I just read that Calabasas, CA has become the first city to ban smoking in a public place ... period. Honestly, I couldn't be more disgusted in their decision or embarrassed to say Californians made it. I went to high school just down the road from this city and my family is still there, so from my repeated experiences there, I can't say I'm surprised. I understand that indoor smoking is harmful and annoying so I get the premise behind those bans - even if I think they are too draconian. But seriously, this time they are taking the whole smoking ban idea just a little too far.
But the California legislature ruled second hand smoke to be a toxic air pollutant and a public nuisance, so that makes it ok...right?
Um... no!
Because you see, secondhand smoke is not nearly the same as diesel exhaust, arsenic, or benzene, all compounds found within the same category secondhand smoke has now been placed. Lobbying groups are citing studies linking secondhand smoke exposure to breast cancer, but what about the studies that show more than 35-40% of women that develop lung cancer have never touched a cigarette? Is one person smoking outdoors so potent that it should really be considered poisonous? Even a group of people smoking together outside, is it really that terrible?
No, it's not. However, the lawmakers of this city are so rude and arrogant that they must be controlling of others' behavior instead of asking people to be responsible for their own.
What ever happened to the ability to get up and move away from the smoke? Or letting businesses decide for themselves whether they will allow smoking on their outdoor patios? Are we really the kind of society that feels the need to isolate and ostracize people, simply because they smoke?
Last I checked really drunk people were a public nuisance too - but we still let establishments decide for themselves whether they will apply for a liquor license, don't we?
What is our country coming to when we feel the need to legislate every bit of individual behavior? I miss when Americans had a pair and could simply act like adults instead of running to Daddy Lawmaker every time someone else got a little annoying.
Posted by Princess Cat at March 20, 2006 08:43 PM @ 08:43 PM in Political Punts // Permalink | TrackBackFor California....it does not surprise me! San Francisco banned smokeless tobacco any & everywhere there little more than a year ago.
It really is not a health issue but is presented as one to the gullible public. It is about personal liberty and individual rights being curbed and halted to please a few.
It has in some areas in Texas become an economic issue when smoking be was banned in restaurants and bars. Some of those establishments did find their "pair" and had the ban removed or satisfied requirements to allow it.
Posted by: Marcus at March 21, 2006 09:01 AMSmoking bans indoors, I am fantastically happy with. The problem being that you don't have a choice if you're inside, except for the obvious, "Well don't go in there" option, which isn't really a choice at all.
Banning smoking outside, that's too much.
Posted by: Tilesey at March 21, 2006 02:22 PMJust makes me want to fly out to California and light up in protest...
Posted by: Harvey at March 21, 2006 05:29 PMDidn't some of the nitwits out there just ban handguns so a law abiding citizen can't protect theirself too? What we've always said in the South, "California, what ain't fruits and nuts are flakes." The "good people" need to move out of California and leave all the moonbats to pass idiotic laws on themselves.
Posted by: assrot at March 21, 2006 06:49 PM