Remember Mr. Congressman, the rights you vote,

[ravinraven]

Here's a quote that I may not get down exactly, but I ain't making this up.

"When I enter a restauramt where people are smoking, within an hour I feel that I have caught a cold."


Who said that?

Clue #1: The same person also said: "What luck for governments. The peoples they administer do not think." [again it's close to the real thing.]


Clue #2: This man could pass any law he wanted but he never passed one against smoking.


Clue #3: He committed suicide very shortly after getting married. Hmmm....there goes that theory that married people live longer.

===================

One way to fight the smoking ban fools is to chew gum and stick wads of it everywhere. Stick it in parking meter slots, on door knobs, on patrol car door handles, on counters in gov't offices where people will get gooey in it and so forth. I think bubble gum is the raunchiest for this purpose.

I smoke about two cigars a week. In fact I just did this week's smoking.

Where is this crap going to stop? They just keep whittling away at liberty. I'll tell you where it'll stop. It'll stop at the point where the people fight back. If tobacco banners and gun banners started disappearing mysteriously and never being heard of again, those that are in their pre-disappearance mode might lose interest in their pet religion.

rr

[WonderNine]

This USED to be a free country.

[Feanaro]

I hate smoking. It's nasty and the smoke discomforts me. But that is what smoking and non sections are for. They can smoke, I can stay away from the fumes. We are all happy. Till the government comes along. "Don't you know smoking is bad for you? No cigs!"

[jimpeel]

If the smokers would but do one simple thing; stick together.

Imagine, if you will, several hundred smokers who band together one Friday evening. they all come to a locale that is prohibited from smoking.

They have all brought one cigarette, one lighter, and nothing else.

They carry no ID or any other identifying instrument.

They have all sworn to refuse to give any identifying information to the police nor to speak to them at all.

They have all sworn to refuse to sign any citation issued to them.

This cadre of rebellious smokers all light up and wait for the smoking Nazis to show up to cite them for breaking the smoking ordinance.

When they refuse to sign the citation, they are arrested. the police have to book and hold several hundred John and Jane Does. They have to send their fingerprints to R&I to attempt to ascertain their identity. They have to feed and house these people and do so within the confines of the law.

R&I will be unable to do anything before Monday at which time the rebels are marched into court for arraignment. In the meantime, the city is out of pocket for severakl hundred fingerprint searches, meals, housing, and whatever other nuisance.

Some holdouts will sit in jail until the cows come home and make a nuisance of themselves. Most will break down on Monday morning and OR out. The point, however, will have been made.

WE WILL BANKRUPT YOU WITH CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE THAT THE FINES YOU GLEAN WILL NOT PAY FOR.

They do it again the next week and the next week and the next week.

Ah, yes, but we could dream that there are still Americans of that caliber. Unfortunately, those Americans are long dead or dying.

[Boats]

It is said that the worst anti-smoker is an ex-smoker and I believe that in my case. I cannot stand the smell of it anymore and it nearly makes me gag.

I live in Salem, Oregon. There is not any formal ban against smoking in restaurants, but the majority of them have voluntarily given the ashtrays the boot, even in the bar. How can smokers kvetch about owners exercising their private property rights against them and leaving next to no alternative eateries in town? Not that I care. Inhale all of the smoke you want to but don't exhale in my presence.

If I go to a bar, I expect to encounter smoke as that seems to be the drill. However, fewer and fewer people smoke and many of those who do wish that they didn't. Losing side of history and all that.

Before anyone goes on analogizing, the number of shooters is subject to debate and whether that number is increasing or decreasing, but no one with a gun that I know wishes they could kick the habit.:D

[edited for a misspelling]

[general]

Here in CO. a group of musicians got together and decided to lend their support for a smoking ban.
They are going to second-hand legislate themselves right out of a job. Next it will be loud music. It is a KNOWN health risk. http://www.smokefreecoloradosprings.com/ Check it out.
Now.. I'm a musician and a smoker...(cigs and cigars) and I just don't understand why these people would want to reduce their available market. Make sense to you?
Gimme a La Gloria...Crown Imperial....yeah.. maduro... these folks make me nervous, need time to think. Gotta order more @ "Mikes"

[0007]

Stayed tuned for the fat-food ban coming your way soon. My wife smokes, wish she didn't but she's an adult. If an owner wants to post _HIS_ establishment as a place for non-smokers , I have no problem with that, I can choose to go there or not to go there. If the govenment decides to post his place as a non-smoking place, it's no longer his place. WRONG, BUFFALO BREATH.

And don't start whinning about the horrors of second hand smoke to me. What some of you apparently refuse to understand is that if gov. can say you can't smoke in a commercial establishment, they can just about dictate your behavior anywhere, whenever "they" decide "something" isn't good for you, like keeping firearms in your house with your children around or your wife, or dog or whatever. Or eating too much meat, or using more then 1.5 gals to flush. :banghead: Rant off for the moment.
I still wish one of the cigarette companies hadthe balls to say they were'nt going to sell cigarettes in one of these nanny-states anymore. Think about the impact on the local tax structure. Not to say smokers in those states wouldn't get cigarettes anymore, Can you say "Prohibition"?

