First

First mate!

Old story. The real story is the law pending in Virginia to ban smoking in bars and restaurants. In case you didn't know, Virginia is kind of into their smoking.

You used another contraction. SEN, can you find it?

Smoking is banned in Austin and Dallas, but douchebags at bars and lounges are still smoking anyways.

"However, the pro-health laws have had a harder time down south where people get all hot and bothered when the government tries to tell 'em what to do."

Except about consensual sodomy or what neighborhoods black people can live in.

The laws come up in Va every year. The Senate passes them, the House of Delegates does not.

well done, 10:25. well done

This writing. It. Is. So. Choppy. That. It. Hurts. My. Brain.

A proposed smoking ban was just killed by the Va. legislature.
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-02-08-0155.html
When I first moved to Richmond, we had the "Tobacco Festival" parade (now the "Harvest" parade). Smoking was permitted in high schools in the designated smoking areas - supposedly you had to be 16, but no one cared. (OT: you could bring your hunting rifle to school, too, as long as you left it in your truck.) Tobacco was the heart of Virginia's economy for perhaps two centuries and smoking bans are not well received here. I imagine NC is much the same.

A proposed smoking ban was just killed by the Va. legislature.
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-02-08-0155.html
When I first moved to Richmond, we had the "Tobacco Festival" parade (now the "Harvest" parade). Smoking was permitted in high schools in the designated smoking areas - supposedly you had to be 16, but no one cared. (OT: you could bring your hunting rifle to school, too, as long as you left it in your truck.) Tobacco was the heart of Virginia's economy for perhaps two centuries and smoking bans are not well received here. I imagine NC is much the same.

MONICA LEWINSKY

IMPEACHMENT

WELFARE "REFORM"

DON'T ASK DON'T TELL

WHITEWATER

NANNYGATE

WACO SLAUGHTER

TRAVELGATE

PAULA JONES

VINCE FOSTER

REPUBLICAN REVOLUTION

GEORGE W. BUSH

IRAQ WAR

Ron Paul would allow smoking.

I don't know about other NYC-ers, but I found a local bar that will tolerate smoking after midnight. Is this a trend?

"DC caught up in January of 2007."

I don't think you really need the "of."

11:25, there are plenty of small neighborhood or "local" bars that fudge the smoking laws in the wee hours. Especially south of 14th street.

So much for the free market, huh? Banning smoking seems to be all the rage, but simply not frequenting establishments that allow smoking... well, that is clearly too much to ask. After all, we need to protect people from themselves. They are too stupid to make choices and therefore the government should do it for them.

Just going to throw this out there: IF YOU DON'T LIKE SMOKING, DON'T GO TO PLACES THAT ALLOW IT!!! And if your favorite places allow it, well, guess what? The free market spoke and you lost! Keep your laws off my body!

This Blog Sucks. What a Stupid f-ing post

You can smoke a peace pipe on an indian reservation still, right?

Can I still get my pole smoked in Chelsea (NYC) or Meat Packing?

no smoking in restaurants/bars in philly or NJ. philly's law also bans smoking at outdoor tables, which strikes me as silly.

in this case, i'm not particularly comfortable with the law, but i like the result.

I think the law is in the way of the free market... the free market says we should beat down any smoker on the street with a billy club... but there are laws against that. SO FREE THE MARKET.

'Ville passed a smoking ban, exempted Churchill Downs. Challenged in state court, court held exemption unconstitutional. Another judge struck down the entire ordinance, holding that the Downs exemption was not severable, and so whole ordinace had to go. Smoking permitted for about 1 week in December. City immediately passed another, no exemptions. Now, no smoking.

11:37 is a weak, addicted moron. If you want to smoke, DO IT OUTSIDE!!! Why should I have to inhale your second hand smoke that is doing nothing but slowly killing us both? Since there is NO social benefit to smoking and A LOT of social harm, the law should come out on the side of the non-smokers.

The reasoning behind the law isn't to tell you what you can and cannot do to yourself. It's to tell you what you can and cannot do to other people - namely, harm them with second hand smoke! I' not allowed to walk up to you in a bar and punch you in the face, so why should you be allowed to blow carcinogens in mine?

Tennessee has banned smoking but the law is unenforced.

