Anti-Smoking Fascists Take Aim at the Homeless

I've argued for years with many of my leftie friends over whether or not smoking bans are fascist. I've always thought they were just too stupid to understand the implications of the policies they support. Lately, I've been realizing that they understand the implications all too well. They're fascist and proud. Case in point:

[The city of] Berkeley figures it's found a way to get homeless people off the streets. Keep them from smoking there.

As Mayor Tom Bates sees it, the alcoholics, meth addicts and the like who make up a good portion of the homeless population on Shattuck Avenue downtown and Telegraph Avenue on the south side of the UC Berkeley campus "almost always smoke." And because smoking bans are the hot ticket these days for California cities, why not meld the two as part of a "comprehensive package" for dealing with the street problem that Bates says "has gone over the top"? In this case, vagrants could be cited for taking a drag on the town's main drags.

[...]

So far, Bates' ideas seem to be fitting fine with the Berkeley mind-set. When the smoking ban came up for discussion before the City Council last week, it was smooth sailing."I don't see anyone on the council voting against it,'' said Councilman Kriss Worthington. "In fact, it's possible that some council members would ban smoking throughout the entire city."

More here.