Blowing Smoke In The Man's Face

Let's hear it for Sandusky, Ohio, bar owner Paul Hauke, who came up with a novel way of protesting his state's vaguely-worded smoking ban.

As part owner of Sandusky watering holes Boze’s Bar and Lake Wilmer Inn, he’s awaiting two hearings for repeat smoking violations that allegedly occurred at those bars.

A nonsmoker, he said he lit up in the health department’s lobby to prove the smoking ban unfairly penalizes business owners because it fails to offer them any means to make patrons stop smoking.

***

“I lit up a cigarette, and the lady told me to put it out or she’d call the police,” Hauke said. “I said, ‘go ahead and call them, because I ain’t putting it out.’”

Erie County health commissioner Pete Schade said Hauke was belligerent when asked to extinguish the butt.

“He continued to puff away,” Schade said, adding that Hauke pontificated on everything that was wrong with the smoking ban, Erie County and the state.

Hauke also threatened to call a state hotline to file a complaint against Erie County Health Department for permitting a smoking violation -- his own, Schade said.

Read the whole Sandusky Register story here. Youtube video of Phil Harris singing the classic tune Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette here.

It's for the Kids...And One Self-Righetous Douche Bag of a Lawmaker

News from the Free State:

A Maryland lawmaker hopes to pass a bill that would prohibit people from smoking while driving young children around.

Montgomery County Sen. Mike Lenett is sponsoring a measure that would fine people who smoke in the car while driving children under the age of 8. Drivers would also be fined if they allow another passenger to smoke in the car while in the presence of children under the age of 8. Lenett's bill sets a $50 fine for violations.

Seven senators have agreed to co-sponsor the legislation.

My takeaway? According to this proposed legislation, the great state of Maryland would condone lung cancer for kids over the age of 8. The outrage of it all!

Smoking Ban Saves 75,000 Kiwis and 300,000 Sheep

OK, so I made up the sheep figure, but I figure if the New Zealand government can make up figures like "75,000 people" saved from smoking ban than a lazy blogger from Baltimore can say it saved 300,000 sheep.

Banning smoking in bars and restaurants has saved the lives of more than 75,000 Kiwis, the Health Ministry says.
Since the introduction of the legislation in December 2004, there are now 150,000 fewer smokers - bringing the total smoking population down to less than 20 per cent.

Ministry national director of tobacco control Ashley Bloomfield said half of the smokers who had quit in the past three-and-a-half years would have died as a result of their smoking.

Classic. They claim that half of the smokers that quit would have died from smoking related causes. Which, unless we are counting car accidents, drownings, strokes, getting struck by lightning, etc as "smoking related" deaths; the 75,000 figure sounds not only silly, but impossible.

Full story here.

Translation: After 3 Years Americans Will Do Anything They're Told

Iowa becomes the newest smoke-free state starting tomorrow:

The state expects to make roughly 800 "compliance checks" during the first year of a statewide smoking ban scheduled to take effect Tuesday, but that number should drop to nearly zero within two years.

Bonnie Mapes, a division director in the Iowa Department of Public Health, told state Board of Health members Friday that her office expects 3,000 to 4,000 complaints about public smoking during the first year of the new ban. But only 800 or so of those complaints should require someone to visit the location in question, she said.

Based on the experiences of other states, site visits in response to complaints should drop by half in the second year, Mapes said: "By the third year, it's a community norm and virtually nothing needs to be done."

State board members on Friday approved 13 pages of rules governing how the smoking ban, approved by the Iowa Legislature in April, will be implemented beginning Tuesday.

Amazing...What can't 3 years and 13 pages of regulation accomplish?

You Were Warned

I'm not going to name names, but you (so-called) "progressive" supporters of DC's smoking ban were warned that banning smoking in bars was a stepping stone to banning smoking completely. The trendsetter state California takes it to the next level.

SACRAMENTO -- Already barred from lighting up in restaurants, theaters and the office, Californians may also be banned from smoking in their apartments under a proposal passed by the state Senate on Thursday.The measure would allow landlords to prohibit smoking in apartment buildings they own to protect nonsmoking tenants from secondhand smoke.

Sure landlords should be able to set their own rules, but this is the first legislative step to mandating that every apartment building be smoke-free. I give that kind of legislation another couple of years before it's the law of the land. Smoke while you still can, my friends.

Casino Workers "Tired of Gambling with Their Lives", Finally "Hit Jackpot"

Tighter smoking restrictions to be levied against Atlantic City casinos:

ATLANTIC CITY (AP) — Ending a battle of more than a year, the City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to ban smoking on the gambling floor at all 11 Atlantic City casinos, starting on Oct. 15.

In a 9-to-0 vote, the Council did away with the last major loophole to a tough statewide ban on smoking in public buildings that had exempted gambling halls.

But patrons will still be able to light up in smoking lounges away from the gambling tables and slot machines, if the individual casinos choose to build them.

More on the "victory" from the only guy in America who choose his job because of the cool, verbal word play he gets to use.

“The employees of Atlantic City’s casinos have hit a jackpot of their own tonight,” said Dr. Arnold M. Baskies, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society in New Jersey and New York.

“Hard-working casino employees have been keeping Atlantic City’s multibillion-dollar casino industry on a roll, but have been gambling with their lives for far too long,” Dr. Baskies said.

Whatever, it was only a matter of time before this conclusion was reached. Besides, the battle in New Jersey wasn't nearly as much fun to watch as the smoking-ban battles on Indian land, where Indian tribes have essentially said fuck you to state legislatures. I'm not sure how long they can hold out, or if it even matters in a few years when no one in this country smokes anymore, but in the meantime it's kinda fun to watch Nannies vs Indians.

Are There Any Smokers Left in California?

Berkeley:

The Berkeley City Council has taken another step to protect residents from second-hand smoke by approving the first reading of an ordinance that will expand the number of commercial areas in the city that prohibit smoking.

The ordinance, which was approved unanimously by council members at a Tuesday night meeting, will expand on an already existing ordinance that prohibits smoking in certain commercial areas, said Julie Sinai, chief of staff to the mayor.

The Public Commons for Everyone Initiative was passed by the City Council in November and expanded previous smoking ordinances to include 16 designated streets and commercial areas where smoking would be prohibited, city senior management analyst Lauren Lempert said.

However, the city found that enforcing and properly notifying the public of those designated areas was more complex than city officials anticipated, Sinai said. Officials decided to expand the ordinance to include all commercial areas in the city.

The Public Commons for Everyone (Except Smokers) Initiative, might be a better name.

By far though my favorite statement comes from the Mayor of Berkeley, Tom I Hate Freedom Bates:

"Strong tobacco prevention and control policies will move us closer to developing a tobacco-free future for all Berkeleyans," Bates added.

You could make a joke about what other (insert habit here)-free future these tools want; but the sad fact of the matter is that it wouldn't be a joke...Full story here.

In a Bar in Baltimore and Need a Smoke? Walk to Pennsylvania

150 feet is a long ways away. Contrast 150 feet to the standard 15 feet distance that some smoke-free municipalities demand in their bans.

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Banished smokers taking nicotine breaks outside bars in one of Baltimore City’s trendy neighborhoods are being told to move or face fines and arrest for loitering, bar owners said.