My boss smoke in the office all the time. It's no big deal

11:18
Under Ron Paul, we'd all be taking home more money.

10:25...really? laws about where black people can live..

show it or stop being a dick

10:25...really? laws about where black people can live..

show it or stop being a dick

__________________________________

Yeah! Prove all that history stuff or stop being a dick!

The city of Chicago banned smoking years ago but Emperor... er Mayor Daley refused to enforce it.

The State of Illinois stepped in and passed a ban on smoking in the entire state. It went into effect on Jan. 1 (picture this... site, a bar. Time, New Years Eve, 11:59PM: Sorry baby, no time for a kiss, I gotta get this last drag in before it's criminal!).

We'll have to wait until the summer to see what the bars w/ patios or storefronts that open up do (here in the Chi a good number of dinking establishments without patios at least have storefronts that open completely, a la those in Europe, to take advantage of the 3 months that the weather is not miserable).

As an ex-smoker/ drunk smoker, I like the ban from personal standpoint (hair/ clothes don't reek, dry cleaning bill severely reduced), but think it's totally indefensible from a legal standpoint.

Enforcing morality/ public health = slippery slope. What's next- no more Whoppers with cheese?

1:42, when you eat your whopper with cheese, you're only hurting yourself. But when you smoke in a bar, there is a tangible harm to OTHER people - that's the significant difference.

How can anyone think that a smoking ban is "indefensible?" Smokers blow poison into the air! Cigarette smoke hurts people who don't smoke and you think it's indefensible to ban it? What are you, a tobacco lobbyist?

why don't you blog about something more interesting....like the cocaine use among Bama 1Ls and 2Ls

So should we ban transfats too? I mean come one, they kill tons of people. But, I concede, they only harm the person that consumes them. What about loud music at concerts? After all, if the music is too loud and you are around it too often it can damage your hearing. (much like smoking can damage your lungs if you are around it too often) You people that liken smoking to a nuisance need to go back to law school. It isn't like a factory spewing pollution onto other people's property. YOU make A CHOICE whether or not to go to places where smoking is allowed. If YOU CHOOSE to go to a place that allows smoking, THEN HOW THE HELL CAN YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT IT?

If you step into a boxing ring and get punched, you can't sue the other boxer. If you step into a bar that allows smoking, you can't sue the smoker for nuisance. You people are the ones that choose to put yourself in an atmosphere where people smoke. I think the more defensible rule would be one that bans smoking in public places (e.g., streets, parks) and allows it in private establishments (e.g., bars). You can choose whether to go into the bar (and then bitch about how smoky it is), but you have to get to work somehow (e.g., walking down the street).

Do you guys use these same weak arguments in the courtroom? How is smoking in a bar comparable to the tort of battery for getting punched? You choose to go to a bar that allows smoking. Presumably, if you chose to go to a bar that allowed fighting, you would not have a claim for battery because you couldn’t very well claim it was an “unwanted touching.” You would have knowingly put yourself into a position where punching was allowed and you knew that you would probably get punched (whether you like it or not). I’m sure a baseball player doesn’t like getting hit with the occasional pitch, but he knows that is part of the territory and he therefore does not have a claim for battery. If you don’t like smoking in bars, go down the street to the bar where smoking isn’t allowed.

The free market doesn't account well for disabilities. I wish it had resulted in a split between smoking and non-smoking bars, but it usually resulted in watching DVDs at home while my coworkers went out, without even the ability to choose a place where I could join them. The laws have made this asthmatic's life dramatically different.

I can't believe that no one has pointed out these laws exist primarily for the employees of the restaurants and bars. It seems bad policy to argue that part of choosing to bar-tend or waitress is conceding to breathing problems, etc.

The key word in 6:27's post is CHOOSING. By choosing to be a bartender or waiter/tress in a smoking establishment, you are chosing to expose yourself to smoke. If you don't like the smoke choose a different career. FREE MARKET. Just because the market efficiently allocates goods in a manner that you do not agree with doesn't mean that you should be able to impose your views upon owners of private establishments.

I want Lat back - all these stories are boring. How about something scandalous!

Smokers in a bar are like little kids who pee in the swimming pool!

And who left this SEN chick in charge? ATL is making me yawn today.