Smoked Out

Today's New York Post reports that the city's ban on smoking is destroying the local bar business. Looks like more bad news for Mayor Mike.

Comments

[geophile]

Same thing seems to be happening here in Norfolk, MA, according to local papers. It was originally done in the name of public health. Now the few businesses they allow to thrive here are suffering, along with counterparts in nearby smoke-free towns. I'm guessing no one will care much. I'm sure they'll have no problem making themselves feel better by demonizing bars and drinking along with tobacco, seeing as how they were unable to see the folly of the endeavor to begin with.

[Josh]

It's never going to end, is it?

[Stel]

I wonder if its just coincidence that I happened to be listening to Zappa singing "The torture never stops." while reading this.

[Croesus]

I believe the Dutch are considering a "smoking ban" across the country. Which strikes as me as odd, given that drug use and prostitution are legal (if regulated) in Holland. Of course, given this regulation, maybe they are simply getting all their "sins" in a row, so to speak. 🙂

[Gary Gunnels]

At least in France and Italy you can still light-up at will!!! 🙂

[Frenk]

Here in Germany, I can even smoke in my office! Yesss.... think I'll light up now. Oh, the joys of being an expat!

[Croesus]

What sort of laws are there in the UK about smoking?

[Jon B.]

Of all kinds of government, government by busybodies is the worst.

Thomas Carlyle

[Andrew Lynch]

"Today's New York Post reports that the city's ban on smoking is destroying the local bar business." I can't help but laugh at the hysteria. Local bars in California said the same thing ("How will we survive?!?"), but I've yet to read a single report of a single bar shutting down as a result of the ban. I expect New Yorkers to be a little tougher than this (whining is so much more, er, Californian). Adapt and move on. There are bigger battles to be fought.

[Douglas Fletcher]

I like that quote.

[fyodor]

Croesus,

I believe pot is only really legal in officially designated "coffeeshops." Which makes it relatively easy to get, of course, but that's a quite a limitation if applied to activities that are already legal. Holland isn't really a libertarian kind of place, it's just a place that's so liberal that the politicians can talk the same talk as the liberal populace, unlike here where rank & file liberals (mostly) wouldn't mind loosening up on pot laws, but (most) liberal politicians would be scared shitless to suggest such things.

[Bill Anderson]

Today, torts are simply a moneymaking entity for law firms and a vehicle for people who wish to destroy the institutions of private property and free enterprise by manipulating the law.

Indeed, the law has ceased being a shield and instead has become a sword to be used by the state and by all who wish to destroy what was once a great civilization.