Hampden bar owners said they were shocked last week when police began warning patrons to move 150 feet away from the entrance of bars they were patronizing or face loitering charges.

“Loitering has always been a legitimate problem in the neighborhood that we couldn’t get police to deal with,” said Benn Ray, owner of Atomic Books and head of the Hampden Village Merchants Association.

“So why all of sudden is the Police Department being aggressive with smokers when they haven’t been enforcing loitering laws for 10 years?”

Maybe not in Hampden, but in the grimier neighborhoods of Baltimore, police in the past have had little problem in strictly enforcing the loitering laws. More:

At Frazier’s, a popular Hampden hangout, day manager Tabrina Sherman said the message police gave to patrons smoking outside her bar was clear.

“They were told they need to move 150 feet away or they will be fined first and arrested the second time.”

City officials said enforcing loitering laws has grown trickier since the statewide smoking ban went into effect Feb. 1.

“Particularly in front of bars where there have been a history of problems, we have asked patrols to be aggressive to enforce the loitering laws; however, the smoking ban changes the dynamic,” said Sterling Clifford, spokesman for the Police Department.

“This is an unintended consequence of two well-intentioned laws.”

Predictable. Every single bit of it. And it will only get worse has smokers adjust their habits and began to smoke as much as they were pre-ban once they get used to going outside for a smoke. Residents will start complaining about the increased noise in the early morning hours, and before you know it I'll be forced to smoke on a barge in the Patapsco River. Which minus the fish-kills and dead bodies, I'm sure would be a lovely experience.

Full article here.

John Hemminghaus, This Camel's For You

Earlier today, I found via Hit&Run an interesting debate on civil disobedience. Here's Arnold Kling arguing in favor. Here's Kenneth Silber taking him on. And here's Kling's "Re:Re:" Tonight, ironically, I found a story of a guy from my former home state testing the waters of this civil disobedience thing.

WEST FRANKFORT - A call from authorities hasn't halted one West Frankfort man's plans to host a peaceful protest against the state's recently implemented Smoke-Free laws.

John Hemminghaus has been passing out flyers and making phone calls to invite as many people as he can reach to a March 1 event he is calling a "Smoke In."

"This country was founded on civil disobedience," Hemminghaus said in a previous interview. "It has gotten to where, now, people are afraid to get into trouble. It kind of makes me mad that everybody has turned into cowards."

Monday afternoon, Hemminghaus said he was recently contacted by Williamson County State's Attorney Chuck Garnati in regards to his plans."

Chuck said I would be taken into custody and get a $2,500 fine," he said. "Nobody I know can find where anybody in Illinois has been arrested yet." [...] He said Garnati told him that law enforcement would be present at his event if he couldn't be talked out of hosting the rally.

So if Hemminghaus is correct, nobody has been arrested for violating the Illinois ban to date. But one guy tries to publicize his plans to exercise his property rights and organize some people, and the State's Attorney feels the need to whip it out and swing it around a bit.

As for fines and punishment he might face, Hemminghaus said he will skip vacation to spend his money on the cause he backs, even though he stopped smoking about five years ago.
[...]

Hemminghaus said others are also on his side, including several other non-smokers. The man is so determined to have his point heard he has posted a large sign in the front yard of his business, which reads "My Place, My Choice, Smoking Allowed."

Very nice. Although a southern Illinois dissenter isn't likely to make the headlines, I'll keep an eye out for what happens to the guy. I have a feeling that if he's fined $2,500, he won't have a problem getting donations to cover it, even in a sparsely-populated area of Illinois. Best wishes, John Hemminghaus.

My previous post on the Illinois smoking ban here.

Illinois Smoking Ban

During my vacation trip back to the US last week, I went to Peoria, Illinois, to visit some college friends. It was also my first time back in IL since the state-wide smoking ban took effect. The ban was written in such a way that, basically, nobody understands what the fuck is going on. My attempt, via Google, to find out exactly what is the enforcement policy, was fruitless.

The Smoke Free Illinois Act is apparently more bark than bite at the moment.

The St. Clair County Health Department has decided not to issue tickets until the law is better defined. The Madison County Health Department, although not saying it won’t issue tickets, has not written any either.

Officials in both counties cite the need for the law to be better defined by either the Illinois Department of Public Heath or Illinois General Assembly, or the act itself written in a way that includes a more active means of enforcement. “At this point in time we are not issuing tickets. We are offering owners and managers the opportunity to do voluntary enforcement in order to follow the law,” said Barb Hohlt, director of health protection at the St. Clair County Health Department.

The bar owner from O'Fallon, Illinois, whom I talked to said that he is enforcing the ban... but basically because he isn't sure whether or not he can get fined for allowing people to smoke in his bar. And from what I've heard from friends, the bars in the cities and suburbs are enforcing the ban while the more rural bars (and there are plenty in Illinois) are ignoring the ban, for the most part.

In Peoria, Illinois, my college town, the ban was being enforced. And while I haven't been in Peoria often enough recently to be able to tell whether the smoking ban has affected bar business, the bar I went to downtown definitely was taking advantage of it. In the case of that particular bar, if you arrived at the bar before the cover charge went into effect and you went outside to smoke later on, they'd demand the cover charge on your way back in. Of course, the bar certainly has the right to do this on its own property, but it was frustrating for both the unsuspecting smokers and the staff member at the door.

So the ambiguities of the Illinois ban could result in either a breakdown of the ban or a tightening of the regulations. Unfortunately, I suspect it will be the latter. But I was glad to hear far more opposition to the ban in Illinois than I ever heard in my current home state of Washington.

Still, though, it looks pretty much certain that smoking will soon be banned everywhere in the US besides your own non-commercial property. Some towns are even closing in on that. So now I guess it's just a matter of when, not if.

2015? 2025?

Mississippi Pols Seek to Ban Restaurants from Serving Obese Patrons

The slippery slope. Government-mandated smoking bans created it and every pro-ban advocate said it would never happen, that it was just about smoking. But smoking bans transferred to government the authority to control one's personal choices in the name of public health. As anti-ban supporters feared and warned, the government will not stop at smoking. And they have not and will not.

Three Mississippi pols introduced a bill in the state legislature that would make it illegal for restaurants to serve patrons who are obese. While it has a slim, not obese, chance at passing, the bill is a chilling reminder of what is at stake when we transfer personal decisions to the government from the individual. The bill can be found at thesmokinggun.com here. An excerpt:

The State Department of Health shall prepare written materials that describe and explain the criteria for determining whether a person is obese, and shall provide those materials to all food establishments to which this section applies. A food establish shall be entitled to rely on the criteria for obesity in those written materials when it is determined whether or not it is allowed to serve food to any person.

Think it will stop there?

The Last Gasp of Freedom

I know we have a few Baltimore readers out there.... Wherever you are in city, be sure to take advantage of your last night (until midnight) to light up in bars. As of Feb 1st, Baltimore begins to lose the Charm in Charm City, and joins the crowd of non-smoking cities. I may be overly emotional in this time of mourning, but to my mind I can't think of a smokier city in our country than Baltimore. Any nominations for a smokier city? Maybe Savannah? I'll even take pre-ban nominations...

Anyways, I'll probably be at Mick O'Shea's in 3 hours time enjoying my last few hours of freedom. I'll be the guy with a cigar in one hand and a cigarette in the other, wondering how I'm going to explain to my kids that you were once able to smoke in bars...

