SMOKING BAN, what do you think?

[Tobina+1]

I wonder if the governments have had to step in to set/enforce rules for smoking and non-smoking sections?  I mean, I've been to restaurants before where they sat us in a NON-smoking section, and right over the 4' divider wall someone was smoking like a chimney.  Needless to say, I didn't feel like I was in a non-smoking section at all, nor did I smell like it the rest of the night.  I know it's still my choice as to whether to go back or not, but to me that was false advertising!  I know it's their right to smoke, but it was also my right to not breathe their smoke when I was told I was being seated in a non-smoking area.  If I would have been told that there was no non-smoking area, then I would have made the choice to either live with it or eat somewhere else.

[Diane Amberg]

Delaware has considered banning smoking on our ocean beaches... I'm not sure that isn't a bit much even for me. Perhaps it has to do with how close together the blankets and towels can get during high beach season. 

[flo]

Tobina, Wichita's new "law" states that smoking is allowed in a seperate room from non-smoking and have it's own ventilation system.  These were all in compliance at IHOP.  I started this thread and I am calling a halt to it.  It was not about smoking vs non smoking.  It was about the government having the right go dictate how a private business owner should run his business.  Anymore smoking vs non-smoking will not be necessary. THANK YOU

[Diane Amberg]

    But Flo, other than the smoking issue, what other examples of government "buttinski" did you have in mind?  I agree with you in principle, except for smoking and other health issues.  HIPAA rules protect patient privacy ( they can be a pain) and OSHA protects worker's safety, etc.  If you mean should I dictate what color you paint your store front, I agree with you. You want a purple bakery, so be it.  Some of the Mexican markets here are colorful, to say the least.  Nothing wrong with that. They want to stay open all night, fine by me. Unlike some states we don't have booze or beer sales in supermarkets, nor do we have "near beer." We have owner operated liquor stores. Should the owner be able to sell to 10 year olds if he feels like it?  They can already refuse service to anyone, but the other 'way round?  Nearby PA has "state stores." All alcohol is sold by the state and regulates the days and hours the sales can be made. They used to also have "blue laws." No sales of much of anything on Sunday. That has been liberalized quite a bit. If the local goofy kids didn't spray paint everything and drink all the cough syrup in sight, those would have been non issues also.  We do also have some signage laws to keep extremely flashy advertising signs from distracting or blinding drivers. What did you have in mind?

[flo]

Dianne, go back to post #1

[Diane Amberg]

      Ok, I did go back and reread it. I guess I get it, but I'm not a "they got their foot in the door, what's next" kind of person, I guess.  We have a smoke detector law here and I was expecting resistance to that too, but it never happened.  We'll  provide them for free and put them up and even provide and install new batteries as needed.   I suppose our business owners here could complain that we butted in by mandating smoke detectors.  But it's for our protection too.  I'd much rather go to a small fire that a smoke detector found early, than a big deal fire that cooked for hours. How do you feel about seatbelt laws? ( I know it's not the same thing, just curious.)

[Wilma]

We started using seat belts while Janet was sheriff because we didn't want to embarass her by possibly getting a ticket for not wearing them.  Now I am not comfortable without one.  And the ride is easier also, as I don't have to hold my body from being thrown back and forth with the swerving or bumping of the car.  I have never been one to question authority or rebel against reasonable laws, especially laws that protect me.  If you think our laws are too strict, maybe you should read the laws that God laid down for the Jews.  I don't know just where in the Bible to find them, but I have read them and nothing was left to discretion.  When you thought about it you realized that the laws were for the protection and health of God's people.

[W. Gray]

In the late 70s, federal and military bases began requiring buckled seat belts in order to get on base.

Once on base, one received a ticket if not buckled up--and that folks was a federal offense taken care of by the federal courts.

Once off base no one, but no one, was wearing seat belts and we felt rather foolish at the nannyism.
However, it did not take long to get used to them and if not buckled up, on or off base, it felt like we were missing something.

Someone sideswiped the wife's car in Aurora, CO, in 1983 and the responding ambulance people were quite surprised she was wearing a seat belt. She was not hurt but the car was damaged extensively and the policeman called an ambulance anyway to check her out.

[pam]

Y'know....the point Mom was TRYIN to make was if you are an ADULT in a free country and you pay your taxes and your bills you ought to have the right to make your own decisions. If you want to (sorry ma) smoke or NOT smoke, allow smokin in your business or NOT allow smokin in your business. The point she was tryin to make has nothin to do with people sellin liquor to little kids or anything like that, that's just not even in the same ballpark. Nobody wants personal responsibility anymore, let somebody else make my decisions for me and tell me what to do and when and how and how not, that way I don't have to take responsibility if it goes wrong, I can set back and say well they're the ones who decided it had to be that way, it's not MY fault. SOME people were taught that if you are gonna dance, sooner or later you gotta pay the band. SOME people want to dance and have the other guy pay the band, and SOME people would just as soon NOBODY got to dance and wish the band would shut the hell up and go away, guess which bunch me and Mom belong to.

[Lazy Bear]

This was copied and pasted, but I read it years ago and it is quite thought provoking. When I read it I think about individual right's eroding one at a time to different fractions of society as to not offend the masses at one time. Like separate and conquere a group at a time

There was a Chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class.One day while the class was in the lab the Prof. noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting Communists in his native country, who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new Communist government.In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question: ' Do you know how to catch wild pigs ?' The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke. 'You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn.When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America . The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc.While we continually lose our freedoms - a little at a time. One should always remember 'There is no such thing as a free lunch!