[Mastrogiacomo]

As someone that doesn't smoke -- nice to be able to go out now. Always a blast to get stuck next to three or four chain-smokers that need surgury to remove their lips from the cigarettes. Can't feel sorry for the smokers -- I've been trapped at home, had to avoid going out at concerts, bars, clubs, etc. Now it's their turn to get a sense how it feels to be under house arrest. You want to keep smoking? Knock yourself out -- but leave my lungs out of it.

[Thumper]

Ah, yes, but we could dream that there are still Americans of that caliber. Unfortunately, those Americans are long dead or dying.

A smoke nazi could point out a lot of irony there. ;)

[Thumper]

You want to keep smoking? Knock yourself out -- but leave my lungs out of it.

I agree with the sentiment, but legislation is not the answer.

[Oracle]

Mastrogiacomo,

Do you really think that the owners of these establishments ought not to be able to decide whether they want smoking in their restaurants or not, and that the government ought to be able to take away that decision from them? It should be their decision whether they want smoking at their establishments or not, it should be yours whether you go there or not. That simple.

[Boats]

Oracle--

I'll take a moment to point out that the smokers are on the losing end of the voluntary establishment of smoke-free places too, a trend that will only intensify as smoking becomes increasingly "deviant."

[jimpeel]

During prohibition people couldn't afford cigarettes so they smoked cornsilk. What will the smoking Nazis do when people rediscover cornsilk; ban the number one cash crop in America? Will they disallow the sale or possession of unshucked corn? Ban cultivation for private use?

Nothing is beyond contemplation for those with a mission.

[Boats]

Having never smoked it, what is the attraction of smoking cornsilk? Does it bear any nicotine at all?

[sonny]

I have one simple question.....For those that don't like smoking,would you have a problem with the bar owner making the decision whether it is a smoking or non smoking bar ?
If so ....why?

[Boats]

I have one simple question.....For those that don't like smoking,would you have a problem with the bar owner making the decision whether it is a smoking or non smoking bar ?

No, I expect smoke in a bar unless it advertises as smoke free as certain pubs in Oregon are.

However, most smokers I knew/know will refrain from lighting up while others eat or they'd go outside if they couldn't wait. Then, somehow, a restaurant setting makes this common courtesy onerous.:scrutiny: Why?

[jimpeel]

For many people there is a psychological aspect -- to which I do subscribe -- of having something in the hand; and the nicotine component of the habit is secondary.

There is also a psychological aspect -- to which I do not subscribe -- that states the person has a problem with the premature weaning from suckling as an infant.

[jimpeel]

The bars and restaurants in Boulder, CO tried this and the law was written such that they couls only have a business that was segregated smoking areas with equal, and I do mean equal accommodations or that they be completely non-smoking. They were disallowed by the law from being a smoking only establishment.

[sonny]

I find the exuse that a person...waiter or waitrees ...should not have to sacrafice their health to make a living to be a joke.
All sorts of people do this on a daily basis and don't complain,if you don't like the tradeoff ...get another job:confused:
Agree?

[MrAcheson]

*Shrugs* All indoor restaurants in Delaware are non-smoking only. I really haven't noticed a difference except some bars are putting up outdoor porch areas for the smokers that will be used year-round instead of just during the summer.

As for it being bad for business, maybe but probably not in the long run. There were plenty of bar and grills around town I just couldn't comfortably frequent because of the smoke. I'm not a smoker, I don't like the smell, and sometimes it bothers my sinuses. I now frequent many more of these restaurants than before and my friends do likewise.

[morganm01]

After the "ban" in CA

This is just my experience here. So if you want to jump on me about sounding like I support the "ban" it will fall on deaf ears. Everyone here yellled like the anti-gunners did in Minnesota about thow the streets will be filled with smokers and all bars would go belly-up. After the fact however, business slowed down for a couple weeks. Slowed, not stopped. there were still lines down the block at every club. A few weeks later business picked up and bar staff learned how to accomadate smokers outside the bar to regulate the drunks, many even setting up special outside smoking sections. While I was working at one bar, people would constantly come in from out of town saying how nice it was to be smoke free. Soon therafter it is business as usuall. I know I for sure would not go downtown half as much if I had to be in a smoky bar. And I never go to them in other states. I leave it to everyone else to debate the human right to smoke issue.

[mercedesrules]

I think I'm mostly with sonny on this. There is no utopia or "right to breathe fresh air", so I think that the best we can do is to observe strict property rights...and no government interference.

After a time, there will be just the right number of smoking and non-smoking establishments of all types - and workers to man them.

MR, "niccer"

[sonny]

morganm01.....We don't have the space in NYC for outdoor smoking areas,(to expensive)-(limmited space).......that is why smokers have taken to the streets......ya know if there was a place for smokers to go that did not annoy the non smokers we would not have a problem in the first place...I'm not saying that smoking should be allowed anywhere ....just in places that are specifically designed for smokers to smoke and enjoy a legal product with others who want to go out and do the same.
Problem?...........why?........do antis want to control everywhere?