I Was Against It Before I Was for It

Huckabee steps back from his previous calls for a national smoking ban.

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has reversed his position on a federal ban aimed at workplace smoking and now believes the issue should be addressed by state and local governments.


The about-face is apparent in a Huckabee campaign statement, sent to The Hill Tuesday evening in response to questions about the smoking ban proposal. It clashes with the stance Huckabee has taken during his race for the White House and with his record as governor of Arkansas, when he signed into law a measure prohibiting smoking in most indoor public places.

Way back in August, when Mike Huckabee was still trying to break onto the national scene, I watched the Arkansas Governor on MSNBC call for a national smoking ban. My initial take on what he said, here.

Anti-Libertarian Wins Arlington County Head Council Seat

Campaigning on a platform of banning trans-fats and smoking, requiring property owners who sell their property to pay for the relocation of their tenants and also generally hating cars, Walter Tejada became Arlington Board Chairman on New Year's Day. From today's Wa Post:

Tejada (D) said he would encourage restaurants to ban the use of trans fat in foods, seek to eliminate smoking in public places and require property owners to pay relocation assistance to low-income tenants who are displaced. The county also will urge residents to give up their cars to save money and reduce greenhouse gases.

All of us who believed that smoking bans were the first step in a slippery slope of government control of personal choices were, basically, right.

Tejada says he would "encourage" but if you read the article he is doing everything in his power to coerce and ban through the strong arm of the law.

"A lot of people in our community would be inclined to go to restaurants that don't use trans fats."

I agree with this point, but come out completely opposite of Tejada: let patrons make their own decisions and there is no need for government control of patrons' choices.

I won't even go into the assault on property rights that he is proposing.

The Smoking Preperations Begin

A depressing article in the Sun, on what bar owners are doing to keep their smokers post-ban.

Smoking Back at DC's Aroma Bar

In a victory against the Nanny State, patrons are again allowed to smoke at DC's Aroma, a quiet hip bar in Cleveland Park. That was my favorite watering hole to park up to, ask awesome bartender Krishna which martini I should drink, light up and read the City Paper. I haven't been back since the ban, and neither have a lot of their other customers.

Alas, it took Aroma to almost go out of business to get the exemption. From Wa Post's Going Out Gurus:

A friend and I went to Aroma last night to say goodbye to longtime bartender Krishna Ramsundar, and as we walked in, we took in the aroma. It wasn't because we were caught up in the moment -- it was because we smelled the fragrant odor of burning tobacco. Ashtrays were scattered across the bar, a guy lit up a celebratory cigar and, later, one man wandered in while puffing away on a pipe.

For a moment, we felt like we were in some 2006 bizarro world. Was this the patrons' way of saying goodbye to Krishna, a bartender who likes the occasional smoke break while working? Was this a critical mass-style protest against the city-wide smoking ban?

Hardly. All the puffing away was completely legal, because Aroma is the first D.C. bar to receive a hardship exemption from the city's Department of Health.

In the six months after the smoking ban began, Aroma's owners say, business fell at least 20 percent from the year before. "Aroma was set up as a cigar bar, and [smoking] was pretty core to its identity," explains Curt Large, the chief operating officer of Bedrock Management, Aroma's parent company. Once smokers could no longer enjoy a cigar or cigarette with their cocktails or cognac, he says, they simply stopped coming.

Cities Move to Ban Outdoor Smoking

Yes, smoking kills smokers, that is indisputable. But there is zero proof that taking a whiff of passive smoke outdoors does anything more than annoy the person who smells it. Yet cities left and right are banning outdoor smoking based on not only unproven but disproven "health concerns." Playground bans feature prominently, as who could oppose "protecting the children?"

Chicago is the latest to bring out the playground theme with its new proposal:

the Chicago Park District is considering a smoking ban that would clear the air at every park, playground and beach in Chicago..."I have a lot of sympathy for smokers, but not when second-hand smoke affects the health of other people," Park District Superintendent Tim Mitchell said.

The prohibition goes on: Oakland today banned outdoor smoking. LA this summer banned smoking at playgrounds as did Calabasas, which also banned it on streets, sidewalks, parks and common areas of condominiums, after already banning it in any home that shares a wall with another home.

Honestly, I don't like the smell of smoke of the sidewalk, but much of that that push to the sidewalk is a direct result of banning it where it could be contained, i.e. in bars that one can avoid.

Smoke While You Still Can

Banning smoking in bars won't lead to full-scale tobacco prohibition. Nope. Sure won't. No reason to believe that. No slippery slope there.

California motorists will risk fines of up to $100 next year if they are caught smoking in cars with minors, making their state the third to protect children in vehicles from secondhand smoke.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday signed a bill that will make it an infraction to smoke in a vehicle if someone under age 18 is present. But the traffic stop would have to be made for another offense, such as speeding or an illegal turn, before the driver could be cited for smoking.

Ha ha. Remember when they said seat belt laws would only be enforced if drivers were pulled over for another reason? That lasted about a year and then states gave the police the authority to waste valuable time pulling people over for nothing more than not wearing a seat belt.

More on California's latest assault on freedom here. And I predict a ban on smoking in your own apartment or condo will be California law within a year.

TtP to Mike Huckabee: Smokers are God's Children Too

Mike Huckabee just called for a national smoking ban similar to what we see at the state and local levels now. Really, no one should be surprised by this. I'm sure he believes in it (he did it in Arkansas and his entire nanny-stater resume is impeccable), and I'm sure he thought it was a bold-move-that-wasn't-really-a-bold-move. You know, attract attention without saying something along the lines of "Let's get the fuck out of Iraq right now."

Here's what he had to say:

1. Said he would not only sign the law if Congress brought it to him, but that he would encourage it.
   
2. Get this---He's not for banning smoking in bars and restaurants, because that's a consumer issue. But he's for banning smoking in bars and restaurants under the guise of a workplace safety issue. To simplify -- He's for banning smoking anywhere more than 3 people work. Including bars and restaurants. I now vaguely remember this douche bag doing the same double talk while trying to pass the Arkansas smoking ban.
   
3. It's a workplace issue....I quote him "[...]for the same reason that we don't let people pour radon gas into a workplace, is the same reason we shouldn't allow people to pour the toxic nauseous fumes of a cigarette into a place where people have to work.
   
4. Again, I quote "We know without a doubt that secondhand smoke is deadly"
   

Here's what Huckabee had to say last year at the signing ceremony for the Arkansas bill:

"This is not a bill against smokers, and I want to make that clear," Huckabee said at the bill-signing ceremony at the state Capitol. "This is a bill for people who, for their own reasons, whether it's health, or just personal, choose not to smoke."

Video here. NYT article on Huckabee and his do-goodness here. More on the Arkansas ban here. Related video of Huckabee claiming you're the idiot for not believing the Earth was made 6,000 years ago in 6 days by God, here.

San Francisco is Liberal, But It Still Offers a Lot of Fun for the Libertarian Traveler

I just got back from another lost and wonderful weekend in San Francisco. The city has a lot of annoying qualities, like the signs in restaurants that warn that crystal glasses are harmful to pregnant women, but it is still a great party town if you like food and wine like I do.

In SF, liquor stores are open till 2AM. Wow. And just about every little crummy corner bodega has a great stock of local wine, beer and booze. You can even buy those little airplane bottles of liquor (a great way to cheat an expensive bar by bringing your own) one at a time and there are no laws banning the single sale of beers. To boot, liquor can be sold seven days a week. In contrast, DC liquor stores close at 9PM, are not open on Sundays and you have to buy at least six of the little airplane bottles and single sales of beer are outlawed increasingly in DC.

There is also a Dyonisian attitude that the Bay Area has that is without parallel, as everyone who moved there moved there because of the food and wine. On Saturday morning friends picked me up at my hotel in a battered Cadillac limo driven by an elderly gay gentleman. We drove to Sonoma to "Farm Day" at Preston Vineyards. It was barely noon but a pipe with locally grown pot was going around with a bottle of champagne. Then we spent the afternoon at the vineyard drinking wine and eating food they grew on the grounds.

The high/low light for me personally was that after all of the California wonderfulness and Preston Vineyards Farm Day I had to have a fucking cigarette, which in California is a very controversial thing. So when the battered limo pulled into a service station on the way back to SF I bought a pack and lit up in the back seat. An outraged employee of the service station actually took the ciggie from my lips, calling me an asshole as I was near a gas pump. Oh well. DC also banned smoking but people in DC are not nearly so anti-smoking as are Californians, a big negative there, though I don't endorse smoking at gas pumps unless you are as tipsy as I was and just couldn't wait.

Dutch Smoking Ban Follow Up

I had said a few weeks back I would send a e-mail to a friend or two in Amsterdam to gauge the local reaction to the impending smoking ban. Then I forgot...remembered about a week later, and then forgot again. Rob's life story. Just ask my ex-girlfriend about her abortion. Note: Cards and flowers do not make up for a missed abortion appointment. Neither does the offer to pay for 2/3. I know, surprising.

But this time it didn't matter. A former Dutch co-worker who lives in Amsterdam e-mailed me about something totally unrelated to smoking, so I took the chance to ask about the reaction of the residents in the notoriously smoke-friendly city. She didn't have much to say, and most likely welcomed the ban. Here's the short, relevant bit:

People are ok about the smoking ban, they understand why it's passed. There is still some fuss about the smoking ban in coffee shops, which needs to be resolved. But then this week the discussion started about installing a smoking bans on all schools and colleges thruout the country and that gave the discussion a fresh impulse! (And probably took away the attention to the ban for cafes and restaurants!)

Ironic that another ban drew the attention away from the initial ban. Always another battle to be fought.

Terrorist Beware

From the Daily Mash, it's worth a laugh:

TWO men who drove a lit car into the main concourse at Glasgow Airport are to be charged under Scotland's tough anti-smoking laws.

The attackers were caught on CCTV as they lit-up a four litre Jeep Cherokee and then allowed it to burn in an enclosed public place.

Eyewitness Janice Bramble, 34, from Girvan, said: "Not only was the car emitting smoke but one of the men lit-up a petrol bomb right in front of me.

"It's incredibly rude. Why I should have to go home with my clothes stinking of petrol bombs?"

Via Andrew Stuttaford.

Don't Give the Nannies Any Ideas

Via Instapundit somes this from Micheal Yon in Iraq:

Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) had tarnished its name here by publicly attacking and murdering children, videotaping beheadings, all while imposing harsh punishments on Iraqi civilians found guilty of violating morality laws prohibiting activities like smoking. The AQI installed Sharia court had sanctioned the amputation of the two “smoking fingers” for those who violated anti-smoking laws. In part because local sentiment was shifting against it, AQI synthesized with other groups and undertook an image makeover, christening itself “The Islamic State of Iraq.” But the new name was just lipstick on a pig here.

On the evening of the 24th I spoke with a local Iraqi official, Colonel Faik, who said the Muftis would order the severance of the two fingers used to hold a cigarette for any Iraqis caught smoking. Other reports, from here in Diyala and also in Anbar, allege that smokers are murdered by AQI. Most Iraqis smoke and this particular prohibition appeared to have earned the ire of many locals.

Whole thing here.

Dutch Smoking Ban

The comprehensive Dutch smoking ban, that will cover coffee shops (more or less), is getting a lot of coverage, so I thought I'd link back to my recent post-Amsterdam post. I don't have a whole lot to add to it, other than I have sent an email or two to some Dutch friends in Amsterdam for a sense on how the locals are receiving it. I'll post the relevant bits when I hear back. My initial reaction is everyone knew this was coming and I'm skeptical of the folks who say the ban won't have teeth. The Dutch may think they are unique to rest of the world, and they certainly have cause to think they are, but when it comes to this....I'm not so sure they are any different from the rest of the smoke-free world.

You Can Still Smoke..Just Not Anywhere You Want To

The entirety of a draconian smoking ban (all bans are, but this one is particularly offensive) in Howard County, Maryland went into effect today. The county rolled out the first stages of the ban last summer; banning smoking in every imaginable public place, including a truck stop on I-95 and within 15 feet of doorways. Effective today every other private establishment lost the right to allow smokers in their property. I love this quote from one of the bullies who led the charge for the ban.

Mark Breaux, president of the Smoke Free Howard County Coalition that pushed hard for the new law, was up the street in another, quieter pub.

"These are predictable responses," he said. "People knew this law was going into effect. We're happy to have it here. In a few years, people won't even remember you could smoke in bars

Telling statement...

Full article here.

WHO Calls for Worldwide Smoking Ban

The World Health Organization yesterday called for a worldwide ban on indoor smoking. Smokers and others concerned with individual rights needn't worry, though.

"This is not about shaming the smoker. This is not even about banning smoking," said Dr. Armando Peruga, who heads WHO's anti-tobacco campaign. "This is about society taking decisions about where to smoke and where not to smoke."

I feel much better. Peruga is the guy who, speaking about a total ban on the sale of tobacco, previously "said... countries need to reduce demand first by banning smoking in public places..." First. And we know what comes second.

Still, I'm sure Peruga wouldn't call for such action unless the science supported it. Right?

Sure enough, second-hand smoke causes cancer, according to yesterday's WHO release, which cites as evidence "rigorous research [that] leaves no doubt" about it. What's the "rigorous evidence"? I perused the first study the WHO cited, and found indubitable language like "implies," "inconsistent," and "conflicting and sparse" to describe data it uses to support its sweeping claims.

The Coming Ban on Tobacco Products

The Institute of Medicine's report on tobacco control is out. And it's not good. You can read an 8-page summary here. In addition to calling for lower levels of nicotine in cigarettes (which would mean that smokers would have to smoke more cigarettes to get the same fix, causing greater health problems), the report calls for banning smoking pretty much everywhere except a home that you own.

A 2002 study estimated that a smoke-free policy for all U.S. workplaces would decrease the number of cigarettes smoked by 4.5%. For every eight smokers who die from smoking, one non-smoker dies from secondhand smoke exposure.

The committee recommends that states and localities enact complete bans on smoking in all non-residential indoor locations, including workplaces, malls, restaurants, and bars....As of July 2006, 305 municipalities had banned smoking in restaurants, and 222 required smoke-free bars.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS) Healthy People 2010 aims to reduce the percentage of children regularly exposed to tobacco smoke at home to 6%. Children regularly exposed to environmental tobacco smoke are at a greater risk for a variety of respiratory ailments, including asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia. Parents should make homes and vehicles smoke-free zones, and health-care providers should reinforce this message.