[Oracle]

I agree with you, Sonny, if a restaurant or bar wants to cater to their smoking clientele, then they should be able to. On the other hand, a restaurant or bar owner should be able to make their place non-smoking if that is what they want as well, and that is the clientele they are trying to attract or keep. I don't have a problem with non-smoking bars or restaurants (personally, I don't like to smell tobacco smoke while I eat either), but I do have a problem with the government forcing one or the other on the restaurant/bar owners.

[Art Eatman]

I've been an owner-manager of a couple of small night clubs, back before any mandate for separate areas for smokers and non-smokers.

I just watched the direction of the air flow of our circulatory system, and suggested to non-smokers that they sit upwind of the smokers. (I was amazed at how many had never thought of this.) We had no problems at all, related to likes/dislikes about smoking.

If somebody is truly "overly"-sensitive to smoke, I don't mind refraining from smoking, even in my own home. I'll cater to somebody's allergy. Seems like simple courtesy.

I jsut get gripy when I'm told my my smoking offends somebody, but my gagging at their perfume, deodarant or mouthspray is too trivial to be of concern. (Or the B.O. of the unwashed, for that matter.)

But Gummint oughta butt out.

:), Art

[sonny]

If somebody is truly "overly"-sensitive to smoke, I don't mind refraining from smoking, even in my own home. I'll cater to somebody's allergy. Seems like simple courtesy.

Agreed Art......And I will add to that .....I encourage non smokers to open non smoking bars if they like and people should respect the rules or be asked to leave.
That said ...doesn't it also stand to reason that someone should be able to open an EVIL SMOKING BAR?
For that matter the thought that even a private club can't set it's own rules is kind of spookey..............no?

[jimpeel]

I love the way the government decries smoking while permanently glued to the teat of smoking taxes; and the way they treat the people who pay those taxes.

If this is how they think of them, imagine what they think of you.

[sonny]

Ya know ?....the thing that freaks me out about all of this ban this and ban that stuff is I always felt (not in my lifetime)
Guess I was wrong:(

[Monkeyleg]

This is part of an email I received today from the woman who couldn't tolerate the smell of cigarette smoke on the camera box:

"I appreciate your understanding. It may be difficult for smokers to
understand how a sensitive non-smoker like me smells. I sometimes smell a
driver's lighted-up cigarette in front of my car even while I drive about
30-40 miles per hour. I immediately close my car's window."

Now, I've got a sister-in-law whom I regard as certifiably insane, and she makes the same claims. Usually a statement like this makes my bull-o-meter go off the charts.

Would anyone like to lend some credence to these claims of olfactory super-sensitivity, or should I just chalk it up to another fruitcake?

(As to my own amateur psychoanalysis of my sister-in-law: on one of her last shopping trips she bought sixty-seven nightgowns at one store. Her explanation was that she'd only have to do laundry once a week. She also has a couple of Labradors and, on a separate shopping trip, bought 800 pounds of dry dog food. Holiday family get-togethers are a blast ;) ).

[slacker]

Monkeyleg,

Yes, it's true. I also smell if people in the car in front of me are smoking. And at stoplights I can smell people smoking in other cars. But I'm often on a motorcycle and my car is a convertible. I don't know that I would smell anything with the windows up and the ac running. I don't believe I was harmed by the smell. At least not as much as I may have been harmed by being around car exhaust.

[sonny]

"I appreciate your understanding. It may be difficult for smokers to
understand how a sensitive non-smoker like me smells.


Smells like BS to me .....she changed her mind on the purchase ....I think....maybe I'm wrong...I doubt it.

[243_shooter]

The smoking ban goes statewide in NY on 7/22.. For those not familiar with NY the average price for a pack of smokes is hovering right around $4.75 for name brand non-generics.. :what:

As I understand it, if your caught smoking in a bar/restaurant YOU don't get fined, the bar's owner does.. $1000 :barf:

The legislation goes so far as to ban smoking within 25 feet of the entrance!

Pataki et. al should spend some time trying to get the state out of the financial crapper (NY makes enron look solvent) instead of trying to cut the bar owners throats.

</rant off>

Leo

[citizen]

NOW I understand why my brother-in-law is desperate for a new job!!!:what: :uhoh:

[Monkeyleg]

243_Shooter: the taxes here in WI on cigarettes have also gotten to be outrageous. So I've started to order cigs online from Switzerland. $16.95 a carton of ten packs.

And what I really love about it is that the state gets $.00 in cigarette taxes from me.

[243_shooter]

I wonder what killed more people last year.. second hand smoke the got from the bar, or the telephone pole they whacked on the way home..

In order for this law to truly _protect_ people and of course the _children_ then we should also outlaw alcohol in the bars as well...

With that out of the way we should also outlaw any fried food, after all look at all the 250 pound 12 year old heart-attack in the makings their are waddling around.. for the _children_ man!

the spiral continues.

.
.
.
.

Leo