States and localities should encourage owners of multi-unit apartment buildings and condominium developers to include non-smoking clauses in their leases and sales agreements and enforce them.

Inhaling Back to Reality

I'll let the Sun describe it:

Gov. Martin O'Malley signed into law one of the most restrictive smoking bans in the nation yesterday, putting to rest four years of wrangling between public health advocates concerned about secondhand smoke and restaurateurs who claimed the measure would hurt neighborhood mom-and-pop operations.

The law requires bars and restaurants, as well as private clubs such as American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars halls, to be smoke-free by Feb. 1. Some businesses eligible for financial hardship waivers from the state would get a three-year extension but must be smoke-free by 2011. With the law signed, tobacco shops are virtually the only public indoor places where smoking will be allowed in Maryland.

Yes, nothing new here, it's just now become a real and official law, enforced by the goons of the state. But the head douche bags of the legislative bodies (whom I've both met and respectively hold the the lowest possible regard) seem to think that the Maryland State House should be setting fashion and trends.

It's no longer fashionable to be smoking," House Speaker Michael E. Busch said after yesterday's bill-signing ceremony, at which he and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller joined O'Malley. "When I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, it was a different thing - you were strange if you didn't smoke. But now there's no longer a question about the carcinogenic effect of tobacco. Jurisdictions around the state were already starting to do it. States around the country were already doing it. The time had come."

Full article here.

Whew

Wandered out of the back end of the time warp that was the last week. My head is becoming an exceedingly scary thing to mess with...A few thoughts before I try to re-grasp the concept of time and leap back into regular blogging...

Once again I am smitten with how smoke-friendly Amsterdam and Holland as a whole is. In a country where a multitude of drugs are, for the most part, legal; I always find myself most impressed with my ability to light cigarette anywhere save a hospital. How long this will last is another question. Over the past few years repeated attempts have been made to enact smoking bans in the country/city, including one that is threatening to make the whole country (coffee shops included) smoke-free beginning in 2008. Locals seem to shrug it off as something that hasn't happened yet, and if it does, probably won't happen when the bureaucrats say it will. My guess is that some weak ban passes, giving lenient exemptions for coffee shops, cafes and restaurants until some time in the future. Work it in slow, train the people well.

This story caught my eye last week, most notably the response from the police spokesman. [emphasis mine]

March 30--The Dutch health minister will order an investigation into the health risks of hallucinogenic mushrooms, after a French tourist jumped to her death after eating them.

Pressure for an outright ban grew in parliament after the girl, identified as 17-year-old Gaelle Caroff, jumped off an overpass earlier this month.

Her mother, Nathalie, was quoted by the newspaper De Pers as saying that hallucinogenic mushrooms were responsible for her daughter's death and should be outlawed.

Amsterdam police ruled the death a suicide.

[...]

Lawmaker Aleid Wolfsen, of the centre-left Labor party, which is part of the governing coalition, said it was difficult in practice to keep people from trying hallucinogenic mushrooms.

"Some of them grow wild here - it's difficult of course to outlaw them from growing."

And from a different article, that spokesman reaction:

It is terrible when your child dies because of such a tragic event. However, we can not prohibit the sale of mushrooms as this is national policy.

I would say that the smart shops did seem to be a bit more cautious and careful and I had the distinct feeling that they had suffered backlash and crackdown over the past few months. Anecdotal at best, but that was my impression at least.

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.

What To Say To A Nanny Stater

Besides, "Fuck off." Some of you may know that Washington State, where I live, has the most far-reaching smoking ban in the country. No exemptions for cigar bars or private clubs. Especially problematic is the 25 foot rule, which bans smoking within 25 feet of the entrance, air vents or windows that can open of any publicly-accessible building. In a dense city like Seattle that means you cannot legally smoke outdoors almost anywhere unless you are in a park or walking past said publicly-accessible building.

According to the law, only cops and the public health "authorities" can enforce the law, but we've had the odd situation develop here where near coffee houses and such, non-smokers who sit outside have decided they don't like smokers around, so they'll go to a shop's manager and tell them that if they don't police the sidewalk then the non smoker will call in a complaint to the public health department which can then hassle the shop manager.

So last year, during the ban's first spring, my local coffee shop--OK, there are four coffee shops within three blocks of my apartment--put up signs stating that it was against state law to smoke within 25 feet of their windows. Several of us smoker types pointed out to the shop's managers that we'd continue smoking on the sidewalk, which the shop doesn't own or control of course, whether they liked it or not. Things cooled down, fall came, the windows were closed against the rain and the signs came down.

The other day, the signs were back up. I asked one of the baristas--someone who undercharges me so that I over tip him on slow shifts--what the deal was. "We don't want smokers around," he said. "I like the windows open and I don't want smoke coming in."

"So how are you handling the cars and buses that go past?"

He sighed as if I truly didn't get it. "It's the law."

"And I am getting a new coffee shop," I said.

And I've been going to the Starbuck's down the street ever since. And I hate Starbuck's.

Well Said

Minnesota bans smoking in bars. Republican legislator and bar owner Rep. Bud Heidgerken protests.

"I for one don't like you putting your nose in my business," he told backers. "That's my air in that cafe, not yours. If you don't want to come, don't come."

Huffin' And Puffin' In The Times

I'm sure you've all been dying to read a full-on nanny state debate. Take a look at today's NYT, wherein there is an article on the Motion Picture Association of America's decision to impose stricter ratings on films if smoking is depicted in said film. Smoking will count right alongside sex and violence in ratings decisions. If only I could get some sex with my smoking. Even more fun is a comments thread here, chock-full of classic nanny statism. Time for me to smoke a cigar. So I will.

Is New York About to Adopt Congestion Pricing?

Mayor Bloomberg is proposing congestion pricing for most of Manhattan, with an $8 toll charged for entering. About a year ago London introduced congestion pricing to a small area known as The City, but recently vastly expanded the toll area. How surprising that the reach of the tax man has expanded so quickly and beyond the promises of limits that allowed the government power to happen in the first place.

I have mixed feelings on congestion pricing. Pricing is good when it is the market at work, but it is usually abused and endlessly encroaching when it is the government at work.

More important, I hate what Bloomberg has done to New York. A Reuters story headline that reported this news read: "NYC Hopes Green Plan Will Spread Like Smoking Ban." So Bloomberg has turned once free-wheeling, creative and super-fun NY into San Francisco on the East Coast without the weather and the hills and the great views.

Lily Allen Hates, Flaunts Smoking Bans

Lily Allen gave her fourth-ever booze-free show last night, treating me, Minerva, and the rest of the sold-out 9:30 Club crowd to a great set that included all of Alright, Still, a couple of new tracks, and two covers. (The first was a too-long Keane song; in the second, she actually managed a near-impossible achievement: making a Deborah Harry song, Heart of Glass, palatable.)

Allen recently gave up onstage boozing after delivering a rambling anti-Bush and anti-Blair tirade. She's now channeling her enegeries to flaunting stupid smoking bans (check her left hand in the photo above, from last night's show). If you think that's accidental -- I counted her smoking at least three fags -- check out her anti-ban comments from Saturday night's show in Toronto.

Full show audio, along with photos, here courtesy NPR.

Abilene Paradox Visits, Um, Abilene, Where Smoking is the Sweetest Sin

Abilene, Tx., to which we owe a Texas-sized middle finger for giving us Jessica Simpson, really sucks in other ways, too. No kidding.

Just ask Brian Wayne Hendrix, who was arrested and jailed on an outstanding warrant for smoking in public. Hendrix, 44, said he was "flabbergasted" by the arrest, which came after an officer pulled him over Tuesday morning on a traffic stop.

"I never thought I'd be going to jail for smoking a cigarette [in a bar], but I'd do it again," said Hendrix, who was released from the Taylor County Jail after posting $150 bond Tuesday afternoon.

The city's smoking ban that went into effect Jan. 3 prohibits smoking in most public places and businesses. Hendrix is the first person in Abilene to be arrested on a warrant for smoking in a public place, Assistant Police Chief Mark Moore said.

"If we go to a place where there are a lot of people smoking with no regard to the smoking ban ordinance, we will enforce it," Moore said. "As long as it's law, we ask that they comply."

As the police so often do, they "ask" with a set of handcuffs. More here in the Houston Chronicle.

Post title reference explained here and here.

Virginia's Brroooaaad Smoking Ban Under Attack from Legislature

Because it apparently would ban smoking just about everywhere.

Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) may have inadvertently proposed a restaurant smoking ban that is so broad it will prohibit smoking in virtually any place where food is served, including street festivals, catered weddings, county fairs and hotel rooms, a top House Republican leader said today.

House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem) said Kaine's proposed ban fails to make an exception for catering services, push carts, hot dog stands and other food preparation operations.

"If the amendment is adopted, the effect would be to make it illegal to smoke anywhere where food is served outside of your residence," said Griffith, adding that a groom wouldn't even be able to smoke a cigar at his wedding if it is catered.

More here. The Stogie Guys, as we noted before, noted this before.

I'm in Agreement with Cicero

But if you feel like doing something today, read this pithy, "smoke-easy" piece.

I'M SIPPING A Blue Moon ale in a Philadelphia bar, Janis Joplin is wailing about Bobby McGee and I'm thinking a smoke would go great about now.
I take out one of Baby Cakes' Parliament Lights and fire it up.

I'm smoking in a bar in Philadelphia and nobody says, "Boo!"

New Delhi Bans Smoking in Cars

A stupid law with an even dumber rationale.

A court has banned smoking while driving in India's capital in what is believed to be the first of its kind ruling in any major city worldwide.

Declaring "New Delhi roads dangerous to human life," the city's High Court imposed new measures aimed at deterring habitually bad drivers, including the smoking ban and a prohibition on using mobile phones while behind the wheel.

"Anything that distracts the attention of driver is dangerous. The human mind cannot do two things simultaneously," said New Delhi traffic commissioner Qamar Ahmed[.]

He's right. It's absolutely impossible to, say, digest the intricate details provided by a customer explaining his computer hard-drive crash while simultaneously providing tech support over the phone to the customer. Impossible.

More here.

Happy Birthday, Scottish Smoking Ban!

Faeceitiously noted. (Faecetiously = Faeces + Facetiously).

SCOTLAND's smoking ban has been hailed as the most important development in public health for a generation, as research predicts up to 22,000 people will kick the habit in the next year.

As the country today marks the first anniversary of the ban, figures from NHS Health Scotland show that, of the country's 1.1 million smokers, thousands will quit as a direct result of the ban, and the lives of more than 400 non-smokers will be saved every year from the deadly effects of passive smoking.

NHS Scotland estimates that, among non-smokers, there will be 219 fewer deaths from lung cancer and coronary heart disease as well as 187 fewer deaths from respiratory disease and strokes.

Many people appear to have used the ban as an incentive to quit, with Smokeline receiving almost 27,000 calls between January and the end of March 2006. More than 51,000 calls have been made to Smokeline since October 2005.

Sally Haw, the principal public health adviser for NHS Health Scotland, [said...,] "It will have had the greatest impact on public health in Scotland for a generation. There is an increase in the number of people who quit and a reduction of tobacco consumption. This will reduce deaths from lung cancer, heart disease and respiratory illness."

[Ellipsis]

In France, anti-smoking legislation introduced in the 1990s saw tobacco consumption down by a third.

Sir Richard Peto, of Oxford University, who studies tobacco's impact on populations and predicts trends, said:

"The effects can take five to ten years to work through. Everyone laughed when the French introduced restrictions on smoking, but lung cancer rates started to drop."

Really? A report touted by an anti-smoking organization in 2003 warned that

female deaths from lung cancer [are] set to rocket in coming years, a [French government] study showed this week.

Landing amid a government crackdown on the quintessentially French habit, the study by national health watchdog INVS predicted that 12,000 women will die from lung cancer each year from 2015, six times as many as in 1980.

Already between 1980 and 2000 the number of female deaths from lung cancer more than doubled, while male deaths from the disease -- a bigger killer in France than any other cancer -- increased by just under 50 percent.

More on Scotland's demise here.

Reason for Optimism: 40 MD Delegates Believe in Freedom

State-wide smoking ban passes the Maryland House of Delegates, 98-40.

Smoking Restrictions: The New Way to Get Rid of People You Don't Like

Interesting article in the Kingston Whig-Standard, an Ontario paper, covering another disturbing case of a tenant attempting to have a smoker in a unit near her evicted. I blogged on an example of this from Australia a few weeks ago and was met mostly with, "I dunno, seems like a reasonable way to deal with the negative effects of smoking on non-smokers." Sure. Cause it has nothing to do with forcing your own likes, dislikes and morals on everyone else. Just property rights and health concerns.

A potentially precedent-setting case that could make smoking in rental housing grounds for eviction began in Kingston yesterday.

Montreal Street resident Sharna Sugarman appeared before the Landlord and Tenant Board – formerly the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal – to complain that smoke from the apartment directly underneath hers seeps into her unit and is making her and her six-year-old daughter sick.

[...]

In his opening remarks, Done made it clear that he will argue it is a landlord’s duty to ensure tenants are not exposed to such substances as cigarette smoke when they are not smokers themselves.

“Drifting second-hand smoke is hazardous to people’s health generally and to children’s health specifically,” he said.

“The only way to stop the danger from the smoke is to stop the smoke.”

I think -- as you will see below -- that this particular case, is much more of a personal vendetta against the landlords and the smoking tenant as opposed to a politically motivated suit. However, what the lawyer said is important, because that is the outcome that anti-smoking groups desire. They will only be happy when no one is smoking, whether it be in their homes, cars, or on the city sidewalk. More below.

The hearing also raised issues of personal credibility, as Toms put forward a tenant on the other side of the duplex who said she had smoked in Sugarman’s apartment and Sugarman raised no objection when she visited her own apartment and was exposed to smoke.

Sugarman denied the allegations under oath with the same vehemence with which they were made.

There is a short but bitter history between the two that includes calls to police and the Children’s Aid Society, plus a court-ordered peace bond between the two and a court date looming.

Go read the full article here.

Giant Smokefree Zone: Key Bridge to Delaware Memorial Bridge

Baltimore's smoking ban is about to become moot, as the WaPo reports the whole state will soon likely be smokefree.

Poor Rob kinda liked the streets of Baltimore.

License plate made by me here.

Libertarian Black Wednesday: The Day's News Recap

After reading today's posts I have concluded that this day has been a dark day for liberty, our own libertarian Black Wednesday. Jeezooks, the cumulative effect is astounding.

A recap of today's news: England is fulfilling Orwell's dystopian prophecy, a dying woman who has a brain tumor and chronic nausea has to stop consuming the marijuana that eases her symptoms or be prosecuted, while fear of mass public urination means that we can no longer drink beer singles in our soon-to-be fluorescently-lit homes.

I hereby submit an observation: every day, we become less free. That is because each day legislators and regulators submit and pass new rules that control us more. Call this Leo's Law. I also hereby submit a libertarian proposal: that we demand that for each new law, one on the books be eliminated. That would make the government look much harder at what they impose and would keep us from becoming automatons innoculated at birth against "anti-social" behavior who wear helmets as we walk down the street.

We also need to address the current opinion vogue of "I like/don't like it, so let's ban it." One of the commenters on my bulb post noted that he likes fluorescent lights so he looks forward the banning of incandescents. Maybe that comment was in jest, but concept of favoring laws that mirror one's preference and also reduce individual choice and liberty ought to be screamed about. This is the sentiment that has led to so many smoking bans, as most people don't smoke and don't like it.

Whole City to be Lit by No-Smoking Sign

As the city council in Belmont, Ca. seeks to enact what would likely be the harshest anti-smoking law in the country, it may wish to look to Sweden or Australia for some pre-mistake guidance.

At my most optimistic, I wonder if governments in places like Belmont really do want to pointlessly ruin the lives of some of their citizens. Realistically, I know that's exactly what they want to do.

H-Burg Smoking Ban Doesn't Apply to Cops, Mayor

From the some animals are more equal than others file:

A city smoking ban in Harrisburg has been ordered rescinded -- because police objected.

In respones to a grievance by the city police union, state Labor Relations Board Hearing Examiner Donald Wallace has ordered that the city cease enforcing the ban and the ordinance be rescinded -- at least as it applies to police.

Wallace ruled that enforcing the ban on smoking in city-owned buildings, vehicles and work spaces would have been a unilateral change in working conditions for the unionized police officers.

The ruling means Mayor Stephen Reed can continue smoking at his desk and in his city-furnished car, a privilege enjoyed by many members of Reed's staff, and many other city employees including police officers, whose work space is separate from public areas.

One more sentence here.

[Note: I have no idea if Harrisonburg Harrisburg is really known as "H-Burg".]

But You're Right, Banning Smoking in Bars is Perfectly Reasonable

SYDNEY, March 11 (UPI) -- An Australian court said a Sydney couple should stop smoking in their apartment if the smell upsets the neighbors.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that Chris May and Linda Crossan decided to move instead of abide by the city court's order.


Neighbors had complained that smoke seeped through the walls and under doors from the couple's apartment. They were ordered to refrain from allowing smoke to enter other apartments, even if it meant not smoking.


Anti-smoking activists said they will campaign for similar court judgements.

You can point out the history of tobacco and the accompanied bans, taxes and trade restrictions --complete with state coercion in the most violent and brutal way and yet people are somehow still able to look you straight in the face and tell you there is no slippery slope in our modern-day context of smoking bans. No doubt; we'll get it right this go 'round.

Full article here.

Butter Me Up, While It is Still Legal

Time and place: Some time in the 80s on a Leonardo family car trip. [On car the radio is a story about the banning of smoking in office buildings and airplanes...]

Mother: I am so glad that smoking is finally being banned in some places. Smoking is so unhealthy.
Leo: But by that logic, the government should ban butter too.
Mother: (Condescendingly) Oh Leo, that would never happen, you are always so alarmist.

Well, we are not there yet, but the trans fat bans have inched us closer to that previous unfathomable reality, as an NY Times article today points out.

Matthew Reich is a baker dedicated to natural ingredients. He prefers butter in the cookies and brioche he turns out at Tom Cat Bakery in Long Island City, Queens, and like many professional cooks he applauds the public health effort to get artificial trans fat out of food.

But, in a twist of science, the law and what some call trans-fat hysteria, Mr. Reich and other wholesale bakers are being forced to substitute processed fats like palm oil and margarine for good old-fashioned butter because of the small amounts of natural trans fat butter contains.

Some history: trans-fats came into heavy use because public health advocates pressured outfits like McDonald's to stop frying with beef fat, which was deemed unhealthy at that time, so they switched to trans-fats. Now, the same public health lobby is causing food producers to use known artery-cloggers such as palm oil to be able to say their products are 100% trans-fat free. Starbucks is one of the companies pressuring them to do so, according to the article, which is a great read, btw.

[Ironically, also today a big Stanford research study came out that concludes that people on the fat-rich Atkins diet stay thinner and, more to the point, have significantly lower rates of bad cholesterol and higher rates of the good ones than do people who keep to a low-fat diet. They also have lower blood pressure.]

What food group will be the next casualty? More from the NY Times article:

As processed food manufacturers and fast-food restaurants struggle to find new kinds of trans fat-free oils, and some bakers struggle over what to do about butter, the natural trans fat in meat has gone largely unnoticed. (Two ounces of ground beef would be over the limit.)

But nervous meat purveyors are starting to ask about it, especially as more and more city health officials push through trans fat bans, said Lynn Morrissette, senior director of regulatory affairs for the American Meat Institute.

“I have to believe that even if it hasn’t happened yet, it’s coming,” she said.

Smokefree Alexandria?

Alexandria, Va. anti-smoking zealots think they have figured out a way to get around a state law that prohibits municipalities from banning smoking.

Under the plan, the city would require a bar or restaurant to be smoke-free in order to get a permit.

Restaurants that already have permits would have to agree to go smoke-free in three months or risk future restrictions or even closure.

If this idiocy comes to fruition, I suggest the state counter by passing a law that offers special, free, state-issued operating permits to bars and restaurants in Alexandria. Better still, the state could pass a law that says no bar or restaurant in Alexandria need have a permit to operate.

Baltimore Ban

City Council passes smoking ban. Negative reaction from city residents can be found here, as well as in West Baltimore; where Rob will be spending a lot of alone time '08, drinking from home.

RTDA

No, it isn't a hot new AIM acronym that the kids are using to keep their parents off their sex obsessed, drug using trails. Rather, as some of you probably know, it's the Retail Tobacco Dealers of America. I picked up their pamphlet today at my local tobacconist -- went with a box of Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur 1066 Lancelot, good smoke for the price btw. This an association we could all get behind; anti-tax and anti-smoking ban. I figured instead of me sending them my money, I'd use the power of TtP and post a link, sending untold numbers of rich, affluent smokers to their site.

Progressives, Only Slightly Softer and Gentler Than Islamo-Fascists

Given that progressives have turned many American cities into Soviet-style informant states where the government diverts resources from investigating crimes to investigating whether or not bars are allowing smoking and citizens are encouraged to report their fellow citizens to the authorities, it's hard for me to criticize Malaysia for doing the same thing except substituting unmarried sex for smoking. There I said it, the U.S. is not that much different from Malaysia.

A Malaysian state plans to recruit "spies" from the public to snoop on unmarried lovers and report them to Islamic religious authorities, a newspaper said Tuesday.

The Terengganu state government plans to enlist the part-time spies to look out for un-Islamic behavior, such as unmarried couples kissing or holding hands, the Star daily said.

"Some of these 'spies' could be waitresses or even janitors at hotels acting as auxiliary undercover agents for our religious department," the head of the state government's Islamic and welfare committee, Rosol Wahid, was quoted as saying.

"Accurate details are required for the enforcement officers to act, otherwise they could be pouncing on married couples."

Last October, religious police in another part of this mainly Muslim country caused an outcry when they mistakenly raided the rented holiday apartment of a Christian American couple on suspicion that they were unmarried Muslims in "close proximity."

Here Comes Baltimore

City-wide smoking ban back on the agenda. From the same Sun article, a taste of the reasoned and honest debate soon to follow. [Emphasis mine]

Council Vice President Robert W. Curran, the lead sponsor of the city legislation, has vowed to put the smoking ban up for a second-reader vote - a largely procedural effort that, if successful, will place the ban on the calendar for a final vote later this month.

"By waiting, we will be condemning between 150 and 250 Baltimoreans to their coffins due to the long-term effects of second-hand tobacco smoke," Curran said, referring to an estimate by advocates of the ban of annual deaths in the city caused by second-hand smoke. "It's crystal clear that Annapolis legislators want to have Baltimore come aboard."

UPDATE: One step closer. City council passes second reader of the bill. Final vote in two weeks. And does anyone share this guy's optimism?

Melvin R. Thompson, vice president of the Restaurant Association of Maryland, said yesterday's vote in the City Council was not necessarily an indication of support for either proposed ban.

"This is really not the final passage vote, and it's just a procedural thing to move the bill forward," said Thompson, who organized the rally outside City Hall before the council meeting. "We're confident that we can stop it."

DC May Make Your Car Non-Smoking, But That's Only the Half of It

Via a source* (slightly edited, with emphasis mine):

Councilmembers Marion Barry and Mary Cheh introduced a bill today to prohibit smoking in private vehicles when children are present, even when the windows are down. Punishment will be in the form of a fine, which would not be collected if the adult enters a smoking-cessation program.

"I sincerely believe the health benefits will far outweigh ... privacy rights," said Barry.

Yep, a felon facing DUI charges is proposing legislation that says a person smoking in his own car could get sent to Smokaholics Anonymous.

*My source wanted me to mention that even though she favored the original DC smoking ban, she's downright horrified by this one.

Update: According to Fox News here in DC, the proposed fine is $100.

Smoking Versus Soot, Part II

My post yesterday on a recent study that found that common environmental pollutants parallel the harm caused by being a smoker, and blow away the risks of inhaling second-hand smoke, was challenged by an angry commenter who used some profanities to question my statements (I love the civility of Internet discourse!). It was my bad that I did not link to the data I quoted, as it was a subscription-only WSJ article, so here it is with an excerpt.

Previous studies had concluded the risk was much lower. That research found that soot was responsible for increasing deaths from heart disease and stroke in the most polluted cities by about 40% over the least polluted, such as Santa Fe and Honolulu. That impact is comparable to the relatively consistent inhalation of second-hand smoke that comes from living with a smoker.

In the new study, the approximate 150% increased risk is close to the impact of being an active smoker, said C. Arden Pope, a professor at Brigham Young University who played a big role in the two previous major U.S. soot studies but was not involved in the study published today.

So I did not make this up. Interestingly, only the WSJ reported this inconvenient truth while the NYT and Wa Post did not make mention of it. I repeat my challenge to smoking ban proponents everywhere to either stop using automobiles and seek a ban on them or admit that they just don't like the smell of smoke and the public health threat is just a way of banning what they don't like.

Senator McCoy Needs a Dick in His Mouth

Look, I like Utah. It's pretty. You can have a million wives. Everyone is in a cult. It's retro-cool like Pabst Blue Ribbon and Debbie Gibson, I get it. But then there's this nonsense:

The Senate signed off on a proposal to restrict smoking in cars when a young child is present. The bill, which received some strong opposition during a preliminary vote, resulted in no debate on Wednesday. The Senate approved the bill, sponsored by Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake City, on a 20-7 vote. Under the proposal, police could cite a driver who is smoking while driving with a child age 5 or younger. But the offense is only a secondary infraction, meaning a police officer would have to pull the driver over for another reason. McCoy pushed the bill as a safety measure for children, saying second-hand smoke has the same chemicals as the smoker receives directly. "It is tantamount to putting a cigarette in their mouths," he said. But those who voted against the bill say it infringes on personal property rights.

Hump Day Suppertime Threefer

Apologies (and props) to Cicero for the subject header.

Patrick Semmens of The Stogie Guys -- always excellent -- exposes the utter madness behind Virginia's proposed smokefree legislation, which would, with "small exceptions of tobacco shops, tobacco factories, labeled smoking' hotel rooms, and private residences (with caveats on that listed above)... constitut[e] a complete statewide ban on smoking."

Gladiators and herpes. Illinois bans high school wrestling after an outbreak of an aptly named "contagious rash called herpes gladiatorum".

Writing in AFF's new issue of Doublethink, David White rails against the new populism, along with its doughy mouthpice Lou Dobbs, who White brilliantly calls "the personification of its witless reactionary prejudice".

It's About Time I Started Visiting New Continents Anyways

Since the EU may ban smoking.

An EU-wide ban on smoking in public spaces could be put in the pipeline after the European Commission on Tuesday (30 January) launches a debate on whether to introduce a piece of smoke-free legislation binding on all member states.

EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou is to issue a so-called green paper that takes a favourable view of the examples set by Ireland, Italy, Malta and Sweden on public smoking.

There are two options laid down in the commission's paper, seen by EUobserver.

A most stringent approach envisages "a total ban on smoking in all enclosed or substantially enclosed workplaces and public places, including means of public transport".

Restrictions could also be extended to "outdoor areas around entrances to buildings and possibly to other outdoor place where people sit or stand close to each other, such as open air stadiums, bus shelters or train platforms", the paper says.

The second option—and "a less effective one" according to the commission's paper—proposes "exemptions granted to selected categories of venue", e.g. hospitality establishments that do no serve food.

More here.

DC Smoking Ban Fan's Own Poll Shows Smoking Ban Bad for Business

Smoking ban proponent and DC Council member Jim Graham -- who Cicero points out below is leading the stupid charge to ban all-ages shows in DC -- has a poll up at his Council website which asks the following:

Smoke-free bars in the District: are you more or less likely to go out now?

The results show respondents are seven times less likely to go out in DC because of the smoking ban. (Full disclosure: I voted once that I was less likely to go out.)

Neighboring Virginia, meanwhile, is again spinning its wheels toward a ban of its own.

Leave DC Bars Alone

The DC City Council has steadily turned anti-nightlife over the last five years, repeatedly shitting on the only thing that makes this city worth living in. Now Councilmember Jim Graham wants to make it harder for clubs to admit people under 21. DC's all-ages policy is what makes our city a hot spot destination for good bands and djs. Plus, I like to look for the girls with an "X" on their hand at the Black Cat, because they're easy to get back to your house for a few drinks. Graham Cracker should leave DC's bars and my sex life alone.